That is not to say the anime is bad. It has a lot of strong points. Also, no matter what anyone has to say about the anime, positive or not, no one can deny it's unique. If you're tired of the usual generic tropes associated with anime, watch this. Also, the music is pretty well chosen and the art-style fits the story very well. The animation is also fluid and the characters can express emotions well. But some of the flaws of this anime seriously hinder proper enjoyment.
There are SPOILERS AHEAD. I'll try to minimize it but I want to defend my stance here because most people seem to find this anime a jewel among coal -- and I can't see it that way. I repeat SPOILERS AHEAD.
Let's start with the good stuff. The ART, as I have stated is really good. There is a slight amount of time required to warm up to the character and world designs, but it is no dealbreaker -- unlike One Piece. In fact, when I thought about it, I found the artstyle to be perfect for this story. It is at times uncomfortably dark; like in a Dark Souls or Dark Knight game. The darkness creates a mood that fits the world really well. We are talking about an Earth so ravaged by pollution that the Sun does not shine on the surface anymore. Darkness is just right. The character designs are also good. Pino is very well drawn and is adorable, especially when she wears her rabbit costume. Re-L.... well let's just agree she has her own style. Personally I think it is way too much make up but it does not look out of place. Vincent is also well drawn. His drooping eyebrows, his stoop and his facial expressions all convey the idea that this guy is indecisive and unsure of himself; but also kind. The other characters also look good and the proxies look downright scary, as they should.
On to the SOUND. This is where the anime shines best. The sound is very well chosen and very well composed. The OP and ED fit the theme very well and are different from the usual J-POP that graces the runtimes of the average anime. Regarding the OP and ED however, I will say that it does not make my favourites list by a long shot. Nagi no Asukara's OP was incredible. Nichijou's first ED (zzzzz , google it) was just perfect. Shinsekai Yori's ED was also great. I remember these because they were simply incredible, fitting the theme perfectly while also being good stand-alone songs. The OP and ED here were good, but not great. But the soundtracks for the journey and the important plot moments was very well chosen. There is always a hum in the background that generates a feeling of uncertainty. I liked that.
Now, we step into the stuff that brought the anime down in my eyes. The CHARACTERS are the first problem. Pino is by far the best character in this show. Seeing her slowly develop emotions, then understand the meaning of death and life for humans and fit it into her own concept is very nicely done. Pino always fits into the situations she is in. You grow to genuinely care for her. Re-L is the next character I like. Strong, haughty and genuinely assuming (like a princess) that people will make way for her, she becomes obsessed with the truth. I can understand this very well. She is quite an important person within her own society, being the granddaughter of the regent. If someone like this were to come across some blaring hypocrisy, some unfair treatment meted out by her own family to others in the world she lives in; well of course you'd want to get to the bottom of it. And she has the guts to do it. She changes, of course, on her journey; learning to become moe independent and more flexible to others. Now, Vincent. I just don't understand the guy. In the end, I guess there was no real need to understand him because he is superceded by the character that was hidden inside him all along. Why does Vincent want to become a true citizen of Romdeau? Why does he want to find the turht about himself anyway ( he doesn't seem to care for at least the first 5 episodes.) Why does he even like Re-L? It's not like he gets to meet her often. Is it the kind of love people have when looking at a poster of a celebrity. I don't think of that as love. His motivations and his choices are those of a generic, approachable good person growing up in Japan's society. Too many things about his character don't add up. He fit into the froup because of course he would. That's the kind of person he is. The proxies are confusing and we don't know their real position in the whole story, even in the end. Daedalus and Raul Creed are interesting. We get to know a bit more of what motivates them to make the choices they do and I understand why they were mentally scarred upon the degradation of scoiety within the dome. However, characters are randomly introduced with no reason other than to forward the plot or develop the characters at every point in the anime, even as late as episode 21! I can't appreciate that. At that point, the characters are not part of the story, they are just externally applied influences to move the story along because the author knew no other way to get it done. Some of these admittedly were well done. The AutoRev the group came across before Iggy disobeyed ReL did advance the story and showed us the kind of people who lived in the sparse lands between domes. The people who lived right outside Ramdel were also interesting. However, the quiz guy and the Smiley Land episodes? I can't understand how they tied into the story other than to intorduce plot elements. I would pass by such characters in my usual evaluation because anime is supposed to be fun and too serious analysis of the show is uncalled for and/or unnecessary; but this show portrays itself as so much more with its freshman psych student blurbs....
