Ergo Proxy - Reviews

Ergo Proxy.  Ahhhh...

The show everyone seems to love to hate.  So here's your contrasting opinion.  I really liked it, and if you dare please continue reading on and find out why!

Positives: So Ergo Proxy for all its faults oozes ambiance and style.  When I first found out about it I was on a Ghost in the Shell/Cyberpunk kick and was eating anything of that sort up without much thought and with Ergo Proxy I got exactly what I was expecting.  The art and overall style are just fun to watch.  I really enjoyed the whole cold, dark, and dreary air to the show and in my opinion Real/Re-L (meh, watch and you'll understand why I still don't know what to call her) was well designed and just works within her role.

The story is a bit all over the place, but at its core there's a solid set of themes.  This is one of the biggest complaints you'll find, and I'll get into it shortly in the Negatives section, but if you just don't dig into it too deeply there's actually a pretty decent story that gives you lots of room for thought and opens up enough of an avenue to enjoy watching the characters unfold both the plot and their personal development.

You'll also find that the production values of Ergo Proxy are stellar.  There are few things in the show that don't look fantastic.  Honestly, there aren't a lot of shows that I have enjoyed "watching" so much as this one.  It's just oozes style.

Last point: at no time during Ergo Proxy did I ever feel like dropping the show even amidst all the little flaws.  The two main characters and the overall feel were strong enough to push the story along and skirt any of my minor complaints.

Negatives: So there's a whole lot of these out there and at times I think people really get a kick out of being critical and hating things because it somehow gives them a feeling of empowerment.  But in my opinion it's far too easy to get caught up in a lynching and lose sight of what was really important.  Did you have fun.  Anyhow...I have my own gripes as well...

So yes, Ergo Proxy does try to be a lot deeper than it really is in the end.  There's a great host of references and concepts that you are faced with that can at first seem daunting until you realize that the writers really weren't as deep as they'd intended to be.  I had to wonder at times if the translation was just so difficult that things which may have made more sense and worked better in the original just didn't quite make it across the translation barrier in the same shape as they'd been planned.

That's really the core concern you're going to see in the other reviews out there, and while it is in its own world legitimate I would suggest another line of thinking that might very well be familiar to a few of you.

Style over substance.  =)

With Ergo Proxy you'll get lots of the first and not a whole lot of the second.  Just ignore the junk and enjoy it for the good bits.  There's enough of the good stuff to counter the rubbish that was left lingering around the edges so just sit back, stuff your mouth with some popcorn, and enjoy watching.

Ergo Proxy, while having its moments of promise, ultimately reveals the poverty of designing a series to fit a particular length. With an attention demanding initial episode, and some standard of quality until episode 3, it can be hard to stop watching, even as the series reveals that it didn't really have an idea where it was going after all.

Story:

Ergo Proxy takes place in an interesting world, where societies are maintained within domes dotting the wasteland the earth has become. The beginning episode of Ergo Proxy promptly inspired me to continue to the second, as it set a distinctive feel, introduced a variety of curiosity inspiring characters, and elements in the world that seemed well implemented.

However massive flaws boil up after the third episode, which could have been a powerful springboard into the middle of the series. Instead the series opts to, literally, wander around up until the last two episodes. Episodes are very inconsistent, the only thing that the middle ones could be alleged to accomplish would be developing the characters. I would argue that in reality they weaken the characters, and literally remove any legitimacy the plot has.

By that I mean that the story loses all sense of pacing, focusing on emotionless and boring fights between monsters, episode-long Evangelionesque inner dialogues(repeated several times), and at time some of the most inappropriately placed standalone possible.

The reason for this is obvious, and has been stated by those responsible for the series. The first three episodes(the only ones with any structure in their story) were all that was designed before the anime's production. Thus only the first 3 episodes and the last 2 which attempt to pull it all together have anything to do with the main story. Does the overarching story make sense? Sure it does, but that does not excuse the drastic drop in quality, unneeded episodes dedicated to sounding intelligent, or the numerous episodes which come and go with no explanation to how the characters entered or exited the situation within that episode.

