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 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 clean ... and 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.

There is some excellent production in this cyberpunk thriller/road trip set in an eerie utopian futurescape filled with robots and starring a female protagonist in the vein of Ghost in the Shell's Motoko.

Except Ergo Proxy's Re-l Mayer has sexy eyeshadow. And she's petulant to a degree that she mirrors today's shallow socialites. Ok, so she's absolutely nothing like the strong-willed, decisive and intelligent Motoko. But hey Mayer's young, she's got makeup and dresses alternative style. Yes, you can see where the animators' priority lay with this production. Things get even more ridiculous when a girl in a pink bunny outfit ... appears and sticks around.

This feels like a more accessible version of TeXhnolyze, although unlike that excellent anime, Ergo Proxy falters too much and ultimately the story feels ponderous with its lack of pace, drive and purpose. It has a po-face the entire time, trying to fool you into thinking its a serious grand epic vision with some amazing revelation that will shock you to your core and hail it as the toppler of all cyberpunk titles before it. Needless to say it fails on all counts. It falls flat on its mascara-ridden face.

TeXhnolyze had the same face, lacking make-up, but backed it up with substance, it really did shock you with its revelations in the latter half of the series, and when the crap hits the fan for many characters, you feel something, because they're portrayed as humans. In Ergo Proxy, everyone is seemingly made of wood and is as lively as a plank. I do find it interesting how obnoxious the main protagonist Mayer is in this show though, its a refreshing change in a way, being that anime's main leads are usually goody two shoes, but instead of being an interesting character with a flawed personality, she's just plain obnoxious all the way through.

The series however does reach a particular zenith with episode 20 which revolves around the theme of multiple personality disorder, successfully mindhumping the viewer in an entertaining fashion. There are meaty topics and ideas thrown around this show, I mean with a title like Ergo Proxy it would be a crime not to have characters spouting painfully obvious commentary on mainstream philosophical theories, but whats actually a crime is to have no one interesting or empaphetic and nothing compelling or engaging occuring on screen. The show is lifeless, which is deeply ironic.

The show's end credits have Radiohead's Paranoid Android, it gets points for that at least.

There is some stunning artwork in this show, it has an inspiring opening title sequence, and there is an educational element which takes you through some interesting philosophical concepts - at least, there was in the fansub I watched (Shinsen). If you are someone who likes very much to read into things, to analyse them and pull them apart, I have no doubt that this anime is already or is soon to be in your favourites.

And the series presents us with two likeable, believeable charecters in the gorgeous Real and the naiive Pino, who are well-voiced and in the case of comedy relief Pino, given ... all the best lines.

However, as unpopular as it may make this review, I couldn't possibly overlook the huge plot holes and "unfinished" feel to the series. Charecters are poorly developed, the animation starts to cut corners as the series goes on.
Without revealing too much, the last episode is called "Deus ex machina" - lit. "God from a machine" - a latin phrase describing a plot device used to turn hopeless situations into happy endings.
After remaining faithful for 23 episodes, the viewer is left feeling several things - confused, unsatisfied and betrayed among them.

The plot is poorly paced, and many episodes seem... worse than out of place. Completely unnecessary. I drew the conclusion that when the original script was written, the producers thought they'd have 2 seasons, or at least a normal 26-ep run. This was not so, and the anime suddenly jumps from a drawn-out journeying arc, full of semi-filler eps, to its conclusion.

Nevertheless, the sheer beauty of the series keeps your eyes on the screen. The graphics are far from the anime conventions, and ultimately, the impression made on you by them is what will remain with you after watching.

In my opinion, Ergo Proxy had the potential to be the best anime of its genre. I loved the dark atmosphere, the design and the seriousness of the characters. With Kiri and Paranoid Android Ergo also has a masterpiece of an OST. Fun fact: after Radiohead have seen the preview of the Ergo, for the first time in history, they have approved of their song being used in a commercial project.

All in all, the first 13 episodes were 10/10.

Beginning with the Quiz episode, it all just went downhill. The plot wasn't ready while the anime was in production, which resulted in fillers for a ... 23 episodes short anime (!) and nonsense, weak continuation of the story.

I would absolutely love a remake.

I picked this from my dropped list while making some "cleaning". I remembered a friend of mine who was very hyped back in 2008 and made me take a look but I dropped it after 5 or 6 episodes because it simply didn't cath my attention. Unfortunately this anime in specific needs exactly that - to jump the 5-episodes barrier. ;) So lately I've read some stuff here and there and decided to give Ergo Proxy a second chance.
OK, I'll be honest - once again, I can't say I fully liked it. I'll try to explain why in short because the series are not new ... and there are a lot of reviews already.
First of all I think you have to be a bit older if you want to enjoy fully this anime. I'm not sayng young viewers are not smart enough or something but this is definitely not your tipycal series - actually it was (and still is) very experimental back in 2006. What I'm trying to say is that one shoud have more... life experience to understand some of the references in it, which are actually great and I did like that part of the show.
Second, you really, really have to watch beyond episode 5! It doesn't matter if you are hyped to watch it or just giving it a try - it just starts VERY SLOW!! Not to mention very confusing and I think this is what will make a lot of people to drop it (like I did at my first try). Actually a lot of things remain unexplained till the end so don't be surprised if you feel lost at times. That's another weak point of the series.
In fact the middle of the anime is very cool, I liked it. It successfuly combines funny and tragic elements, a bit of action and romance, the character development is fluent and understandable and what is happening is actually interesting. And again, the last few episodes seemed hasty and I didn't like how rash all of it ended.
So I wll say it once againg - this anime is not for everybody. It is dark. Very dark. The art itself is in minor colors. And you have to pay a lot of attention all the time, maybe check a few things in Google... I'm still trying to understand why so much people liked it but maybe the problem is in me. But that must not stop you from trying it - it's a mind challenger and they don't make stuff like this nowadays. In fact I can't compare it to anything new. Also the soundtrack is great.

The best way to describe this anime is that, it's a disasterous waste of a potentially epic plot.

