“Ergo Proxy”- A Complex Anime That Explores Life and the Future (Part 1)
This series takes place on a future Earth, in a post-apocalyptic space. It tells of the events and consequences after a global catastrophe. As it is known, impromptu detonations (explosions in methane hydrate reserves) that occurred in the second half of the 21st century wiped out 85% of the planet’s population. The reason for this was rapid changes in climate. The survivors used the Boomerang Star- “the last tool constructed by mankind on Earth” to leave the planet, but this planetary evacuation ship was hastily built, and it is said that not everyone managed to get on. The name of the ship “Boomerang Star” implied that humans would return to Earth like a boomerang. At least, they wanted to.
Initially, the survivors, before building a ship to leave Earth, launched the Proxy Project (PP). They created 300 Proxies to look after Earth while they were out. These Proxies contained flawless energy and were distinguished by impressive physical strength. They contained amrita cells which made them practically immortal beings. However, for example, very specific, high energy waves could destroy Amrita’s cells, the Proxies themselves could create such energy waves to kill each other, and also, they had another weakness — natural sunlight killed them. The latter was not a problem for them when they were on Earth, because the world was shrouded in clouds.
300 Proxies were tasked with building dome-type cities, and the population was replenished through artificial wombs, i.e. artificial wombs created people who were settled in domes. 300 domes/cities were built, one for each Proxy. In the process of creating dome societies, Proxies had creative freedom, the reason for this was the desire to create diverse cultures and populations. Romdeau— a technological, capitalist “paradise”, Smile Land — a Disney theme park, Mosk — Moscow and several other cities remind us of the American 1950s. Artificial wombs created people, people created car reivs (machines that exist in Ergo Proxy), and the combination of the two built domes and maintained order.
The goal of creating the domes was to regulate the ecosystem and create a suitable place for the surviving people. Restarting the cycle of the ecosystem and adapting this ecosystem to humans required that humans be in the mentioned conditions so that the environment should undergo adaptation to humans and create a suitable environment for them again like in the past. Before the release of methane gas, the plan of the survivors was just this — to facilitate the adaptation of the environment to humans. It took longer than they had initially estimated.
The projects of “pseudo-humans”, Proxies or domes, did not aim to create an ecosystem suitable only for survivors. Since they were initially building a ship to leave Earth, they had some risks that the ship might fail and kill everyone. If the spaceship crashed and the people in the domes were killed, they wanted human intelligence and some form of life to still exist. They thought that if humans ceased to exist, human beings with their own souls would remain, which in turn would leave behind some form of life, so one of the goals of creating pseudo-humans was to leave a trace of the human being and their existence. For example, Pino was quite human at the end, which suggests that the Cogito-infected Autoreiv was human-like from time to time.
The cogito virus plays an important role in the series, because Autoreivs become aware of their own existence — self-awareness awakens in them with a help of virus. It is possible (but unsubstantiated) that the virus was created by the Proxies themselves. Infected Autoreivs exhibit strange behaviors, such as attacking people. An interesting behavior is still the prayer postures directed towards Monad and Ergo Proxy. For example, the famous shot of Pino kneeling and praying when seeing Monad in person at the Romdeau shopping center, the prayer position is probably related to the desire to spread in humans, to create/find faith to call a supreme deity — unique in the animal world and very distinctly human.
Proxies were created to care for and nurture the human population (pseudo humans) in the domes. The Proxies soon realized that their creation was imperfect: their humans could not reproduce and were sterile. They were pseudo-humans and could only reproduce through an artificial womb.
