#roy yunghart

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Metallic Rouge Episode 13 Review + Final Thoughts - Their Free World

Well, that was disappointing. What do you mean the anime ends like that? I finally managed to understand what the heck is going on now and it ends. It kind of sucks when one of the animes you were anticipating to watch soon becomes a train wreck.

To no one’s surprise, Roy Yunghart was the Puppetmaster, but the twist goes even deeper as the Roy in front of them isn’t the real one; the real one died and the one in front of them is a Nean copy. It turns out that he likes to body jump and Cyan is his third body essentially as he jumps to her body once Sylvia stabs him. The fact that he was the one who ordained everything feels like bullcrap. I know it fits with the freedom and will themes but at this point, I don’t care anymore.

The final battle between possessed Cyan and Rouge was pretty cool, though. Naomi deciding to sacrifice her vessel and permanently be fused into Rouge’s body was something I didn’t expect. The fusion form between them was cool; it sort of looks like a Digimon with the pupils and wings. Maybe it’s just me, but it reminds me of a robotic/mecha Digimon.

The surprise twist that Opera was a Usurper and is still out and about feels like a cop out. I feel like this anime was intentionally made to be two cours, but given that it’s an original anime project and those normally don’t get two cours means that everything has to be bunched up and thrown in as much as possible. The fact that the ending of Metallic Rouge ends with Rouge facing off against Opera shows this.

I’m glad the Neans became free, but the ending doesn’t show what happens to them or what happens to the other characters. What happened with Jean? Ash? Noir? Aes/Alice? Is Giallon even alive? What happened with everyone else? 

Final Thoughts

Metallic Rouge’s concept and premise was cool. Watching the trailer legit got me inserting this show into my already long watch list for Winter 2024 but as weeks went by, it started dropping in terms of story quality. I feel like Bones had high ambitions for this project, but couldn’t really execute them properly due to time constraints. It’s unfortunate that an anniversary project ends up becoming mediocre since I do like BONES’s works—The Case Study of Vanitas is my favorite anime and they animated that beautifully—but this one was a miss.

I enjoyed the first five episodes but then after episode 6, the episode quality starts dropping. So many unexpected and unnecessary reveals; so many characters were introduced; a sudden liberation plot came into play. It’s really hard to keep up with the story when too many elements spoil the soup.

It also makes it hard to enjoy some of the characters. I did enjoy the characters, but it’s kind of hard to get attached to anyone not named Rouge or Naomi; though, I did like Ash and Noid—I kind of wished they were built up a bit more. For example, Grauphon was an Immortal 9 member but I knew nothing about him to care. The best character and the most underutilized was the drifter granny from Episode 2. She needed to be in the show more.

Though, the writing choices did make it hard to enjoy some characters. Like, why did Naomi have to betray Rouge and then reveal that she’s a Nean created by the Visitors. Like, why is everyone not named Ash a Nean? Jean is half-Nean and we’re not even sure how Neans can reproduce if they’re mass-produced like smart phones.

I did enjoy the animation and music. The dramatic music reminded me of sci-fantasy RPGs like Xenoblade and I feel like some songs here could fit in Xenoblade or Star Ocean given the similar settings. The animation was fluid, especially with the mecha fights. The fights were what made the show shine. I really liked the opening song, though. It felt like listening to 90’s anime openings.

The anime got a great cast of voice actors, but not having a great story or plot sort of ruins it. I liked Tomoyo Kurosawa as Naomi and Yui Ogura and Jill/Sylvia but why did they have to be in this rather mediocre show? They all rocked in terms of performances, but this anime is one of the cases where the voice acting, animation and music are great, but everything else isn’t.

I feel like I’m ranting, which I deserve to after enduring 13 weeks of this show. I heard that there will be a manga adaptation for this show, so I hope that it expands the lore more because the anime fumbled hard with consistency. Would I recommend this show to anyone? Nope. There are better sci-fi/mecha shows out there and with better story, so don’t waste your time with this one.

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Source: Metallic Rouge [2024]

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Source: Metallic Rouge [2024]

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Source: Metallic Rouge [2024]

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Metallic Rouge Episode 12 Review - Before The Final Showdown

Like with the previous episodes, the penultimate episode has its confusing moments and the not-so-confusing ones, but overall, it went by a lot faster than I expected. I’m not sure if that’s a good thing given that there’s one episode left.

