(L) Ergo Proxy

[Mizkyu]

Am I the only person who thinks that Ril or Lil or Riru or whatever you want to call her bears an uncanny rersemblance to Amy Lee (lead singer in Evanescence) ?

[MrProphet]

Originally Posted by Mizkyu

Am I the only person who thinks that Ril or Lil or Riru or whatever you want to call her bears an uncanny rersemblance to Amy Lee (lead singer in Evanescence) ?

Specifically, the cover of the album "Fallen"

Spoiler:

As for the plot, it's a bit confusing so far, but there are three major storylines:

Spoiler:

1) Vincent Law is an autoreiv mechanic, he repairs "broken" autoreivs. So, he is called up for a visit to examine Pino, who is a autoreiv that is like a child to this rich lady. Pino has been exhibiting strange symptoms of free will, which is technically impossible to the autoreivs. Vincent is unable to find up what's going on with Pino.

2) Ril Meyer and her partner Iggy are investigating a recent occurence of the Cogito virus, that infects autoreivs and makes them not only self-conscious, but also possessing of the free will ("Proxy" is the name of one such android). She is looking into various cases of autoreivs that might be infected with Cogito (like that companion android).

3) Raul Creed and his brother (whose name I keep forgetting) are also looking into the problem of autoreivs gaining proxy. Raul's brother is working at a laboratory that was experimenting on an autoreiv that escaped, and he is concerned about other autoreiv gaining Proxy. Raul himself just got appointed to the post as the head of police (or maybe not police, I didn't catch it) and he visits the mayor of Romudo (who is Ril's grandfather) to discuss the autoreivs and the government's experiments.

It's a bit confusing right now, since there are no explanations as to what's going on with Ril's attackers, why is she attacked (must be because of Cogito), or what that autoreiv who escaped from the lab saved her.

[wingdarkness]

Uh...I think we have a winner...



That has to be based on her and if she has no idea about this she should sue manglobe ...

That is a straight clone of the Evanescence girl...

[v1cious]

Originally Posted by wingdarkness

Uh...I think we have a winner...

That has to be based on her and if she has no idea about this she should sue manglobe ...

That is a straight clone of the Evanescence girl...

you can't sue over a human likeness, unless it can be proven beyond 100 percent... which is not gonna happen.

[Vallen Chaos Valiant]

Originally Posted by v1cious

you can't sue over a human likeness, unless it can be proven beyond 100 percent... which is not gonna happen.

Indeed, otherwise Cowboy Bebop's Faye Valentine is SO getting into trouble.

[Vallen Chaos Valiant]

Originally Posted by Deacon Blues

I thought it was the information board personnel (情報局職員) or something like that. I'll have to check again.

情報局 translates into "Intelligence department", not help-desk.

She is CIA.

[wao]

Hm, so I watched the big version of the raw... 5.1 AAC surround sound, 1024x720 mkv. Had to use someone else's computer. But it sure was worth it, I could goggle at the eye candy to my heart's extent.

Although I am a bit disappointed with the animation, I thought there'd be less closeups (although I am impressed with the character design!) and more dynamic movement. Still, the special effects on this show are teh l33t, though what really impresses me is the backgrounds. Perhaps they had references but still, they're pretty good. The same company behind the Eureka 7 and Mushishi backgrounds.

The conclusion is that it looks really expensive, anyway.

But not having watched the trailers I have no clue what was going on in this episode. In fact I am afraid I get the impression that it's being one of those pretentious "ZOMG DARK ANDROID FUTURE WORLD" shows with lots of symbolism and flash but no real meat behind anything. Though I think I can attribute this to my utter lack of understanding on what really went on... My Japanese is nowhere good enough for this show, I kind of got lost halfway and just gave up trying to understand what was going on. Although what I gather from what I watched is that the android things are Autoreiv, and they've been starting to acquire free will and consciousness (Proxy) through this virus called Cogito.
I got no clue what happened with Raul and those old dudes though - just something about lots of murders and something like that... so your synopsis is very appreciated, MrProphet!

Still, I'm not completely sold - this is rather strange of me, really - I'll see if it actually gets a good plot without getting too convoluted... but most importantly I would like good character portrayal and development. Let's see if this can surpass GITS.
I felt GITS flaws were that it sometimes just felt too clunky with all the symbolism being pushed from the start without properly developing all of them so that they made good sense (rather than just being decorative or for the 'cool factor'). This is more applicable to season 2...

Though perhaps the first step to me understanding this properly is to obtain some clarifying text...

What I'm really looking forward to is the OP animation... I can't belivee they got Radiohead, I'm looking forward to see just how this'll fit together.

edit: I must mention that compared to all the 'adult' shows of late this is probably the best - it beats the crap out of Blood+ any day.

[Deacon Blues]

Originally Posted by Vallen Chaos Valiant

情報局 translates into "Intelligence department", not help-desk.

She is CIA.

Oops... I was used to reading jouhou as information rather than intelligence. TY lame ass manga... D: :/

[deftoned]

So is the episode 1 that is out now, the real episode 1 or is it a preview? What exactly starts Feb 25? Episode 2? I'm a little confused...

[Vallen Chaos Valiant]

Originally Posted by deftoned

So is the episode 1 that is out now, the real episode 1 or is it a preview? What exactly starts Feb 25? Episode 2? I'm a little confused...

It was an "advanced screening", like what happens with some movies that get screened prior to the proper release date.

Most likely they were ahead of schedule, so they decided to generate some hype by screening episode 1 early.

