Animanga/Anime| Information
|
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
Shukou Murase , with screenplay by
Dai Satō Et Al . ''Ergo Proxy'' features a combination of 2D digital
Cell Animation , 3D computer modeling and digital special effects. The series has both
Steampunk and
Cyberpunk elements and focuses heavily on the psychology and mentality of its
Protagonist s.
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) coexist with each other peacefully under a total management system. A series of murders committed by berserk robots (infected with the Cogito virus) started 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 is assigned to investigate some of the murders with her AutoReiv partner Iggy. She encounters a cogito infected AutoReiv as well as a fast and flexible monster. She later learns that the monster was a Proxy.
In an interview
{Link without Title} , Dai Sato describes the project:
See Also: 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.
:An immigrant from Mosko working for Romdo's within the , 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.
:Inspector Re-l Mayer of the 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.
:An infected Companion AutoReiv owned by
Raul Creed and Samantha Ross, Pino served as a surrogate child to the couple. She was scheduled for decomissioning 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.
See Also: List of Ergo Proxy key terms
See Also: List of Ergo Proxy episodes
''Ergo Proxy'' ran on the satellite network WOWOW at 19:00 ,
2007 . Australian digital broadcaster
ABC2 also began broadcasting the English dub on
3 July 2007 , playing every Tuesday night at 9:00pm.
The series' opening theme song is "Kiri" by
Monoral and is first shown in episode 3. The ending theme song is "
Paranoid Android " by
Radiohead , although the preview version of the first episode did not feature it.
''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 ; to date, five volumes have been released, spanning the first twenty episodes.
In
Australia and
New Zealand , ''Ergo Proxy'' DVDs are being released by
Madman Entertainment ; the first volume was released in
March 2007 .
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.
A
Manga spinoff, called 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 .
- 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' 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.
- 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 to close to the sun.
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 (source unknown) word-for-word as:
"Metanhaidorad" is probably a Japanese phonetic rendering of
Methane Hydrate , also called methane clathrate or methane ice.
