Ergo Proxy

[THIS REVIEW WILL COVER MAJOR PARTS OF THE SERIES AND THE ENDING! KEEP IN MIND OF SPOILERS!]

The Narrative:

Talking about Ergo Proxy's story and narrative structure is...interesting. It has a straightforward plot that involves all of the characters in the story. Yet, it also has twists and turns that are so out there and interesting that it adds layers onto it to make it more interesting (yes, even the few 'filler' episodes there like Episode 20) and even more of a wild ride to watch. We get to see the world from so many different points of view, yet it's not overwhelming at all and it all comes together to form a really thrilling, engaging plot that starts out small..but becomes SO much more by the end of it that it's hard not for me to love it. Some argue that the ending is bad because we don't see what happens to Vincent and everyone else after they escape Romdeau...I personally think its open-endedness makes it a really great anime to theorize on, kind of like Mother 3's ending (weird comparison, I know, but it's the closest I can get to a plot that's like Ergo Proxy's because this show's plot is so unique.) But yeah, going in, you'd expect it to be about a dystopian sci-fi city that controls people, and by the end everyone dies in it or something you've heard along those lines before it...but nope, instead it's a nice subversion of expectations. It's overall A++ stuff. Definitely, one of the coolest narratives I've seen in anime I've watched in a good while, not as wild as say something like Serial Experiment Lain's...but still nonetheless a really interesting, thought-provoking, VERY well-written and unique one.

The Characters:

Easily one of the best parts of this anime in my honest opinion. Everyone in the story serves some kind of purpose whether it be major or minor and even the side characters have a surprising amount of depth to them that makes them more human, which kind of surprised me (even if many of them met a rather predictable, yet inevitable fate.) The character dynamics between the major characters (especially when Vincent, Re-L, and Pino come together as a trio) are really something neat and we get to see these characters not only alone with their own thoughts but also with other people who completely contrast them and see how they work, even at their highs and lows. Once again, another piece of media that has its characters so well-written and put together that there isn't a single character I disliked, they're all fascinating case studies in their own right. It's hard to really complain about much with them because they're written so...humanly, down to earth, and realistic. I really enjoyed seeing what the characters' thoughts were on the things transpiring around them and while some would consider that expositionary, I personally feel like the show makes their thoughts interesting enough to listen to that it just felt like we were naturally getting to know them more by just spending more and more time with them. On the subject of time, the show also does a great job of peppering character development throughout the episodes. Re-l for instance goes from someone who just wants to bow her head down and do what she's supposed to do (with some mild annoyance harbored on her part) to someone who, like Vincent and everyone else by the end, finds her true self and realizes how compassionate, selfless, and...well, human she really is, with the exact same sentiment being applicable to Vincent as well in my opinion. You also get to see the deterioration of other characters as well (cough Raul Creed cough), so not everyone gets their happy ending and it serves as a nice contrast to the positive changes most of the other people in the cast get and I think it's equally just as powerful because it's also written in a way where you can feel for them. Psychological anime in general (in my term shows like Serial Experiments Lain, Neon Genesis Evangelion, and Texhnoylze) always seem to have some of the most fascinating anime characters to study and of course, this one is no exception. Solid A+ work all around.

The Visuals:

This section's gonna be probably my favorite to talk about given how AMAZING this show is visually. Sure, it's an anime from 2006, so it's definitely aged, but it's still fine-looking anime even nowadays. The character designs are all really nice and all stick out so you're not gonna be mistaking anyone or anything like that, and actually characterize everyone based on their colors and clothing overall (especially Vincent's and Re-l's clothing...for multiple reasons.) The show also uses a neat mix of CGI and hand-drawn animation and while the CGI in a few places has aged a little roughly, things the statues in the Administration room and the large-scale shots that blend the hand-drawn and CGI-rendered versions of the environment at times still look INCREDIBLE. I'm not an animation expert by any means but in my opinion, this show still holds up nicely for the most part. I love the drab colors of reds, purples, blacks, and more muted colors, it helps give the show the dystopian vibe, outer-world-like vibe that it's going for. Romdeau and really all of the environments both minor and major all really give off their own special vibes thanks to the coloring to differentiate everything, so the show never really looks boring to look at...especially by the end when they start livening up the colors to signal the significance of everything that happens at the end.

I think I've yapped on enough about the visuals. It's a little rough in some places, both with the CGI and the hand-drawn stuff at times, but it's overall held up nicely and it has its own distinctive look that differentiates it from some of the same kinds of drab both of the mid-late 2000s and the year it came out in. A- probably, if only because of the slightly aging.

The Sound:

Aaah, feels nice to bring this section back again after some time, and luckily Ergo Proxy's sound design and music are really interesting, so let's get to it. Overall, the voice-acting (in the sub cause again, I don't typically watch dubs unless they're Fullmetal Alchemist, Black Lagoon, or Death Note-level good) is excellent, all really good performances throughout, and I even recognized a few VAs from some other anime I've watched, which was a nice surprise. From what I've heard of the dub...it's kind of...okay. I think Re-l's voice is a little too energetic for her character since she's more of an introspective and tentative thinker-type character in my eyes, but that's about as far as I'll go into that. As for everything else, every gunshot (seriously, Re-L's shotgun sounds AWESOME and the sound design really adds to how strong it is and helps sell how rad Re-l is in combat), every punch thrown, explosion, shatter of glass, and crash, man...all of it just engrosses you into the show even more, truly top-notch stuff.

The music is AWESOME! Lots of atmospheric ambient music that fits into the vibe of the show perfectly and really adds to some of the more out-there scenes. The OP and EDs are also great. The grungy rock opening combined with the opening's visuals themselves make for an all-around great bite-sized look at what Ergo Proxy is about. It helps too that Especially we have FREAKING RADIOHEAD IN ANIME AS THE ENDING MUSIC! As a big fan of theirs who grew up on their music, gotta say I wasn't expecting THAT, but the song works well with the show and actually connects to the theming of humans and autoreivs, so it's appropriate AND a good song that fits.

A++ stuff.

The Conclusion:

Overall, Ergo Proxy was WELL WORTH the time it took for me to get to it and it serves as yet another great psychological anime that anime buffs can theorize and discuss all these years after its creation because of how well put together it really was, especially in the writing. I literally had to stop myself from going into too much detail about it to not end up wasting your guys' time getting into it, there's plenty of good videos online talking about it in detail if you really are interested, I know I'll be getting to those just like I did with Texnhnoylze. Speaking of which, I'd say if you watched Texhnyolze and wanted another psychological, futuristically stylish anime with lots of stuff to keep your brain thinking and guessing, Ergo Proxy's right up your alley, it's truly phenomenal. I certainly enjoyed my time with it and hope that the side manga for it is also just as good.