Ergo Proxy

I just finished this and I'm not sure if I'm missing some big philosophical idea or allegory that makes it a "masterpiece" and "mature." It's held up to stuff like Lain or Evangelion, both of which I enjoy and hold in high regard, but it just seems like the execution of Ergo Proxy is shit and it doesn't have any hard thought provoking themes.

Other urls found in this thread:

youtube.com/watch?v=oAXrRWLKzko
twitter.com/SFWRedditImages

Ergo Proxy is mediocre at best.

youtube.com/watch?v=oAXrRWLKzko

Tbh I liked the OP and Radiohead in the end credits more than the actual show

I want to fuck pino

I usually compare it to Evangelion because of its themes of identity and purpose. Both series use a complex backstory as a vehicle to develop the characters on their journey of self-discovery.

It definitely has pacing issues. It starts strong, kinda drags in the middle and has a rushed ending.

It has plenty of flaws, but its unlike anything else out there and has a unique style, great soundtrack, and strong atmosphere.

>"masterpiece" and "mature."
You got memed on hard.

>It's held up to stuff like Lain or Evangelion

By who?

I thought it was great but needlessly vague.
Incidentally my favourite episode was Anamnesis, the one that was a big metaphorical mindfuck about Vincent coming to terms with what he is.
The dub made it easier to understand the anime too, the dialogue is much better than sub groups are able to write.

Gotta watch Shinsen-subs with there 10 minutes of note cards at the end of every episode explaining everything.

its enjoyable

I dont know if it "really makes you think" or not, but once i entirely got the plot i loved it. The sense of despair it communicates from the humans that are about to dissapear really got to me.

Great but needlessly vague describes it pretty well imo.

I hate that everyone skipped the quiz show episode, that one is really important.

Raul deserved more. The guy really tried.

I don't remember much but I did love vincent's nature. not many MC's with his backstory

OP, are you the bloke who said he was just going to drop it the other day?
The game show episode made me lose my shit. Loved that.

Nah that wasn't me, I never thought it was bad, I was just let down with what I had heard about the show beforehand. It has some neat ideas but it either doesn't use them to there full potential, like the fighting between the proxies, or like says where it's needlessly vague. It feels like it could be direct with it's plot but just doesn't give the information that characters know to the viewer even though it focuses on them at other times. Being vague works out in SEL because it only focuses on the point of view of Lain who doesn't have any idea about what's happening for a lot of the show, but in Ergo Proxy it just skips out on showing what Raul or Daedalus are finding out and then saves all of the conclusion for the end. It just seems poorly presented all in all

...

>ctrl f raison d'être
0 results
Disappointed.
Watch for Pino.

Who said it was a masterpiece?, but yeah it's good

It's alright.

I'm with OP, I've never, ever seen the comparison between the three series. I've never even seen Lain and Evangelion compared, even by newfags or normies.

They aren't comparable. Evangelion is something that wasn't intended to be deeper than what was shown, but it managed to achieve that by equal portions luck, subconscious design, and audience projection: Anno accidentally made it more than what he intended (at least by no closing anything off, and leaving everything as an open ended question), and then people latched onto that and projected even harder.

Lain is not "deep" in the sense that someone is trying to convey some subtext through obfuscation. It's pretty straight forward about it's intent, knows what it's intent is, and accomplishes telling the story. The fact that it resonated with a certain crowd was an explicit, conscious design decision. The fact it was good on top of that was also a matter of production and intentional design.

Ergo Proxy, while not terrible, is a byproduct of the post-90's, post-modern thought process of "there is no meaning" and "nothing means SOMETHING". It's just another story where a creator was trying to be "deep" by presenting questions they never intended to answer, because not only did they never have answers they don't want any from the audience. Like tons of late 90's and post-90's media that got caught up in the most basic of post-modern thought, they conflated the act of asking a question with something meaningful and poignant unto itself. The question isn't even an inverted statement of observation. It's functionally identical to someone looking at a clock and asking, "Why are clocks round?" like they've made achieve some kind of fundamental understanding by simply posing a meaningless question.

None of the series really explores any of the questions they present, honestly.

Actually to be even more honest, i sometimes feel "deep" is just thrown around for series with interesting plots and nothing else. Is Shin Sekai Yori deep? Is Katanagatari deep? They threat some subjects that shitty anime does not (in Ergo Proxy, i guess, they talk about despair, the self, mankind) but nothing else. The problem with Ergo Proxy is that the ammount of philosophical references overshadows any direct explanation to what is happening, and it gives viewers the impression that the series is trying to be extra deep when in turn is just a good story that should have been explained better. Its still one of my favorite anime but not because how "deep" it is, if anything, that sort of made it worse.

I've seen it compared in that they're all plot heavy and delve into the psychological. I found Ergo Proxy after watching SEL and Paranoia Agent and when going into discussions on that was directed to EP because people said they were similar to the related shows. Lesson learned, normies can't into analysis

I actually think Ergo Proxy is very similar to Evangelion. Not because of the "pseudo-deep" shit, but because of the characters. Vincent and Shinji are both "blank slates" trying to find their purpose in the world. They each are being manipulated by a higher authority (Proxy One and Gendo respectively) to achieve a goal that affects humankind as a whole in a post-apocalyptic setting. Both NGE and Ergo Proxy prioritize character development over the actual plot which is almost purposefully obfuscated.

Maybe Ergo Proxy is more similar to Kaiba in these respects. Pic related.
Evangelion, Ergo Proxy and Kaiba all epitomize the "journey of self discovery" theme for me.

...

It's a good show, things like the episode where the wind stops and they just fuck around day to day were very well put together in a way that's similar to Kino no Tabi.
It seemed like the theme got dropped in favor of showcasing a badly displaced, religious allegory plot.

This post hits the nail on the head. No one, that wasn't new to anime, has ever held Ergo Proxy in high regard.