Before start i will not include spoilers in this review (or at least keep it at minimum possible).
You know in every piece of entertainment, especially in fiction, there are always
examples of works, that try, to entertain/please the viewer in 2 ways.
By either trying to appeal to as much different groups of consumers,
as possible with mix of various themes, that specially strike not to say pander to certain people which can be done in quality way by putting thoughts
into it thinking about consumers needs, or just for the profit which can be hit or miss.
And other way to reach viewer, would be more dangerous, but potentially more impactful as well, by narrowing down themes presented,
keeping way of directing purely for needs of author, and vision of end result without much safe thinking no matter how unusual it may sound.
Ergo Proxy fits into second category perfectly now to explain why.
Setting and Direction :
Ergo Proxy is set in a world, that at first, may seem as deja-vu post apocalypse ruined earth in not so far anymore future.
With technology outburst and humans, being less and less of humans we know at present and non humanoid beings Auto Reivs doing large chunk of dutties for us .
Remainings of the earth cities go, into special system that tries to make the most of what is left both from resources and population standpoint.
We all probably watched quite a few, or many post apocalyptic movies with flicks about natural disasters caused by either
force of nature or full on action scenarios, with bulky robots destroying everything up.
Dont get me wrong Ergo Proxy setting was used before but not so much in a way EP did it .
From the very start this series, gives you quite obvious signals that it will not be about just resolving present problems, pure survival, recovery or giant explosions everywhere this is not Terminator.
It is more about layered Mystery, and realizing what is real and what is just desperation and routine playing with our minds espect large analyze of mind in specific situations and philosophical themes .
Add cryptic dusty nature of series, and way of directing with giving just enough side clues for one to start putting individual puzzles along with watching what actually happens.
And if you are into that kind off story telling, where problems must be identified to be even considered as problems this is anime for you.
Think of Evangelion and Ghost in Shell as refference since i cant resist but to notice combined elements of them everywhere in this anime since you can ask 5 persons to say their image of it after completing it and get 5 different answers for what this anime was about.
Story & Pacing :
Story can be described with words commonly reffered, in this anime as raison d'etre is a term used to signify one's own existence purpose of life. Since it is so difficult doing non spoiler review for this show.
Opening parts start with showing 1 of remaining cities, of romdeau being monitored and controlled in most literal sense of word possible.
By Intelligence Bureau which is only source of law and direction for remaining population of city. Despite being monitored constantly and equiped with only the most nessesary life resources and without
almost any freedom, ever since birth, i cant explain why exactly without spoiling.
People agree too survive and reach recovery someday not surprising, except nothing is as it seems remmember this when you watch this show.
All that soon changes when suddenly mysterious being appears from the shadows and spokes these words Everything became so clear we must punish them, followed by can you hear Pulse of Awakening?
Next you see false sense of security, is shattered and city becomes disrupted. By both Disappearance of precious Proxy that was keeped in romdeu and Auto Reivs robots going wild against commands all that combined unleashed chaos .
Re-L Mayer investigator in inteligense Bureau is sent to investigate the case but in the process is attacked by another mysterious being.
Since that moment she gets uncontrollable curiousity, which leads her to discovering more about 1 particular man named Vincent Law.
Who on first look looks nothing like someone, that could be source of events that occured prior.
But without important spoiling i can say that Vincent and Re-L are core reasons for many themes in ergo proxy.
Themes like living under glass bell, god complex, narcissism, identity crisis, reconstruction of reasons behind human empathy and patterns in living and ruling and so on.
In many ways 1 of major points for about series, story besides revealing all mysteries behind chaos,infected auto reivs, relations between proxies humans and events prior to start of everything nasty on earth .
Is in reaching self awareness and self understanding people lost it ages ago but somehow both Vincent and Re-L are pushing on oposite sides trying to reach different but at same time same goals.
Very much like actual people we so much try to explain ourselves to others while not keeping attention of what other side think about it. What human is what heading towards idealism leads to?
That road is not so fast and pacing in first 6 or so episodes can seem quite slow but it is nessesary for questions to accumulate and world build, when things actually start to open they never stop.
Aside from mentioned stuff story makes you think about just how much can humans be self destructive assholes to both themselfs and world and really adds more fears for the future sine taking that much for granted is fastest way to oblivion basic powerfull truth .
When roads unite things get even more complicated and during the course of series you will constanly wonder who is the real culpit in whole story.
It is not all about destination it is about experience and that can be said in so many ways in case of EP and depending of how you connected you may draw much different conclusion then i am .
That is beaty of mysteries isnt it.
Art & animation
Art is beautiful done mostly in dark pitch black tone and modest quite realistic lines in shapes of characters eyes,arms and bodies.
Which may seem weird if you are too used to oversized moe blobs which in this case is 1 of big signs that you are better avoiding this series.
Cgi for fights and movements of robotic parts, helicopters and so on range from very good to semi choppy in case of rail shooting scenes for example.
Rocks falling, surface cracking, body detaching are all examples of overall pretty consistent animation.
Sound
OST-s in ergo proxy are mixed with cyber punk and more of techno industrial vibe. It fits nicely to whole theme behind it and all no problems at all silent moments are never ruined by it and intense moments have proper background bgms.
Characters
Re-L is as i pointed out quite open minded, and extremely curious and righteous about world in comparison, to others to the point of looking unnatural for envirmoment she is in.
But can be quite demanding,awkward and unreasonably arogant towards others esp vincent which keeps her from being 1 sided character and gives her depth.
Pino is in show mostly for keeping at least bit of light tone, in otherwise very intense depressive atmosfere by being adorable.
She also adds theme of human superiority complex, over other forms of life and not even system when it comes to recognizing what can and what can not have emotion.
Vincent is self conflicting character, who suffers from major case of lower worth issue and cant seem to know how to express himself well but knows how to listen and obbey orders.
As oposite to hot tempered RL which listens only when Grandpa tells her. His character growing is simetric with growth of the anime itself the more he opens up the worse and better situation gets.
Raul is type of character that listens to what he wants to hear, and closes on what he is not interested in.
He is only character that seems to resemble real politicians, and like them he is character you are supposed to hate at first but understand his pov after you know those close to him.
Also he is only 1 besides 1 other person that i cant mention that has his clear vision of system that he would apply to people.
But since he is not in position to be at the top, he instead gets disorted from following commands from above.
Daedalus his role is quite big but for me to tell you, i would need to go into major spoilers.
Instead i will tell you this imagine what blind love, can do to person now amplify that with facts that source for that blind love cant be reached without major violations.
Well thats him in nutshell creepy obsessed little lab weirdo, who sets his goals above any immoral means or tools needed to achieve it.
Overall most of characters in this show can be considered as real characters instead of placeholders, they all create synergy and very much contribute to the world.
Unlike type of series that fokus on creating 1 or memorable protagonists while neglecting side cast largely to make protagonist i wont argue which way is better.
Conclusion Ergo Proxy is not anime for everyone, people should not change themselves but adapt if they are not sure
to really have patience, high enough attention to pull through rough start.