And that leads us to the STORY. The biggest problem I had with the show. Many episodes feature the audience being dropped right in the middle of the episode and then being taken to the beginning as a flashback and/or character speech and then being seen through to the end. This is okay sometimes. Baccano does a very good job of it. In Ergo Proxy, it's confusing at best and bad writing at worst. Let's be honest, no one would accept this quality of writing from a novel. This show is being paraded as something so smart that the average viewer wouldn't 'get it' on first viewing. I can't accept that as good writing. Seems to me like a naked emperor parading around without clothes while the public claims it's too good to see. I've read Artist of a Floating World by Kazuo Ishiguro and I think its amazing. We are accustomed to think of the narrator as some infallible being who tells the story as it is. Over the course of the book, we instead realize that the narrator is from a time that modern Japan has decided to blur and forget. This is well done. In Ergo Proxy, the confusion of the characters is compounded by the fact that no one seems to understand what is going on. Not the regent, not even to a certain extent the proxies. Perhaps the creator knows what's going on but he's not telling. The quiz in particular was bad. It didn't fit into the story. We are not told how the gang came across the quiz show or how they left and we are not told how or why the show was broadcast around the world. If it was broadcast around the world regularly, why didn't people know of the existence of life outside the dome?
Some stories do pull off this kind of storytelling. What comes to my mind is a book I read called "They things they carried". In brilliant fashion the book introduces characters and sometimes repeats stories. Each time a story is repeated, we see somehting slightly different; a slightly different POV and we come to the conclusion that memory is a fragile thing indeed; and that imagionation is as much a part of our memory as reality. Also, we come to the sad understanding that there are some things people will never understand without living through them. Ergo Proxy does not show us a POV muddled by memory, or past experiences or split personalities. The only answer I have is that it si intentionally written poorly to enhance the idea that the characters are as lost as we are.
Ergo Proxy is just not a very enjoyable show. I get it, such anime without incessant otaku pandering and fan service is going to require a greater commitment on the part of the viewer. I gave it my attention, I really did. It's like Shinsekai Yori in the beginning, but the characters never really grow and the world does not really expand. Also, consistently starting the show in the middle of the episode and then alluding to the beginning is not fun for the viewer. I get that its experimental but I don't think its right to give a review that level of leniency just because the show is experimental. I always evaluate anime in the context in which it is presented. Is it a shoujo anime? a VN adaptation? is it in the sports genre? and so on. However, the important part of my evaluation always is: is it serious and trying to portray some message about the world? Is it fun and a way to get my mind to relax? Sometimes these might be mixed like in Gurren Lagann. Ergo Proxy comes across as a serious show with a message and I just can't get that message. My favourite episode was the one where they were stuck because there was no wind and we see Re-L trying to analyze Vincent's character. That was truly enjoyable. If they had kept that tone and tried to avoid the aforementioned psyche student garbage, it may have been a fun show. Ergo Proxy tries a lot of things; it just doesn't execute any of them very well.
IN SHORT,
I don't normally write reviews for shows that already have so many reviews, but I have to say most of the reviews here with 9's are simply overhyping the show. It's unique and that is its strongest selling point. If asked whether it was worth watching the show, my answer would be yes. But I'd ask people to put aside some serious time to watch it because this is not a show I see people being invested in because of the flow of the story. You will need to force yourself at points to continue watching. Some of the moments are genuinely good. These are sadly few and far in between. Most of the time you will be scratching your head trying to make heads and tails of a story that I think has intentionally been written in a way to obscure understanding on the side of the viewer. This is my understanding of the show and if someone has any comment to make on my review, I'd encourage them to make it on my profile. I may give this anime a second viewing and may change my scores and opinion on it if those who consider it masterpieces of postmodern fiction and consider it a great anime give my their two cents.