In my opinion, the main problem with this show is its continuing struggle to make ideological attitudes that are really just out of its scope. Truly, this's one hell of a freaking philosophical anime. When I say 'philosophical' I don't mean it has got complicated plot or that it's hard to understand for me (as many fans like to assume), rather, I mean that it simply aims to deliver/discuss supposedly-divine ideas instead of actually entertaining you as a viewer.

When I started this series, I'd really great hopes about ... it. I mean, for the whole time of the first 20 episodes you'll get tons of continuous questions asked by the main characters about stuff in their world (like proxies, lands outside the domed city, and their own self). Those questions have been asked for 20 episodes non-stopping, while we as viewers go absolutely 0 answers for any of them. Personally, I'd started to build hopes of an epic twisted ending (e.g. as in, say, FullMetalAlchmiest). How possibly could we have all those great questions awaiting for answers this whole time, without getting a truly astonishing ending at last?

To be honest, I would be lying if I claimed that you won't get anything in the end. There IS actually a twisted ending for this series, however, it goes in a totally different direction that what I would've had hoped for. Actually, 'most' of the questions asked throughout the series will either be left open for your own thought, or they'll be explained by extremely boring and absolutely non-satisfying philosophical dialogues. I think the author of ''Ergo proxy'' had some cool ideas about the life, the world, and god, however, this anime definitely was not the right way to deliver them.

In addition to all of that, I'll also have to mention one popular criticism that's often stated by reviews; which is the terrible fillers. Ergo proxy have really some of the craziest fillers I've ever encountered. Since it's action/mystery genre series with very serious attitude, I was kind of paralyzed at the amount of the unnecessary stupidity in ep 15 and 19 fillers.

I should be clear that after all, I am not saying this's trash or anything. It's actually a good anime with amazing action, good characters, and unique plot. That's why I am giving it an overall score of 6, however, I am really sad that, with little improvement to the plot, this could have been one of the greatest animes I've ever watched.

It is becoming increasingly clear to me that a person falls into one of two categories: either you like the stuff from the producers of Ghost in the Shell, or you don’t. I’m slowly finding myself falling in to the latter category. At the risk of sounding like a heretic, labeled a pariah by the MAL community, and being burned at the stake, I’m going to say: Ergo Proxy is overrated. This is not to say that it isn’t a good anime. But it’s definitely no masterpiece. Why?

Ergo Proxy poses as intellectual, but comes off irritatingly confused. In its defense, there are 2-3 episodes ... that are illuminatingly lucid. But 20+ episodes leave you feeling alone, helpless, and my case, stupid. I’d ask myself, “Does everyone get it but me? What did I miss? Am I that dense?” My insecurities were put to rest when I read reviews of Ergo Proxy (such as the Examiner) that essentially called the show a disappointment.

Story: 6. Without saying too much, the story is ultimately a mystery that involves learning about humanity’s "plan" to ensure the survival of the human race – and the "plan" consisted of multiple contingencies. All of this wont be revealed until episode 26. Of course there are other nuances, relationships, and developments along the “26 episode” way, but much of them are tertiary to the story line.

Reviewers have called Ergo Proxy the ultimate MindF$ck. At first, I was so excited! Because, who doesn't like to get F%cked? Alas, upon watching Ergo, I’m sad to report that my mind is still virgin territory. In fact, the story was so slow, it put me to sleep a few times. And anime almost NEVER puts me to sleep!

The lion’s share of the dialogue in Ergo is boring techno/philosophic babble. There were however moments of fresh respite along the way that provided the viewer with a clearer understanding of the story. (the jeopardy show episode was by far the most helpful/enjoyable episode). But the periods of repose were not strong enough to repair the painfully drawn out narrative. I feel like the series could have just as easily (if not for the better) been abridged to 12 episodes.

Animation and Music: 8. I think the animation and music are redeeming qualities of the show. Animation is set in a very flat/grayish palate to nicely pair with the bleak landscape of the post-apocalyptic world. The ending sequence has Radiohead! I think enough has been said about the anime and music already.

Character: 7. I like Re-L and Vincent. They are likable characters. However, the anime isn’t really a study of character development as it is a study of the character's enlightenment. But one of the joys of a story where the characters come to an epiphany, is to see how their lives are changed as a result. Remember the Matrix, and how, after realizing he was the One, Neo went all uberSayen? Yeah! Unfortunately, we aren’t really given much time to spend with both Re-L and Vincent after the “revelation.” It would be really cool if they made an Ergo Proxy 2, to show Re-L and Vincent do with this newly acquired knowledge.

Enjoyment: 5. There were some memorable moments in Ergo Proxy. However, they were often overshadowed by longer moments of insipid, overly emotional, and BORING episodes. Honestly, after watching all 26 episodes, I want my 600+ minutes back. The last episode is quickly becoming the most flat climax of all time for me.

Ergo Proxy, the sci-fi anime that has been hailed as a cutting-edge classic, takes place in a dystopian future where Earth has been hit by a climate catastrophe that has left the planet with unfeasible conditions for the existence of life as the human species has seen. forced to live in small domes, each functioning as an independent city.

These small domes were responsible for simulating human society in conditions similar to the previous one. Counting on the help of machines, each citizen of the dome has an AutoReiv, a kind of automated droid, to carry out, from more basic activities, such as household chores, to ... performing essential functions, such as locomotion and public safety.

The story follows Re-l Mayer, a police agent responsible for investigating a series of murders supposedly related to the emergence of a new virus that affected automatons (cogito virus). By contracting the virus, these anthropomorphic droids developed a kind of individual consciousness that resulted in rebellions against their masters.

As he progresses in the investigation, Re-l was faced with the presence of a humanoid creature, with a bizarre, horrendous, reckless appearance, and who had superhuman abilities, which would become known as Proxy. The plot takes us on the journey of Re-l, who was fascinated by these creatures, to discover what these Proxys are and their relationship to planetary devastation.

This review aims to comment on the main symbols contained in the plot. Therefore, there will be minor spoilers. Be forewarned.

The core of Ergo Proxy revolves around a reflection on the creation of synthetic life for the survival of the species and the individuality that each being has, as well as its reason for existence.

