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Ergo Proxy

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Ergo Proxy
File:ErgoProxyTitle.jpg
The title screen for Ergo Proxy.
エルゴプラクシー
(Erugo Purakushī)
GenreCyberpunk, Suspense, Mystery
Anime
Directed byShukō Murase
StudioManglobe
Released 25 February 2006 – 12 August 2006

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 features cyberpunk, steampunk, and gothic elements, and focuses heavily on the psychology and mentality of its protagonists.[citation needed]

Plot

The story begins in a futuristic domed city called Romdeau, built to protect its citizens after a global ecological disaster. In this utopia, humans and AutoReivs (androids) coexist peacefully under a total management system. A series of murders committed by robots and AutoReivs infected with the Cogito virus (which causes them to become self-aware) begins to threaten the delicate balance of Romdeau's social order. Behind the scenes, the government has been conducting secret experiments on a mysterious humanoid life form called a "Proxy". The Proxy beings (described as God-like and Immortal) are believed to hold the key to the survival of mankind.

Re-l (pronounced "Rielle", also represented by the spelling "REAL" in the Romdeau citizen database) Mayer is assigned to investigate some of the murders with her AutoReiv partner, Iggy. She encounters a Cogito virus-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 to be connected in some ways with this proxy. After being hunted down, Vincent lives for a while on the outside of the dome. He later leaves for Moscow city, his birthplace, in an attempt to recover his memories. Re-l rejoins him to try to discover the truth behind the Proxies and the domes. It is revealed among other things that domes are all created by Proxies as well as the people inhabiting them who are created in special incubators.[vague]

In the domed city of Romdeau (and possibly 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 'Companion' or 'Entourage', depending on their role.

The humans in the city are grown in artificial wombs, but this appears to be more of a form of control over the population rather than an absolute necessity. Likewise, when a new person is grown, they are done so to fulfill a specific purpose, thus ensuring that person's future place in society through a "raison d'être" (i.e., a "reason for being").

Cast and 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 and mythology. Most notably, names of significant profiles in philosophical and psychological sciences appear throughout the series.

The Proxies are effectively supporting characters, since they play such a vital role in the series. Although upwards of 300 Proxies exist, only a few have been named: Monad, Senex, Kazkis, and Ergo Proxies; Proxy One; MCQ; and Will B. Good. A sixth Proxy, which Re-l sends back to Romdeau with Iggy, is never named. Proxy One is not one of the original 300, but is instead the missing half of Ergo Proxy's personality and memories that has taken physical form.

Main characters

Re-l Mayer[1]
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 Romdeau. Given her privileged status, she expects respect from people around her, and speaks as such (she addresses Vincent as "o-mae"). 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 Mosk working for Romdeau'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 Romdeau. 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 Romdeau. She accompanies Vincent on his journey. The character of Pino was given this name as a reference to Pinocchio, and Pinoko from Osamu Tezuka's Black Jack.[citation needed] and also to the painter Pino Daeni.

Production

Manglobe initially approached Shukou Murase with a bare-bones vision for a futuristic detective thriller, which included the title, a plot outline for episodes 1-3 and a design concept for Romdeau City. Beyond that they let him develop the idea towards a more existentialist slant.[2]

"There was almost too much freedom," he laughs. "A show slated to be on a commercial network carries restrictions according to the time slot," he explains. "Sponsors often have requests intended to help propel the work to hit status; and merchandising entails another set of requirements altogether. By comparison, all Ergo Proxy had to deal with was a DVD release and a TV broadcast over a pay satellite channel."[2]

At first they indented to have Vincent as the leading protagonist and Re-l as a supporting character; however as they fleshed out her character she became a much stronger character and began to steal the spotlight from Vincent. This gave them the opportunity to split the narrative between the two characters instead of having a single protagonist lead the story.[2]

In an interview,[3] 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.

— Dai Satō

Asked about how he devised the title Ergo Proxy, Sato replied "It's cool."[4]

Staff

Media

Anime

Main article: List of Ergo Proxy episodes

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 still retain the license, Funimation Entertainment assume exclusive rights to the manufacturing, marketing, sales, and distribution of select titles. Ergo Proxy was one of several titles involved in the deal.[5] 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.

