Ergo Proxy Ep. 6 Review

Director: Shukou Murase
Production: Geneon Entertainment, Inc.
Fansubs by Anime Jiyuu

Episode six of Ergo Proxy opens with similarly chilling undertones as episode five's concluding scene as Pino continues to search for the murdered Timothy. The commune discover the mythical Rabbit, some kind of discarded flying devise from Romdeau, and move forward with their plans to begin the pilgrimage. We discover the relevance of Fuudy's prized tin solider and subsequently get some interesting back-story (presumed as it is) before his abrupt exit. Raul comes to blows with the Regent Donov over how to deal with the commune's activities and their association with Vincent, reflecting a childish insolence and self-loathing in Raul's nature. We gain some history from a combination of Dedalus's home movies and hallucinations from a now deeply infected Lil. Queen offers Vincent a vaccine in exchange for his technical assistance on the voyage and suggests a worrying amount of premeditation over the current situation, suggesting Lil was baited out . Whether Vincent trusts Queen or decides to return to Romdeau with Lil is left ambiguous until the end of the episode, with both the Rabbit activating and setting sail and Lil's aircraft leaving for the Dome.

Neither are without their hindrances, however, as the Rabbit is assaulted with countless service drones resulting in many brutal deaths including a valiant Queen. Raul makes a point of keeping Lil waiting before providing medical assistance, only taking an interest when the potential of Vincent's accompaniment becomes clear. The big reveal comes in the form of Vincent's decision to remain on the Rabbit, with Fuudy taking his place escorting Lil back to Romdeau. Tragically, this spells his downfall as an attempted a suicide results in his execution from the service drones. Daedelus takes Lil into his care and Raul, now unable to pursue the Rabbit, petulantly commands the destruction of the commune.

Let's start with the technical aspects of the episode. Happily, quality is maintained and the show remains a beautiful piece of work. Even in the bleak environs of the outside world the colour palette sustains a muted lushness that never jars. The painterly backgrounds are gorgeous while working perfectly with the character design, presenting a robust and wonderfully realised world. Really, I keep repeating the same things in each review of Ergo Proxy for a reason and it's yet to truly disappoint me. The audio stays on a par with the visuals, the voice acting being decent and its music being appropriate. I'm not sure I can come to ever enjoy the opening theme, the Engrish Cheese Factor being so painfully high, but it's definitely more tolerable than before. I've come to fully appreciate the closing theme now and my copy of Ok Computer has been dusted off and gains an eminent position in iTunes.

The episode itself presented us with a reasonable amount of plot progression - to the point of it feeling rushed, almost. Fuudy's death needed a better explanation, or at least some clarity over his intentions to kill himself or it simply being apart of the execution. The process of setting up the Rabbit and launching it seemed to happen in a rather abbreviated amount of time, although this did little to undermine the traumatic attack launched upon it by Raul's service drones. Queen's death especially fostered one of the most touching scenes of the series so far with Pino coming to understand the concept of loneliness as she watches Queen die. Ergo Proxy definitely deserves kudos for being so emotionally affective with the deaths of two relatively incidental characters. It can't be denied that Ergo Proxy does have something of an awkward, cumbersome approach to the sentimental moments, but the sterilised tone suited the immediate brutality of these two scenes. My main concern now is that the show answers a number of questions raised in relation to both Queen and Fuudy, especially with Queen's suggested machinations relating to Vincent.

High points of the episode come from the shared reminiscence sequence between Daedelus and Lil, which provide a lot of fractured back-story on the pair. I've always been curious of their history and this gave some interesting insight, as well as reflecting a Lil of happier times. Pino proves to be comic and emotional relief of the show and episode six allows some time to demonstrate her continuing understanding of the human condition. How this relates to her infection of the Cogito is unclear, - if it will lead to actual sentience or it's Pino merely mimicking her surroundings again. Further explanation of the virus is one of the key draws for me and Ergo Proxy. It has the potential to be fantastic, with the religious elements being especially fascinating, but equally it could be trite and derivative. It's still early days so time will tell. My general affection for the show means I'm inclined to be optimistic, however!

Conclusion
Another solid, entertaining, shocking episode. Ergo Proxy's measured, rigid style somehow doesn't undermine its ability to be emotive and touching with great affect. Its characters demonstrate a considered amount of subtly, something that was especially evident in this intense episode, and I'm still completely impressed by the restraint the writers have shown with their development and the plot as a whole. Some more information on the larger mysteries of the show would have made this episode particularly great, but considering the abundance of events that took place it's understandable that things were omitted. My fondness for this show only gets stronger and stronger.