The Proxies didn’t understand that the humans who went into space did it (that pseudo-humans can’t reproduce) on purpose. Their plan did not include breeding these pseudo-humans in the domes. The people in space wanted to be sure that there would be no danger on Earth when they finally returned to rebuild their civilization. They wanted to find just beautiful, empty and usable domes where they could live. For this purpose, they created several loopholes in the Proxies. These are:
- Proxies have souls/hearts. As a result, they slowly begin to feel lonely, because each Proxy lives by themself in the dome and has no real peer, friend, lover or anything like that, although they have a heart, soul and even consciousness, so they perceive this loneliness with all its intensity. It is also important to note that the Proxies we saw lived for at least 5000 years, and some of them became ”crazy” from such a life for a long time. We see that for instance in their aggressiveness. Some of the Proxies become self-destructive and murderous. Also, they were characterized by running away and forgetting everything, and most importantly, they look for other Proxies to feel less alone.
2) The Proxy may be programmed to kill other Proxies. Each Proxy has its own dome, which is its territory/dominion, so if they meet, they are mostly hostile and try to kill each other. This forces the Proxies to remain isolated at all times, which adds to the feeling of loneliness as well.
3) Proxies die in sunlight. Once the planet “recovers” and the sun shines again, they will no longer be able to live on it.
In conclusion, the “space humans” have deliberately made the Proxies imperfect beings, which means their creations will also be imperfect, the sterile pseudo-humans being a manifestation of this. The space humans don’t want the domes full of pseudo-humans when they return because there won’t be room for them. So people had a plan for both pseudo-humans and Proxies.
Pseudo People
These people were created as a slave/servant class of “real” humans, they will die immediately from exposure to the outside air and sunlight, they have no ability to reproduce and their entire existence is to create, maintain and develop domes. When real people return to Earth, they will be displaced or at least dead by then.
Proxies
When the planet “recovers” enough to become viable again, and most importantly, to be able to live on it, the “Pulse of the Awakening” begins in Proxies. As a result, carefully programmed Proxies slowly begin to self-destruct. It is unclear whether the “Pulse of the Awakening” is something that started in the Proxies automatically in response to environmental factors, or if it was transmitted from the spacecraft in space. Eventually, the Proxies will die one by one, and the pseudo-humans will gradually decrease and eventually, no matter how hard they try, they will all die because they have no ability to reproduce. The remaining Proxies will die in sunlight. No more Proxies or pseudo-people. This makes the problem “solved” for real people.
Story
The story unfolds when the “Pulse of the Awakening” is newly activated. This is five thousand years later, in 7207. The story follows Re-L Mayer, Vincent Law and Pino as they journey to find the lost truths about their world and themselves. At the moment, the earth looks very bad, nothing is growing, there is fog around and the rays of the sun are nowhere to be seen. Against this background, a plague called the Cogito Virus is spreading in Autoreivs, and the remaining dome cities are collapsing one after another.
Proxy One, who discovers the truth about the Proxy Project’s true goals, is furious with the creators. Creator(s) is the name given by the Proxies to the real people who are out in space at the time. The Proxies think of them as god(s), and in turn the pseudo-humans think of the Proxies as gods or creators. Anyway, the fact was that the Proxies, including Proxy One, loved their creations. However, the “human creation” of the real humans was to adapt and evolve the ecosystem back to them, to create the environmental conditions so that they could live on Earth again, and they also had in mind to make backup copies of the original humans in case the Boomerang project failed Aka Plan B. In the end it is clear that the Boomerang project was succesful. By doing so, the need for pseudo-humans became rather undesirable for them and their plans.
This is what angered Proxy One: his creation would be destroyed and the Proxies would be killed as soon as they completed their assigned mission. He decided to punish the creators and take revenge. He planned to destroy the domes so that the people returning from space would have nothing to live on. Proxy One fired several rockets and destroyed several domes.
Another part of his plan was to create another Proxy, an agent of death, to punish the creators for all the pain they caused. Cloning itself — Ergo Proxy combined its Amrita Cells with Monad Proxy. Ergo Proxy was also given the memories that plagued Proxy One himself (the true reason Proxies exist and their true roles.)
