Ergo Proxy Episode 3 - Maze City
OP - kiri (MONORAL) - awesome! The song is like Hyde with good Englsh pronunciation, and the OP itself is brilliantly stylised and animated - it’s not action packed or anything, but it’s perfect for the show, and I have watched it multiple times over the past couple of days. It’s odd, but having an OP really changes my perception of the series as a whole…
Vincent awakens on the floor of a train after a dream of a desertscape and a mysterious cloaked figure beating him and leaving him behind; the sequence strongly hints to either Vincent being one of the monsters or somehow being saved by one, but quite what’s going on is, as ever, left ambiguous.
While Lil (whose name appears to actually be Real, but that’s waaaay too stupid and will probably get changed for the US release so I’m still calling her Lil) investigates more about Vincent, she discovers that the Intelligence Bureau is also tracking him; turns out that Dorothy has been brutally murdered, and he is framed for it. Vincent is chased by the Bureau and eventually bumps into Pino, who is hiding from the Bureau herself despite only having limited self-awareness, and together they end up finding their way down to the city’s Plugvents, which regulate air pressure within the city (I think); Pino, meanwhile, has given away Vincent’s position to Lil by answering his phone for him, and she attempts to extract answers about what happened to her from Vincent.
Of course, Vincent remembers next to nothing, and is just as surprised to see his pendant as Lil was; however, the Bureau has tracked Vincent down, and is ready to arrest him, until the Plugvents start to open and suck Vincent and Pino outside (Iggy shields Lil). Vincent resigns himself to death without knowing any of the answers, but as he opens his eyes something strikes a chord with Lil (who already suspects he has a possible connection with Proxy) before he falls backwards into spiralling clouds of dust and the Plugvent closes again.
All this and Raul angsting about being a puppet of Romdo’s Council by thumping a piano a bit!
Okay, I’m officially hooked on Ergo Proxy now. We seem to be quite well out of the cryptic mumbo-jumbo now and making headway with the storyline, and the show continues to be particularly well directed and storyboarded; although this episode and the previous one haven’t been as spectacularly animated as the opening episode (unsurprisingly), this episode was still solidly made, with Vincent’s dream and the ending sequence in particular being very high quality.
So our big main question at the moment is what is up with Vincent! I still think he should keep his eyes open more often, but I can’t decide whether he actually is one of the Proxy-esque monsters; he seems far too human, but could easily just be like Pino except more advanced. Of course, if that’s the case, then it suggests at least one of the other “human” characters in the series should be one of the other monsters; but the one that was in the holding cell at the beginning of the first episode didn’t seem at all human…
Bah, it’s not really worth speculating at this point; we probably don’t know enough yet (I certainly don’t!) to really make any guesses about where things will go from here. I hope Vincent and Lil don’t stay entirely split up, as I’ve mentioned before, and I’ll be interested to see what the series makes of Pino; she’s not especially cute in a the usual fanboy-moe-moe way, which is great, despite wearing the strangest set of pajamas I’ve ever seen,
but it remains to be seen what role she’ll play in the story.
March 13th, 2006 at 6:07 pm
Raul was not too happy because he realized that his wife and his adopted baby which he hardly sees were killed in the Mall. Now he only has his job.
March 13th, 2006 at 7:24 pm
What evidence do you have for Raul being Pino’s “father”?
The adopted baby was brand new - we saw Pino’s “mother” going through the final stages of adoption in episode 1, and thus they could only have had the baby for a day before the shopping mall attacks. Why would Raul miss it already when he spends all his time working as it is?
Furthermore, Raul himself has given no indication of recognising Pino, despite coming face to face with her (from a distance, admittedly) at the end of the episode; and while her mother certainly didn’t care for her, it seems that Pino had a close relationship with whoever is the father.
While you might be right, I don’t think there’s been anything to indicate that relationship so far in the anime. It seemed to me that Raul was so shocked during the attack at the maul because he didn’t expect to see the monster, not because it was after his family - he’d only seen blurry CCTV footage at that point, and didn’t know what it was really capable of, plus he’d been instrumental in convincing Lil she’d just been hallucinating.
March 13th, 2006 at 8:13 pm
From the first ep, Raul has been on the phone saying that he is busy and he has to leave some procedure (adoption application) to the other person on the phone. Later Vincent visits Pino’s place and the mother talks about her adoption application just been approved. There is no indication that there is close relationship between Pino and the “father” either. It’s just that she was programmed to say those things like a toy, like Aibo. The mother also mentions about her high level connection with the Security Bureau. Then in episode three, you see Raul is thumping same piano, the one played by Pino on Ep 1 in exactly the same apartment. The camera also pans down to an infection meter left behind by Vincent.
