Studio Bones is one of the biggest anime studios working today. Though it's been around for less than 25 years, the studio — started by many of the staffers behind the classic Cowboy Bebop — has delivered such beloved adaptations as Fullmetal Alchemist (both versions!), Mob Psycho 100, and My Hero Academia, as well as original anime like Space Dandy, Wolf's Rain, and SK8 the Infinity. And for its 25th anniversary, Bones is releasing a brand-new original anime titled Metallic Rouge.
Metallic Rouge takes place in a world where humans and androids coexist, but that fragile peace is under threat by an android rebellion against the human government on Mars. The anime follows an android girl named Rouge and her human partner tasked with murdering nine leaders of the rebellion. At Anime Expo 2023, we got the chance to speak with Studio Bones President Masahiko Minami and Toshihiro Kawamoto, studio co-founder and Character Designer & Animation Director of Metallic Rouge, with translation courtesy of David Higbee.
Though Metallic Rouge was not conceived as an anime to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Studio Bones, it did coincide with the date, and Minami thinks there’s a lot in the upcoming anime that represents what makes Studio Bones special.
"We have a lot of original anime, fantasy anime, hero action, and robotic ones," he said. "So we have kind of this progression and this history that did feed into Metallic Rouge and made it possible. This anime has some of the best parts of what we’ve done in the past."
At first glance, the story of Metallic Rouge immediately brings to mind Blade Runner, with its neo-noir plot of robot revolts and the agents sent to stop them, but it also has clear mecha anime vibes in some of the robot designs and a grounded, more contemporary than futuristic overall look for its world. It makes sense considering that the character designs come from Kawamoto, who has worked on a number of sci-fi shows, from several iterations of Gundam to Eureka Seven and, of course, Cowboy Bebop.
"I may have leveraged my know-how from mecha anime to some extent," Kawamoto said. The trailer shows Rouge transform into a more mechanical design: "I did help on those and my experience with mecha did inform my designs here," he continued.
But Kawamoto made it clear that the intention was not to do something like Gundam, but to aim for a feel that’s more grounded and realistic. As the animator and designer explained, the idea is that Rouge as a character "could actually exist somewhere and not be too far fetched," more akin to his work on Cowboy Bebop, which notably took a very grounded approach to a space-set story. Still, Kawamoto doesn't think this new show should be compared to his past works, because "it has its own unique style and unique take."
Minami agrees, and when asked if fans should prepare by watching previous projects from the studio, the producer took a long pause and struggled to come up with one clear answer. That being said, he did suggest Cowboy Bebop because of the grounded look of both stories, and particularly Studio Bones' work on the feature film Knockin' on Heaven's Door because of how the staff traveled to Morocco to get real references from real places.
"Both have unique worlds and stories about people relocating to the stars," Minami said. He also recommended fans check out Eureka Seven for how it creates a recognizable yet unique sci-fi world to get a taste of what Metallic Rouge does.
As for real-world parallels, Metallic Rouge and its plot about a war against robots rising up against governments and outgrowing their programming may not have seemed particularly timely even a few years ago, but that’s changed. The rise of AI, particularly in the arts, is troubling, and a big reason why Hollywood is coming to a stop with a game-changing strike for both the WGA and SAG-AFTRA.
The timeliness of Metallic Rouge is not lost on Minami, who does agree that the anime’s themes resonate with current events.
"There definitely is an impact of those issues on this," Minami said. "We want to be able to connect with real world issues, and the situation around the world, so themes of AI and other timely themes are definitely reflected."
One important distinction, however, is that Metallic Rouge doesn't feature evil AI necessarily, but focuses on the androids as sentient people simply seeking to exist.
"The most important concept for the anime is coexistence," Minami explained. "We're of course borrowing a science-fiction scenario, but there's a concept of coexistence you can definitely interpret within a modern context."
For more Anime Expo coverage, check out our interviews with the voice star of Pokemon Concierge and the CEO of WIT Studio.