The course of the episodes reveals the great plan of the human race, called Project Proxy, for the restoration of the planet after the cataclysm that consisted in the creation of 300 biologically modified creatures, the Proxys, to adapt to the high rates of methane present on Earth. These creatures were responsible for creating a new human race that would live contained in vaulted cities to restore Earth while the original humans took refuge on another planet.

This new race of synthetic humans created from the cells of the Proxys had a series of limitations, such as the inability to reproduce, which is why they had the help of the Autoreivs, cyborg automatons of a personal nature.

The plan consisted of storing detailed information about the genetic mapping in these Proxys for the restoration of acceptable biological conditions. Once this restoration took place, the second phase, called the Pulsar of Awakening, began. Once the methane levels were reduced, the sun's rays could penetrate the Earth's atmosphere and life could thrive, the original humans would return to the planet and rule over the new race. As for the Proxys, they would cease to exist because they do not have protection mechanisms against the sun's rays.

With this in mind, the plot follows attempts at reflection about the reason for existing.

Raison d'entre, or reason for living, refers to the idea that every human being is born with a pre-established objective, with a plan or a reason that will guide their motivations for each step taken in their lives.

The existentialist philosophy arises to the detriment of this thought. Relativism and the instigation of a dualistic world imply questioning this "raison".

René Descartes considered thought as the only absolute truth and this thought was only achieved by questioning all things that exist. "Why are we here?", "What's the point of existing?", questions like these permeate the existentialist philosophy.

Inspired by the questions of the French philosopher, Kierkgaard, the main exponent of existentialist thought, saw in humanity an unbridled search for a purpose of being. This incessant search for a meaning in life would always result in questions without clear answers, which culminated in a harrowing life.

Ergo Proxy bombards us with such questions. While the new human race, genetically perfect, walked towards the same mistakes as the original humans, the Proxys, imperfect beings, walked towards their pre-established destiny.

Born knowing that his only meaning was to lay down his life for a decaying race and yet to work hard to create conditions conducive to that race was every Proxy's raison d'entre. Questioning the meaning of this caused the decline of these creatures.

Many of the Proxys considered this original plan absurd and turned against the humans themselves. Other Proxys decided to surrender to the anguish of their existence and passively watched the further decay of the human race until the end of their Domes. While others succumbed to madness because they could not bear to live with such affliction.

The same can be observed with AutoReivs. The Cogito Virus, inspired by the "cogito ergo sum" of Cartesian philosophy, pondered the emergence of the "I". From the moment that the droids contracted the "cogito" virus, and conquered their own ability to think, they inevitably turned against this subservient idea of ​​having a reason for living.

If you think, then you exist. If it exists, then doubt. This harrowing quest for doubt breaks the paradigms of existence. This is the evil of the "cogito virus".

But if there is no clear reason to live then why exist? If there is no meaning, why would there be life?

Faced with this absurd search for a non-existent meaning, existentialist philosophy points to a possible path: suicide. Kierkegaard rejects this idea as the most viable and directs people to live in this constant anguish until they find a new meaning for living.

The ending of the anime reflects this thought well. When Proxy One, the first to be created, discovers the plan of the humans, he questions his reason for living, creates Ergo Proxy to put an end to the human race, to Proxy One himself and leaves towards suicide. However, Vincent Law rejects this idea as the only solution and prefers to stay on Earth with Re-L until he finds a new reason for his existence, since he is no longer of use to humans.

If it exists, it has form.

But how to survive until you find a new reason to exist? How to find answers if they don't exist?

Existentialism sees Existence as prior to Essence. So, the human being is the one who molds his own existence, through thought, creating his own values ​​that will determine the meaning of his life. And this is the great error of Descartes, Kierkegaard and all others who follow this philosophical line.

For Aristotle, Form is everything that makes a being what it is. It is the shape that differentiates a tree from a chair, even though they have the same physical substance (wood).
A tree is what it is because it has its shape: Roots, trunk, branches, leaves, fruits. And the human being recognizes them by knowing their form.

Even if some of these elements are missing (like the leaves), anyone would still be able to recognize that being as a tree.

Everything that exists is delimited by its Form (Essence) and, consequently, acquires a substance (Existence).

The substance does not define what it is. Wood does not choose to be a tree, table or chair. She needs a way to decide this perfectly and happily. Such is human existence.

Aristotle's Hylemorphism is the essential union of substance with its form.

It is precisely because the being has a certain form (essence) that it is constituted by elements that determine its perfect existence.

The essence is immaterial and therefore it determines existence. A triangle can be small, large, blue, red, isosceles, scalene, equilateral. But no matter how it exists, its essence is unchanging: a three-sided polygon.

It is precisely the essence that ensures the unity of being. In other words, your identity. Impure, gross matter, alone, is formless. Rather, it needs a form to make it comprehensible.

If something exists, it has form.

Therefore, it is necessary that the human being embraces the essence to then find the reason for existence.

If doubt shapes a harrowing quest in existentialist philosophy, for Aristotle the virtue of form is the perfect form that will guide human beings.

Ergo Proxy, the modern classic, raises these important questions, even as it points to the wrong answers.

Ergo Proxy has been highly appreciated by people whom I respect very much, so I decided to give it a try. Besides, it is often compared to Neon Genesis Evangelion in terms of mind-fuck, pardon my language, and as I think Eva is a masterpiece, I just had to watch Ergo Proxy.
Not that I regret my decision, but it wasn't worth it. Sorry, I don't get the hype around it. It is so mediocre for me, I can't even say.

The series' plot jumps at you right away from the very beginning, which leaves you a little bit astonished. Although as the series progresses, you get ... the overall picture, bit I think Ergo Proxy tried to do too much at a time. There are too many things it wants to talk about, too many matter it wants to address. Besides, despite all the struggle, the plot is very banal. There is nothing original in it, not for me.

The best part of the series is the art. The sceneries, the characters - everything is well-adjusted to show the atmosphere of the world. Even thought it is done in very dark colours, which sometimes makes it difficult to watch it, it just feels right. I did notice a few problems with long-sots, such as eyes, which are on different levels, etc, but I think it's okay considering the overall beauty of the art.
Another point for the opening sequence, which is really-really beautiful.

