"Nothing to really applaud in the end, but to hate on it would just be grabbing low-hanging fruit."

Metallic Rogue. Where do I begin with reviewing this? I feel like I'm investing more time writing about it than it deserved. I was drawn in by the cyberpunk designs and the initial sense of mystery. The beginning felt like a blend of Ergo Proxy and The Soultaker, two anime that I've really enjoyed in the past. Once it begun, the series had a promising and interesting start, but once episode three rolls around, the story starts to become rushed and convoluted. Tons of information dumps and monologuing really start to turn the middle of the series either confusing to watch or a slog to get through.

I found out later that the series was crunched from 24 episodes to a twelve-episode production. However, instead of streamlining the story and cutting off unnecessary fat, the writing decided to mush everything together. Sudden changes in characterization, relationships left undeveloped, and sudden hollow motivations are symptoms of this. It didn't really give me an opportunity to bond with any of the characters.

Aside from the poor production itself, I wanted to watch this in Japanese. However, the subtitles were poorly synced. I am unsure if this is an Amazon Prime issue or if the fault comes from Crunchyroll.

Also, music choice gave my ears whiplash. It really messed with the tone of the story. It felt like there were ten songwriters for this anime but none of them actually knew what project they were working on nor who they were working with. I couldn't help but roll my eyes that the main battle theme for the series starts with the line, "The moment has arrived for fighting." It felt as if the series itself was telling me, "Okay, exposition is over. Enough of the boring stuff. Here's the big fight scene now." It treats the audience member as if they were a baby and going to dangle flashy and noisy keys to distract us from everything wrong with the series.

Animation quality had no consistency. Some scenes were stilted and just moving backgrounds while the dialog droned on. Other scenes the amount of keyframes and in-betweens would ramp up in the weirdest places. I don't understand how this could be a solid production from Studio Bones, especially to celebrate their anniversary.

Either way, Metallic Rogue is a decent anime at most. Nothing to really applaud in the end, but to hate on it would just be grabbing low-hanging fruit. Watch if you're a fan of Bones, but you can pass on it if you want. I don't think anyone would judge you for doing so.

Visuals: 5/10
Music: 3/10
Story: 2/10
Characters: 2/10
Design: 4/10
Animation Quality: 3/10
Overall: 2.5/10