He would also know that Pino by now is infected and needs to be get rid of. He might be the one requested a robot control team to retrieve Pino in his house.
It seems that Proxy can cause everyone around to space out. So, he is also shocked that his opponent is much stronger than he thinks. The last chief resigned 4 months into the job because of a nervous breakdown.
I think this is a show about “shit” happens again and again to people with very stable and boring life until they can’t hide behind facade anymore and have to go on a journey to re-examine their life.
March 14th, 2006 at 2:17 am
The first monster who attacked Ril (Lil? Real?) in her bathroom was wearing a red mantle/cape that is sort of similar to what Vincent wears all the time. And in the new OP, the same “monster” is seen as if putting on a mask.
Also there is a comment by Vincent during his dream about crying (Am I crying?), the first monster did shed a few tears when he attacked Ril/Lil/Real.
Now why would the monster that escape from the research center be after Vincent all of a sudden? Perhaps it’s because Vincent was that first monster who attacked Ril/Lil/Real, and he himself doesn’t know it yet.
What does this mean? I have no clue, and of course I could be totally wrong.
Just my little delusions.
March 14th, 2006 at 2:27 am
Oh, and in the OP, Vincent does this little scream-to-the-sky posing while the camera pans around, pay attention to what happens to his little cape thingie at the end of the camera pan before it switches to the next screen.Or I could just be totally crazy, in a Vincent sort of way.
March 14th, 2006 at 9:22 pm
You are not crazy. It’s pretty clear who Vincent is, at least who he is when he passes out. Vincent is the waif magical girl archetype here.
March 15th, 2006 at 2:27 pm
Sup~Alex~ Awesome blog!
The OP! yea~! The way they stylised and animated the OP is superb~ i can’t stop myself from watching the op multi times either =p.
Raul..waw~ i would say he is so dam a calm person…
BTW…Do you have the lyric of kiri (MONORAL)?
The Englsh pronunciation was not bad though….
It will be great if you can post the lyric…
thx~
March 15th, 2006 at 11:36 pm
Ergo Proxy’s extremely intriguing plot plus a kick ass OP equals one hell of an amazing anime. As for what the anime is about, based on what I understand, I disagree with Alex in that it isn’t:
“a show about “shit” happens again and again to people with very stable and boring life until they can’t hide behind facade anymore and have to go on a journey to re-examine their life.”
rather one based on a dystopian society(think 1984 and Brave New World)with themes such as “big brother is watching”, manipulation by those in the higher echelons of government and the motif of the ideal citizen.
March 16th, 2006 at 12:41 am
The OP oozes with style.
Vincent = Vocal
Lilu = Guitar
Iggy = Drummer
Pino = Keyboard girl
Raul = Evil Band Manager
Daedalus = Music Tycoon
You complete my faith,
The word unwinds inside of me.
You complete my faith,
Then halo glows away.
You will fill my place,
You will fill my place.
Come and save me,
Come and save me,
Come and save me,
Come for me and take my heart and take my breath away.
Come and save me,
Come for me and take my heart and take my breath away.
Come and save me.
March 16th, 2006 at 1:05 am
I think pino is a cute kid. Vincent never opened his eyes until the end of this episode maybe its some kind of symbolism.
Yeah I agree with Zhang with the george orwell’s 1984 and.. the brave new world. Too bad they don’t have orgy porgy LOL.
I agree that the setting is similar to 1984 and brave new world.
But I think the theme of this story (i know it’s early to say anything but) is artificial intelligent and existence. “Cogito, ergo sum”
March 16th, 2006 at 11:17 am
I agree digitalzombie, I just said those themes because they were characteristic of those novels(maybe some ppl weren’t aware what those novels were about). Also, about Vincent, the closed eyes and sort of subordinate look is the face of the “ideal” citizen, thus when he opens his eyes it means he is rebelling/giving up trying to be ideal. It also may cue when he becomes that other “proxy”…maybe.
March 16th, 2006 at 5:24 pm
LMAO @ Raul = Evil Band Manager
That’s so cracking…
So far my impression of it is that the central idea is something like “live your individual life for yourself, even if it’s hard” (suggesting that it is better to live a less safe life with your eyes open, than an ideal, safe but blindly-led one)
… with the sub-theme of “individualism” explored through the man-machine difference, I guess. Also the idea of a Creator, at least later on the seires I think…
Oh fudge, I’ll be happy enough if we get to see Vincent fanservice, I’m that shallow.
