Ergo Proxy

As far as I know, there are no Spoilers or Summaries here. -There is one thing I need to point out about my scoring. The enjoyment of a show is weighed heavily by me. If I can't enjoy a show then what's the point of watching it? Now without further ado. Story: The actual story and plot of the show isn’t bad other then being a bit confusing. It jumps into the plot right away for the first few episodes. The story progresses rapidly at first before coming to almost a complete stop. For about 7 or 8 of the episodes between 10-20,I felt like nothing happened nothing really changed and that the story and plot crawled by very slowly and in some cases made no progress at all. And then at the end when I expected things to pick up and everything to come together like in the movie Fight Club or Donnie Darko. It just didn’t happen. I felt like the ending was throwing answers at me that didn’t add up, like a puzzle where the last 5 pieces don’t fit at all. In a general wholesome look the plot makes sense. But on a detailed level I felt the story was just pulling ideas out of a hat and tried to make things work that really didn’t. The idea was good but it was executed poorly and fell short of its intention. Animation: This is where the show really shines. The visuals in this show are easily some of the best I have ever seen. Many of the visual angles used were unique, fresh, and quite artistic without taking away importance or detail from the scene. The animation was very fluid and realistic. The colors and lightning were also done well. Scenes in bright places were done quite well almost in a blinding way. While the darker scenes did a great job representing the destruction and despair throughout the rest of the world. The art/animation is the best thing about this show. Although there was a lot of dark scenes, so be prepared. Sound: Well I’m not much of a Radiohead fan so the ending theme didn’t do anything for me, I skipped it every time. The opening theme didn’t do much at first but it wore on me and near the end I actually started to enjoy it. Although the OP didn’t fit real well, it was to “active” to really relate with the show. As for background music I can’t really think of any of them specifically which I guess means it wasn’t great but it wasn’t bad either and did a good job of blending into the scenes. The sound effects were good at doing what they were supposed to, adding to the scenes and the detail of the world. The voice actors did fairly well I felt like for the most part the voices fit each character fairly well. I didn’t watch the English dub so I can’t say too much about that. Characters: One of my biggest problems with Ergo Proxy which also greatly lowered the enjoyment as well as overall score was with the characters. I simply did not care about them. The two main characters Vincent and Re-l didn’t do anything for me. I wouldn’t care if they died, or if they fell in love, or if they disappeared never to be seen again. Maybe I might have liked them more if they turned into slugs or something. Re-l’s bright blue eye shadow/mascara whatever it is bothered the heck out of me the ENTIRE series as well. All I wanted to do was wash it away. Also there were a few instances where the producers wanted the viewer to care or get emotional over different things between the characters, all it made me do was yawn. The one and ONLY character I liked was Pino. Pino was used many times as comic relief and did a decent job of it too. When she dressed up in her costume, it was very cute as well. Although even then, there were times when Pino just didn’t evoke any emotion from me except boredom. On an objective level the characters were well developed. You get a good understanding of their story. You even occasionally get a good analysis of their psyche and mental stability. They were fleshed out and felt like completed beings. Some of the supporting characters were well done as well. Although some of them were much more unstable than you originally think and act in ways you wouldn’t have expected. Enjoyment: To be honest, I did not enjoy this show at all. I frequently thought about dropping it but I told myself to get through it. I was hoping that everything would click in the end and I’d end up loving it, but that didn’t happen. To put it simply there were a few times that I’d be watching and suddenly start nodding off in the middle of the episode. The next day when I tried to watch the following episode I couldn’t remember what happened and had to re-watch the previous episode a second time. None of the episodes really grabbed me and held my attention like it could have. My sleeping problem seemed to occur more frequently during some of the middle episodes, 10-20. Some will disagree with this, but I felt many of these episodes were pointless filler episodes. Yes some of them did give a little bit of back-story or history of the world but none of it really had any major impacts on the series as a whole. They could have been reduced to 2 or 3 episodes that could have presented the same information in a better way. Some of those episodes also felt extremely out of place. Many times an episode would start off in a completely different totally unrelated location from anything else in previous episodes. And at the end of the episode you are left scratching your head asking what the hell had just happened. Many times I felt I had wasted 24 minutes of my life which could have been spent on an episode of a different show. Conclusion: From some of the other reviews and from the score, I had some decent expectations for this show. I went in knowing that it will require some philosophical reasoning which is fine with me. But nearly everything about the show seemed to fall completely short of what I anticipated. Even after seeing the “surprises” near the end, I was left feeling uninterested, a “So what” expression hanging around me. Because it is highly regarded by some people I can’t completely say you should stay away from this anime. If you understand that this will be a confusing trip and don’t mind experiences resembling the last two eps of Neon Genesis then it won’t hurt to give this show a try. But if you are like me, and by about eps 8 don’t care about the characters or about the story, just stop before things get really ugly. In my opinion if you don’t see this show you aren’t missing out either. Although I do think if I re-watched it, I might respect it a little more. But the first time through was miserable enough and I couldn’t watch it again. So if you do plan to watch this you probably should re-watch it to fully enjoy the show. If you cant imagine yourself re-watching it then you should stop where you are and move onto a different show.