In Australia and New Zealand, the Ergo Proxy DVDs were released by Madman Entertainment; the first volume was released in March 2007. The complete collection was released in December 2008. The first volume of Ergo Proxy was released in the UK by MVM Films on the 6th of August 2007. In Mexico, Ergo Proxy was released by Alter Films S.A de C.V. under México Video Home License; the first volume (Episodes 1-4) was released in July 2008. The second (Episodes 5-8) and third (Episodes 9-12) DVDs were released August 2008. Each DVD includes Japanese 2.0/English 2.0 audio, English/Spanish subtitles, NTSC Fullscreen Color, available in Regions 1 and 4.

In Japan, Ergo Proxy aired on pay-TV satellite broadcasting network WOWOW at 19:00pm from 25 February 2006, concluding on 12 August 2006.[6] In the United States, the English dub of Ergo Proxy premiered on Fuse TV on 9 June 2007, playing every Saturday morning at midnight.[7] In Australia, the English dub of Ergo Proxy first commenced airing on free-to-air-TV on ABC2 (the national digital public television channel) at 21:00pm on Tuesday 3 July 2007[8] and concluded 21:00pm on Tuesday 4 December 2007.[9] Repeats commenced at 1:10am on Friday 6 July 2007[10] and concluded 00:40am on Friday 7 December 2007.[11] The series has repeated several times, most recently commencing from 23:30pm Monday 29 June 2009[12] and concluding November 30. In Canada, the English dub aired as part of Anime Current (an Anime Television block) on pay-TV digital channel G4 Canada commencing Thursday at 8:00pm on 26 July 2007,[13] and concluding on 27 December 2007.[6]

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.[citation needed]

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.[citation needed]

Reception

NewType USA said, "We're even more excited by the premise of the show, which features complex drama surrounding the strikingly beautiful crime investigator Re-l Mayer, and an intricate sci-fi setting, incorporating robots, living in human society and a grotesque array of unique monsters. With its tremendous supporting cast and carefully woven plot..."[14] Katherine Luther of About.com praised it for its cyberpunk themes and mix of 2D and 3D animation as well as it's deep psychological storyline, calling it creepy intense and "edge-of-your-seat-delightful".[15]

References

  1. ^ Ergo Proxy anime, episode 7, 4:13: record shows RE-L MAYER. It should be noted a more ambiguous REAL is shown at the end of the episode 7, 23:56; the A being barely visible
  2. ^ a b c Wong, Amos (December 2006), "Profile: Shukou Murase", Newtype USA, pp. 50–53
  3. ^ Sato-McGray Interview
  4. ^ "A Japanese friend of mine, Dai Sato, writes anime. I asked him how he came up with the name of his new show “Ergo Proxy” — two words, both in Webster’s, that would nonetheless never abut each other in English — and he said simply, “It sounds cool.” " --"Ergo Proxy: The Official Language of the Internet", Virginia Heffernan, The New York Times
  5. ^ "FUNimation Entertainment and Geneon Entertainment Sign Exclusive Distribution Agreement for North America" (Press release). Anime News Network. 2008-07-03. Retrieved 2008-07-22.
  6. ^ a b http://www.tv.com/Ergo+Proxy/show/67854/episode.html?tag=content_wrap;episode_header
  7. ^ Hanson, Brian. The Click: June 9–15. Anime News Network. Retrieved 16 August 2007.
  8. ^ http://www.abc.net.au/tv/guide/abc2/200707/programs/ZY9080A001D3072007T210000.htm
  9. ^ http://www.abc.net.au/tv/guide/abc2/200712/programs/ZY9080A023D4122007T210000.htm
  10. ^ http://www.abc.net.au/tv/guide/abc2/200707/programs/ZY9080A001D5072007T011000.htm
  11. ^ http://www.abc.net.au/tv/guide/abc2/200712/programs/ZY9080A023D6122007T004000.htm
  12. ^ http://www.abc.net.au/tv/guide/abc2/200906/programs/ZY9080A001D29062009T233000.htm
  13. ^ http://www.g4techtv.ca/aboutus/press/p_20070625_release.shtml
  14. ^ "New Anime 2006", NewType USA, p. 51, 2006-03 {{citation}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  15. ^ Luther, Katherine (date unknown), "Ergo Proxy Series Profile", About.com Guide, retrieved 2010-05-30 {{citation}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); More than one of |author= and |last= specified (help)

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