Apparently Ergo Proxy then ruled Romdeau instead of Proxy One, but after a while he felt like a failure because his creations were imperfect humans (but he still loved them). Ergo gives up control and ownership of the Dome, appoints Donov Mayer as regent in his absence, gives Proxy One back his pendant, and travels to Mosk which is Monad’s Dome. Monad loves Ergo, she considers him a kind Proxy.
Ergo no longer wants to fulfill his assigned duty and wants to live as a human being. In Mosk, Monad and Ergo Proxy made a deal to remove Ergo Proxy’s memories so he could become human. Monad, because she loved Ergo Proxy, sacrificed himself to remove Ergo’s memories and created Vincent Law, the alter ego of Ergo Proxy. Throwing him into a coma, he destroyed his mind and transferred his memories to an Autoreiv. This Autoreiv was placed in a special chamber that could only be opened by Proxy’s pendant. Monad (Proxy 13) gives Ergo her own pendant so that one day he can open the chamber if he decides he wants his memories back.
Proxy One was not happy with Monad, who took the “Agent of Death” from him and erased his memory. Meanwhile, Donov Mayer, who is believed to have loved Ergo Proxy, was sad and angry because Ergo Proxy had abandoned him and the dome. Out of melancholy and revenge, he decided to attack Mosk because he knew that was where Ergo had fled. Romdeau’s forces attack the Mosk and destroy the dome. Proxy One does nothing to stop him, probably angry at the Monad, too. The Monad is attacked on his throne. In a comatose state, she could no longer defend either the Mosk Dome or herself. Monad’s body was taken from the Mosk and brought back and locked up. Daedalus reports that he was given the responsibility of Monad Proxy when he was promoted to head of the Bureau of Health and Welfare; he is tasked with making sure that the Monad remains unconscious and comatose.
Meanwhile, Vincent Law, the Ergo Proxy alter ego, survives the bombing and returns to Romdeau as an immigrant with the other citizens of Mosk (no one but Proxy One knows this).
During the time that Monad is locked up, Romdeau scientists are experimenting on it, causing it to distort. When we see her face, it is already distorted, she even has stitches in different parts of her body. It is not known what Monad looked like before she was brought to Romdeau for experimentation.
During this time, Daedalus is created under the orders of Donov Mayer, and once he is old enough, he is tasked with creating a clone of Monad, watching over her and evaluating her growth. This clone was supposed to bring the Ergo Proxy back to Romdeau. The clone was given the name Re-l Mayer. But Re-l was an imperfect or partial clone of the Monad. A combination of Donov DNA and Monad cells were likely used, giving Re-L a family connection to Donov Mayer. That’s why Ray-Lee said that Donov is her grandfather.
Back to the present, where the events originally began. Because the “Pulse of Awakening “ was activated, Monad awoke from her coma, escaped from the Bureau of Health and Welfare’s Instinctive Needs Institute, and joined her beloved Ergo Proxy. As mentioned, most of her mental abilities were destroyed when Vincent Law was created but some things remained.
Along with many other citizens of Mosk, Vincent applied for and received an immigration permit. While he was in line, he saw Re-L Mayer for the first time and instantly fell in love (because the Monad clone was Re-L Mayer). Re-L Mayer was also present for his interview when he entered Romdeau.
Vincent becomes an immigrant, hoping to be granted citizenship. His department’s job requires him to find Cogito-infected AutoReivs to keep his fellow citizens safe. In Episode 1, Vincent returns to where Re-L lives because he subconsciously feels Monad approaching him. Ergo wants to meet Monad in person, but instead meets Re-L, who is another form of the Monad. Vincent transforms into Ergo Proxy and crashes into her at Re-l’s bathroom.
Ergo is fascinated by Re-L Mayer, although at the time he doesn’t know that Re-L is who he wants to be: a human without a Proxy side. Also, Vincent is in love with her. Re-L feels fear, but also a certain attraction to Ergo. Monad meanwhile finds Ergo but Ergo begins to protect Re-L from her. Monad escapes and Vincent falls unconscious near Re-L’s house, with no memory of what happened.