Ergo Proxy is a highly experimental show, and just like all shows of that kind it always divides the viewers into two camps: while the ones enjoy its complex story and thought-provoking symbolism, the others fiercely criticize it for "pretentiousness" or simply scratch their heads in perplexity, wondering what this whole thing is supposed to mean. As for me, I firmly believe this is an amazing series with no exaggeration about it, and with this review I'll try to explain you why. Since the anime has a site description you can always read, allow me to skip further introductions and get straight to business. STORY Obviously,the most contentious part of Ergo Proxy. The story and the method of storytelling this anime employs are highly unusual, and that is by far the main reason why quite a number of people dislike it. However, I think this story does not "pretend" to be clever - it is clever indeed. Moreover, it makes Ergo Proxy one of the most clever series I've ever watched. First of all, the story at the core is a journey of self-discovery, hence the main idea is pretty simple yet great, at least as I comprehend it: you should find your own way instead of being somebody's follower or lower-rank copy ("proxy"); for that you should realize who you are, what you live for and how the real world looks. The anime certainly makes you ask important questions and reflect on your own life, and that always counts as a great quality in my book. Second, Ergo Proxy is a highly experimental show as it presents a diverse mix of genres: cyberpunk, post-apocalyptic, sci-fi, action, mystery, drama, psychological mindf*ck, road movie and even a bit of comedy, romance and slice of life. Consequently, it results in a very unorthodox narrative full of plot twists & genre switches that many viewers disliked as they felt trolled and confused while watching. Well, I do understand those complaints: it is indeed very unusual, confusing at times and probably not to everybody's liking. Besides, one may argue that the anime goes a little too far with experiments in episodes 15 and 19 which makes them too different from the rest in their style. Perhaps, the show could've done better without those two, as it would've also made the 2nd half of the series more compact to provide better pacing and better build-up for the ending. Aside from that fairly tolerable issue, the plot is very well-written & coherent despite its complexity, and the credit for that goes to Dai Sato - the author of the original story and one of the best Japanese scriptwriters who also participated in writing scripts for Cowboy Bebop, Samurai Champloo and Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex. In fact, it still makes me wonder how he and his team managed to weave all those genres and events into one logical & continuous plot. So, not only those swings & changes are very interesting and uncommon but they also don't exist there just for the sake of it - instead, they actually form the story, with each episode adding something brand new to the plot & character development, and that's amazing indeed. However, the main reason why this anime seems unintelligible to so many people probably lies in its third peculiarity which is the astounding number of symbols & allegories employed: almost every single name & situation is allegoric and requires your interpretation to get the whole story. Moreover, not only those allegories turn out relevant & contributing to the plot but also extremely diverse, referring to Greek mythology, Descartes' philosophy and Shakespeare's plays among other things. No doubt, the high degree of symbolism is what makes the series quite a riddle at times; yet it is in fact a very entertaining and well-thought-out riddle where every element serves its purpose to convey the show's message, and I personally had lots of fun deciphering it. With all those complex aspects the story never turns into pretentious nonsense or something really incomprehensible because it actually answers most questions, though often in roundabout and not obvious ways. That means it just demands a little more attention than in your average series, and if you pay it, you get it. Well, I don't consider myself an intellectual and yet I understood almost everything from the first viewing. There were a couple of moments I didn't grasp but it took me 3 minutes (!) to use google, click the first link and read an insightful explanation that satisfied me. And even if you don't get something it's not a reason to dislike the show - it is actually a great motivation for you because this anime is highly rewatchable, and during every viewing there will be new discoveries that will enrich you. ANIMATION & SOUND Ergo Proxy's art style is easily recognizable for its omnipresent dark colors and realistic yet unusual character designs that give the series a westernized & very artistic look. The animation quality is great except for a considerable inconsistency in character drawing, and the style fits like a glove although some viewers may need time to get used to its murky appearance. The music is a number of ambient tracks by Ike Yoshihiro, a U2-esque opening