Anime Review: Ergo Proxy

The world is bigger than you think...

After the explosion of the methane hydrate layer, the remaining members of mankind are forced to live in isolated domed cities scattered across the arid and inhospitable planet. They live in a controlled society and are assisted in daily life by autonomous robots called AutoReivs. In one of these cities, Romdo, Inspector Re-l Mayer, granddaughter of the regent, leads an investigation concerning AutoReivs that have gone mad after being infected by the Cogito virus. In the process, she comes in contact with a monster called Proxy. Elsewhere in the city, immigrant Vincent Law is on the run after being framed for involvement in several Cogito cases. Together, along with the adorable child-AutoReiv Pino, they set out on a journey to the dome city Moscow in order to unravel the mystery of the Proxies.

Ergo Proxy Genres: Mystery, Psychological, Sci-Fi

Ergo Proxy Synonyms:

Ergo Proxy Studios: Geneon Universal Entertainment, Manglobe, WOWOW, FUNimation Entertainment, Sakura Create,

Ergo Proxy Review

Well thought-out story that has tendencies to be odd, but leaves you on the edge of your seat regardless.

My short review is

Ergo Proxy is a masterpiece anime that has an AMAZING combination of mystery, action, character development, humor, complexity, and darkness. Not darkness in a horror sense, but darkness as in mysterious and unknown. I finished the series and it's ending was a little hard to understand, but moreso everyone told me that it was complicated and I was expecting so much. If you've watched Game of Thrones, Future Diary's OVA ending, Monogatari, or even NCIS, you'll be fine. This show is great and I was personally emotionally invested into it. Gotta love badass scene chicks that run around blasting the heads off her enemies while one-handing a shotgun, right?

My longer (and more personal) review is

I know I'm a little bit late to the party.

But I do not want to just shove away my feelings for this anime because it's 10 or 11 years old now.

First off, the darkness in the anime was something I haven't seen before-and I love it. No, it wasn't scary like Afraid of Monsters, it wasn't gruesome like Elfen Lied, it wasn't creepy like Tokyo Ghoul, it wasn't intense like Attack on Titan, it wasn't uncomforting like Future Diary. If I had to compare it to something, it'd be to Max Payne. Forget that the movie was a failure, forget that it was terrible, forget that it screwed up in every aspect. Compare it to the first two games if you have to. It had a darkness like that which was present. And it was perfect in my eyes, I can't help but crave more. Speaking of Max Payne, if you max him a chick, added a little bit of teenage scene bitch, and made her 19, you'd get Re-L. She's also hot as hell lol. I managed to develop a slight crush on her.

The strongest part of the show is how well thought out it is. Some writers have the point there characters want to be by the end of the series and rather than making them work for it, they just walk right into it. They also have a series of events that they want to have happen but they don't really know where or what will have to happen in order for their story to be what it is or execute their ideas blankly. Ergo Proxy's events are defined and the character development is well earned. This show is sort of complicated, yeah. I don't really know how you come up with something like this to be honest with you. The "77.7%" average score does it a major disservice. I've been calling it a masterpiece and I believe it has well lived up to that title. Between you and me, I think that the people who rated it poorly either never finished the series, didn't pay attention, or didn't have the mental capacity to understand the ending. Even though the ending's not even that hard to understand.

The character development is easily the second strongest part of the show. We have Re-L who starts off as a spoiled bitch. She then advances to badass. Then to ungreatful, easy to harshly judge, and hostile. Finally, she ends being the badass she always was but with a a heart (she cried at the loss of her relative and after having to shoot her friend, even though he didn't die).

The art gives you a dark, mysterious, but interesting vibe. It's not bad for being ten years old. It does an AMAZING job portraying the darkness and edgyness that this show has to offer. I'm not a fan of sci-fi anime. I'm not a fan of modern day anime at all, honestly. But this anime had me on the edge of my seat during almost any episode.

It's not perfect, though. The fillers, like the question show and "smile land" were god awful. Like, talking ninja ostrich from Naruto Shippuden level awful. The first six episodes are also sort of slow and linear.

This is where my review gets personal. When I watched it, there were things present that I haven't really seen since the mid 2000's. It had a bit of 2005/2006 cheesiness that I haven't seen ANYWHERE since 2009 at the latest. It had things present, like tools, technology, social norms, and habits that were extremely nastolgic for me. I can't really explain it. But that is why I'm so emotionally invested into it. Go and watch the first few episodes of CSI or NCIS, that will give you an example of what I mean. Or if you don't have the time, just take a quick peek at the music video for "Wake me up" by Evanescence. Things that were advanced, "cool," and basically the flavor of the day back then are present in this show. It has a darkness and edginess that was easy to find in the late 1990's to about 2009 that I have just craved for so long. I've had shit happen in my life and the reason I'm so draw to this vibe is because I haven't experienced it since I was young, too young to understand the world, but happy enough to laugh and smile. After finishing this anime, I actually broke down and cried at the realization that 2006 was 10 years ago.

Ergo Proxy manages to be both a very entertaining sci-fi adventure and a story with heavy character complexity.

When stumbling across most dystopian works (both in literature and audiovisual fiction), you can assume with no hesitation or mislead that the plot will probably reflect a detailed and quite complicating exploration of the presented setting. While not being exactly formulaic, the multiple repetitive attempts on this subgenre of sci-fi range from fantastic experiences to bottom-of-the-barrel kind of pretentiousness. Normally, highly ambitious; yet the fresh air they once possessed has been slowly weakening as time goes on. Fortunately, a particular Manglobe production aired during 2006 came to slap on our faces what an extremely experimental creation can actually achieve. Ergo Proxy is a title that pleasantly defies all conventions stablished for most science-fiction stories found in the medium. Unlike your typical dystopian setting, the human society is not the main focus of the story, nor are the weird mechanisms of politics or the rebellion of manufactured robots. Instead, Ergo Proxy takes us into __a journey__. A metaphysical, deeply philosophical and enriching adventure that stands out from any other title of the same genre, as well as becoming a wholly memorable experience in the process.

