First of all, I want to state my bias for strong female heroines and dystopic sci-fi settings.
--- Story - 8/10 ---
The story starts out rather strong in episode one, though one of the main characters is sidelined till the end and so much attention is paid to the autoraves (androids) that it seems at first glance like an action-against-androids anime, a la Ghost in the Shell. Just wanna tell you, it's not. The ubiquitousness of the autoraves just serves to show you how dependent the people are on the technology they don't really understand in Romdeau.
While the plot keeps a lot from you, it does
...
give you a lot of information. The pacing of the first dozen or so episodes loads information on you, then quickly jumps into the action. Then there are 5-ish slow episodes, in which nothing happens except fleshing out the world and characters. This is where the character development happens, and a lot of people think it's boring. Even though I don't like slice-of-life anime, and these episodes vaguely resembles that, I didn't find it boring. Vince, Re-l and Pino are dynamic characters who carry the show. I have to say, though, there were two episodes that it was really a chore to sit through (15 and 19). Then in the last few episodes, the plot quickly wraps itself up, and gives you vague hints as to what happens at the end.
For lack of clarity as to what happened in the last episode (I found out some things happened that I didn't even notice while browsing forums), and the sporadic pacing, I took two points off the story section. I found the end very satisfying and true to the feel of the rest of the anime though, and the mystery of the Proxies are very sufficiently explained.
--- Art - 10/10 ---
I found the art and character designs to be a huge strong point for Ergo Proxy. With Re-l's trademark eyeshadow and weird horn things that she puts in her hair, and Vince's strange red jumpsuit very weird at first, but attractive and visually interesting nonetheless. You get used to it. The backgrounds and futuristic machinery and gadgetry are well-designed and animated, and the action scenes are quick but are directed so that it flows easily. The backgrounds are painted gorgeously, and there are very few moments in the anime where I actually think, "Wow, Vincent doesn't look good from this angle" or so on. There is a part where a character is pushing aside some moss, and the painted graphic suddenly turns to just a green glob, then back into painted again. It's pretty weird.
For the opening, they do a weird newspaper-lettering over grainy, sporadically shaky projector-esque noir-y visuals. I can't say that it really appealed to me, but it didn't dispel me, either. The ending is similarly artsy and experimental. It works with the setting, but again, didn't really take to it.
All that said, the art is consistently excellent, and whenever a far shot would be taken of Romdeau or other scenery, it was striking.
--- Sound - 10/10 ---
The sound effects are crisp, the voice acting is good enough that I didn't notice anything about it (a high recommendation, really), and the opening theme song is so catchy that I would watch it through the entire time. The second song is from Radiohead, and if you've even dabbled in alternative rock, you've heard some of their stuff. It was a pretty old song for me, and while I liked it, I usually skipped it.
--- Character - 9/10 ---
Re-l is a sort of typical stoic, arrogant character, but she often shows little cracks in her facade. She seems to be very mature, as when I found out from a profile in episode 7 that she's 19, I was pretty shocked. I thought her in her late twenties.
Vince is a sheepish guy who's really quick to say sorry, but at weird times he comes across as being kind of crazy. In a yakuza way.
Pino is the token cute loli character who provides comic relief and the "oh, how cute" part of the show. It's not overbearing, so the dark, oppressive feel is maintained, but she pushes Vince around to get stuff done, which is adorable.
All in all, nothing groundbreaking, but solid characters.
--- Enjoyment - 10/10 ---
I really liked this anime. It was practically a recipe for what I like in anime: kickass female heroine set in a sci-fi dystopia, with psychological wtf moments as well as the occasional heartwarming. It had a hint of romance, just enough so that the shipping fangirl in me was satisfied. There was a lot of action, a lot of world-exploring, a lot of mysterious moments, and it starts and ends with a bang. I'd definitely recommend it to fans of the sci-fi, psychological, and surreal genres, and for people looking for something that emulates other anime but still manages to be unique.
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Apr 4, 2009
Ergo Proxy
(Anime)
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First of all, I want to state my bias for strong female heroines and dystopic sci-fi settings.
--- Story - 8/10 --- The story starts out rather strong in episode one, though one of the main characters is sidelined till the end and so much attention is paid to the autoraves (androids) that it seems at first glance like an action-against-androids anime, a la Ghost in the Shell. Just wanna tell you, it's not. The ubiquitousness of the autoraves just serves to show you how dependent the people are on the technology they don't really understand in Romdeau. While the plot keeps a lot from you, it does ... |