I think the biggest issue with this show is the fact that they introduce so many characters but underutilize them heavily. Giallon is hilarious as he acts super goofy in serious situations and even shows off his terrible acting skills when disguised as Jean, but after getting stabbed by Sylvia, he helps Naomi and then just ups and goes. Why do I feel like he’s going to come back? I don’t know anything about Grauphon and then he just ups and dies. How am I supposed to care about him? Aes and Alice zigzag in terms of importance but they eventually betray Sylvia. Like, why have them here if one or the other won’t have significance? Just kill them off!

The battle between Sylvia and Rouge was pretty cool action-wise and I did like the twist of Rouge losing her id. I didn’t expect that, so props to it. Rouge isn’t fully dead as she’s still able to move around for a while, as we saw with Eden a few episodes ago. Naomi, after running off to do her own thing, comes back to save Rouge by giving her own id to her. That was another twist I didn’t expect. Will Rouge function a bit differently now that she has a different id in her or will she still be the same? I was happy when Rouge called Naomi a friend now as she referred her as a stranger before.

The twist of the Puppetmaster being Roy Yunghart was not surprising at all. It was to be expected as he did make Cyan out of Rouge’s data. He’s one of the only few characters that know how she works. Though, the fact that Sylvia was stated to have ordered Giallon to kill him makes me wonder if Roy’s death was staged. However, I did get it right and I’m happy. I do wonder what Cyan’s role be and what the final battle be like.

This week is the finale and I’m honestly a bit anticipating what will happen in the end. Will the Immortal 9 die? Will they be free? I honestly can’t wait for Wednesday which means I won’t have to write anymore Metallic Rouge reviews. What are your thoughts on this episode?

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Metallic Rouge Episode 11 Review - Confrontation In Venus

This episode flew by so fast. I don’t know if that’s a good thing, but I know that it can certainly be a bad thing as I found some inconsistency with the writing as well as making some theories about a certain character.

First off, Sylvia says that the Immortal Nine are fighting for freedom, in order for Neans to live with humans…yet she’s also mass producing Neans in a plant and hopes that they’d fight for them. This makes absolutely no sense with her goals. It only makes her a hypocrite. What kind of liberation is this? And it turns out that Sylvia was the one who killed Roy, despite Giallon saying that it was him back in episode 6. Why did they suddenly shift the killer’s identity around? Who’s next? Aes is the actual killer?

Second, Cyan says that she’d fight against the voice calling out to her. Welp. She fails. She gets controlled and lured to the Puppetmaster. Is she going to fight Rouge in their one last showdown? Will she break out of this control in the next episode?

Third, there’s the reveal that Jean is Eden and Eva’s son. If you look at Eden and then look at Eva, you’re wondering HOW THE F*** his ‘genes’ work (no pun intended). Both Eden and Eva have dark hair while Jean’s hair is white. Eva and Eden have red and brown eyes while Jean has blue eyes. What sort of crazy genes are these? Also, Neans can reproduce? And the fact that Eva created the Immortal Nine means that they’re her children…and that means Jean is a product of inbreeding. Great. I didn’t need to know that. Speaking of which, there was a scene where Sylvia and Grauphon kissed…I get that Neans’ don’t follow the same rule as humans, but given that they all see each other as family…well…

My theory for the Puppetmaster’s identity is that he’s Roy Yunghart despite him telling Jean that he worked with him. We didn’t see his dead body and in the anime world, if your dead body isn’t shown, you are not officially dead. I mean, who else can cause a reaction in Ash? I’m gonna flip if it’s that random pompous dude from the bus back in Episode 2. Please don’t let it be anyone random. The story has come too far for it to be some random dude.

Anyways, I don’t remember if there were 12 or 13 episodes for this show, but I do wonder what will transpire in the final showdown. I know that Rouge won’t be fooled by Giallon’s tricks. Who will be the ultimate final boss?

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Metallic Rouge Episode 8 Review - The Circumstances of Rouge's Birth

It makes sense that Rouge would be a special type of Nean because she’s the main character. I didn’t expect that this episode would be about the circumstances of her birth and why she was born. While the second half of the episode transitions into fighting, the first half is a lot slower and helps understand what’s going on.

