Ergo Proxy

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Ergo Proxy

The title screen for Ergo Proxy.
エルゴプラクシー
(Erugo Purakushī)
Genre Postcyberpunk, Psychological Thriller, Suspense, Mystery
TV anime
Director Shukō Murase
Studio Flag of Japan Manglobe
Licensor Flag of Japan Geneon
Flag of the United States Flag of Canada Geneon
Flag of the United Kingdom MVM Films
Flag of Australia Flag of New Zealand Madman Entertainment
Network Flag of Japan WOWOW
Original run 25 February 2006 – 12 August 2006
Episodes 23
Anime and Manga Portal

Ergo Proxy (エルゴプラクシー Erugo Purakushī?) is a science fiction suspense anime television series, produced by Manglobe, which premiered across Japan on 25 February 2006 on the WOWOW satellite network. It is directed by Shukō Murase, with screenplay by Dai Satō et al. Ergo Proxy features a combination of 2D digital cel animation, 3D computer modeling and digital special effects. The series has both steampunk and postcyberpunk elements and focuses heavily on the psychology and mentality of its protagonists.

Contents

[edit] Story

The story begins in a futuristic domed city called Romdo,[1] built to protect its citizens after a global ecological disaster. In this utopia, humans and androids (AutoReivs[1]) coexist with each other peacefully under a total management system. A series of murders committed by berserk robots infected with the Cogito virus begins to jeopardize the delicate balance of the social order. Behind the scenes, the government is conducting secret experiments on a mysterious humanoid lifeform called Proxy, which is believed to hold the key to the survival of mankind.

Re-l (also spelled Real in fansubs, pronounced "Rielle") Mayer is assigned to investigate some of the murders with her AutoReiv partner Iggy. She encounters a Cogito-infected AutoReiv and a fast and flexible monster. She later learns that the monster was a Proxy. The other central character, an immigrant named Vincent Law, is revealed as being the eponymous proxy, but his memories of his time in his native dome of Mosque are suppressed, or perhaps he suppresses them. After being hunted down, Vincent and Re-l leave Romdo, only to discover the truth behind the Proxies and the domes.

In the domed city of Romdo (and possible in other domed cities) various sections of the 'government' are referred to as Bureaux - the Intelligence Bureau, the Health & Welfare Bureau and the Security Bureau among others. The AutoReivs are referred to as either 'companions' or 'entourage' depending on their role. Similar to films such as The Matrix, it appears that the humans in the city are somehow created and birthed by grossly swollen Autoreivs, and each assumes a purpose. This purpose, referred to as a "raison d'etre", consumes each character throughout the series. For example, Autoreiv's raisons d'etre are to serve the humans, and Daedalus' purpose is to serve and protect Real.

In an interview,[2] Dai Satō describes the project:

It is set in the future. A group of robots become infected with something called the Kojiro [sic] virus, and become aware of their own existence. So these robots, which had been tools of humans, decide to go on an adventure to search for themselves. They have to decide whether the virus that infected them created their identity, or whether they gained their identity through their travels. This question is meant to represent our own debate over whether we become who we are because of our environment, or because of things that are inherent in us. The robots are all named after philosophers: Derrida and Lacan and Husserl [sic].

– Dai Satō

Note that this paragraph only touches one of the supporting themes of the series and may have been extracted from an earlier draft or from the original idea that sparked the project and falls quite short of properly describing the whole story.

[edit] Cast & characters

Main article: List of Ergo Proxy characters

A number of characters in the supporting cast are named after various figures taken from both history as well as mythology. Most notably, names of significant profiles in philosophical and psychological sciences appear throughout the series. The Proxies could almost be supporting characters, since they play such a vital role in the series. Though it is stated that there are many Proxies, only a few have been named: Monad, Senex, Kazkis and Ergo Proxies, as well as Proxy One, MCQ and Will B. Good. A sixth which Re-l sends back to Romdo with Iggy, is never named.