Right off the bat, you notice what kind of anime you're dealing with. The mood is serious and it doesn't change very often. Ergo Proxy is not a light watch, but a rather interpretative and ponderous one. Actions scenes are present but very far in-between. The series is, in a nutshell, a complex story of self-discovery with various allegories and puzzling references to famous philosophical motifs and mythology (I haven't seen this amount of theme tackling since Final Fantasy X!). The meaning of life, the end of a self and the appreciation of the 'being' are some of the themes explored in the series. Besides the core themes that make a poignant resonance with the cast (which I'll discuss later), Ergo Proxy still delivers a great amount of world build up to care about. The AutoReiv's infection, the misery outside the 'domes', the reasons behind the catastrophe, the origin of Proxies. Everything is slowly answered subtly, avoiding the annoying random exposition and hazardous plot-holes. By the time the show reaches its climax, everything feels satisfyingly wrapped up.

The plot may seem linear basing on the first six episodes, but by the midway it will reveal its episodic, road-adventure narrative as our characters travel from one place to another. This is something that usually leads to a turn-off for most viewers expecting a sense of continuity from their stories, but Ergo Proxy gladly subverts it by having numerous compelling dynamics among its characters, multiple events happening at-the-meantime and themes that are looked into without feeling 'pretentious'. Most of the episodes range from very experimental exploration to exploiting the character's identity crisis: but the big picture keeps reflecting a ride that leaves you on the edge of your seat.

Even so, the story is far from perfect. Often contemplative, the metaphysical nature of the show mixed with the overall subtlety and enormous variety when managing very abstract concepts can make the experience a bit too random and even wacky for many. It's also quite experimental with genres (one episode was about a comedy Pop Quiz contest!), so the change of tone can come a bit too abrupt. Furthermore, the overreaching theme exploration, as with any philosophical series, sometimes leads to a torturous preachiness that appear as extended character monologues.

The characters are the strongest part of the show, undoubtedly. Seemingly shallow at first, they develop a lot of dimensions, learn to value themselves and find a reason to exist within a lacking world, emphasizing how relevant the core themes are to practically everything.

Re-L is the darling of the Romdeau dome Regent, as well as being an arrogant and cold-headed leader-type of character, similar to what Motoko Kusanagi was for 'Ghost in The Shell'. She's also rather tomboy, tricky and over-analytical most of the time, acting heartless towards her personal AutoReiv Iggy. Despite her initial unsympathetic personality, later on the show her attitude touches further layers than what the viewer can think of such a vexatious figure; leaving to us one of the most likable and developed female leads I've seen in anime. Plus, she looks pretty bad-ass when using her trademark automatic shotgun.

Vincent is an immigrant from a foreign dome, aspiring to become a 'fellow citizen' in Romdeau. He's the heart of the series, as the story follows his adventure of self-discovery and search of an identity. He has an innocent, passive attitude towards most people he meets, but also hides a very cryptic side that's getting suffocated by his identity crisis. Curiously, he also has this funny gimmick of keeping his eyes almost always closed.

Pino is the adorable little girl companion-type AutoReiv infected with the Cogito Virus. She's always cheering up mates, repeating gags and buzzwords related to whatever monologue the characters are saying or just joking around. Her presence is crucial so the show never gets too lifeless, and she also develops more feelings as the story goes on. The rest of the cast include Daedelus, doctor and the one in charge of the Proxies investigation, who also shows a naughty obsession with Re-L; and Raw, the chief of the Security Bureau in Romdeau who lost his wife and daughter during the first appearance of the Proxy.

The art is another apartment very well thought-out. Given the very dry and melancholic nature of the show, the color palette is dark and sinister, all the backgrounds are well drawn and the most abstract shots have a striking touch. The animation is quite fluid, too. The character design, though, can turn quite erratic. From different perspectives, the face lines ranges from very plausible to goddamn dreadful. Still, the production values were maintained quite consistently throughout the story, unlike other studios that get really poor and lazy towards the end (*ehem*Gainax*ehem*).

The soundtrack of the series is amazingly atmospheric. While not having a lot of memorable individual tracks, the sound effects are extremely haunting. However, this aspect of the soundtrack pales in comparison to the beautiful opening theme song. "Kiri" (also known as "Come and Save Me~" for the pals) is among the best opening themes I have ever listened to. A very high pitched, surprisingly sung in English and full of feeling, is one of those songs that makes everything a little better. The ending theme song ("Paranoid Android") is also pretty good but lacks the organic and upbeat nature of the OP. If I had to state which dub is superior, I would incline towards the English one. There the voices fit far better and the general seriousness is reflected in a far more plausible way than the seiyuus did. Still, the Japanese is quite decent.

Few science fiction titles had appealed to me as much as Ergo Proxy did. The exploration of its themes is magnific. It has an attractive narrative, great soundtrack and memorable characters. The repetitiveness and some dull moments hinders it from being an absolute favorite, but is still one that I have on my pedestal.

Clearly, it's not an anime for everyone. Very thought-provoking, quite confusing, too subtle for the average viewer; it's an inevitably controversial series. Still, Ergo Proxy remains as a highly recommendable modern classic, and should be watched by anyone who wants something that dares to be different and succeeds splendidly.