theme by Monoral and an ending song by Radiohead. All the tracks are nicely composed to create the engrossing and mysterious atmosphere of the series, and even those who dislike the show agree that the soundtrack is simply amazing. The voice-acting is also very well-done as the voices perfectly fit the characters, and the seiyus did a very good job at conveying emotions. To sum up, the production values are impressive indeed, and the style is memorable & totally appropriate for the show. CHARACTERS Well, Ergo Proxy is an anime about self-discovery, hence its primary focus lies on the characters and their development. The main difference from other shows of this kind is that the story for the most part doesn't emerge from characters' actions & choices - rather, the characters are put into an already crafted plot full of twists & symbols mirroring their inner conflicts, and they receive development while going through this labyrinthine plot & unraveling its mystery step by step. As a result, you get a story-driven series with strong emphasis on the characters, which looks paradoxical on paper yet works surprisingly well in reality, being one of the most original aspects of the show. The other interesting aspect is how the characters don't feel overblown in any way. Unlike many other series that endow each character with one or two exaggerated features (extreme cuteness, extreme coolness etc.), often at the cost of everything else, Ergo Proxy successfully avoids that common pattern by presenting a trio of very well-balanced protagonists in Re-l Mayer, Vincent Law and Pino: - Re-l is a confident, no-nonsense investigator with very good analytical and shooting skills which, however, don't exceed the capabilities of a trained person and thus don't make her an invincible action hero or an omniscient genius. At first, she acts rather cold towards others (Vincent in particular) because she's a bit spoiled by her social position and because the circumstances demand her to be on guard all the time. However, as the show goes on Re-l changes quite a bit, and it becomes evident that she's a perfectly normal girl with normal human emotions. Also, she's very attractive but not oversexualized which is indeed an extreme rarity for this medium; - Vincent lost his memories and a huge part of his identity with them, so he feels an obvious lack of confidence... and yet he knows how to repair things, how to hold a weapon and shoot, and despite acting very shy at the beginning he embarks on a dangerous & often bewildering journey of self-discovery and gradually develops into a completely different person by the end of the series. So, he ain't some useless angsty teenager typical for anime - rather, he is a very kind and helpful guy who wants to learn the truth about himself. His angst never feels overblown to the point where it gets annoying, and his development throughout the story is truly one of the most fundamental I've ever seen; - as for Pino, she's an autoreiv that accompanies Re-l & Vincent, providing some nice examples of man & machine interaction as well as some lightheartedness to compensate for the grim & serious setting. She is an awesome & very lovable character who at the same time never gets sickeningly moe because she acts like a normal girl of her age and not some typical loli you often see in anime. Also, the show has one more protagonist i.e. Ergo Proxy, but the identity & role of that guy is a huge spoiler so I can't tell you anything about him - you'll have to learn it yourself. Overall, I would say that the right balance in characterization and the natural step-by-step development is what makes the protagonists very realistic, and while there may be people who don't like it because they find the characters "boring" (or not extreme enough in comparison to other series) I really enjoy this approach. What I enjoy no less is that the supporting cast receive a great share of development as well, with Raul Creed, Daedalus, Hoody and Iggy being the most outstanding examples. So, in general the characterization is great, and even if you don't find the cast that interesting at first, just give them some time and see it for yourself. OVERALL Perhaps, the story could do better without a couple of questionable episodes, and the character drawings could be more consistent. Therefore, I can't really call this show a flawless masterpiece. However, I will easily give it an excellent rating and with lots of pleasure take it to my personal top-10. My final advice for possible newcomers is simple: if you look for some lighthearted entertainment with J-pop, sugoi, ganbatte, tomodachi, squealing voices and bright haircolors, stay away from this anime as you will only waste your time. The same is if you look for an action-driven series because action is not the focal point of Ergo Proxy. However, if you look for a compelling story, if you are not afraid of a certain intellectual challenge, if you are open-minded and able to keep attention for 23 episodes, I highly encourage you to watch this show. Of course, I can't guarantee you will like it as much as I do, but I'm pretty sure you at least won't regret it.