The sound did nothing to me. Radiohead as the ED is cool and all, but does it really suit the subject and the mood? OP was decent, I've let it play a couple of times, but it's nothing like Mushishi opening or Elfen Lied's opening or Mononoke's opening.
The background music...was it there? It did literally nothing to me, which still makes it good, as it means it suited well the sequence.

The characters are the strong side of the anime as well. They are complex, they have their reasons and they develop.
Real is the girl-with-the-gun in the beginning. She is emotionless, she can't express her feelings, she loves to fight. She is a bit of bitch, if you ask me, in the beginning. But as the story develops, so does her character, and in the end we see a completely different Real, who "believes".
Vincent is actually a much more complex character, who has several layers, pun intended. At first we see a stupid-looking guy, whose eyes are always closed. I, for one, couldn't not wonder WHY THE HELL HE LOVES REAL? Thank God, at least that part of the plot was revealed later.
I absolutely loved Raul Creed. His character is unexpectedly human and has some surprises, which I can't talk about without spoiling everything.
Deadalus is another example of a background, but still a complex character. Pino is more of a child than any other human child in anime.

Concerning enjoyment - sorry, not at all. At first it was frankly boring, then it became average, but in the end it became boring again. I don't know why it turned out like this, because having such a plot and characters, it should have been so much better, but it wasn't.
The last few episodes seemed like they tried to cram a huge story in just a couple hours. It was an overload of information, which still seemed to say boring.

In fact, Ergo Proxy disappointed me greatly. No way I'm ever going to advice someone to watch it.

Okay Lion Tamers, we visit another in a chain of very peculiar Anime.

We discuss of course, "Ergo Proxy".

Because of the unusual nature of the story line, or should I say 'narrative'; one cannot in good conscience call this anime a story. It is more of a psycho-babble rant. Is it trash? No. But if one had to ask if it were useful; the rub would tend to peel skin.

From the reviews I've read, for Ergo Proxy; one gets a clear idea that absolutely nobody (including me) actually got to the point where the most relevant question is ever answered. While the story lets you surmise, ... and characters have their own opinion; that question, requiring absolute truth, gets buried in relativism. Hidden in plain sight, and undetectable. There is the strong possibility that the primary question has no answer, at all, and was created that way; as a clever editorial ruse, by the author.

But I digress. Let's get to the actual technical review. To that end I'd like to enter into evidence some notes I wrote to myself, while watching the legendary Ergo Proxy.

[
1). The characters are all quite persuasive, and the sense of tension is obvious. But there are problems with character development as well. The largest of which, throughout the story, we don’t have clue-one who the bad guys/good guys are. It seems to me that the story is trying to appear non-adversarial et al. Perhaps the author is trying to hide a bad story in excessive confusion (i.e., blizzarding with BS).
]

Throughout the narrative, my doubts (starting from the very beginning) continued to mount. Those doubts found their true voice upon completion of Ergo Proxy, in a last few lines that sounded very much like "... Catch me if you can ...".

[
2). Atmosphere is dark and forbidding. Problems exist with this environment. Music is used far too often to declare a situation forbidding, when the scene does not warrant this much attention.
Characters' attitudes are decided by the use of musical atmosphere, when it is not actually clear that these attitudes are in evidence.
]

[
3). Another comment on the musical score.
While the music often sets the proper mood, does it have to be set by artists with so little connection to the creation of actual music? The OP and ED are both performed by Grunge bands (MONORAL and RadioHead), which are almost always depressing and have no real interest in uplifting Mankind. The proper purpose of true music. Cool sounding refrains aren’t the same thing as useful music.
]

I get the notion that anybody can enjoy any kind of music they want. So can I. This music, and the inter-stigial score, lacked anything that I could enjoy. This took away from, and distracted me from the rest of Ergo Proxy. So in the end, if you like the musicality of the voice of Alanis Morrisette, you will like the vocals and supporting music in Ergo Proxy. If, like me, you like voices that have some passing experience with an education in music or vocal performance; then watch Ergo Proxy and tolerate the racket.

And the last note to myself;

[
4). One of the plot-devices is becoming a problem. The ‘cogito’ virus, while government doesn’t like it, and sometimes results in the androids becoming murderous, has not been described with enough evidence to point to the Virus as a negative in the culture. The authors want this to appear obvious, but there is nothing in the actual narrative to make this a truth.
Cogito Virus may in fact be a good thing. Especially true if it is a response to the government, obviously run by an automated group of entities (which don’t always act in the city’s best interest); as some kind of Android protest.
]

Indeed, it becomes clear, by the end of Ergo Proxy, that not only did the city's creator build the "Cogito Virus", but like all other events in the anime; Mankind weaponized it and turned it on themselves. More than ironic, almost prophetic.


So it seems I have some of the same misgivings as many other viewers. I realize this review is not following my usual style, but it does seem somehow to fit the disjointed and ultimately hollow narrative that is Ergo Proxy. Unlike others, I will summarize the story line in Ergo Proxy, as follows:

1). Several thousand years ago, Mankind did something really nasty, and laid waste to the entire planet of Earth.

2). The remaining Mankind built the Proxies. These Proxies were left to their own devices, to lead the remaining Humanity to domed cities which the Proxies built.

3). The original Mankind, then built spacecraft and departed to the nether regions, never to return.

4). Clearly, the Domed Earth Inhabitants had become more or less sterile, and depended on their City Proxy to fertilize eggs which were maintained thereafter in incubators. These were matured, and then occasionally dispensed to the Citizenry.

5). The City of Rondeau, loses its' Proxy, and gets another one (by military invasion) from the Domed City of Mosk. Mosk is reduced to ashes by the launching of a ICBM, from Rondeau's military facilities, in order to end any confrontation from any future quarter.

6). Original Rondeau Proxy returns, and in an amnesiac fit, kills the new Proxy, obtained from Mosk.

7). While much of these events are traversed, Rondeau descends into total chaos, and increasing by adversarial groups, leading to mutual extinction by gang/tribal murder.

The End.


This story starts on such a cheery note, translates through even more cheerfulness, and ends on a note so sweet, my teeth began to rot. In other words, Ergo Proxy is not for someone with a weak stomach. I know I'm being a bit glib, but this anime is that sad, and depressing. The worst part of the story, indicated by the end commentary, this anime is an unfinished work. There was obviously supposed to be a episode 24 and probably more.

