Ergo Proxy 5-9
It’s a pertinent question, this pretentiousness thing. Ergo Proxy is a damn fine example actually, because once you strip away the spiritual/obtuse/highbrow side of things, what’s left? Unless the story winds up much more involved than this I’ll have to resign to the fact that this is just another dystopian sci-fi show; on the other hand ‘dystopian sci-fi show’ would be a good way for the series to go if it carries on like this because there’s already plenty going on. I won’t pretend that I’m convinced it’s another milestone in the same way that GitS or Lain was but I’m still finding it to be enjoyable enough; musically for instance it can’t be faulted (the op sequence is one of the finest in recent memory, and the rest of Monoral’s album is great too). Although the futuristic wasteland environ isn’t a new idea either that doesn’t stop it being marvellous to watch.
I was quite surprised to see Vincent take centre stage at this point in the story when Re-l was painted as the heroine of the piece; perhaps this is one area where Ergo Proxy really does stop following the cyberpunk rulebook. Not content with setting most of the events in this section outside Romdo, there’s even a shocking cliffhanger that takes this idea even further…I’m hoping things don’t turn out as final as this for her (perhaps the Brave New World-esque growth tanks will offer a way out for the plot in that respect?), because it would be hard to imagine Ergo Proxy without her otherwise.
Re-l on a mission outside the Dome
