This is a hard one to review. Modern cyberpunk anime are hard to come by. Especially in this isekai hell we seem to be stuck in these days… Think one of the last ones I watched was DimensionW somewhere in the mid-2010s, Metallic Rouge introduces itself with a bedroom wall poster that immediately captivates. The style of the whole anime is a welcome departure from generic-fantasy world or spaceship/sky 2d background. It has a misty, industrial and concrete aesthetic with lots of warm hues, and at least in the first half was not so over-articulated as to assault the eyes, but has a pleasing and soft sheen, like the first thing that came to mind was Tinsel City in Bubblegum Crisis- which itself was strongly inspired by Blade Runner… there are lots of callbacks to classic cyberpunk and in the first episode the lead character transforms into what looks for all the world like a Hardsuit. YES- This is the real deal! I was so excited…
The music fits the world perfectly, it has a really good soundtrack. The opener to this is very early-90s in style, but my personal favorite is the entire ending. The 4 fps animation and the song together just make a great music video. This is one of those anime where I actually look forward to the ending more than the show itself. About that…. well; bear with me.
The characters got on my nerves at first, especially Naomi- and her American voice-over really added to that impression- but the two leads grew on my over time and even though their roles in the story were often confusing, all the characters in this were likeable- even that Vash-looking villain, I actually loved that guy and wished he had more of a role. Every single English VA did a superb job- this is one of the best simuldubs I’ve ever heard, literally ever- it has some of the best voices in the biz and sounds just as pro and polished as the soundtrack sounds and the visuals look.
So you’d think I would have given this all a pretty high recommendation; it’s cyberpunk, it hits all the nostalgia points dead on, it looks good, sounds great, has attractive characters and great music, so what’s not to love huh…. well what about the story?
And that dear viewer, is where this thing falls flat on its face.
In that same first episode a big fight leads to a death that- being in the very first episode and among all the polish and flash should have been very impactful, but even though it looked terrific there just wasn’t anything that made the fight feel moving. And this was a constant problem throughout. They spend the first several episodes setting up a world where people (humans) are using (and abusing) these androids called Naeans (which are recharged by a cerum injection or they die) and throw a bunch of concepts at us- but most of it is delivered through verbal exposition. And a LOT of it. I got sick of the terms they kept tossing around… “Immortal nine”, “Nectar”. “Asimov Code”… using the dreaded Tell Not Show method of world building. Even if you always knew what the Asimov Code was, and its implications for androids, it should still be a major plot-point of the story. And it sort of is in one episode, before the show just wanders away from it and never makes it an issue again. After the halfway point we don’t even see the ordinary Naeans again. It seemed like someone died in every episode, but they would usually be someone we met at the beginning of the episode or who never had a major role. So their departure leaves no feeling at all. Or they ended up doing something so mind-blowingly stupid you can’t feel bad for them. There’s bullets whizzing around all over the place you idiot! Get down! Oh, see, that’s what happens! THAT kind of stupid.
Eventually it tried to weave an origin story for the Naeans that resembles prettymuch every single Mad-Scientist-Dad-Doing-Experiments+Creepyweird-wife-also-scientist-he-murdered plot you’ve ever seen before and every bit as cheesy. It ruined the anime. But even when it wasn’t pulling inexplicable rabbits out of hats or making some convoluted reveal, most of the time it just felt totally lost and nonsensical. By about episode 9 I gave up trying to understand anything that was happening, and probably enjoyed the show more as a result.
Forget trying to like or understand the story, just watch the shiny hardsuit fights (it never explained what those transformations are or why they can do them) and enjoy the pretty pictures and music. Don’t ask any questions you’ll just get more confused. That was my experience of the whole anime. I don’t even know what to make of it.
Was it bad? No. Was it good? Not really. Was it interesting? Well it depends on how you look at it. Should you watch it?
….I’ll leave that up to you.