Now I finally get to deal with a more usual presentation of information.

I will not talk about the characters. The characters, in a philosophical sense, do not actually exist. They are simply place-holders to hang the story on. In the end, they will all die of murder or deprivation. No struggle, involving the characters, actual resolve any topic or mystery. So in a theatrical sense, the events merely show people as part of the artwork, and have no real significance.


Now for my comments on the artwork.
The artwork is an attempt to present something that is mildly new and fresh. For 2006 it is a new kind of cartooning. The scene-angles, and other ideas were (for the times) very avant-garde. But more than 80% of the artwork is done in scenes that are so dark, and moody; that the darkness and moodiness get in the way of providing a vehicle that the artist might be able to demonstrate real talent with. If I stop-watched the anime, I think I'd get more than an hour of scenes where no artwork exists at all. It is that dark.

Much is made of the artwork for the character of Re-L. OK, not badly done. If I didn't know better, I would have guessed that they used a live action actor, for this woman, and cartooned her photography. Her face is a little too good for artwork. The designers of this anime want you to watch her, they need you to watch her, while they use your attention to hide something else; the empty suit behind the curtain (but I've talked enough about the story). She is the only character of note, because every scene she is in concentrates on her face, and almost always dead-center in the frame. And she is in a huge number of scenes.

Vincent gets an occasional scene in which his face is centered, but Re-L is the star of the artists.

Pino. I agree with other reviewers. She is pleasant comedy relief; she continues to play her harmonium, like Nero plays his violin, as Rome burns.

I have said enough about the music. I hated all of it.

And now for the question I almost asked at the beginning of this review: What is a Proxy?
Like I said, we can surmise, and some characters have their own opinion. But there is nothing in the story that let's us have any clear answer. Re-L almost asks that question several times, and nobody, not even the Proxies she gets near, ever explain their own existence. Re-L is left with a World in ruin, a large calibre shotgun, and enough cartridges in the magazine to put herself out of her own misery. But she will not be smart enough to pull the trigger and end herself; the only reasonable course of action. Checkmate.

So to conclude; Ergo Proxy. Long-winded, winding, loud, noisy to the point of distortion; and in the end has all the charm of sitting down to a Christmas dinner while failing to notice the house-fire across the street.

I give Ergo Proxy a very generous 6. And may the actual God of the Universe have mercy on its' soul!
I ran out of mercy, after 9.5 hours of Ergo Proxy wore out my manners.

If there's anything that can be said about Ergo Proxy, the show will make you think - either philosophically or in a "wtf is happening" kind of way, usually both. With a techno-futurist vibe, Ergo Proxy has a lot of potential but fails to come through in some respects. I spent about half the time excited about the plot/characters, and the other half just plain confused or bored. Honestly, its enjoyment mostly comes down to personal preferences.

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PLOT: 4/10

----- Summary:

To summarize, the plot starts with the main character, Re-l Mayer, investigating the prevalence of a disease spreading among androids (called "Autoreivs") in her city, Romdeau, that ... gives them consciousness. Her interest is soon diverted to Vincent Law, an immigrant that is associated with the strange events occurring. Within the first few episodes, the plot develops into a journey with Re-l, Vincent, and a conscious Autoreiv named Pino as they attempt to uncover the truth behind the mysterious creatures called Proxies.

----- Part 1:

The first half of the show has a relatively straightforward plot and is light on the rambling philosophy. While it still leaves a lot of unanswered questions, the show follows along cohesively and seems like a detective/action anime with high potential. Many new mysteries are set up, the characters' true sides begin to be revealed, and the main characters encounter a number of diverse obstacles/circumstances.

----- Part 2:

However, the second half of the show is where the plot cohesion simply disappears. Episodes 14-19 are a mixture of boring and incomprehensible, with a few "specially-themed" episodes that offer very minor background information about the characters/world but are decently boring. For other episodes in the middle of the show, it's difficult to understand whether the events are being dreamed by the characters or actually occurring. Tie in a dose of murky philosophical rhetoric, and the result is a confusing and painful watch.

----- Part 3:

Episodes 20-23 have a faster-placed plot that kept me more interested than the middle episodes (14-19) but was somehow even more confusing. I enjoy watching psychological/philosophical anime - WHEN I UNDERSTAND IT. No shame to Ergo Proxy - for many watchers who paid deep attention to the detail, it was probably a philosophical feast. However, I personally could not make heads or tails of the different plot lines, themes, characters, and ideas thrown into the mix in the final episodes.

----- In total:

After finishing the show, I read a synopsis explaining all of Ergo Proxy. This was the point where I understood that I had not picked up on around half of the plot themes/connections, especially those in the middle of the show. While I actually quite liked the plot after reading an online explanation of it, I feel like the show would have been stronger had it just taken a slightly slower pace and been more clear in its plot progression. Ergo Proxy is generally considered to have an "experimental" style where it doesn't clearly delineate plot progression, but it just left me confused while watching.

I definitely would have enjoyed the show more if it had emphasized different parts of the plot, such as the Cogito virus and the discovery made by the characters in Episode 13 (obviously, unexplained to avoid major plot spoilers).

CHARACTERS: 9/10

If there's one area where Ergo Proxy has its strengths, it's character development. There are 3 main characters in the show - Re-l Mayer, Vincent Law, and Pino. Most of the side characters besides these 3 experience little to no development and are generally annoying/problematic, but the growth of these 3 characters definitely makes up for it. The only reason I didn't give the Characters section a 10 was because of the one-dimensional side characters.

----- Re-l Mayer: (pronounced "Real") Easily the most enjoyable character in the show. Some people find her pretentious, but I savored every moment of screentime with her. She is a tough, purpose-driven character that refuses to bow down to people's expectations of her. I personally love her character style, especially her makeup and outfits.

On a deeper level, Re-l experiences massive character development over the course of the show. She progresses from a closed-off and painfully stubborn young girl to a mature, sensitive woman - without losing her deep inner strength. Critically, she is not perfect; her fighting skills are moderate but do not make her invincible as commonly occurs in anime, and she has some notable personality flaws, which is part of what makes her so interesting and realistic.

