[!] THIS REVIEW CONTAINS POTENTIAL SPOILERS [!]
Oooh, Ergo Proxy. This is going to be an interesting series to talk about. Ergo Proxy is probably one of THOSE shows if you get what I mean. It’s a series that is very complicated yet interesting in terms of how it sets up its own story structures. It’s never meant to be relatively easy to understand but from the looks of it, it can create twists and/or have characters explore around while they develop their own ideals. Sure, it’s going to take a little longer given its moderate runtime but it might still tell you how its story will go. In theory, this is rather pleasing. But even then, is it going to be good enough to hold up until the end? Well, let’s jump into the talk, shall we?
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Before we explain how the series goes into practice, what is Ergo Proxy? Ergo Proxy is about reality being forced to replace humans with mysterious creatures named, you guessed it, Proxies. Both humanity and the Proxie have a visceral relationship with one another and the latter wants to reign supreme. In our main location, the domed city of Rondo, where the remaining humans live, we have our main detective named Re-L and she will investigate the vile mysteries happening along with the help of the companions called AutoReivs. Ergo Proxy has a lot of interesting ideas, to say the least. As mentioned, the premise behind it is very complicated but it still has distinct elements we can explore. The whole humanity vs Proxy thing is crazy and we could still make it more enticing.
The start of this series is pretty decent in my opinion. We first get to see some humans and their robot companions experimenting with what a Proxy is capable of. As we all know, Proxies are very strong and aren’t really something we can easily experiment with. That’s where our main detective, Re-L, comes into play. Re-L is hired to investigate the Proxies around and her goal is to take them down before they can cause any more trouble. And even she isn’t that strong to take on them on her own. She needs to develop more strategies in order to make things a little easier. Initially, we get to see some pretty compelling characterization around this one. On the surface, this is pleasing. Showing us what Proxies are capable of and how they clash with the human race is pretty good.
‘ahem’ On the SURFACE
After the start of the series, you’ll notice that something’s off with the story. That is sadly where this series goes downhill. The issue with the series is how it tries very hard to be serious. I get it, you want to be very serious. That’s totally fine. Do that as you wish. It’s just that it constantly wants to be smarter than it really is by throwing a shit load of philosophical monologues around. Now, philosophical monologues are not even bad on their own. They’re actually good if you connect them well with the story and/or character(s). That’s something Ergo Proxy fails to recognize. The monologues could have been a lot better if the story didn’t just spit them out and put them on the floor, probably never to be touched ever again when another episode comes into play. The best way to describe the story is that it’s pretentious. No, really, it’s pretentious in the sense that it tries to be deep when it’s surface level at best.
Another problem with the series is how much potential there is thrown away. The relationship between humanity and the Proxies is actually great. We could have seen more from it if the series hadn’t treated that idea as a poor cat on the streets. All we have left right now are a bunch of concepts we can observe for a little while before we move on without realizing how they reach their maximum potential. Let’s face it, we can headcanon how those concepts go better than this show. Those concepts, as I said earlier, could have been explored more if the series didn’t waste its time trying to appear smart. This leads to not only confusion (and not in a sense that could elevate the story higher) but also frustration. It’s head-scratching to see how we get to see SOME buildup happening and afterward, they’re abandoned as if they’re grocery stuff we don’t need on our list.
This also applies to symbolism, by the way, and it’s more frustrating than ever. Symbolism is an interesting beast in Ergo Proxy where it may give you hints on how mysteries happen, especially with how Proxies originated. There are some hints pointed out but other than that, almost all of them are also wasted. Like the monologues, symbolism is just thrown out just so the series can appear smarter. Symbolism in general shouldn’t really be used all the time, to begin with. What do I mean by this? Let’s take a little look at Serial Experience Lain where that show doesn’t use its own symbolism countless times but it properly uses them when it carefully creates either a twist or a slow buildup to convince audiences what’s happening. Yes, I’m aware that both SEL and Ergo Proxy are different shows but even then, the principal stands. My point of this contrast is that symbolism isn’t a toy you can play with all the time. Symbolism is something that gives you a hint/idea when you create a figurative story. That’s something that, again, Ergo Proxy fails to understand.
Lastly, and I’m surprised that not many people point this out but I can’t stress to you how bad the filler is. It seems like Ergo Proxy occasionally runs out of ideas when trying to be serious so to “compensate” for that, it creates episodes that are comedic yet have nothing to do with the plot. Here’s an example, there’s this episode called “Nightmare Quiz Show” (episode 15, to be exact) where the characters play a quiz. Now this may bring in variety but it leans too much on what the episode is about and not what the overall story is about. Basically, it just leans on comedy for the vast majority of the episode’s runtime. A similar case can be said with some other episodes like “Eternal Smile” (episode 19). As we keep needing to come back to it, it adds nothing to the story and just leans on comedy. Ergo Proxy isn’t supposed to be an anime to do this kind of thing, since it’s about seriousness and mystery-solving. But we have those happening anyway.
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The character writing is also subpar. Let’s start with Re-L, the main detective, Vincent, the immigrant, and Pino, the main AutoReiv. Starting with Re-L, she’s a passable character, I guess. She has this cool no-nonsense personality and she does her job. But she isn’t fleshed out enough for me to care about. Moving to Vincent and oh boy, there are so many wrong things with his character. Now, he is a very important character but the series made him as if he shouldn’t exist in the first place. The nail in the coffin of his character in my opinion is when he’s revealed to be the Ergo Proxy which, again, seems cool but the whole thing is rushed which leads to yet another line of pretentiousness. Lastly, Pino is just there. She isn’t a remotely bad character also but she doesn’t have much personality to show. Yeah, she’s a main companion but that’s basically about it.
The side characters kind of suck. Yeah, they have their purposes as well but they still aren’t really properly executed characters, to begin in, even if they’re supporting ones. They only exist just so they can push the plot forward in case the writing for the main cast isn’t “enough”. There isn’t much to say about them honestly.
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Now, the final important element to cover is the ending. Now, this is arguably the most controversial part of Ergo Proxy but I actually think the ending is pretty decent and is the best part of the show. It’s not too amazing all things considered but it ties up most of the plot points quite nicely and isn’t rushed, even if some others are still left in the dust, unlike the rest of the story. It does at least address what happened in the series.
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It’s a shame with how Ergo Proxy’s writing is resulted because the visuals are actually great. They’re not too simplistic but not too complicated either. The details are executed well, especially with character designs, and the animation flows very nicely. The soundtrack is amazing and my personal favorite part of the show. The same goes with the voice acting and of course, how can we forget about Megan Hollingshead as Re-L in the English dub? Still the best voice acting in the show. That said, both the Japanese and English voice-acting are equally great in their very own rights.
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And those are my opinions on Ergo Proxy. There are a lot of interesting things we can observe but most of them are never used properly by the show and it leads to not only unnecessary confusion but also blatant frustration on top of it. There are ways the show can handle complexity well and yet, it doesn’t even realize that from left to right. Now, that isn’t to say don’t watch this series. I’m not trying to be objective with all these points. If you have a high chance to enjoy or love this series then go for it. I have nothing against it. But if you manage to read all of what I just said, you at least heard my two cents.
