Ergo Proxy

The review will have spoilers in the last paragraph but I'll give a warning. Ergo Proxy is a 2006 anime done by Manglobe studios, known for being behind some banger anime originals like Michiko to Hatchin and Samurai Champloo. The thing about Ergo Proxy is, that if you ever looked at various recommendation lists all over the internet, you'd always find it under a "mature, psychological, symbolism packed, underrated gem, must watch, thonk provoking" description. All the biggest brained anime watchers love it. Maybe because of that I was expecting something incredibly deep and profound, but instead I got... hmm. A good show with a seemingly flawed production with an incredibly cool backstory that didn't get enough chances to shine? I think that would be right.

I think the biggest flaw of this show was the slow/lacking first half, that I believe could have been utilized better. I found the exposition episode 15 (in form of a silly gameshow) fun and creative, but in the grand scheme of things it sucks that the biggest exposition dump we got was in episode 15! and the last episode during the mandatory MC vs the "Villain" talk. I think a lot of the other episodes could have easily served as smaller exposition dumps instead... However, Episode 16, the one where "nothing" happens and the protagonists are physically stuck though is probably my favourite. That episode was a bottle episode done right, it advanced the characters plenty, and it also added to the general meaning of the show. The Disneyland episode was also fine (I see people online dislike it) because it gives us more info about proxies and how they work. And more Pino... But the first half really focused on the Romdeau dome and "grandpa pls give me some answers" while the michelangelo statues with the names of philosophers laugh at Re-l. Now, as I understand, this show gains a lot if you rewatch it, as in a lot of the things that happen in the first half make more sense with the knowledge you have gained in the second half, cool and all (not actually, I'm not a huge fan of that tactic), but I still think the first half is a tad too slow.

Next we have the symbolism. It's pretty decent, as far as psychological/mature anime goes. A lot of the names are utilized well and hint at somebodies function and role in the story like Deadalus, the proxies, cogito virus etc. A lot of things that happen in the anime mirror the real state of things that will only be apparent later so, job well done in that department, the names aren't merely references. Still, I don't think it's anything too mindblowing. And I'm not sure if I'm reading into things too much but Vincents issues with his sense of Self throughout the show remind me of Lacans mirror stage and self-alienation... But my knowledge on Lacan which was hammered into me during my first year of uni is 5 years old by now and I don't remember things as well as I'd want.

Now, the characters. I really loved Re-l, the spoiled bitch!! Jk, but I truly enjoyed her quirks, and how it made her interact with those around her. I love her silly blue eyeshadow and the fact that she's often shown without it too. Isn't it weird how in anime that feature girls with visible make-up on, they never seem to remove that make-up, or change their hairstyles? Well, my queen Re-l actually has hair that gets greasy and needs washing lmfao. Jokes aside, I enjoyed her growth and the fact that she had a no-bullshit attitude till the end, even though "fate" drew her to Vincent, so to speak. Vincent annoyed me a bit in the first half, simply because he had 0 agency and was just constantly confused and catatonic, it made it hard to get through his portions of the story until the two reunited. After that it got a lot better. Pino though, she was amazing. Remember how in my review of 86, I talked about the difference between "children in anime" vs "anime children"? Well, luckily, she is the former, and she's really amazing. Great child character for once, only made better by the fact she also actively participates when some thinking needs to be done instead of being just comedy relief/moe bait.

SPOILERS AHEAD

I really enjoyed the "positive" ending, although it hints at future conflict. At the end, it was cool to find out who the Creator is (maybe I didn't pay enough attention in episode 15 after all lmao), the whole purpose for proxies, domes, autoreivs, cogito virus, abandoned pristine towns being maintained by autoreivs, Monad, Re-l and Real, Proxy One, purpose of Ergo Proxy, Boomerang Star, all the shit leading up to the creation of Proxies... Once all the puzzle pieces fall into place - it makes for a great backstory. As far as dystopian stories go, this one was planned out amazingly but... but...!!!! I feel like the show almost like just glosses over some of these things? I feel like Re-l herself doesn't get a satisfying conclusion or her questions answered, instead only we do. In that way I feel like this more or less "untold" backstory was more interesting than the whole thing with Re-l's grandpa, the silly menacing statues, Deadalus and Raul conflict we had going on, that we spent quite a bit of time on... Because when you learn about domes and proxies being allowed to create those domes in any way they liked - the whole conflict in Romdeau (the conflict between the artifical infertile humans that is) is kind of pointless. Or at least, it's not as important as everything else, because most of those artifical humans were not privy to almost any of that information, the grand plans, nothing. However I still find Raul and Deadalus to be well made characters. Fuck Grandpa Meyer tho that man is useless.

All in all, this anime is pretty "deep" in the sense that it hides most of the information necessary to understand the backstory (and thus the reason for why everything is happening - which is really Not That Deep, but that doesn't make it bad) in one goofy exposition episode you probably won't be 100% attentive for, and the very ending. Some of the philosophical concepts featured, like the Descartes's famous "cogito, ergo sum" serve to explain some things like the virus and ergo proxies existence which is cool, but it's not like they make you think super hard to reach that conclusion haha. There's a lot of concepts and ideas that are less impactful on the overarching story that I'm sure I've missed which is what should be the catalyst for my rewatch but.. I must admit I'm a tad too lazy for that. I still enjoyed the characters and their back and forth journey but the pacing could've been better. Basically I think it could've been improved in some areas but I still liked the overall story... I guess I just didn't enjoy some of the ways in which it was told. My conclusion is - I'm either too smallbrained to Truly Get It, or I'm too bigbrained for most anime watchers. Because I enjoy a healthy dose of self-deprecation I'll go with the former.