Metallic Rouge Ending Explained: What on Earth Was Going On?!

Despite being one of Winter 2024’s most-anticipated anime, many people might not be aware that Metallic Rouge aired its finale on Wednesday. While it had a lot of positive aspects, Metallic Rouge’s hurried storyline led to a complicated ending that many people didn’t understand.

While the show overall was largely disappointing, there’s no denying that there’s probably a really exciting and interesting sci-fi anime somewhere in this mess of characters and technology.

Let’s try to untangle this ball of Neans and Usurpers and try to explain in simple terms what was actually going on in Bones’ original series.

Obviously, this article will include spoilers for Metallic Rouge, so don’t read any further if you want to try to understand this for yourself first!

The Beginning: Destroy the Immortal Nine

Simply put, Metallic Rouge is set in a sci-fi world where humans coexist alongside robots called Neans. Similar to other sci-fi stories, these robots are bound by Asimov Laws that restrict their freedoms.

Rouge Redstar is a proto-Nean, able to operate outside of the Asimov Laws, and is tasked with assassinating nine other Neans with the same ability – the Immortal Nine – who are planning to overthrow human rule.

Rouge is tasked with collecting the Immortal Nine's Ids – essentially the Neans’ souls.

With the mind of a child, Rouge is looked after by Naomi Orthmann during the mission. Jean, a director at the Ministry in charge of Neans, appears to be the one directing Rouge’s mission.

The Middle: Code Eve and the War Against Aliens

As Rouge and Naomi travel around the world to hunt the Immortal Nine, we learn more about the backstory of the world.

Humans had previously been attacked by aliens known as Usurpers. However, they managed to survive thanks to another alien race, known as Visitors, who provided the technology to create Neans.

At the end of the anime, it is revealed that Naomi is the very first Nean and works as an intermediary between Humans and Visitors.

We also begin to learn that the Immortal Nine are not a rebel group – many of them live very individual, human lives in varying conditions and have no interest in overthrowing humans.

However, some of them are part of a group known as Alter, with prominent ringleaders including the journalist Jill Sturgeon and shapeshifter Jaron Fate.

We are also introduced to a travelling carnival, led by the Puppet Master, who appears to have their own interest in the Immortal Nine.

We then start to learn about the real reason behind Rouge’s mission. Jean had tasked Rouge with killing the Immortal Nine and collecting their Ids because each of them, including herself, contains a part of the Code Eve program.

If all parts of Code Eve were collected and the program activated, it would free all Neans from the Asimov Laws. Code Eve was developed by Eva Cristella, mother of Jean and creator of the Neans, due to guilt over restricting the Neans’ freedoms.

Code Eve is the driving force behind most of Metallic Rouge’s story, but different people want it for different reasons.

Jean wants to collect the Immortal Nine’s Ids to stop anyone from activating Code Eve, fearing the chaos that would follow. The Alters, meanwhile, want to activate it and free Neans to rebel against Humans.

Metallic Rouge’s Ending: The Carnival’s True Identities and the Fight for Freedom

At the end of Metallic Rouge, most of the story’s players converge on Venus, where Alter seemingly convince Jean and the carnival to support their plan to extract Code Eve and free the Neans.

With Alter having seemingly won their way, the Puppet Master reveals themselves to be Roy Yunghart, father of Jean and creator of Rouge. Roy basically faked his death by transferring bodies and orchestrated Alter’s success so he could get hold of Code Eve himself.

Roy explains his own ambition of seeing Neans surpass humans and shuts down the Immortal Nine to showcase the lack of freedom they had. However, Rouge maintains her freedom.

The final battle sees Roy, using Cyan’s body, fighting against Rouge, using Naomi’s Id. The two protagonists combine their powers and manage to win against Rouge’s father and sister.

Rouge, beginning to understand what freedom means to her, decides to activate Code Eve to free all Neans.

Then, as one last twist in this incredibly bendy tale, the Puppet Master’s sidekick, Opera, is revealed to be a Usurper (the aliens that once warred against Humans) in disguise.

Opera planted a virus into Code Eve, intending to send the Neans into a killing frenzy against humans.

However, Eve, the Neans original creator, foresaw such an event and fitted Code Eve with an antivirus that managed to nullify the threat.

Operas flees, her actions – and the series itself, to some extent – signalling the start of fresh hostilities between Humans and Usurpers.

Metallic Rouge ends with a short epilogue showcasing Rouge and Naomi working together as part of a war effort against the Usurpers, fighting a force led by Opera.

There are many parts of Metallic Rouge that go beyond what’s been mentioned here, such as the story around Rouge’s sister Cyan. However, if you’re straight-up confused as to what the actual story was, this will hopefully clarify some things!

Would you like to see Metallic Rouge return someday? Let us know in the comments and follow us on Facebook for the latest anime news!