In Australia, we often screen ep 1 of a new TV series twice: once, in a special prime-time, to get people excited and to tell all their friends. And second time in the intended timeslot so that the informed new extra viewers can start watching from the beginning without missing out.

[DaFool]

Originally Posted by wao

edit: I must mention that compared to all the 'adult' shows of late this is probably the best - it beats the crap out of Blood+ any day.

Um...Blood + is not 'adult'...despite the violence, the whole thing plays out like a standard shoujo adventure.

I'm resisting the urge to get the hi-q raws because 720p is the limit my computer can handle.

One thing I can guarantee....this is one series that would be so easy to cosplay...expect shietloads of Evanescence girls in your next anime con....and some of them may not even be cosplaying in the first place.

[deftoned]

Originally Posted by Vallen Chaos Valiant

It was an "advanced screening", like what happens with some movies that get screened prior to the proper release date.

Most likely they were ahead of schedule, so they decided to generate some hype by screening episode 1 early.

In Australia, we often screen ep 1 of a new TV series twice: once, in a special prime-time, to get people excited and to tell all their friends. And second time in the intended timeslot so that the informed new extra viewers can start watching from the beginning without missing out.

Awesome! Thanks for the info. I'm gonna check out the raw when I get home today.... although I won't understand more than 10% of it.

[Deacon Blues]

Originally Posted by Vallen Chaos Valiant

情報局 translates into "Intelligence department", not help-desk.

She is CIA.

Now that I checked...

Ril Meyer, a female inspector from the Citizen Information Board, is tasked to solve the murder cases.

I wasn't that far off after all =D

[Vallen Chaos Valiant]

Originally Posted by Deacon Blues

Now that I checked...



I wasn't that far off after all =D

I would need the full-name of the organisation to be sure. I have never heard of any organisation that is called "information board". I am sticking with her being from Intelligence for now...

Where did you get your English translation from? And a source of the kanji would be handy. I didn't find anything in the official site except that she is an inspector.

EDIT: Ah, from ANN. Well, I can tell you now that ANN is wrong.
Here is where ANN got the original info from, and it clearly said she is from the "City Population Intelligence Bureau".

[Deacon Blues]

The sneak preview for Ergo Proxy Actually says::

市民情報局 査察官

Citizen Information Board/Bureau Investigator... so it's going to be an argument over Board or Bureau... lol

WTF... City Population Intelligence Bureau? Erm... the text in there says the same that I posted above... D:

[Vallen Chaos Valiant]

Originally Posted by Deacon Blues

The sneak preview for Ergo Proxy Actually says::

市民情報局 査察官

Citizen Information Board/Bureau Investigator... so it's going to be an argument over Board or Bureau... lol

WTF... City Population Intelligence Bureau? Erm... the text in there says the same that I posted above... D:

Your translation is more literal than mine. I would stick to my own translation, and I am pretty sure native speakers would consider my version to be more accurate...

... but don't take my word for it. Anyone willing to offer a second/third opinion?

And as I said before, past translations of 情報 in 情報局 has always been translated as "Intelligence" (as in the spying variety) instead of "Information".
eg: 情報員=Spy.

[wao]

Originally Posted by DaFool

Um...Blood + is not 'adult'...despite the violence, the whole thing plays out like a standard shoujo adventure.

I'm resisting the urge to get the hi-q raws because 720p is the limit my computer can handle.

One thing I can guarantee....this is one series that would be so easy to cosplay...expect shietloads of Evanescence girls in your next anime con....and some of them may not even be cosplaying in the first place.

I considered Blood+ 'adult' because to me I feel that it's trying to be a cool show and yet ends up like something else. I agree that despite the violence it's really qutie something else, but I still think that the creators had tried to aim for a certain image and haven't executed it even half as well as Ergo Proxy. (excluding things in blood+ like the avant animation in episode 1 and the 2nd OP)

[MrProphet]

Originally Posted by Deacon Blues

The sneak preview for Ergo Proxy Actually says::

市民情報局 査察官

Citizen Information Board/Bureau Investigator... so it's going to be an argument over Board or Bureau... lol

WTF... City Population Intelligence Bureau? Erm... the text in there says the same that I posted above... D:

The population of the city are called "citizens" (by default).

So, she must be from "Citizen Intelligence Agency".

Hey, don't look at me, Dai Sato is the one who did GITS-SAC, he knows what he is doing. 8)

[Srin Tuar]

Originally Posted by Vallen Chaos Valiant

情報局 translates into "Intelligence department", not help-desk.

She is CIA.

Ah, that makes sense. thx

[Deacon Blues]

Originally Posted by MrProphet

The population of the city are called "cityzens" (by default).

Um... source for Engrish?

So, she must be from "Citizen Intelligence Agency".

Hey, don't look at me, Dai Sato is the one who did GITS-SAC, he knows what he is doing. 8)

Dai Sato? No idea who that is, never saw their work so I can't comment. While you can TRY to compare it to GiTs SAC 2nd GIG (内閣情報庁 - Cabinet Intelligence Agency), notice that this show isn't anything like it. :/

Well, after coming up with what I had, I compared it to the only sub out of the Preview (that being Anime-Kraze) and they had "Citizens Information Bureau." Besides, if you think about it in the context of the show, why would a city of 'paradise' need an intelligence agency? Wouldn't the front of 'information board' seem more realistic? Either way, this is a bitter and pointless debate. I'm sure that the magazines and what not at the end of the month will have something more concrete. This is the like same translation argument as the Public Peace/Security title for Section 9...