Better than watching it weekly and forgetting things that happened before.
Summary:
- Metallic Rouge is an original anime by Bones.
- It's praised for its production values and interesting world and themes, but many fans find it too confusing.
- Weekly format is actually hurting the anime, and you might want to watch it when it finishes airing instead.
Metallic Rouge is the new original anime project from studio Bones. They are known for series like My Hero Academia (Boku no Hero Academia), Bungo Stray Dogs and Blood Blockade Battlefront (Kekkai Sensen).
Outside of these famous series, Bones has actually done their fair share of original projects, like the recent SK8 the Infinity and Carole & Tuesday. These projects are often very ambitious — and sometimes, not very successful — but they are often worth watching just for their uniqueness.
A somewhat confusing anime project
Metallic Rouge is the latest in Bones' lineup of originals. It has already been compared to Blade Runner — especially with its exploration of the similar themes of humans and androids coexisting, with the latter being discriminated against.
The anime has been praised for its animation and soundtrack — as well as its interesting setting that we don't see often in anime nowadays. However, its confusing setup alienated many fans and made them drop the series. The first episode takes the “show, don't tell” approach, and to many, it felt like the series started from the middle.
If you're confused by Metallic Rouge, it's totally fine.
You definitely aren't alone, and watching series that overwhelm you with information weekly isn't the best experience. If you want to watch the anime properly, but are afraid of getting lost in the details, perhaps you should consider waiting until the anime is over.
This kind of series is often much better when binged — you don't spend a week between the episodes and don't forget any important details.
Watching anime weekly isn't always the correct choice
Anime isn't always made to be watched weekly. In fact, weekly discourse sometimes actively makes anime worse. Especially in the case of anime like Metallic Rouge, which has a lot of information to process, fans watching weekly will forget a lot of important plot details between the episodes.
Curiously enough, the opposite is also true. Netflix-style batch releases often hurt the popularity of anime that would otherwise be a hit, especially if the anime is suited for weekly watching. Stone Ocean, the sixth part of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure (JoJo no Kimyou na Bouken), comes to mind.
Some fans won't even try getting into the anime
Sadly, fans often won't even give series like Metallic Rouge a chance to explain everything. Many newer otaku will drop an anime after the first episode if it's not crystal clear from the get-go.
It's understandable — why spend your time on something you don't understand — but if you follow this mindset, you'll miss out on many great anime. Metallic Rouge feels like it's one of those.