Ergo Proxy might just take the cake for being the most frustrating series that I've ever seen. Not only because of what it does wrong, but because of what it does right—it's based on a great idea, and it features some great art and music, but unfortunately it doesn't know how to capitalize on any of these qualities. The most immediately inviting aspects of Ergo Proxy are definitely the technical ones. It's set in a post-apocalyptic future in which mankind lives in self-contained cities (“domes”). The main city of Romdo, portrayed as a maze of slummy apartment buildings and burned-out streets that contrast with the cleanand orderly buildings inhabited by the government, is a fitting setting that's clearly built with great care and deliberation. The use of shadows and atmospheric lighting is generally excellent. The outside world, an endless plane of ice and rock, isn't exactly a beautiful sight, but it's carefully rendered and features reasonably detailed background art. The character and mecha designs are also eye-catching. Re-l, whose pale face and bright blue eye makeup form an essential contrast with the dark world, quickly became an icon of the series, and with good reason; it's a truly striking and unique design. Most of the cast is slightly more earthy and realistically depicted than the norm, with the character art generally steering clear of the round-faced round-body designs that have become typical. The vehicular and mechanical art is also of high caliber, with great models for the robotic companions (“AutoReivs”) that feature prominently in the series, as well as the flying airship on which a large part of the story takes place. There are occasional lapses in artistic quality, mostly noticeable in the form of inconsistent detailing on the faces and limbs of a few key characters, but for the most part, this is a visually strong production. Further augmenting the technical side of the show is a superb soundtrack, ranging from low key electronic atmospheric noise to full-fledged techno rock that, while not always completely original sounding, is well-made and appropriate for the series. The tracks sometimes feature an element of chanted vocals that befit the slightly religious overtones of the series and the general feeling of impending apocalypse. The combination of the dystopian art and the solid musical score gives Ergo Proxy the kind of atmosphere that would make most entries in the “dark sci-fi” category jealous: It gives us the sense of a world on the edge, pushed to its limit, where something is about to break. It breeds suspense and curiosity. Ergo Proxy is also possessed of a story that, on its own merits, isn't bad at all. Re-l, an investigator for Romdo's Intelligence Bureau, is pursuing a fugitive named Vincent Law, who is sought in connection with criminal activity. At the same time, she notices that high ranking members of the city's government are trying to cover up the existence of monsters called “Proxies,” and decides to investigate the matter on her own authority. As the show wears on we eventually learn a bit more about the nature of Proxies and the nature of the world itself. A futuristic mystery that slowly leads to revelations about the world? Sounds like, with proper execution, this could be turned into an excellent story. Unfortunately it's the “proper execution” part that can make the difference between great and not-so-great works of fiction, and it's for this reason that Ergo Proxy ends up comparable to a great athlete with a broken leg: Full of potential, but incapable of going anywhere. The first third or so of the series is promising. It moves along at a brisk pace, gradually raising questions and answering them where appropriate, advancing the mystery at a brisk speed. However, after this initial success, the story enters a slump from which it never recovers. The most noticeable flaw in storytelling is the inclusion of several episodes that have little (if anything) to do with the plot. These episodes generally feature the characters in strange situations that are clearly meant to be mind-boggling or confusing, such as playing on a game show, having a chat in a hellish bookstore in the middle of nowhere, or interacting with strange creatures in a Disney Land-esque theme park. It's abundantly clear that these episodes are here only for the cheap thrill of making the audience think “what the hell is going on?” On rare occasions they give us pieces of information about the characters and the state of the world; however, that alone is not a sufficient reason for the existence of a large lump of material that is essentially irrelevant, and this information could have been conveyed