Ergo Proxy episode eleven was quite a mind bending episode to say the very least. We find out that Ergo Proxy is the reincarnation of the ancient philosopher Aristotle. Ok so I made up the last part up but it’s close enough to the truth. Anyway, let us think upon episode eleven and discuss our world changing conclusions.
Ergo Proxy ep eleven starts of with Vincent lost in the fog searching for Pino. When he suddenly stumbles upon a bookstore called City Lights Bookstore. Now this bookstore actually exists it’s in San Francisco, California and is widely know for publishing Allen Ginsberg’s “Howl & Other Poems.” The poem Howl is also rather mind numbing but definitely worth a read.
Vincent then enters the bookstore hoping to find Pino. The bookstore its self is dimly lit, full of old books piled up all over the place, and just plain creepy looking. At this point I would have turned around and left however Vincent isn’t that smart. So, while taking a look around Vincent bumps into an old man who appears to be the owner, and who asks Vincent to sit down for some tea. Once again I think this is a stupid move on Vincent’s part but hey who am I to judge?
As the two sit down for some tea and engage in general small talk the mind numbing symbolism begins. First off, the owner says “As the ancients said. ‘No one knows what lies ahead.’” I believe that this is a quote from Ecclesiates 9:1 in the Bible and I think that verses 9:1-6 fit the show rather well.
“Everyone Will Die
9:1 So I reflected on all this, attempting to clear it all up.
I concluded that the righteous and the wise, as well as their works, are in the hand of God;
whether a person will be loved or hated –
no one knows what lies ahead.
9:2 Everyone shares the same fate –
the righteous and the wicked,
the good and the bad,
the ceremonially clean and unclean,
those who offer sacrifices and those who do not.
What happens to the good person, also happens to the sinner;
what happens to those who make vows, also happens to those who are afraid to make vows.
9:3 This is the unfortunate fact about everything that happens on earth:
the same fate awaits everyone.
In addition to this, the hearts of all people are full of evil,
and there is folly in their hearts during their lives – then they die.
Better to Be Poor but Alive than Rich but Dead9:4 But whoever is among the living has hope;
a live dog is better than a dead lion.
9:5 For the living know that they will die, but the dead do not know anything;
they have no further reward – and even the memory of them disappears.
9:6 What they loved, as well as what they hated and envied, perished long ago,
and they no longer have a part in anything that happens on earth.”
After they talk for a bit Vincent decides to find a book to read. The first book he pulls off one of the shelves happens to have his name written on the front. Now from here on out or at least until we get close to the end, I do believe everything happens inside of Vincent’s head.
At this point in time we seem to go through Vincent’s memory with all the characters taking on the appearance of Ergo Proxy. A very interesting thing is said by Hoody/Proxy I quote “He can even live inside human beings, and control their minds. He can burn down this earth with a lightning bolt in an instant. Once, he even summoned a fire-spouting planet.” (referring to Proxy) During this time Real/Proxy keeps reminding Vincent that he is the one who can or has done all of this. So, my hypothesis is that Vincent is the one responsible for the way the world currently is. However, I could easily be wrong.
Ergo Proxy and Vincent keep going back in time through Vincent’s memories until Vincent can’t seem to remember anything. For instance, Vincent still can’t recall what happed to Moscow dome and why it was destroyed. Obviously Vincent has erased his own memories because he doesn’t ever want to recall what happened in Moscow. Ergo Proxy, then takes a different approach and starts to asks Vincent questions, or to put it more accurately he starts spewing philosophy to Vincent. Now it seems that Ergo Proxy’s motive for doing all of this is to get Vincent to realize that they are one. That Vincent is Ergo Proxy, and that he is part of the “awakening” that is currently taking place. In the end, Ergo Proxy achieves his motive and Vincent finally realizes that he is indeed Ergo Proxy. Or what I believe to be the container for Ergo Proxy.
At this point Vincent seems to come to his sense and leaves the bookshop. After doing so he breaks down and starts to cry, but that is when Real appears. The End. Gah!!! Don’t end yet! Stupid cliff hangers. -_-
Anyway, I have to say that was one hell of an episode. The animation is back up for the most part and the story is super confusing as always. The best part is that Real and Vincent are finally together again. Well that does it for this episode I can’t wait for the next one.
Rating: 9/10
My Musings:
This episode seemed to be heavily related to Social Constructionism especially when Ergo Proxy was talking. Not to mention, there is a ton of symbolism and external references throughout this entire episode. The major references can be read about at the end of Shinsen Subs release. One of the biggest references in this episode besides the two I mentioned already is the bookstore owner quoting Jean Jacques Rousseau’s “On the Origin of Languag.” Another one is quarter-power scaling in reference to Vincent’s changing pulse and as well as Ergo Proxy’s. Needless to say, I could go on about the symbolism and references in this episode for quite awhile, but I would much rather hear what other people have to think first.
One last thing I would like to point out is the meaning of Vincent’s name. Vincent is taken from the Roman name Vincentius, which was derived from the Latin word vincere meaning “to conquer”. The surname Law means “1) A diminutive of the given name Laurence, from the Roman cognomen Laurentius, meaning “of Laurentum” - a city in ancient Italy. 2) Possibly derived from the Old English ‘hlaw’ or ‘hyll,’ meaning small hill or burial mound; which became “low” in the south, but “law” in the north.” The name goes along quite well with my hypothesis that Vincent is the one who destroyed the world making it into a “burial mound.”
