So good! But unfortunately underrated.

This is definitely a must for appreciators of mature no-nonsense anime.

I used to watch a lot of anime back around the time this came out. I tried ergo proxy back then for just a brief moment, somehow got a completely wrong impression (thought it was going to be arty-farty experimental anime) and decided not to continue. Shortly after I completely dropped watching anime because I got fed up with the vast amounts of crap anime out there and figured I had seen everything good at that point anyway.

I got back into anime thanks to attack on titan. I tried a few other popular new series with mixed results and eventually got back around to this. Just a few episodes later i was in love and now that I finished the series I consider it to be one of my favorites.

The animation is top shelf, fluid action, no stills or other shortcuts. The design of the world and it's contents feels authentic and unique. And I like how re-l as the heroin for once doesn't look like the standard pointy-nosed spiky-haired action babe.

The story is complex, mysterious and intriguing. And while it's also confusing at times it does so deliberately and reveals information in clever and original ways. And most important in the end everything makes sense.

And as a cherry on top the characters are very endearing and fun to follow. Pino is a rare child-character in an anime that's not anoying, on the contrary she's one of the biggest pluspoints of this anime. And re-l and vincent are great too. I've seen many comments mentioning episode 16 standing out. An episode entirely dedicated to character exploration: the best proof that these characters are solid.

So in a nutshell, am I happy that I gave this a second chance. Unfortunately since 2006 not much seemed to have happened with ergo proxy, no sequel series, no OVA just a few spin-off manga issues (anyone read them? Worth it?). It seems like this didn't grow into a cult/classic anime.

A seconds series may not be very necessary, though the ending is pretty open, one could even say it's a bit of a cliffhanger, but that final scene with vincent's resolve and humanity returning kinda makes me wish there would be more.