2023 marks Bones’ 25th anniversary, and in the winter 2024 season, we’ll finally get to see the series which they’ve chosen as the anniversary release: Metallic Rouge.
When attempting to name the anime studios that are the best of the best, no list would be complete without Bones. In fact, Bones has been behind an unusually high proportion of the best anime series of the last 25 years. We’re talking deeply beloved mega-hits like Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, My Hero Academia, Mob Psycho 100, Bungo Stray Dogs, Soul Eater, Space Dandy—the list goes on and on. Bones was founded in 1998 by three alumni of Sunrise, the studio behind a plethora of sci-fi space-traveling classics like Cowboy Bebop and Gundam.
The first episode of their anniversary project, Metallic Rouge, debuted at Anime NYC in late November 2023, and it was immediately clear that Metallic Rouge is worthy of being Bones’ celebratory crown jewel. Metallic Rouge is a wholly original story, not borrowing from a manga or light novel. The action takes place in a future where humans have colonized Mars and co-exist with androids (called “Neans” in the show’s universe), who they treat as a sub-human servant class. This bloated sense of privilege on the humans’ part is majorly on display in the first half of the first episode.
Like Space Dandy, Metallic Rouge is playing well-worn sci-fi and space tropes against unusual partners. There’s a very Blade Runner-like sense of simultaneous chic-ness of spectacle and the grit of a society that’s been run down. Meanwhile, our protagonist is a cute girl of nebulous age who only eats chocolate bars. Plus, there’s the occasional mech.
Of teenage girls and mechs
The phrase “cute girls” comes up a lot as Metallic Rouge’s creative and marketing teams talk about the show’s protagonists, Rouge Redstar (killer sci-fi name) and Naomi Orthmann. And, yes, they clearly are cute, and they act in ways befitting teenage girls. But just like the archetypes at play within the larger series, there’s obviously a lot happening with them, behaviors that even seem to go against the “ah, cute girl!” typecasting.
We meet Rouge as she’s working as a personal assistant to a glamorous club singer named Sarah Fitzgerald (a portmanteau of two immortal jazz singers, Ella Fitzgerald and Sarah Vaughn). Rouge acts as if she’s a bit spacey, but there’s an undeniable deliberateness to her behavior—a pull and push which becomes more profound by the end of the episode.
The mechs of Metallic Rouge are perhaps not the variety that most anime fans have grown accustomed to. When we think “mech,” we tend to think of the gargantuan figures of Gundam or Neon Genesis Evangelion, or maybe the roughly tank-sized figures in Code Geass. But Metallic Rouge’s mechs are human-size—maybe just with added fancy heels. They feel more like transformations of the character in question than a robot to get in.
Speaking at the Anime NYC panel, series composition writer, supervising director, and highly-regarded mech designer Yutaka Izubuchi brought up tokusatsu—Japanese action TV series and films that heavily lean on practical special effects—as a major influence on the designs. While there are plenty of giant mech tokusatsu, Izubuchi brought up Kamen Rider, and Western audiences wouldn’t be far off the mark at all if they were reminded of Power Rangers—but a very gritty and stylish Power Rangers. This unusual definition of “mech” in Metallic Rouge adds to the series’ intrigue as a whole.
First impressions
As I sat in the audience watching Metallic Rouge’s first episode, I couldn’t help but be wildly impressed. The backgrounds were stunning, the characters struck a delicate balance between sleek and intriguing, and the world-building had real depth. The first episode inspired a lot of confidence that the lore was well thought-out and obviously rich, with Metallic Rouge clearly the kind of series that will offer explanations via the characters’ natural dialogue, as it comes up.
In an interview after the viewing, series composition writer Yutaka Izubuchi and Bones president Masahiko Minami made it very clear that the world-building around Metallic Rouge extends beyond even the confines of the show.
The epic scale of the world is apparent within the confines of the very first episode. To watch Metallic Rouge is to watch a veteran studio try something truly ambitious. And also, damn if it isn’t a breath of fresh air to see a space-set, sci-fi action anime with two female leads. Even as a fan of Bones’ vast portfolio of work, I couldn’t help but feel deeply impressed—and excited to see what the series holds.
Metallic Rouge will premiere on Crunchyroll in January 2024.
(featured image: Bones)
