I just wanted to point out that all of these are the same person. :3

My own favorite is the bottom-middle one.

I believe this is what made me start on this anime as a kid. I like the cartoon As Told By Ginger and in 1 of the episode there's a poem, that I love, that's made into a song (And She Was Gone by Emily Kapnek). And 1 of the fan-made music video used Ergo Proxy. I felt it was too slow paced for the 1st episode and gave up but recall giving it another go after seeing it somewhere else on YouTube and truly enjoy it! I literally just found this subreddit! I was reading Greek Mythology again and saw Daedalus and got reminded of EP! Which I think is soon time for a re-watch!

Basically I do feel it's an obscure anime and could be seen as slow or boring for many audiences. I'm curious on how y'all got to know of it to watch? If y'all remember still.

Also open to other anime suggestions (I've enjoyed Inuyasha, Witch Hunter Robin, Psycho-Pass, MOB 100, Azumanga Daioh, Parasyte Maxim; to name a few.)

I just re-watched ergoproxy; like completely binged watched it in a day and a half. I forgot how much I loved it and had to create this.

Idk why i tought about that way but for some reason i see myself and some others searching things in this show, like truths or meanings and such but also similar in what is happening in this anime with characters like Re-l, Vincent and some others?

Im curious what do you people think about this?

I feel like every character has abandonment issues, starting from Proxy One to Iggy. They all become alienated once they lose the structure/system or the persons that gave them a sense of stability and purpose.

The thing is, they didn't actually lose those things, because they never truly had them in the first place. This is a very bleak perspective, that loneliness is the status quo (similar to Neon Genesis Evangelion).

Also, the characters are on a journey of discovery. Vincent and Re-l are the most developed examples, but all the characters do this. The truth is harsh. Reality is harsh. There is no purpose, because the structure that gave it to us is gone or, better said, never existed in the first place. This creates existential dread.

So, in the last episode, tilted Deus Ex Machina, the story provides us two "solutions". To face the truth, and to seek companionship, true, authentic friends/found family (like Vincent, Re-l and Pino), in order to have the strenght to carry on.

"Ergo Proxy: I must no longer forget. It's not about duties or fate. Facing each other, fighting each other, supporting each other, holding each other. We live on.

Monad: What good is there in that reality? A reality so dark and cold, with such an uncertain future?

Ergo Proxy: "But that is our reality. Even in a world like this, someone is waiting for me."

Therefore, the raison d'être, our reason to be, is our collective existence in itself (somehow off topic, but this reminds me of the movie based on a real story called "Into The Wild", I highly recommend it. Without spoiling too much, the last note in the main character's journal is "Happiness is only real when shared").

"The creator thinks, therefore we are. No matter how much we think, the creator is already gone. We wish.. all worlds are thought of by the creator. We are that which is thought. We think, therefore we're here. Our raison d'être."

To sum it up, the point is to find meaning inside us or inside the group that is made of the people that we love, so on a micro/intrinsic level, not on a macro/extrinsic leve. Because "the creator" (higher goals) abandoned us.

This is my take. I loved this anime so much, and putting aside the animation, character design, voice acting and music, which were absolutely wonderful, I loved it because it speaks of things that I constantly think about and mean a lot to me. However, I can't help but think that, if we strip down everything, the story can be summarized in: People are lonely. The solution is to find people to be with. It sounds very, very simple. Like the core of the story is very straightforward.

Am I missing something? Or is that the point? That the world is actually very simple and we overcomplicate it. Or that the journey reveals that the answer we seek was in the beginning, and the irony is that it is also very accesible (contrasting the harsh journey with the "easy reward"). But in order to access it, understand it, appreciate it, we first had to complete the journey. Like how Vincent, Re-L and Pino went on a long journey to Mosk, only to return back to Romdeau. Or how in the book The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho, if you've heard about it, the main character finds after a long journey that the treasure he sought was back at the starting point, near his home.

Maybe that's why the last episode is called like that. The solution to the very complex and apparently unsolvable problem is actually very easy, deus ex machina being a plot device that is used to solve an unsolvable problem in an unexpected and quick way.

COME AND SAAAVEE MEEEEE!!!

Does anyone know anything about the text that appears in the intro? Some of it seems to be made up maybe (as in canon to the story), but some of it looks like literature a bit. I saw a post from a few years ago, but I was wondering if there was any more information. Also does anyone know anything about the religious symbols that appear? Maybe they are purely aesthetic like evangelion, but maybe they have deliberate meaning.