----- Vincent Law: I initially found this character to be a weak, people-pleasing side character that was unable to stand up for himself. In many ways, the Vincent Law of the first quarter of the show was polar opposites to the strong, contentious Re-l Mayer. I found his character style really annoying, especially his slick-backed hair (which, luckily, disappeared after a few episodes) and his red jumper/outfit (which, unluckily, he never changed throughout the show - is "change of clothes" not a concept in the post-apocalyptic world???)

However, if kudos should be given to anyone for character development, it's Vincent Law. As he discovers himself over the course of the show (in more ways than one), Vincent began to develop as a strong, reliable, and confident (albeit still socially awkward) character. To avoid spoilers, all I'll say is that Vincent discovers who was all along on the inside and learns how to protect the people he loves.

----- Pino: Initially introduced as a child-like Autoreiv, the purple-haired Pino quickly gains significance after she gains consciousness due to the spread of the disease that brings consciousness to androids, called Cogito. Although Pino still shows robotic tendencies at the beginning of the show, she truly develops as a character with heart and loyalty to her friends.

While some people might pass her off as comedic relief in an otherwise depressing show, Pino is the most direct allegory for how consciousness develops and what it means to be "truly human" or "have a soul."

ART: 7/10

Disclaimer:
Do I know that this anime was created in 2006? Yes.
Does that affect how I'm going to judge the art style? Not really.

Honestly, the art was - OK. There are definitely some scenes where it's impressive, but nothing absolutely stunning. Also, the anime makes good use of unique angles to make the art really pop; one popular angle that shows up a lot is looking at Re-l from the tip of her gun when she extends it and aims it at someone.

The good parts of the art are somewhat offset by its faults:

1) The facial proportions of the characters get occasionally messed up and awkward - not all the time, but enough to be noticeable and slightly annoying.

2) The color palette is pretty muted and dark throughout the anime. I know this is supposed to contribute to the "apocalyptic" and punk themes of the show, but it got frustrating after a while and made some scenes hard to see.

3) A lot of the "background" art, e.g. the art for background characters and settings, is pretty underdeveloped. However, I let the show's creators off easy for that since, yes, it was created in 2006 when anime art styles were generally less refined.

Overall, though, I generally liked the art. If the show was ever remade, I think it could definitely benefit from a more refined art style that would really elevate the show to its cyberpunk aspirations.

SOUNDTRACK: 10/10

I never skipped the intro and the outro is by Radiohead - no words needed, it all molds the show's vibe perfectly.

OVERALL: 6/10

- While I generally enjoyed this show, I'm still left with a lot of mixed feelings about it, especially when it comes to the plot. I feel like the creators tried to pack the show with philosophical themes and concepts without really tying them cohesively to actual plot points. I'm sure some people enjoy that kind of vague concept-driven story, but I personally need at least a decently cohesive plot to stay interested.

- After I finished the show, I read a full synopsis of the plot and understood most of the things that I didn't pick up on while watching. The show's concept is actually really interesting, although it's anything but obvious while watching it. The plot had a lot of potential, and there is DEFINITELY material for a Season 2 (which will never happen), but the execution of that potential felt disjointed to me. I was expecting a fact-reliant sci-fi anime and instead got something very vague and theoretical.

- Would you enjoy this show? Sure, if you like philosophy and don't mind being confused for a few episodes on end. However, if you're a more plot-driven person, please stay away from Ergo Proxy; it will just frustrate you to no end. The only reason I held out until the end to finish the show was because I enjoy character-driven shows and Ergo Proxy certainly had significant character development. Still, considering that I couldn't tell whether the characters were dreaming or actually experiencing things (for more than one episode), I felt strung along by a narrative hidden from everyone but the show's creator.

- Here is the synopsis I read (very helpful for AFTER you finish the show):

https://cureclover.livejournal.com/759.html

- Another helpful website that discusses the philosophy of Ergo Proxy:

https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/watch/2021-07-30/ergo-proxy-purpose-in-the-apocalypse/.175735#:~:text=Ergo%20Proxy%20makes%20the%20point,in%20order%20to%20attain%20it.

- After learning about the plot, I have to consider: Would I rewatch this? Maybe. If there was a manga, I would read it, since manga tends to be more condensed and clear than anime when it comes to philosophical themes. But since Ergo Proxy is an original anime, I would have to rewatch it to fully understand the plot - which I don't see myself doing anytime soon.

- Ergo Proxy started with some very unique ideas, themes, settings, and characters, but in terms of the plot and philosophy, messed up the execution. If your interest is piqued, feel free to watch it - but don't say no one warned you about its shortcomings.

Hi Guys this is my first review on MAL so excuse my inexperience.
Ergo Proxy can be described in a nutshell. The word to describe it would be " pretentious". The first few episodes started off rather well displaying the danger of the ergo proxy, The secret of the past society {earth} and the overall introduction of the anime's premise.

I thought that ergo proxy would have perfect answers to the mysteries given in the first quarter of the series. The only important fact i got out of the whole anime was that the ergo-proxy was vincent. spoiler much. Alot of my questions were answered in the ... most awkward way. Remember that Quiz show that Vincent was competing in? All those trivial information on the story like the methane gas bombing and such were mostly answered in that episode.

Ergo proxy had a major problem. It's main character Re-al. Her character to me served no major purpose to the entire story apart from being a important grandaughter, a love interest and most importantly an observer. My favourite part of the entire anime was when Iggy got the cognito virus and started calling her a BITCH! that was the most relatable aspect of the show to me. RE-Al's bitchyness.

Although I hated the story, It did have decent artwork and soundtrack. When I first saw the cover of ergo proxy in MAL. I thought to myself that it had some dark dystopian theme in the picture shown above with Re-al. Although it did have that theme it was done quite poorly. To me this mediocre anime is way overly praised and should watch other animes that is done better e.g Pyscho-pass.

