The AutoReivs of Ergo Proxy
This was one hell of a day, mm? Many thanks to our guest posters for providing crunchy brain sustenance for all! And now, as you loosen your bootlaces in preparation for the evening, it’s time to take a moment and appreciate these elegant anime robots.
I’ve been hearing about Ergo Proxy for ages but didn’t start watching until last week. Just 4 episodes in so far, I’m admiring the perpetually dusky post-ecodisaster utopia and identifying with the heroine’s utilitarian fashion sense. Of special interest to me, however, are the Entourage AutoReivs – as their name implies they are robotic companions to each citizen and help with everything from shopping to driving to occasional protection.
More stylized in appearance than the humanoid Companion models also present in the world of Ergo Proxy, some autoreivs vaguely resemble bearded men, and others have the shape of a statuesque female, hair pulled back into a strict bun. Despite the appeal of an autoreiv’s services one should remember that they store all of their owners’ data and monitor their actions. Could Big Brother be near? And beware Cogito, the self-awareness virus – it seems to be spreading across Romdo Dome City and all autoreivs are subject to infection…
Ergo Proxy is available on Amazon.
March 31st, 2008 at 7:22 pm
You guys have done it again- another thing I was unaware of the existence of until moments ago and now helplessly love. Thanks for ruling!
March 31st, 2008 at 7:53 pm
Oh, man! I have the first volume DVD STILL IN THE WRAPPER! That’s it, I think this is a sign that it’s finally time to bust it out and make with the watchin’…
March 31st, 2008 at 8:12 pm
Ergo Proxy is one of the few animes that I was motivated to watch in its entirety. You’ve just inspired me to watch it again.
March 31st, 2008 at 8:32 pm
I saw the first several episodes awhile back, and one thing that I found amusing was the number of autoreivs named after continental philosophers. Two medical ones are named Deleuze and Guattari. Also the 4 statue-autoreiv-things that the heroine’s grandfather speaks through are Derrida, Husserl, Lacan, and Berkeley.
March 31st, 2008 at 9:18 pm
Will definitely be checking this out! My taste in anime runs to ze oft unheard of (by me), und/or, unpopular, so i appreciate this. Also, I’ve a love of such bots, as this little doodle o’ mine clearly shows.
Keep forgetting, no image hosting: http://img81.imageshack.us/img81/392/19pjyg6.jpg
March 31st, 2008 at 9:29 pm
GAAAAAAAH! Internet Explorer won’t run on mee mac, und ye have to have it to use this. Piss, rot und bother.
March 31st, 2008 at 10:46 pm
Jerem – I love your doodle so.
March 31st, 2008 at 11:01 pm
Great series…a bit uneven at times but a solid entry into some of the more less mined areas of animation (even for Japan.) It should be noted that the soundtrack albums are quite good too…
April 1st, 2008 at 1:11 am
Ohhhh… I recently finished watching Ergo Proxy myself and though I must admit the last three-four episodes weren’t on par with the rest of the series (almost as if done by another hand, both for quality of the story and for stucture) it still is an excellent view. Initially it might look just another take on the Ghost in the Shell theme of self aware machines, but as the story progresses it gains substance and originality.
I’d also highly reccomend the two soundtrack cds (Opus 1 and Opus 2) by Ike Yoshihiro… ambient mixed with simphonycal/classical elements.
April 1st, 2008 at 1:12 am
Tequila: didn’t notice it… you’ve beated me on the soundrack suggestion! :-)
April 1st, 2008 at 5:48 am
oh, I love Ergo Proxy, discovered it last year at Anime north and couldn’t resist on the end of the festival, I had to get all the episodes and two posters. Love the colors.
I want her hair! hehe
April 1st, 2008 at 1:29 pm
Hmm, a friend of mine was raving about this a few weeks ago. I’ll have to check it out.
April 1st, 2008 at 3:23 pm
The whole story is layered throughout with many references to philosophers, psychology and obscure text. Cogito ergo sum ‘i think therefore i am’, is where the Cogito virus’ name came from.
In the opening sequence there is text from Landnáma which is a very old icelandic recording of their early history. Also is a poem from Michael Angelo…so many juicy bits in there.
The series is great, which I wasnt expecting when I saw it.
April 1st, 2008 at 3:54 pm
Yeah — I’d like to give out a little healthy warning to any site that wants you to “install our special software” before you get to download a file… :
Just don’t do it, umm’kay? (Coilhouse editors and anybody else reading this who clicked on that link and downloaded the files — make sure and run a thorough virus and malware check, stat, specifically for the virus “AdWare.Win32.Agent.ail” which was detected in that site’s files.)
April 1st, 2008 at 4:07 pm
Thanks, Cappy. Checked the link before posting and it seemed fine – for everyone’s protection I’ve linked to Ergo Proxy on Amazon, instead!
April 1st, 2008 at 6:12 pm
Hey, no prob.
…and I hate to evangelize here, but this is one of the big reasons why everyone here should be using Firefox, at the very least — any site with messages like “Needs Internet Explorer” is usually big trouble.
April 4th, 2008 at 9:44 am
You can also go here to watch them:
http://www.animecrunch.com/episodes/ergo-proxy/