Animation/Sound:

Ergo Proxies animation is amazing at the beginning of the series, but deteriorates significantly after episode 1, and after episode 3 it is actually rather subpar, with some episodes of acceptable quality. The soundtrack is repetitive, but fairly good despite the scenes it is set to. I'm personally not a fan of the opening or ending, but this is just my preference, as I don't feel they match the feel of the series.

Characters:

While the templates for characters provided early on are interesting, and there are several obscured by mystery, they all become extremely tiring as their behaviors are endlessly repeated and it is revealed that their development will be nonexistent. Lil is a bitch and little more. She provides the role of the main character, whose entourage(robot partner) is consistently more entertaining. Despite what the creators would have you believe, bitchiness is not profound.

Vincent Law is the typical outcast male lead role with a twist. He has an incredibly amount of inner dialogue which spans episodes. Furthermore his feelings towards Lil are awkwardly expressed but never explored. The only somewhat believable relationship is that between him and Pino, who is an enjoyable character, primarily in contrast to the rest of the mediocre lineup.

There are quite a few characters that exist for only an episode, which isn't to it's benefit, especially considering many of them are monsters. While some characters have their moments, like Raul, and Daedalus serves his purpose, you cant help but feel they didn't reach their potential.

Overall

Ergo Proxy has a plot to be sure, but one that could not be stretched over 23 episodes in the way that it was. As it stands, episodes 1-3 were that of a solid series, and episodes 22-23 were the conclusion. This means the other 18 were primarily filler, or at the best poorly structured character development. On top of the filler, some of the standalone episodes were very comedic and out of place in the bleak setting of Ergo Proxies world. Had the series been a 12 episode short series, with the journey segment heavily refined the anime would have been a far more impressive feature. As it stands Ergo is a false advertiser while promising greatness it did not know how to reach.

 

Ergo Proxy seems like an ordinary story, yet it changes pace several times.  At times, it feels kind of slow and others moderately paced but with a thrill achieved by the need to know the answers to the mysteries.  The colors are mostly dark and muted and gradually feels like it gets a bit darker as the series progresses.

The animation, art, and graphics are all very good.  Re-L is pretty unique among all anime with a rather unique look made stronger by her gothic style make up which also gives more depth to her look and even adds a little to her character and in a tangent way to the story where there are humor parts connected to it.  While the pacing is not the best or most consistent, the subtle allusions create a grand mystery viewers are itching to unravel.  The pacing and at times overly dark appearance is a blessing and a curse.  The pacing can at times feel too slow and a bit frustrating.  The dark look to the atmosphere can be annoying and even make it harder to see things clearly or perhaps compell you to dismiss the show.  The ending while certainly thrlling in it's own way may make you feel bedraggled, empty, and flustered since it may not feel as complete as many viewers may hope.  Still the last shot alone is pretty cool.  

Vincent Law has the weird effect that his look totally changes and I do not mean his transformation, I mean his normal look. At the beginning of the series, Vincent looks like a meek, smallish, timid man with a late teen or at the latest early twenties man of small to modest stature, but later he appears to be much older and larger with a more chiseled polished look even to the point he appears to be perhaps of a different race.  I do not know if this was intentional or an error, but the result comes off as somewhat incompetent, inconsistent, and confusing.  I feel even his voice changes at least a little but that may be more in the tone and speed at which he speeks than purely the sound itself. 

This story is unique in other ways as it does not really exactly have an antagonist per say at all, but rather it feels more like a: Man versus Nature, Man versus Unknown, or Man Versus some technology type of thing you may have learned in English composition classes.  There are characters viewers may feel the need to hate or even that the story more or less casts in a sort of psuedo antagonist role without actually being an antagonist in the purest sense of the word however.  I would not recommend anyone under 12 at best for the series and even then with parental guidance as it features some extreme violence and disturbing dramatic moments such as when a mother and infant are brutally murdered.  That perhaps is the single most disturbing and chilling part of the entire series.  Nothing thereafter really tops it.  Pina is the most cheerful and optimistic character despite being artificial originally.  She is sort of like a Pinnochio character in the sense she is an artificial creation that in another way becomes real but not quite literally.  She does serve a purpose in giving Vincent purpose and the hope he had lost.  Re-L gives the impression she fell in love at first sight but maybe only after seeing his true self as it were.  There were some episodes that did not feel like they fit the story and may completely throw you off track.

