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anybody who is a fan of Ghost in the shell should check this out, the quality of the animation the story the voice acting everything is great about this show.
Do you like cyberpunk and dark futures where man and machine intermingle, as man becomes more like machine and the machine more like a man? Ergo Proxy drops us into such a world, where philosophy acts as a guiding light for the mystery of human identity.
Ergo Proxy opens in the domed “utopian” city of Romdo, sealed off from a world ravaged by environmental global disasters. It’s only natural due to the focus on philosophy in the anime that the utopia of Romdo is a dark and gloomy totalitarian city, where humans have few emotions, children are issued to parents by the government, and robotic assistants often inform their human charges on how to act properly in situations. Citizens are urged to consume and make waste, and the perfect citizen is one who blends into society and does not think beyond the average.
It’s only natural that discord is beginning to rise in Romdo, as the AutoReiv androids become infected with the Cogito virus, which grants self-awareness, and seek to leave the city at any cost, even that of human life. However, there is a greater problem facing the stability of Romdo: Proxy, a monstrous man-like creature held in secret by the government. One day, it awakens and begins its rampage, appearing before a terrified Re-I. However, there seems to be more than just one Proxy roaming the city’s streets.
The government of Romdo consists of disabled regent Donov Mayer and the set of four AutoReivs that speak for him, all named for philosophers. Needless to say, the five-in-one Administrative Bureau contains many secrets, only revealing information as needed to government officials. Model citizen and chief of the Citizen Security Bureau, Raul Creed and his assistant AutoReiv, Kristeva know something of the secret of the Proxy as the regent charges them with the task of recovering the Proxy at any cost. The young and dashing Daedalus Yumeno, the director of the Division of Health and Welfare and Re-I’s personal doctor, certainly knows more about Proxy, as he is the leader of the Proxy Research Team.
Inspector Re-I Mayer of the Citizen Intelligence Bureau finds herself charged in investigating a murder by Proxy, then immediately pulled off of the case, with her AutoReiv’s memory erased, when the Proxy pays a visit to Re-I’s apartment. She suspects that this is the work of her grandfather, the regent, who paints her as suffering from the stress of the attack in public, while warning her in private not to pursue this matter any further. Re-I, being the defiant goth heroine with eye make-up that she is, continues her investigations with a great deal of paranoia for Big Brother (or Big Grandfather in this case). The trail leads to immigrant Vincent Law, who hunts and disposes of infected AutoReivs. Vincent finds himself being accused of being the one who attacked Re-I in her apartment (remember, officially, there is no Proxy), then hunted by a Proxy, then hunted by the government for murder. Vincent joins up with Pino, a cute young and infected AutoReiv who resembles Serial Experiment Lain’s title character in her bunny/fox costume. Together, the two leave the city of Romdo as a shocked Re-I watches them jump into the contaminated world outside...
Many people have compared Ergo Proxy to Witch Hunter Robin. Both are set in a dark environment and both feature female leads in gothic clothing investigating conspiracy-level mysteries. They differ in that Ergo Proxy doesn’t fall into the trap of “mystery of the week” episodes, and the plot seems to be very focused on who and what is Proxy, and what is Re-I’s connection to it. The story looks to be shaping up for an epic ride, with Vincent, Pino and Re-I discovering new aspects of themselves, as well as the so-far model government official Raul Creed. I like how the viewer isn’t force-fed information about the world and the Proxy mystery; you have to pay attention to the dialogue and piece it together yourself. You also have to take into account the paranoia of the characters, especially Re-I and Vincent, which colors their experiences and actions in Romdo.
The anime blends 2D cell animation with 3D modeling rather seamlessly, making this a rather beautiful anime, albeit on the dark spectrum and with a muted color scheme. I really enjoyed the opening montage, which fit the tone of the series and of the song, “Kiri” by Monoral. The closing credits are less visually appealing, but the song playing along with the scrolling credits is Radiohead’s “Paranoid Android,” which frankly as a teenager of the 90s, turns this into the best credits since sliced bread.
This first volume contains four episodes, giving us a great introduction into the story, as it completes the first movement of the series. The first episode really grabs your attention with the rather graphic and sudden death of an AutoReiv by the man we will lately meet as Vincent Law. The extras on this disc are skimpy with only trailers and credits, but I’d rather have an extra episode than having special feature content whipped up at the last minute.
The focus on philosophy and the themes of self-awareness and self-identity will lose the attention span of many viewers, but it will attract older fans like myself who want an anime that will make you think and be pretty to see. Ergo Proxy has both of these qualities, and the first volume is available on its own, or with an artbox, and as a limited release at Best Buy with the DVD and second soundtrack CD. I’m already looking and waiting for the second volume, and you should be too.