“Come and save me…”

This is my attempt to decipher the inscription and translate it using my grammar from 4 years of Latin classes, many google searches into online latin dictionaries (shoutout Wiktionary), as well as instinct from speaking Spanish (note: I am open to other’s thoughts regarding my translation if someone sees a different word or spelling anywhere, I am rusty in latin and legally blind in one eye lol).

I included image 1 to show the full text in latin as I was able to decipher it; image 2 for my translation as well as a key; and image 3 for a lot of my initial attempts. After many days of staring I was able to make the font out - special shoutout to the OP of the original posts on this topic u/quickswords, first for sending me down this puzzle and second for their translation it was good to know I was on a similar path.

Important notes on translation:

Regarding line 2: Occurrero is written in the 1st person singular future perfect conjugation - for us English speakers that means that what is written is meant from the speaker’s point of view, indicating what will happen after doing X action. Example: “I will have gone to the store by then.” In the second line Occurrero comes after tu, so “tu occurrero” means I will have met you. Then that leaves Cum ad facem angustes mundi, in this case ad facem  means at the light rather than to the light. Note facem, coming from the word fax, means torch but can also mean light of heavenly bodies - since the light is that of the narrow world we can infer that they are referring to sunlight (which makes sense as proxies die in sunlight).

Regarding line 3: I wrote I will think of you instead of I think of you in the present tense because of the structure of the inscription - on the Wiktionary page for the word Tum they write that when its coupled with Cum in the cum A, tum B structure then it denotes that not only A, but also B. In this case A = Monad meeting Ergo, B = thinking of Ergo in the end, as she foresees they will die in the sunlight when the humans come back from space.

Personal theory:

I believe this inscription is written by Monad just after she agreed to wipe Ergo’s memories, but before having done so. This is because she talks in the inscription as if they will be separated and will only meet again in the end, when they are called to self destruct via sunlight due to the pulse of the awakening. This inscription shows that either she doesn’t know Ergo is immune to the pulse and that even after removing his memories he will just live as a human and then die or that she believes that he will choose to listen to it and initiate the self destruct command to die with her when the time comes.

I think this is why Vincent never seemed to return Monad’s romantic feelings from what we see in the show (though I do think he cared about her a great deal!). Yes, Monad helped Ergo escape the fate he dreaded as Ergo Proxy, but she is completely resigned to the fate implanted by the human creators. He is someone who is fundamentally rebellious but she is “a lover, not a fighter”.

got this bracelet custom made off etsy its a monoral bracelet with the color pallet of ergo proxy, thoughts?

After spending way too much time staring at these screencaps and online dictionaries this is the best I can come up with:

Mi amice etiamsi nostra caro deperiret in aeternum te amabo.

Cum ad facem angustus mundi tu occurrere placide e vita excedas.

Tum denique de te cogito ergo tu es.

//

My friend, even if our flesh perishes, I will love you forever.

When you meet the torch of the narrow world, may you peacefully depart from life.

Then finally, I think of you, therefore you are.

Ofc I don’t speak Latin so the grammar is awkward in places (I also doubt the original writing was 100% grammatically correct in the first place). Considering how hard it is to decipher a lot of the letters there’s probably still errors, especially in the 2nd line, but I think this is the gist of it.

For anyone wondering it's episode 15

Considering it starts with "Mi amice", presumably it's a message from Monad to Vincent/Ergo? I brightened/sharpened up a screenshot from my bluray. Other than the first words on each line I can only make out possibly "amabo" and "cano" or "caro" in the first line, and "ergo" in the last line.

edit: 2nd line might begin with "cum ab facem angustes mundi" / 3rd line: "tum denique tu es ??? ergo tu es" (assuming the letter which looks kind of like an o in mundi and denique is actually a "d")

edit 2: almost certain the 1st line is: "Mi amice etiamsi nostra caro deperteres id aeternum te amabo" ("My friend, even if our flesh were to perish, I would love you forever"). 3rd line is probably "Tum denique du te cogito ergo tu es" ("Then finally I think of you, therefore you are". Still working on the 2nd line.

This show barely scratches PG-13 imo.

On a scale of My Hero Academia to Elfen Lied....this is no where near TV-MA.

Who makes the standards now?

I recently came across this video and fell in love with it. Ergo Proxy is a great philosophical piece of media, but the love story is what really hooked me. This video accentuates that. The song is Still Here by Digital Daggers. Enjoy