Ergo Proxy . . . overrated?

[jaguar231]

So after hearing a lot about this anime and after being told to watch it by a number of people i was frankly disappointed.  i thought that the story was very dry and they could have done a lot more with the plot that would have made it much more interesting.  i have to give it some credit, however.  the visuals in this show were unbelievable thats probably what kept me watching it.  i dunno i just want to know everyones opinion . . . maybe im the only one who didnt really enjoy it so much.

[mgz]

read the ergo proxy thread you will see about half of the thread slams it

[Zalis116]

I haven't seen it, but I have seen people on ANN express essentially the same opinion. So you're not alone.

[erious]

I'd say... Depends what you expect, really. It's very slow at times; and it's not just another action show. It was one of the first anime I saw, and as a long term sci-fi fan, I must say I enjoyed it greatly.

[i_am_otep]

Either you love it or you hate it.

I enjoyed it 'cause it's not your usual plot-less action. Sure it's boring but that's part of its philosophical aspect.

[newy]

Call me nuts... I liked it because I didn't understand everything. But therefore I have a reason to watch it again

[deadskin]

No opinion from me--never got around to finish it.
I don't even remember what HDD it's on, lols.

[Sogi-Ya]

i think the key to really enjoying it is to disregard the filler episodes and only pay attention to the plot advancing ones.

namely ignore #'s 10,15,19

and its up to you to ignore #'s 14,20 as #14 has nothing to do with pot and is good while # 20 has a bunch of plot elements but is crappy and makes no sense.

[ndryden]

I remember someone once said (I don't remember where) that, to fully understand and appreciate Ergo Proxy, you very nearly had to have a degree in philosophy. While that might be an overstatement, it's not totally inaccurate.

Thus, its appeal to a more broad and general audience is likely lessened as a result of the inaccessibility of a significant portion of its themes and plot. Perhaps it's ironic that one should ignore episode fifteen, when episode sixteen is "Dead Calm/busy doing nothing" (emphasis mine) ...

[LordRhino]

The allusions to philosophy, great thinkers, the sciences and literature were excellent. I thought the show was top-notch, minus a bit of the filler, namely the one in the empty city.

You really have to have a soft spot for somewhat subtle references to interesting themes, somewhat akin to Blade Runner.

[morrefule]

I think it was a good series.  It wasn't hard to understand in my opinion, and you didn't need a degree in anything to understand it.  I found it a great little series.  Great character development, strong actors, good animation, great plot. It is up there in my book.  But not a top 10, but high enough to own it

And if you don't like the intro Song Kiri then something is wrong with you.

[Natheria]

No opinion from me--never got around to finish it.
I don't even remember what HDD it's on, lols.

That's what Excel spreadsheets are for. 

[zherok]

You really have to have a soft spot for somewhat subtle references to interesting themes, somewhat akin to Blade Runner.

I dunno about subtle, half the episodes wrench the entire series off on some philosophical tangent that serves no purpose to integrate itself into the story, other than simply using the characters to make a point.

[Zayras]

You really have to have a soft spot for somewhat subtle references to interesting themes, somewhat akin to Blade Runner.

I dunno about subtle, half the episodes wrench the entire series off on some philosophical tangent that serves no purpose to integrate itself into the story, other than simply using the characters to make a point.

I have to disagree with you. The philosohical aspect during most parts I felt was well knit into the story (the creator aka god(s), the "utopia", the AutoReiv/human relationship, etc.) and played well into the character development. 
Nontheless, if you don't like philosophy and don't try to understand it it's not going to make much sense, and will seem somewhat useless.

[zherok]

The "you just don't get it" card is a bit overplayed, I think. It's less the issue of philosophy as it is their deciding to turn the middle of the series into a bunch of episodic name dropping, while they basically halt the plot entirely. They're encapsulated, and might serve well on their own to get a point across, but in the middle of the series, and especially towards the end, they do no favors to cohesion as a whole. Arguably, all the time spent trying to wax philosophic ends up making the ending more abrupt than it could have been.

If they could have told a better story and included those elements it'd have been fine. As is they seem mostly self-serving and don't go anywhere. You can drop them from the lineup and know no less about the characters for it.

[Zayras]

Yeah, have to agree with you there... which is why I said most of the time. Truth is some of those episodes were quite pointless and really did take away from the anime as a whole. Also didn't like the ending pretty much for the same reasons you mentioned.

Still think it's worth a watch, but whether you like it or not, well that's a whole other story.

[forsaken]

Remember watching this a few years back. I'm a bit of an action-geek and what little action there was, is actually quite decent. The visuals where amazing and together with the hope that there's more action coming, I watched it to the end. I was a bit disappointed though, got my hopes up for some bad-ass and it never came. The storyline was alright but if I watch this again it'll mainly be for the stunning visuals...

[Nazo]

I watched it. I used the series as a means to fall asleep at night (after 2-3 eps, I was half-asleep and then I slept ). While there are a lot of philosophical elements, the drawing power of the series seemed lacking to me. Somehow I couldn't get very interested in Lil nor Vincent. Also, they dragged it along too much. They probably could have condensed it by about 50% and it would have been better overall.