One of the down sides however, is how frivolously it treats all humans and even artificials as inconsequential and hardly worth more than a mere mention other than the handful of somewhat important central characters.  You may get the feeling it treats all other life forms natural and un natural as too insignificant.  That may well be intentional, however, it creates the impression that life is not prescious within the scope of the story.

The voice work is mostly fitting though I am unconvinced the English dub voice for Vincent was the best choice.  It was too whispery and lacked variation at least after he vanishes from Romdo.  The characters are odd in a way because the human characters save for Re-L and Vincent seem more artificial than the autoreivs, while the autoreivs seem a bit too complacent for geniune independent sentient beings.  It unbalances the story and characters somewhat but that may be intentional.  However when all is said and done, all but a handful of main characters, though not all major characters qualify. are a bit too incomplete or hollow to cause any kind of attatchment or belief in their significance as life forms.  I did not care for the red shirting of several major characters at about the middle of the story.  Sound beyond the voice was mostly like a TV with the snow fuzz you get when no stations are available.  It is there and fits more or less but does not exactly stand out either and for the most part, you really only hear voices.  Much of the other sounds are like a seemless inconsequential blend of background noise.

Overall it is still a good story and worth watching in a Blade Runner esque kind of way but slightly slower paced with more powerful characters mixed in.  Do not put faith into a overly deep story with respect to characters however cause the depth of them is mostly limited to only activity you learn during the story of them and what they do during the time frame of the story present.  Little is really dug into before or after that time frame and thus the depth is limited.  

Ergo Proxy! How dare a show demand my admiration, and then as soon as you fit your oily fingers around it's throat, you turn into such a let down! I have never seen a series start off so strongly, to have such a week progression.

Story

Ergo proxy can be summed up in 3 moves. 1. A brilliant pilot, followed by still interesting, but dull copies. 2. Characters pondering different aspects of life, speaking to themselves, and extended periods of nothing but filler. and 3. A weak ending, that doesn't really explain much at all. Boo Ergo Proxy, Boo!

Animation

Unfortunately, such a bland storyline was EASILY made up for by the graphics. Absolutely incredibly graphics. It was lush, imaginative, dark, and over all phenomenal. I absolutely fell in love with the series based on it's artistic direction.

Sound

Not much to say here. It's a cyber-punk series that has extended thoughts on characters outlook on humanity. Songs were operatic or discordant.

Characters

Despite such a failure of a plotline, the characters (besides stupid Vincent!) were all so wonderful. Re-L can be taken as bland at first, but this gorgeous, strong woman starts to slowly open throughout the series, and we end up truly enjoy watching her in action by the time the series ends. Whereas Vincent is bland from personality to looks, Ergo Proxy is incredibly intriguing! Such a cool looking character, and while maybe still having little substantial dialogue, the personality he gains in Ergo Proxy almost makes up for Vincent being so boring. And now the whole reason why the series was so good. PINO! Pino is an infected companion bot, who is absolutely wondrous and adorable. Throughout the series, her innocence is made all the cuter as she tries so hard to understand human life. Seeing not only a child, but a robot act this way is so incredibly intriguing. Iggy and Raul come into their own as characters throughout the series, but unfortunately Daedelus plays the token mad boy scientist so many animes seem to lap up. Another personal favorite character of mine was known as "The Gate Keeper of Memory". He has a line in the series that truly blew me away. "The future is an opaque mirror. Anyone who tries to look into it, sees nothing but the dim outlines of an old and weary face". What a fantastic quote.

