Metallic Rouge has all the makings of an incredible show, it is in theory a love letter to all sci-fi fans. This is the type of show that casually drops a reference to a short sci-fi story written in the 50s called "The Cold Equations" and expects you to get it. Any other show would see that as an absurdly niche thing to reference, but there is a fundamental love for ... sci-fi that lives and breaths in every corner of this show. It isn't just a sci-fi, it's one that was specifically made for the fans of the genre.
From the designs, the clearly extremely well thoughts out world, to it's debates of morality, to the good ol tale of robots having free will and questioning the fundamental nature of the three robot laws in a world where those said robots feel, look, and act like humans.
The soundtrack is as of this moment what I consider to be the best this year, with it even having a track reminiscent of the soundtack of the Nier games , and on top of that the animation is somewhere between good-bloody amazing through out the entire show. The settings are fleshed out and the backgrounds alone tell you so much about the world. A world that isn't just the present, it also has a history. Every character has a memorable design that tells you a lot about them, but doesn't go over board for the sake of making them stand out. And there are a TON of characters all with different arcs, motives, and roles.
The character interactions are playful, and enduring, and the overall dialogue while not anything mind blowing is pretty solid. Hell, even the story is great when you look at the overall narrative.
I can sit here and praise every single aspect of the show.... because every single aspect of the show is great in theory....
What you need to understand about Metallic Rouge, is that it's a 13 episode long show.
That may sound like a none factor, until you think for a second about the sheer number of things I just mentioned this show does, and the fact that it's a completed story. and it does not cut any corners when it comes to any of them.... and that creates some pretty big problems.
Problems that despite the show being great in every way on paper, made it be somewhere between bad-just ok for the vast majority of the people who watched it.
For one the plot is so extremely dense, that there is a good amount of expositions through out of it. They aren't here because they are the best way to tell the story, they are here because actually showing the things being explained would take more time. more time that this show does not have.
That applies to the world building, to the character motives, to the plot that is unravelling, to pretty much everything.
Mix that with the fact that most of the character arcs and plot points are only kept to their very essential elements, and you'll start to see why none of those developments or many twists and turns can leave a true impact.
Pretty much anything and everything in this show lacks enough build up to hit as hard as it can. And even after all that, they ran out of time by the end, and the twist villain's final battle ends up being an after credit scene that basically just tells you "it happened, you won't exactly see it, or the result of it, but it happened".
but that alone wouldn't earn the show this low of a reputation.
That is why I, The massive sci-fi fan consider it to be only "good" and not "great".
but there is a second bigger reason for why most other people dislike the show.
Metallic Rouge is a story that expects you to pay attention. It starts you in the middle of the story, and drops you in a completely new world with history, rules, new terminologies, multiple different parties, planets, a massive cast etc and expects you to pay full attention and slowly catch up to all of these, just to understand wtf is even happening.
And if you don't have at least a decent grasp by the half way point, it's going to get even harder to catch up, with the show dropping twist after plot development after twist. It's by no means an easy watch, and you need to make an active effort to catch up to speed before the major plot developments start to happen. It is worth mentioning that this issue is even more damaging for watching the show weekly, since forgetting information is the last thing you want to do here.
Now mix that with the show cramming what could have been 24-48 episodes worth of stuff into a 13 episode long show, along with the plot structure being hard to follow to begin with, and you can see why your average casual fan would say "fuck this shit" sooner or later.
Metallic rouge is a "good" show. But it's a show that only someone who truly loves the sci-fi genre would be able to get enough enjoyment out of for it to be worth watching.
Considering how it has a pretty big barrier of entry to begin with, being only "good" just doesn't cut it.
There is a world where metallic rouge is a modern sci-fi classic that ran for 50 episodes with slightly better writing and blew everyone's mind. This is not that world.
In this world it's a 6-7/10 show that most people are going find boring and confusing, and the few that appreciate it, only get a "good" experience out of it.
I liked Metallic Rouge. I consider it to be a good show. But I would probably never recommend it.