through dialogue, discovery, or any other basic facet of storytelling. The other major flaw in Ergo Proxy's method of storytelling is the presence of an overwhelming amount of dialogue that strains to be philosophical but is ultimately repetitive and meaningless. Get ready to hear people say things like “this is the ultimate truth that all organisms strive to obtain through self-examination,” or “you think, therefore I am” on a regular basis. There seems to be an underlying theme of personal identity and finding one's reason for existence, and it's conveyed with all the subtlety of a ball-peen hammer to the face. Symbolism, simile, metaphor, repeated themes/motifs, and other standby elements that clever writers use when presenting an idea to the audience—pretty much none of them are in play here, and they've been crudely replaced with line after line of inarticulate pseudointellectual drivel that gets an extremely disproportionate amount of screentime in the course of the series. Character-wise, the series is split pretty evenly between duds and strong cast members. Re-l, the female lead, is the granddaughter of a government official. She's an interesting lead because she's emotionally detached, extremely competent and strong-willed...but at the same time, her privileged upbringing means that she's used to having others doting on her, giving her a bit of a spoiled side. Watching her develop as the series progresses is a rewarding experience. The male lead, Vincent Law, is of the dud variety; he doesn't really have a whole lot of character attributes other than “kind,” “optimistic,” and “confused,” and while he does eventually learn a little bit more about himself, his personality remains pretty one-note. Perhaps the biggest example of wasted potential in the series is Pino, a young female robot who receives a soul due to a virus that affects robots (yes, that's really the explanation). She does have some strong character moments, but is mostly used as adorable comedic relief throughout the series. Now, imagine that: The show is supposed to be making a statement about identity and self-realization, and here they have a cast member who is both a robot that suddenly has emotions and the ability to think for herself, and a young girl who is coming of age and learning about life and death. It doesn't take a lot of thought to realize that she would be a PERFECT character to develop in order to convey these themes artfully and elegantly, but instead she ends up wearing a bunny suit and cracking jokes for a majority of the show. It's really too bad; they had the proper tool sitting right in front of them, but they didn't know how to use it. The result of all of the aforementioned flaws is that Ergo Proxy pretty much writes the book on everything that's wrong with the recent trend of “deep” (I use that word sarcastically) media directed at teens: It repeatedly uses dry and overly complicated dialogue to explain relatively simple concepts, repeatedly resorts to the use of plot contrivances like amnesia and multiple personality disorder to explain events, and repeatedly puts its characters into strange “is-this-a-dream-is-this-not-a-dream” situations, to the point where the whole thing becomes laughable, which I'm sure is not the intent of its writers. While not entirely devoid of strong attributes, Ergo Proxy is ultimately an example of a good idea gone to waste.

I am not a fan of this Anime. The show starts out with great promise. The Artwork is beautiful, the world is atmospheric and the characters seem full of potential. However very quickly the story begins to take an unfocused long path toward an ever weakening storyline, slowely revealing each character to have almost no depth beyond their basic neurosis. Even the art style weakens only a handful of episodes in. This Anime includes some pretty painful filler, some full episodes but even more offensive are some of the episodes that contain one or two moments of "main story" plot, but are mainly filler in the formof characters rehashing old ideas or questions we the viewer has already figured out the answers to. The show spends a lot of time dabbling in questions of existentialism and theology, this comes off as simplistic and childish as the characters indulging in these ideas are so one dimensional and unfleshed out that the viewer ends up with no interest as to what conclusion they come to. By the end of this anime, i found myself watching just to be able to say that i hadn't given up on it, i no longer cared about any of the characters, and i no longer cared about the out come. my advice is to give this one a miss

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