March 16th, 2006 at 7:02 pm
There is also the other theme of relationship between human-like gods (Grandfather, Lacan, Derrida, Husserl, Berkeley) and god-like humans (Vincent, Lilu, etc.) as in Greek mythology rather than Judeo-Christian mythology. The cryptic conversation between the 4 voices in grandpa’s crypt is interesting and reveals about future direction of the show and character development.
March 16th, 2006 at 11:07 pm
Somehow I got the idea that their world might just be a computer simulation because the outside looks a lot like the typical faceless border area of a computer game. At first, I didn’t think that Vince really had his eyes closed but that it was rather an exaggeration of slitted eyes as sometimes seen in anime. In the previous episode and this one he really opened his eyes and you could see that his usually look is not the normal one. There was also a scene in the train where it looked as if he switched from one reality to another. Maybe by closing his eyes he’s completely inside the simulation and when he opens them he can see reality (unlike others maybe)?
Lil doesn’t really sound better than Real. I would also think she has that name for a reason. Even if it’s just so it can be written in 1337534k which seems to referenced in further episodes.
March 17th, 2006 at 8:38 am
I’m going to kill Dai Sato with a very painful implement if it turns out to be a ripoff of the Matrix… even if we get Vincent fanservice…
I already want to kill him for Eureka 7… bloody hell.
March 17th, 2006 at 7:22 pm
I seriously, seriously doubt the computer scenario is likely lol. I wanted to just say that you guys should download the notes that accompany each episode that Yoroshiku Fansubs and Anime United release(no ep. 3 yet but ep 1/2 are out). Fairly informative, the notes basically do the research for us :). They are only around 100kb so I’d just check them out for the hell of it.
March 17th, 2006 at 11:26 pm
I’m not arguing about likeliness. I just doubt that he was dreaming. There was the stereotypical hologram flicker with amulett and the unrecognizable person.
Even if it was a simulation it doesn’t have to be Matrix rip-off. Though I think there is hardly any movie or show that does not borrow most elements from others and which are truly original. Actually there are probably far too many rip-offs and covers nowadays. However, if it’s well-done there’s not much reason to complain.
March 18th, 2006 at 4:13 am
“I already want to kill him for Eureka 7… bloody hell. ”
Mind to share why ?
March 18th, 2006 at 5:24 pm
Pinot: I find that Eureka 7 ultimately felt way too unoriginal and contrived for me to like it… and I’m up till ep 42. Perhaps there were some good bits but so much of the show felt predictable (to me) and furthermore, the exchanges just felt cheesy… I hope Dai Sato doesn’t do that sort of show anymore.
Although it certainly isn’t as unoriginal and utterly shit like IGPX which DOES have Matrix ripoffs (one of the BGM tracks sounds oh so very similar to one of the themes in the Matrix, and well, there’s the well-known suspended-in-mid-air-360-pan move…)
Looking at the 2ch thread for this show, it’s like just about every poster who’s not whining about the show is obsessed with Pino. “Mate mate~” But it’s so meltingly cute…
March 19th, 2006 at 3:42 am
Fair enough. I was just curious as I’m pretty fond of pretty much everything Dai Sato has done that i’m familiar with and was curious as to your dissatisfaction with the direction he took the show in. Yeah, it’s not the most original, but the execution renders the concept fresh again imo and coupled with a fantastic cast, I do think it has turned out to be a fantastic show, and by far the most definitive work by Bones thus far.
March 19th, 2006 at 11:46 am
Where can i download the song of MONORAL??
It’s awsome.^^
March 23rd, 2006 at 10:24 pm
ergo proxy is getting very interesting. Yes Vincent should keep is his open, when he opened them, he shocked me just as much as he shocked lil. Although the anime is already licensed in the u.s. and is unsure of its release date. I am buying that boxed dvd set unedited. Vincent has some nice eyes. for some reason i think he is proxy. Like a split personality or something like that……anxiously waiting for the other episodes to come out.
March 28th, 2006 at 4:36 am
Sadly, I have to agree with wao on the Vincent fanservice. But hopefully Ergo Proxy will be awesome overall.
I kept thinking Vincent had the dullest look, but then after he opened his eyes…wow, what potential to be the coolest guy ever! ..yea shallow.
April 13th, 2006 at 1:51 am
can anyone tell me where to download the op [ Monoral - Kiri ] been looking everywhere :{ and couldn’t find it.
May 6th, 2006 at 2:50 pm
I was just wondering…Do they have Ergo Proxy in english or dubbed?Because its sorta complicated for me to understand the story if I can’t understand what the characters are saying….
Oh & u can download the OP theme at www.gendou.com,but u gotta sign up if u wanna download it though…