Story 6
introduction of a good setup but following up poorly
art 8
for cool mysterious figures and animation like the ergo proxy
sound 7
the op and ed were good but nothing memorable
character 5
for shallow backstories and a bad main character
enjoyment
5 kill my joy after episode 3

OVERALL - 6/10

When I first saw the opening of Ergo Proxy, my expectations were very high but it turned out as a big deception.

I liked very much the cold color palette and the artwork in general is great, including sound and music. In other hand, the characters have no complexity and nothing special at all. Except by Pino, which is the only memorable one.

The story is the worst part of the anime. It's nothing more than a bunch of philosophy and theology references mixed in a salad of pseudo-intellectual plot.
Plus there are many episodes where nothing happens at all. It's frustrating and underestimate the viewer.
Unfortunately, Ergo Proxy ... is a waste of time.

I'll be fair. I had quite the high expectations for this anime. Not only from what I've heard about it, but from what I saw on the trailer and first episode.

It starts with an interesting concept. It's not an uncommon one, but it seemed to be well-executed. That, and the great art-style and animation, including Re-L's character design made me want to continue watching. I was starting to get hyped, since I haven't felt this need to continue watching something so badly for a long time.

Third episode comes. The opening is really interesting, and got a feeling out of me. A character who seemed to ... be a supporting role starts to become more important.

Then, slowly and without realising it so quickly, the animation begins to become... inconsistent. Their faces become distorted at times, and then they look really gorgeous. But even with this unstable art, it manages to be great as a whole. The opening doesn't evoke the same feelings as it did before.

The characters seem to do the same things, or have the same behaviour. Where's the character development? Not to be found. Yeah, there are some episodes dedicated to the acceptance of their identity, yet it seems they don't really change that much with their revelations. It tries to be smart and it kinda achieves it, yet it goes nowhere with it.

Was it a letdown? Yeah. Is it a bad anime? Eh. Not really. It's just not what it's hyped up to be. I was expecting a deep, heavy anime, so perhaps that was my mistake.

There's sparks of some really interesting world building and likeable characters in here, but it's bogged down by an unnecessarily confusing story and you'll be spending most of the time wondering wtf is going on. Like... I bet there's some people who think that makes a work more 'clever' but honestly if your audience is struggling to understand what you're saying maybe you're just not saying it that well? This isn't helped by near filler episodes that don't add much (if anything) to the plot beyond perhaps a tiny tip bit of information buried in more confusion. But the show did at least get me ... to watch the whole way through, and there were parts I enjoyed.

I'm pretty indifferent to Vincent but Pino is adorable, Re-L being so flawed kinda made me like her more (and it's something she improves on), and even Iggy was fun, and on the whole their dynamic works well. The supporting cast doesn't quite have the depth I was hoping for though. Daedalus's motivation turns out pretty shallow in the end, and Raul likewise fails to make a compelling player in the game. The other proxies we meet aren't all that intriguing either.

The world building is honestly the best part of the series - it's a unique imagining of a post apocalyptic world. Unfortunately our understanding of it is gleamed in small bits and pieces, and often distracted from by very strange episode choices (I'm looking at you random quiz show episode). I would have loved for a more detailed look at how the different bubbles work and how the proxies were made and such, and understanding these things would have made parts of the series feel less like a fever dream and like I could actually follow what was going on. Maybe for some people the intrigue is a good thing, but I think a balance need to be maintained and this is very much at one end of the spectrum where you're not going to have anywhere near the full picture until you've watched all the way through, and might even need some parts explained after that. Genuinely, the big picture is great and I can see what they were going for, but it doesn't hit when it takes so long to put together and you don't get time to appreciate it.

So, I can see the potential for a series I might have loved in here, but by the end I don't have any strong feelings about it one way or the other. It might be worth a watch if the premise intrigues you but be fully prepared to not understand what's going on half the time. If you like stories with clear direction/stakes then maybe pass.

Ergo Proxy is a dark, gray-tinted anime with more misses than hits, but with enough digging into it, the concept can leave a shockingly good impression.

Story & Writing: 7.5/10
Characters: 6/10
Art: 3/5
Sound: 3/5

Avg: 6.5/10

This is a tough show to recommend. As the story and writing goes, it starts off strong, albeit jagged and disheveled, but then gets totally lost in the middle, for about 10 episodes in my opinion, including an inexplicable info dump as a crutch for the convoluted plot. Thankfully, it scrapes together a very memorable conclusion. Many episodes are conceptual, and they don't piece together until you look back at their journey as ... a whole. It's a show that would bring much more clarity on a rewatch, but due to its slow and melancholy nature, I would have a hard time doing that. I had to read a critical analysis to understand the ending, which was fine I suppose. You'll want to watch the episodes very closely, as they don't always connect cohesively or explain themselves.

Characters were ok. Re-L is a good main, but can be very moody and fussy. Pino provides childlike innocence through the lens of an android, with some great highlights. Vincent Law is one of the toughest main characters I've watched. He is supposed to be, but it's hard to really connect with anyone in this show. Maybe that's the point.

Art wasn't special -- I remember lots of gray and typical animation. The sound was fine. I really like the OP as it captures the nearly metaphysical themes of the show, but other than that.. voice acting was ok, and I don't remember much in terms of music. The ambience was good.


Spoiler commentary this paragraph:
I will say that I love some of the concepts of this show. Early on, Vincent in my opinion showed an amazing metaphor for how we can give up what makes us personal and unique and brings us passion, in order to fit into whatever community, society, religion, job, family, or circumstances that we think we have to, with the key moment when he leaves the city and opens his brilliant green eyes. And to imagine that this painstakingly mild-mannered, bashful individual had another side of himself designed for killing, is a great dichotomy to the duality we all have, and can learn to understand and direct, rather than being hidden and shamed and manipulated for it. Anyways, just a couple personal inferences that I grabbed and held onto.


So yes, if you commit to the end, it can stick with you. I have to go with a 6, barely, because so much of it felt like a slog. But, I occasionally still think about it and, months removed from it, I'm glad I watched it. While Ergo Proxy is remarkably ambitious telling the elaborate juxtaposed story of Vincent Law, it doesn't always execute well, which is a shame, but is still admirable in its own way.

