Metallic Rouge is a cyberpunk mystery worth unraveling

polygon.com:

Metallic Rouge, the latest original anime from director Motonobu Hori (Carole & Tuesday) and studio Bones, is as difficult to describe as it is impressive to behold. A “tech noir” mystery thriller that combines a futuristic cyberpunk setting with tokusatsu-inspired action, the series burns as slow as it does bright, doling out its story and universe at a deliberate pace. It’s an anime that asks its audience to take stock of every dazzling detail on display as they attempt to grasp the totality of its whole.

This is not a mystery that’s going to hold your hand and tell you the who, what, and where of its various parts and key players in explicit terms. Rather, it’s one that invites the audience to inhabit this world alongside its characters as they work to understand who they are and why they are doing what they’re doing.

For that reason, it requires a few episodes to fully acclimate the viewer to the many connective threads of its larger narrative, which is why — three episodes in — I am more confident in recommending Metallic Rouge now than I was when it premiered earlier this month. It’s a lot to take in, but the experience so far has been more than worth it.

[Ed. note: Minor spoilers for Metallic Rouge episodes 1 through 3.]

Metallic Rouge takes place in a future where humans have colonized Mars and live side by side with Neans, humanlike androids who serve humanity and are programmed to obey their every whim through a protocol known as the “Asimov Code,” based on Isaac Asimov’s Three Laws of Robotics.

Rouge Redstar, a Nean android who can pass as a human being, has been dispatched to Mars in order to root out and eliminate a terror network led by the “Immortal Nine.” The Nine are a group of Nean prototypes who do not adhere to the Asimov Code, and are suspected of plotting to overthrow Human-Nean society. Like the Immortal Nine, Rouge is able to act outside of the parameters of the Asimov Code, as well as transform into a superpowered “Gladiator” form capable