Overall

Overall, despite having a boring storyline, a weak ending, a lame main character, and perhaps the biggest let down in storyline of any anime I've ever seen, little things help you make it through, and despite all of my complaining, I actually ended up enjoying the series as a whole. Yes, the storyline took a turn for the worst, (the gameshow and Smileland episodes? WTF!) the dialogue, and other characters helped it pull through. Not to mention absolutely breathtaking animation. Even as a cyber-punk genre hater, I enjoyed how it was implemented in Ergo Proxy. I'm glad to have watched it :]

Ergo Proxy. A cult classic in anime for it's crazy good plot, unusual premise, and it's well developed characters exploring themselves and the source of humanity through a dingy dystopic world. Ergo Proxy captures your attention with it's bleak atmosphere, chilling philosphical themes, dismal yet stimulating pyschological motifs, and stunning visual metahpors that all lead you to it's excellent storyline. Expanding on the classic trope in science fiction where the world is in turmoil from climate change causing the advancement of technology (including robots) for the preservation of human kind, Ergo Proxy turns that cliche trope into something worthwhile. We are introduced to our two main characters; Re-L Mayer and Vincent Law. With an abrasively cold exteriror, pierching honesty, assertion, and confidence Re-L comes in as our strong determined female lead. She is the daughter of the Regent of Romdo landing a higher up job as a Citizen Intelligence Bureau Inspector. As if fate lead her here this job causes her to stumble upon the case of Proxy by accident since she had a fateful encounter with one of them almost attacking her. A direct contrast to Re-L by default Vincent Law is a sheepish, apprehensive, and diffident man with a case of amnesia working at the AutoReiv Elimination Unit who wants to escape his status as an immigrant. To do this he has to be a slave to the upper class essentially putting on a facade of kiss ass while maintaining good relationships with Auto Reivs and humans. Unfortunately to hush the existence of Proxy Vincent is set up because of his strange relationship with this “god” causing him to be run out of Romdo and back to Earth. Following him is Pino, a child like companion Auto Reiv who is infected with the cogito virus causing her to gain self awareness and a soul while she acommpanies Vincent in his plummet to Earth. Literally. Re-L being caught up in this by finding a necklace at the site of her fateful proxy encounter that resembles one that hung around Vincent's neck, Re-L decides to follow his descent into no return. From here on we witness the group travel to the forgotten world of Mosk to relive Vincent's amnesia and solve the case of the mysterious necklaces. This journey allowed a lot of character development to happen and for us as viewers to understand the history and background of the world they live in. While Ergo Proxy is a slow burn in it's exposition and character development with confusing background details it's thematic elements, satisfying development of characters, and hidden meanings make up for it. It has incredible depth that you can bask in throughout the show. This anime gave us multiple times where topics like existentialism, morality, absolute truths, finding oneself, and coming to grips with who you are are prominently spread out between episodes. One topic towering above all being absolute truths, "I think therefore I am" cogito ergo sum. Sound familiar? Ergo proxy takes famous Philospher Descartes' ground breaking truth and runs with it. This statement very evident in this show's storyline, being scattered throughout the show little by little. I don't want to give out where this is specifically present because of the spoiling of cool easter eggs and correlation to it's plot, it's way more fun finding them on your own. Even though these topics hold great weight in this anime the character metamorphosis triumphs as one of the best aspects to Ergo proxy. It allowed us to see Vincent become brave and ready for the destruction that awaits him when he recovers his past. His character development being strikingly visible from the change of his character design from a man with a weak smle and closed eyes to a man with a serious face and now opened eyes to take on whatever is ahead of him. On the other hand it allows us to see Re-L become more vulnerable and soft for the audience to recognize that she isn't just some stone cold truth seeker; she has emotions and attachments that impact her. It also allows us to see the transformation of Pino the Auto Reiv (robot) to adapt her own personality, emotions, creativity, and acknowledge her own existence. We see this change into her becoming more human and being able to experience emotions and like Re-L we see her attachments impact her but through a innocent and childlike lenses. All of these characters steal the spotlight for being crafted phenomally, even the supporting cast is amazing. We get to know their attachments, motives, and emotions next to our main cast and how they eventually intertwine. Ergo proxy is unique in itself and is a messy work of art that is free for theories by its viewer towards the end of the show. The information about the fictional world they live in is released slowly throughout the show, peaking the reader’s interest each episode. Even though it takes a couple rewinds or rewatches to fully get and understand the show it still pulls through in my opinion. I actually like that I have to do that. It encourages me to intricately look at the show rather than just watch it mindlessly with no attention to detail. Overall the characters, the plot, the premise, and themes were well executed amazingly with attention to detail and flawless captivation of my attention. Ergo Proxy is a rare find that captured me and was seriously stimulating, I extremely recommend.