Metallic Rouge: Episodes 10 and 11 – Cyan and the Puppeteer

Thanks for visiting Anime Rants with Mono. One of my favorite classic story themes is the idea that the world is a stage, with life unfolding like theater. This theme happens to appear in Metallic Rouge. Rather than a traditional play, the metaphor here is a puppet show.

According to the mysterious carnival entertainer, Puppeteer, everyone is a puppet. I think he is insinuating that we are all be controlled to some extent by something external. It could be as vague as something like the bounds of the law – you are being controlled by the law when you stay within legal parameters. On the other hand, the puppet metaphor could mean something more practical and real: for example, someone is using you for their own ends.

In the case of Rouge, Gene, and the Immortal Nine, they have all been “puppets” for the Puppeteer to control. He’s been manipulating them each step of the way. You can find out more about Puppeteer in the following episode reviews.

Episode 10: Family Portrait

Cyan escapes her room on the ship and, for no conceivable reason, curls up to sleep in a box. The box contained Naomi’s anti-phason gun, but Cyan through it away, off the ship. When Naomi and Rouge find her, Cyan acts extremely childlike, saying she wants to play with “big sister Rouge.” She even hugs Rouge enthusiastically. The personality change was weird but cute. I also find it funny that Cyan is the most powerful gladiator, but has to be placated like some toddler so she doesn’t go berserk.

(Cyan draws her family: Rouge and Puppeteer)

According to Cyan, she only tried to kill Rouge because a voice in her head told her to do it. She claims she can’t disobey this voice. Cyan was apparently created by Puppeteer, whom she calls “father.” But the voice in her head does not belong to Puppeteer, or so Cyan says. She is also surprised to hear that not all Neans have a voice giving them orders. I’m quite interested in learning more about Cyan and this mysterious voice.

Meanwhile, Jill and the others take Gene to see Puppeteer, who welcomes him to the “show.” Gene asserts that Puppeteer is a human underneath the robes and weird mask. I assumed he was one of the Usurpers, but Puppeteer explained that the Usurpers are more like his sponsors. He works with them in order to get what he wants – a most entertaining show. Puppeteer is definitely an antagonist, but I am fascinated by his character.

After visiting Puppeteer, the present members of the Immortal Nine gather around a table to eat chocolate and discuss their memories. They also brought Gene to the table. Besides Gene, the ones present are: Aes, Jill, Grauphon, and Giallon, plus the Id orbs of all the members that Rouge killed: Sarah, Dr. Afdal, Achillus, and Nius. That’s eight of the Immortal Nine gathered in one place. Together, they reminisce about the past, when they lived on a large property with Eva, Dr. Jungheart, and a much younger Gene.

(Memory of Sarah, Eden, and probably Grauphon)

Jill apparently thinks of Gene as part of their family, and she has a role for him whether he wants it or not. She plans to force him to be the leader of the human survivors who will serve the Neans. Naturally, Gene has no intention of cooperating. Although Jill did say once before that she was declaring war on humanity, I wasn’t sure how serious she might be. Now, it’s clear that her plan is to reverse the roles of Neans and humans – making humans an enslaved species. I wish Jill was a more nuanced antagonist, but she’s just not.

Moving on, let’s talk about Eden Varock: The only one of the Immortal Nine who won’t join Jill, despite apparently calling her his beloved in the past. Eden is losing his memories and dying, just as Giallon predicted. So, maybe it makes sense that he’s being vague and saying strange things. But there’s something I’m confused about. Eden said he was helping Rouge because the least he could do is fulfill a loved one’s wish. Who is that loved one, and what exactly was the wish?

Rouge says the same thing later when talking with Naomi. She says, “I’ll defend the freedom of both Neans and humans. I’ll carry out the wish of the one I love.” Who was she talking about? Gene? Was it a coincidence that she phrased it similarly to Eden? Like I said, I’m confused about this. I guess I’ll have to wait and see if the answers come in the last two episodes. It’s hard to believe this season is coming to an end.