Tags: anime, review, summary, philosophy, Ergo Proxy, psychology
Ah yes, I believe that is the exact reason Vincent can’t remember what happened in Moscow. It is do to the fact that he caused all the destruction. Personally I know that I wouldn’t want to remember something like that, especially if I was the one that caused it.
Power wise, I do believe that Ergo Proxy by himself could destroy the planet. As Hoody said “He can burn down this earth with a lightning bolt in an instant. Once, he even summoned a fire-spouting planet.” Not to mention Ergo Proxy is the “emissary of death” and Vincent’s name means “to conquer.”
My other idea on how all this might have come about, is that Vincent in some way “triggered” Ergo Proxy or “unleashed” him when he was back in Moscow. This would also explain his memory loss.
Who knows though, we just have to wait and find out.
Yeah the number of references and uses of symbolism is so immense I can’t even begin to keep up. Not that I am going to try but still.
Vincent might very well be Ergo Proxy as in Proxies are human, but they do seem to be a different part of the human body/mind kind of like an appendage. Needless to say it will be interesting to find out exactly what Vincent is.
The origin of Proxies would be really cool to learn about, and I hope they show it or at least giving some clues as to how they came to be.
I hadn’t thought about the whole multiple Proxy thing, (stupid me) but yeah one idea could be that they all destroyed the planet together and Ergo Proxy just happens to be the strongest of them all.
So many questions! My head officially hurts.
Yeah in Hebrew the verse is actually “man does not know anything before them.” so the connection could be merely coincidence. I don’t have a Japanese bible on hand otherwise I would look for that phrase. However, it is highly likely that the phrase is a Japanese proverb/saying. Thanks for the info.
Nice job on the translation by the way episode 11 must have been quite a lot of work. Keep it up!
In John 15:18 out of the new living translation sounds similar to what Ergo Proxy was telling Vincent about how he and Vincent were only part of this world in relative terms…
“While I am part of this world when I am observed by a third party, I am not in this world when I am only observing it. What I see is this world. When I am seeing, it can almost mean that I am creating the world. It is not possible to be part of the world. This is a fundamental truth.” - Ergo Proxy (aka Proxy One)
John 15:18-20 If the world hates you, remember that it hated me first. The world would love you as one its own if you belonged to it, but you are no longer part of the world. I chose you to come out to the world, so it hates you. Do you remember what I told you? ‘A slave is not greater than the master.’ Since they persecuted me, naturally they will persecute you. And if they had listened to me, they would listen to you.
NICE! =)
Ergo Proxy series will really make you THINK and analyze [well, of course one can always skip the
plot and all the talking and watch its the action mindlessly] In general, it seems to me as if the first episodes are made much more diligently than the following [especially the last 3 ep-s]
I agree with your analysis, SeVIIn …but only if you’re talking about just this particular episode….
*** SERIOUS SPOILER following ***
…If you’re talking about the whole series, as far as I understand [and I have to admit that I need to watch ep. 22 & 23 for the 2nd time] Ergo Proxy, Vincent and Proxy One are one and the same person..i.e. initially, there was Proxy One, who created “the big mess”, that’s on Earth; he was repulsed and depressed by his deed and by his fate [the creator’s plan] so in order to run away from his sin and revenge his creator , he created a second personality of himself [Vincent], who became independent to such an extend that he realized he was a Proxy himself [Ergo Proxy]
Now, what I couldn’t understand is:
The proxies weren’t needed anymore on the planet, because the human race started evolving and living by themselves, right? But then?… How did the Proxies turn the table? How did they make the humans dependent on them [on the proxies]?
What is the awakening? And why did Monad kill people in the begining?..actually there are a lot of questions around Monad, and how she ended up in Romodou..
and in the end of ep 23 “I am Ergo Proxy the Emissary of death”..what does this mean??? that he’ll do his mistake all over again [because as far as I get it, he wanted revenge, and he wanted to live on earth, that’s why he [as proxy one] made the human race dependent on proxies, or kill them all [as the proxies in the other cities have done, because “the heartbeat of commencement” = “the annihilation of proxies”]]
and I’m curious what do you think about this [ep.23] ” -ERGO: Then the whole of humanity…-ONE: Shadows are your fortress…it was the fate of those who wished for god in a world without him”… does ONE refer to Husseri, Lacan, Derrida and Berkley [”the sculptures”]?
Sorry for this list of questions =) I’m curious of your opinion.
Hope we can figure some questions out!
V
Hi,I saw one of ergo proxy`s wallpapers on a website and from it`s graphic value I thout it must be awonder full! anime , and know when I read 1/3 of this page , i`m sure it is . anyway … I got some questions thathow I can get episodes , how many episodes there are, and if there is other pages you created… because in my country it is hard to find this particular anime . and some other questions… which I hope I can ask you !!! I`ll be glad if you answer. THANK YOU.
Dude, I had a nightmare about this anime where a girl died just like in the anime. IT was soo creepy, still i can’t stop watching this anime; It is really good, especially the animation. Just like in Death Note. Awsome anime too.