[edit] Main characters

  • Re-l Mayer[3]
Voiced by: Rie Saitō (Japanese), Megan Hollingshead (English)(credited as Karen Thompson)
Inspector Re-l Mayer of the Citizen Intelligence Bureau (市民情報局 Shimin Jōhōkyoku?) is in charge of investigating a series of brutal murders apparently committed by AutoReivs infected with the Cogito virus. She is also the granddaughter of Donov Mayer, the Regent of Romdo. Re-l accompanies Vincent on his journey in order to learn more about the mysterious Proxies.
  • Vincent Law
Voiced by: Kōji Yusa (Japanese), Liam O'Brien (English)
An immigrant from Mosko working for Romdo's AutoReiv Control Division (オートレイブ処理課 ?) within the Temporary Immigrant Sector FG (暫定移民区域FG ?), set up to hunt and dispose infected AutoReivs. Vincent appears driven to become a Model Citizen, but ultimately fails to suppress the burden of his traumatic past and flees from Romdo. He seems to have a deep connection to the second Proxy, having left his necklace at the scene of the first Proxy site.
  • Pino
Voiced by: Akiko Yajima (Japanese), Rachel Hirschfeld (voice actress) (English)
An infected Companion type AutoReiv owned by Raul Creed and Samantha Ross, Pino served as a surrogate child to the couple. She was scheduled for decommissioning after the Creeds were granted a real baby son by the government, but the untimely deaths of Samantha and her new son prompted Pino to flee Romdo. She accompanies Vincent on his journey. The character of Pino was given this name as a reference to both Pinocchio, and Pinoko from Osamu Tezuka's Black Jack.[citation needed]
  • Iggy
Iggy is Re-l's entourage autoreiv. Programmed to have the muscle and the analytic capabilities to aid Re-l in her job but also to tenderly cater to her more feminine needs like shopping or romantic possibilities (though this usually only gets on her nerves), Iggy shows an undeterred devotion for Re-l.

[edit] Anime

[edit] Episodes

Main article: List of Ergo Proxy episodes

Ergo Proxy ran on the satellite network WOWOW at 19:00 Japan Standard Time from 25 February 2006 to 12 August 2006, for a total of 23 episodes. In the United States, the English dub of Ergo Proxy premiered on Fuse TV on 9 June 2007, playing every Saturday morning at midnight.[4] Australian digital broadcaster ABC2 also began broadcasting the English dub on 3 July 2007, playing every Tuesday night at 9:00pm, concluding on Wednesday the 5th of December.[5] In Canada, the English dub aired on a digital channel, G4techTV Canada, on Thursdays at 8pm ET/PT, starting its first run on July 26, 2007.

[edit] Theme songs

The series' opening theme song is "Kiri" by rock group Monoral and is first shown in episode 3. The ending theme song is "Paranoid Android", a famous song by English alternative rock band Radiohead, although the preview version of the first episode did not feature it.

[edit] Staff

[edit] Media

[edit] DVD release

Ergo Proxy was released on DVD in Japan from 25 May 2006 to 25 January 2007, spanning nine volumes. The series was licensed by Geneon Entertainment USA for Region 1 release, which began on 21 November 2006 and spanned six volumes. On July 3, 2008, Geneon Entertainment and Funimation Entertainment announced an agreement to distribute select titles in North America. While Geneon Entertainment will still retain the license, Funimation Entertainment will assume exclusive rights to the manufacturing, marketing, sales and distribution of select titles. Ergo Proxy was one of several titles involved in the deal.[6]

In Australia and New Zealand, Ergo Proxy DVDs are being released by Madman Entertainment; the first volume was released in March 2007. The first volume of Ergo Proxy was released in the UK by MVM Films on the 6th of August 2007. Currently 5 volumes of the series have been released.

[edit] Soundtrack

Two soundtracks, featuring the compositions of Yoshihiro Ike, have been released in Japan; the second, Opus 02, was also licensed by Geneon and packaged with a special edition of the first Region 1 DVD.

[edit] Manga

A manga spinoff, called Centzon Hitchers & Undertaker (センツォン・ヒッチャーズ&アンダーテイカー Sentson Hitchāzu & Andāteikā?) and illustrated by Yumiko Harao, was serialized in Shogakukan's Monthly Sunday Gene-X, beginning in March 2006. It was later released in two graphic novel compilations, the first in August 2006 and the second on 19 February 2007.

