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Anime First Impressions

Ergo Proxy – Anime First Impressions

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So Ergo Proxy has gotten a lot of hype, not necessarily because of its content, but because of its resolution: 1280×720! Any anime that requires a hardware update has got to be good! Do the specs make the anime? Read on to find out!

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So Ergo Proxy has gotten a lot of hype, not necessarily because of its content, but because of its resolution: 1280×720! Any anime that requires a hardware update has got to be good! Do the specs make the anime? Read on to find out!

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Ergo Proxy starts with some obscure Italian text. Way to confuse me from the get go! Next, we see a super powerful bondage guy escaping from a high security lab! I think he’s an "Ergo." Fun Latin tip #1: Ergo means "therefore," so I think the "Ergo" is the means by which the autoraves become autonomous. After that, we see one of those cyborg "autorave" things get chased by a robot and killed by some slow-motion jumping guy. Where did that come from!? Eventually we’re introduced to Ril Meyer, the heroine, and her "autorave" friend Iggy.

Apparently, an autorave has been infected by some "Cogito" virus, which makes the government unable to control it. Fun Latin tip #2: "Cogito" means "I think," so I guess the Cogito virus allows the autorave to think for itself. Ril and Iggy go to some apartment complex to investigate. While there, the Ergo tries a slow motion jumping attack on Ril and fails! Also, the prostitute autorave gets infected and tears a few ligaments in her leg.

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Next, there’s a long section of obscure talking about things the audience could not possibly understand. I hate when they do this in anime. They do make up for it by showing Ril starting to take a bath! In high definition! Just before she shows us the money, two Ergos slam into her house and start fighting! Way to ruin the mood, Ergos!

Lastly, some woman appears and starts trying to sell all sorts of stuff, including Ergo Proxy the soundtrack, Ergo Proxy the manga, Ergo Proxy the magazine, Ergo Proxy the website, and Ergo Proxy the flamethrower!

Now that I’ve written out the plot and everything, it seems to make more sense to me.

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As far as the character design goes, everything looks pretty cool in that cyberpunk kind of way. Ril is awesome, though a bit goth for my tastes. Then again, a cyberpunk anime with Aisia as the main character wouldn’t make sense, huh? Ril should really try to tone down the eye shadow a bit. Remember ladies, less is more.

Those autorave things kind of freak me out. They remind me of the androids in A.I. There also a character that never opens his eyes. I can never understand how these guys can see anything.

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The animation is smooth and detailed. There are some cool CG effects, and they aren’t the kind that drive me nuts. Having everything in super high resolution is nice. The subbed episode I watched was in 704×396 (boo), but I also watched the raw in all its 1280×720 glory! Seriously, everything looks beautiful in the native resolution. Do yourself a favor and watch the 1280×720 version! At this resolution, you can even read Ril’s notes in her notepad (she likes the word ludicrous, apparently)!

The nice lady at the end of the episode said that the OP and ED will be shown when the anime officially premieres, so I guess I’ll have to wait for that.

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Overall, Ergo Proxy is looking good. True, the plot is confusing, but who needs a plot when you have pretty pictures to look at? The dark mood is set well in the first episode, and I have a feeling it will continue throughout the rest of the anime.

(Fun Latin tip #3: "Cogito Ergo Sum" is a famous Latin quote by Descartes. It means "I think, therefore I am." The use of the words Cogito and Ergo probably mean that this quote has something to do with the anime. What that is, I’m not too sure yet. Plus where else am I going to use the 2 years of Latin I learned in high school!?)

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Last but not least, an obligatory character comparison, a la Samazama:

Ril Meyer and Girl Singer from Evanescence

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9 replies on “Ergo Proxy – Anime First Impressions”

You know, I’m actually kinda impressed by the fact that the document, from what I could read (and that was quite a bit) is in what appears to be actual English, rather than the usual Engrish or garbled ‘hit a keyboard a bunch of times to make up some stuff that looks like a note’ text that usually appears in anime. The language actually felt bureaucratic and stiff. 😀

The concept’s interesting, at least – I’m interested in seeing how this turns out.

I was impressed by the text documents too.

I remember in Kagihime it seemed like the production team had some fun with the text in their books.

First, this is really in response to Krunk than the actual topic so sorry for digressing buuut there is also a fate/stay night in 1280×720.
Second: As for Ergo Proxy, I think the show should be extremely interesting. I noticed that Ril looked like Rinali(I think that’s how you spell it) from D.Gray-man albeit older and with more eyeshadow. lol just an observation.

Agreet. Darn confusing but nice graphics. I hope they will explain exactly whats going on though cause I don’t want another Noein where I didn’t figure out what was going on until around episode 6 haha

Ya I agree definetly a confusing show. Normally I can pick up a little bit about whats going on in these types of shows but kept getting sidetracked, hope I dont lose intrest in the show because of that. Very Nice looking indeed but what show from Gonzo hasnt looked extremely good! Theyve always impressed me within the last few years with incredible animations along with your not so typical story.

Looks like an allegory of Rome (Romedo) in post-apocralyptic world without sex and colliseum. Roman citizen=Citizen, Slaves=immigrants, robots, Cogito virus=Christianity, Proxy=Barbarians, Medici Chapel=Roman Senate, Lilu’s grandpa=Caesar. Most of the side characters are named after 20th Century European philosophers, Kirsteva, Derrida, Lacan, Berkeley, Husserl, Deleuze & Gattari.

>I saw the first episode of Ergo Proxy today and it was very very interesting. I said to myself that I am going to watch this show every single day. My favorite character is Lil. Her outfit and make-up is ALSOME and I like her personality in this show. >I wish this show will never end because I know it is going to be a very excellent show to watch rather than others. I even got some computer wallpapers from Ergo Proxy image page on google! =D This show is my one of my favorites like the Naruto show and I promise that I am going to watch one or two episodes of Ergo Proxy everyday, so I can have more to watch throughout the months!

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