In episode 2, Monad tries to get to Vincent again. Vincent is scared and runs away to the mall. Monad desperately follows, causing the citizens to die. In the end, she manages to catch Vincent, who turns into Ergo Proxy, and kills her, of course not remembering who she is. Monad dies and tears run down one side of her face.
Raul Creed witnessed how Monad killed his wife and children. Raul is effectively losing his sanity at this point. He begins to react to the mentioned events without emotion. When Kristeva watches the footage of the day of the tragedy at the mall, Raul is with her, and from that moment on, he begins to blame Vincent Law for his tragedy and becomes obsessed with him. His Autoreiv Pino also becomes infected with the Cogito virus and escapes from the dome with Vincent.
All the while, Proxy One realizes that he is running out of time for his “Pulse of the Awakening”. He also needed Ergo Proxy to achieve this goal. Meanwhile, Vincent, Re-L and Pino travel to Mosk where Vincent believes he will find the answers to his questions. They encounter various domes and Proxies until they reach Mosk.
Proxy One eventually abandons Romdeau; he is manipulating Ergo throughout the trip, tries to kill Vincent’s persona and wants only his Proxy side to be alive. At the same time, he also tries to get rid of Re-L, because she reminds Vincent of his humanity.
When Vincent, Re-L, and Pino arrive at Mosk, Proxy One goes to a ward with an amnesiac with Vincent’s memories. Proxy One does not want Vincent to regain his memories at this point because he believes that he would not join his revenge plan or become an agent of death. Amnesia automatically assumes that Proxy One is Ergo and offers to give him his memories, but Proxy One kills Amnesia and leaves his pendant around Amnesia’s neck.
Later, Vincent and the others find the chamber and pendant with Amnesia, telling them to return to Romdeau. “Awakening” is painted on the wall, also made by Proxy One to get them back to Romdeau. And so it happens, and they decide to return to Romdeau to find out the truth once and for all.
Throughout his journey to Mosk, Daedalus is shown to be obsessed with Re-L. He couldn’t stand it when Re-L showed more interest in Vincent and followed her instead of returning to Romdeau. He then created a fake Re-l as a replacement for the real Re-l. This is the true clone of Monad, which includes Amrita cells and even accelerates growth. The second clone is called Re-L Mayer, Re-L Mayer has all of Monad’s memories.
Raul is obsessed with killing Vincent. When Proxy One is from the dome, Romdeau’s dome begins to collapse. Raul says that people should not depend on Proxies and they do not need them. Raol wants to change people’s bodies so they don’t need a Proxy and starts the ADW-Project, which Daedalus leads. Daedalus has been broken for a long time and continues with the project, despite knowing that it will not succeed. And so it happens, and 90% of the dome’s population dies because of the project. And Daedalus only cares about Re-L.
Vincent, Re-L and Pino arrive in Romdeau. Vincent transforms into Ergo Proxy and Re-L searches for him in the ruined city. Ergo Proxy sees Monad’s corpse in the lab and regrets killing her. He also meets Real (a clone of the aforementioned Re-L). At the same time, Proxy One goes to the throne room and strangles Donov Mayers in front of Re-l. Donov dies in tears because he thinks he has been betrayed by Ergo Proxy. Raul fires a FP bullet to Proxy One. Re-L also thinks Proxy One is Vincent at first, but soon realizes the truth. She realizes that someone has been manipulating them in the shadows all along. Ergo has already returned most of his memories at this time. Proxy One congratulates Re-L on figuring it out and lets Ergo and Re-L come to him.
Re-L tries to stop Daedalus from destroying the dome, while Ergo Proxy and Proxy One confront each other and fight. Monad fully awakens in Real Mayer, hair turning white and eyes golden, just like Monad in Proxy form. She grows wings either by Daedalus or his own power and goes to Ergo Proxy. Re-L says Ergo doesn’t need to do the mission and can come to her. Proxy One tries to stop him, but Ergo leaves.
Part 2 is coming very soon!