[edit] Trivia

 Lists of miscellaneous information should be avoided. Please relocate any relevant information into appropriate sections or articles. (December 2008)
  • In episode 10, one of the tombstones shown before the introduction song has "Chief Writer: Dai Sato" written on it.
  • In the first episode, when Vincent's cereal overflows with milk, the word "awakening" can be formed out of the letters that float to the top.
  • Re-l's pistol, which first makes an appearance in episode 10, bares a striking resemblance to Rick Deckard's own pistol from the movie Blade Runner.
  • The society can be based on Plato's ideal guardian society with philosopher rulers and information control.
  • Monad Proxy's name comes from the word 'monad' (Greek Monada, Μονάδα) as being the first origin of all things and in gnosticism, refers to the "god which begets lesser gods"
  • The character Pino and her name is thought to be a play-on of the story of Pinocchio - her experiences with Re-l and Vincent are similar to Pinocchio's journey to become a real person. It also pays homage to Pinoco from the manga Blackjack. Pino's character was partially inspired by Pinoco. Pino means 'to drink' in Greek (Πίνω) possibly symbolising Pino's ability to 'drink knowledge' or learn.
  • The Cogito Virus refers to Descartes' "Cogito ergo sum," which means "I think, therefore I am." Each episode is also called a "meditatio" as a further reference to Descartes whose most famous work, Meditations on First Philosophy is a series of meditations on various philosophical ideas.
  • Inside Regent Donov Mayer's chamber, the statue of two reclining figures on the right is based on Michelangelo's Night and Day statue placed above Giuliano di Piero de' Medici's sarcophagus in Medici Chapel, Florence. In the show, the female figure (Night) represents the voice of Lacan and the male figure (Day) the voice of Husserl. The statue on the left is based on Michelangelo's Twilight and Dawn stature placed above the sarcophagus of Giuliano di Lorenzo de' Medici in Medici Chapel. In the show, the female figure (Dawn) represents the voice of Derrida and the male figure (Twilight) the voice of Berkeley.
  • The robots (AutoReivs) in the show are installed with a Turing Application program that can be switched on and off, allowing normal human-like conversation between humans and robots. This is named after Alan Turing, who proposed the Turing test as a test of AI sentience.
  • Daedalus and the death of Re-l 2 refer to the Greek myth of Daedalus and his son Icarus, who died after he had flown too close to the sun. Other references to the mythology of Daedalus also exist. In one episode, a Minoan dolphin is seen swimming across Daedalus' aquarium screensaver on his computer. A ball of red yarn also makes a few appearances towards the end of the show. Although this yarn is thought to reference the threads of fate that bind lovers together, it may also be a reference to the ball of yarn that helped Theseus find his way through the labyrinth and defeat the Minotaur. It had been Daedalus who had built the labyrinth in the first place, as punishment for his helping Minos' queen to procreate with a bull (who was actually Zeus in disguise). It was the same labyrinth that Daedalus and Icarus were escaping from using wings that Daedalus himself had constructed.
  • The relation between Daedalus and Re-L can be also interpreted as analogy to the myth of Pygmalion who fell in love with his own masterpiece sculpture.

[edit] Introduction text

There are three different resources identified and used for the snippets of text shown in the introduction/opening sequence that starts on episode 3:

  • The poem introduced in the beginning of the series, written by Michelangelo.
  • Several pieces of text and graphics taken from the ancient text called Landnámabók (mostly from the title page).
  • A piece of text word-for-word from the Opening Sequence as:

The century of how many is a futuristic stories from now. People who lived there were given the history of mankind as follows, saying that "As for the environment of the earth, the large discharge of Metanhaidorad that was called burning iced happened in old times in century how many now, and it changed suddenly, a lot of living things died out and thus, the ancestor we of human races who had survived came to live only in the bubble dome

Bubble dome "Romud". It is an ideal city that is called utopia that repeats production and consumption. An advanced making to the network advanced, and people seemed to be satisfied with going by a multipurpose robot from which Ortorab was called by the system of maintenance, the life-support of the reached infrastructure, and the complete social security in this society where everything had been managed in an orderly manner if it gave neither crime nor an antisocial molecule. ... and it peeped at the problem on falling birthrate ...

However the event that causes the accident to the order happens several years ago. Another bubble dome "Mosque" collapses, and a lot of shelter immigrants have flowed in "Romud". The event brought different sense of values to "Romud" and gave birth to rich and poor and the class difference, and the dissatisfaction that came there smoked in the underground formed dangerous culture, and was becoming a breeding ground for crime.

Another big social issues had been generated in in such and Romud. It is existence of the virus program of the mystery of awaking the clinging ego in the artificial intelligence of Ortorab. Violated Ortorab did not follow man and caused a serious trouble frequently to the virus that was called alias "Cogito".

It begins to appear though people who have dissatisfaction in the dome are small number of people thus. Nobody said putting to practice and the person who gave up, "You should finish one's life in a peaceful dome though it was tedious" was most though they were all driven by the desire that it wanted to go out of here. Because it was taught that the external world was the world of the death to which the monster strolled and the infectious disease was furious for the Romud citizens.

This was possibly pieced together from text flashed during the introduction of each episode from episode 3 onward. "Metanhaidorad" is probably a Japanese phonetic rendering of methane hydrate, also called methane clathrate or methane ice.

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b "Ergo Proxy 3" Keywords". http://www.ergoproxydvd.com/story/keywords/. Retrieved on 2006-10-26. 
  2. ^ Sato-McGray Interview
  3. ^ Ergo Proxy anime, episode 7, 4:13: record shows RE-L MAYER
  4. ^ Hanson, Brian. The Click: June 9–15. Anime News Network. Retrieved August 16, 2007.
  5. ^ ABC2 TV Guide: 03 July, 2007. Retrieved October 23, 2007.
  6. ^ Anime News Network (2008-07-03). FUNimation Entertainment and Geneon Entertainment Sign Exclusive Distribution Agreement for North America. Press release. http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/press-release/2008-07-03/funimation-entertainment-and-geneon-entertainment-sign-exclusive-distribution-agreement-for-north-america. Retrieved on 2008-07-22. 

[edit] External links

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