Alright... 40+ series down, this is my first MAL review, and I'm writing it for the first show I dropped after more than than a few episodes... Ergo Proxy was visually stunning and could have been "great", but the story line and pack of depth was just too much too bare. Ambitious but empty. After about 19 episodes the ambiguityncaught up withitself and it began to feel like they were making it up as they went. I rewatched (more than) half the series to better understand what complexities I might have missed, but I didn't miss anything, ... A pretentious waste of time. Anime equivelent of the "Lost".

Ergo Proxy was all genuinely pretty good, and I found myself very invested in the world and characters as I watched; I loved how it really tried its hardest to make the viewer question what /was/ real, keeping us confused in line with the characters as everyone figures out what is and isn't actually happening. I loved watching the development of all the characters, and wish that this series had been given more time to expand on things like what day-to-day life was like for regular citizens. the characters were all likable, and even Pino who is there to lighten the mood has her own ... complex story as much as she is allowed. On top of that, her comedic relief isn't annoying and I found her to be very endearing. Re-l and Iggy may have been some of my favorite characters, and I do wish Iggy was given more screentime so that we could see how deep their relationship really went, though I understand that there's only so much you can do with one season of a show. Vincent is, well, Vincent. He's our protagonist, and he has a very interesting story to follow, I won't go too deeply into it as to avoid spoilers but watching him find out who he is, watching him come to terms with it, and even watching him try to fight away the truth was all very impactful and well written.
The only reason I couldn't finish Ergo Proxy was because of the horrible, horrible representation of "split-personality" disorders, properly known as DID/OSDD. I understand that this show was made long before we knew what we now know about these disorders (although, seeing as how recently movies like Split have come out, it seems like we don't know enough as to not villainize these people) but honestly? It just ruined the series for me. I know it can seem a pretty petty reason to drop an anime, even after I was so invested in it, and seeing how the episode wasn't canon and was just more mind games but still-I just found myself completely thrown off. I might try to finish those last two episodes, but I'm honestly not really sure. I guess I just can't help but be disappointed because I really did love how Ergo Proxy would spend episodes in false realities, but this one really honestly just felt unnecessary. there were so many other things that the creators could have done, or hell, even just did a little more research into these disorders to make it at least make sense, but, they didn't. I really did want to like this series, but I personally just can't get past that one episode. The rest of the show is great, and if you're more lenient with that kind of thing than I am then more power to you, I just hope you don't use this sort of media as your reference for mental illness and the like.

Ergo Proxy is a weird anime to talk about, not just in the strange and cryptic context of the show itself, but also how it is talked about in the anime community. It is both weirdly under and overrated, under because it is a show with a unique style and take on philosophy, over because it seems to be praised by the few who do watch it for those unique traits while ignoring all the flaws that are so blatant in this anime.

Well to start out with the positives, it’s fair to say that Ergo Proxy is definitely a very philosophical and dense anime, and ... certainly one for a viewer who can disseminate symbolism and isn’t afraid to think for themselves. Taking place in a post-apocalyptic world, it follows Re-l Mayer, a female detective, Vincent Law, an immigrant to the city with a mysterious past, and Pino, an AutoReiv or humanoid robot whose been infected causing her to have feelings & emotions. Ergo Proxy deals with a lot of philosophical themes, such as that of Gnosticism (attaining knowledge as a means of personal salvation), Postmodernism (the rejection of universal meanings or truth), the humanity & ethics of sentient beings, as well as xenophobia and how the government uses ideology to subjugate the population.

Sounds pretty great so far, right? Well my issue with Ergo Proxy is not so much the themes, but how the story is paced to handle them. Ergo Proxy begins as a thriller/mystery with Rei-l investigating strange occurrences across the city. I’m not going to lie, at the beginning I was completely hooked. After the first 3 episodes however Ergo Proxy pivots slightly and turns into an adventure show, with the mystery of who the proxy is already made clear if you were paying attention. At this point I was still somewhat invested in the plot, but after a few more episodes the show loses any semblance of a cohesive story and just becomes a bunch of random episodic stories with little semblance.

Don’t get me wrong some of these episodes are pretty good, but there is also some bizarre and dumb stuff, like the out of nowhere gameshow episode 15 where parts of the plot are literally told to the viewer through exposition of the characters playing their version of Jeopardy, and the strange episode 19 where for whatever reason Pino finds herself in looney tune land. My personal favorite is episode 16, where the ship thingy their riding on stops working, and Rei-L starts going insane because she’s too bored, which means that even in the context of the show the characters were getting bored with the story.

Even in terms of the animation, Ergo Proxy is pretty inconsistent. Rei-l has a really unique and beautiful character design, but her animation shifts from incredibly detailed in some scenes to inconsistent and poorly drawn in others, to the point that the shape of her face and eyes seemed to be constantly changing. Also worth mentioning is that often the animation was so dark that it was hard to make out what was happening. I’ve head Ergo Proxy get praise for its music and sound, but while the background noise did do a good job in building up suspense in the show itself, the opening sounded like a bootlegged version of a bad Linkin Park song.

I hope I’m not sounding too negative, in fact there were a lot of concepts and ideas in Ergo Proxy I liked. In fact I wished the show spent more time on the themes of the AutoReivs gaining the ability to feel emotion, which started out as the prominent theme of the show it slowly ignored more and more as the anime went on. Even if you’re not into philosophy or deep thinking, Ergo Proxy does have a few cool fight scenes and boast good character development, not just among the main caste but the supporting characters as well.

Yet the show is too haphazard to fully do its ideas justice. There are a few other dark philosophical animes I’ve seen such as Angel’s Egg, Texhnolyze, Monster, and Serial Experiments Lain, and while I have mixed opinions on some of them, at least they all had a consistent tone and message, something that Ergo Proxy simply does not have. Yes it is very philosophical and deep show, but I also feel that it is grossly over-analyzed by some fans out there, to the point I’m pretty sure that if they made an episode of just Rei-l taking a shit there would still be fans who would write their whole doctoral thesis about it.

In conclusion, for the philosophical and intellectually inclined Ergo Proxy can be a rewarding show, and perhaps I owe it a rewatch, but if that stuff is for you I would personally recommend something else such as Texhnolyze which do similar themes and ideas but better.