My final note about this episode is that it was sweet to hear Rouge talking positively about Naomi. Earlier, Naomi had confessed to Ash that she’s jealous of the concept of family, because she doesn’t have one. She was obviously feeling lonely. Then she happened to be walking by the door to the room where Cyan and Rouge were chatting together. Cyan asked Rouge, “What is Naomi to you?”

Rouge answered that Naomi is “The very best stranger.” In other words, even though she’s not connected by family bonds, Naomi is extremely important to Rouge. I don’t know why she didn’t just say “best friend,” but leave it to Rouge to be a little “off” in the way she talks and understands concepts. At any rate, Naomi seemed happy to hear those words.

Episode 11: Target Planet

Naomi, Rouge, and company are forced to crash-land on Venus at one of the Nean production plants. Opera shot them down. She also separates the group into two halves; Eden, Ash, and Cyan are on one side, while Rouge and Naomi are on the other. They begin making their way through the plant with Opera and Puppeteer watching them every step of the way.

The remainder of the Immortal Nine are also there with Puppeteer and the captive Gene. Jill and Grauphon decide they should return Eden’s Id core. Even if they’re on different sides, they don’t want him to die. As Grauphon hands the Id back to Eden, Ash runs to catch up with Cyan, who was directed by the voice in her head to go a certain way. She tried to resist it, but failed. Meanwhile, Naomi and Rouge are headed toward the micro black-hole reactor that powers the plant.

There were at least two big reveals in this episode. The first reveal was the identity of Puppeteer. I suppose it isn’t spelled out directly, but it’s implied that he is actually Dr. Jungheart. Ash follows Cyan and sees her meet up with Puppeteer. When she asks whether or not he is her father, he assures her that he is. As he removes his mask, Cyan faints for some reason. Ash then sees the true identity of Puppeteer. However, he can’t stop the mysterious man from vanishing with Cyan.

The second major reveal was about Gene and his origin. I’ve never quite been sure if he is a human or a Nean. Well, as the child of Eva and Eden, he is the first human-Nean hybrid. Apparently, Eva fell in love with Eden after helping to create him. We still don’t know if Eva truly died or if she’s alive in hiding somewhere. Either way, this twist caught me by surprise. I now see the hints and foreshadowing, but I just didn’t get it before.

This also explains away the confusion I had in the previous episodes. Eden’s loved one, who was even more important to him than the other Immortal Nine, was Eva. She must have told him that she wanted to free the Neans in a non-violent way. Gene apparently wanted that, too. His wish and Eva’s wish are the same: a peaceful world for both humans and Neans. So Rouge’s loved one that she mentioned must have been Gene.

Speaking of Gene, I was interested to hear that he basically offered to analyze Code Eve for the Immortal Nine. Supposedly acting on behalf of all nine, Jill refused to let him help. She couldn’t trust him because he was human (or at least partly human). Jill won’t allow anyone but Neans to create the new world – and it will be a world primarily for them. Neans will be in power, and humans will be subservient.

All this shows that Gene is actually more reasonable than I gave him credit for – especially compared to Jill. However, as Alice pointed out, Gene is ultimately not different from her. Like Jill, he used violence in his solution. He ordered Rouge to kill the Immortal Nine. Even if Gene predicted that Jill would start a violent revolution and help the Usurpers, he still should have looked for another solution, instead of putting out hits on his own family.

Most of the story makes sense now. So do most of the character motivations. But there are still two other things I’m curious about. 1) Why did Dr. Jungheart do all this scheming? 2) What is Naomi thinking right now? With regards to Naomi, we saw her running toward the black-hole reactor urgently. We hear just a bit of her internal monologue, which suggests that she’s been through something like this before. Whatever happened in Naomi’s past, she wants to prevent it from happening again.

Hopefully, the answers will be revealed in the last two episodes. As this episode wraps up, Giallon approaches Rouge and Naomi, disgusied as Gene. I hope they can see through him. Anyway, that’s all for today. Thanks a bunch for stopping by!