Rouge’s birth is a bit different from most Neans. She was created by Dr. Eva Kristella, the creator of Code Eve and the biological mother of Jean Yunghart. Yes, it turns out that Jean is not Roy’s biological son, but adopted. Since Rouge was born through Eva’s hands, she is Jean’s sister, even if she’s artificial. That’s why they are siblings. That’s pretty creative. While she considers Roy her father, Roy never loved her. His memories that was stashed in a secret basement showed that he’s just curious of Rouge and observes her every chance he gets. He most likely sees her as an experiment to observe.

Collecting all the Code Eves ensures freedom for the entire Nean race. Parts of the code are in the IDs of the Immortal Nine, which now makes sense. This means that Rouge is also a member of the Immortal Nine as her ID contains it too. It’s very suspicious that Dr. Kristella died…there’s definitely a hidden motive. It was nice seeing Rouge finally making a decision for herself—that she wants freedom for both humans and Neans and that she’s on both of their sides. The fact that all of the Immortal Nines that are alive are gathered makes this rather a high-stakes fight. Fortunately, Rouge has an ally in Eden, who turns out to be Noir. It’s basically 2 vs 4 now. 

A new character appears: Cyan Bluestar. She’s basically a blue-haired Rouge. What is she? She did appear in Episode 5 when Rouge was captured by the traveling carnival. Is Cyan a replica of Rouge created by the Puppetmaster? What is the purpose of her existence? I feel like she’s going to be the final boss in the way that she’s the one who will push Rouge to be stronger than she is.

Oh boy, Noid died so abruptly. I was starting to like him! It’s unfortunate that he died just like that. I know that Ash will be important in the future and that killing off Noid is the perfect way for him to get that character development. It sucks because I wanted to see more of them. Hopefully, Ash’s thoughts about Neans will change now that Noid is no longer with him. Will he abide by the promise to start smoking less?

Seeing Noid die got me worried for Jean. I sense death flags coming for him too. If Rouge needs that character development, Jean is the likely candidate to get killed for her to get that development, even if it does feel unnecessary. I just can’t shake off the fact that Jean is going to die and by Cyan’s hands no less. Am I the only one feeling this way? Jean is shown as a good brother to Rouge, but also has a huge target on his back due to his connections with the entire plot with him being Roy’s adopted son and Dr. Kristella’s biological son. That just screams death flags.

With Grauphon being revealed as a gravity-using Nean, the enemies get even trickier to handle. How will Rouge and her friends deal with this? What do you think will happen?

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Metallic Rouge Episode 5 Review - Fever Dream

Like usual, I have no idea what’s going on. It’s practically about Rouge having a fever dream or something. I think the worst thing about Metallic Rouge is the fact that the plot tends to jump off-screen. Like Rouge gets kidnapped by the circus people, but it was never shown in the last episode or even this one. She’s just there all of a sudden without prior explanation. 

It seems that Rouge is a special type of Nean—one without an Asmiov’s Law implemented into her. That is why she’s able to kill Neans without hesitation, but it does seem to affect her mentally. She was created by the Yunghart family to destroy the Immortal Nine, who were also Yunghart’s creation. The Immortal Nine killed their creator, so I feel like Rouge’s existence is to be their antithesis; she has a color like the other nine, but she’s not like the other Neans. Because of her uniqueness, she was raised as Jean (or Gene)’s sister. Other than this important fact, I do wonder why the masked man wants Rouge to remember her past. Maybe the masked man is Roy Yunghart in disguise?

Naomi takes on the task of rescuing her partner as she is the queen of stealth. She gets into the airship with the help of the curly-haired man back in episode 2, who’s name is Eden Vallock who also happens to be a member of the Immortal Nine as he is a Black Gladiator. I do like how weak Naomi is compared to the other characters of this show. Unlike the Neans, she’s just an ordinary human, so even if she can fight, it won’t do much because she’s just a fragile human. That’s why she uses different methods to fight like guns and her intelligence. I like that! Even though she was losing against Opera, it makes sense because she’s just a person.

I do like the dream sequence because it brings the question of whether or not it’s real. Are these her actual memories or are they fabrications made by Mr. Puppetmaster. Why is the Puppetmaster so intent on freeing Neans? It brings a lot of questions into the fray, but I do wonder why it’s being brought up five episodes in and not earlier?

Anyways, I’m going to end my review here because it was rather straightforward. I feel like the traveling carnival are the main antagonists of the show in a way. They were pretty freaky. I also loved the creepy music in the beginning too! What are your thoughts about this episode?