The animation is so deliberately stylish that it becomes the story itself, every frame a small argument about what a Nean actually is. Rouge wants chocolate and redemption in the same breath, and the show trusts you to feel both things without explaining either one. The pacing collapses under its own ambition, but the visual precision and character work are real enough that you forgive it.

Humanity defeated an alien race called the Usurpers with the help of combat androids known as Neans, then settled Mars. In peacetime the Neans became laborers and second-class citizens who rely on their human masters for Nectar, a drug they need every day. Rouge Redstar is a Proto-Nean, an independent android able to call up a powerful metal exoskeleton. She works undercover for Aletheia, the government body that regulates Neans, alongside her human partner Naomi Orthmann. Their mission is to eliminate the Immortal Nine, a group of Proto-Neans who threaten humanity for unclear reasons. Meanwhile, an investigator heads to Mars to look into a string of murders in which Rouge is the main suspect. Before any of that, though, Rouge wants some chocolate. The result is a sci-fi action mystery built around the hunt.