Ok, this is an extremely confusing episode, so I’m going to summarize as best I can. However, be warned that the summary portion will probably be a lot longer and wordier than usual. The episode starts off in medias res, with Vincent shivering in a thick blanket, and saying it was Real’s fault (and Pino’s too). Now, time to delve into the madness!
Vincent and the gang have come across an empty town, and are raiding the Ophelia grocery story like they are on Supermarket Sweep. The store’s got it all, even featuring tans and whores in convenient bottled packaging (note that Vincent also remembers to buy toilet paper). Pino and Vincent are having fun trying out/playing with the food, but Real is sick of peas and just wants some ginger ale. All Real wants is to pack up the supplies and go. This is where things get really weird.
Real goes off in a huff to explore the roof, because Vincent and Pino are annoying her. While she ponders the odd lake from the Ophelia supermarket, she is struck by the heavy-handed imagery. Meanwhile, downstairs, Vincent is surprised to see Real back at the table, and eating some pea soup. He hands her the two ginger ales he found in the back, but unfortunately, this is a fake Real. This oxymoron will henceforth be known as Beal, the cheap Chinatown knockoff of Real.
At the same time, fake Vincent (henceforth to be known as Wincent) approaches Real on the roof and hands her two fake ginger ales (henceforth to be known as qinqer ales). Real notices that the qinqer ales taste funny, and starts to suspect that they are in an abandoned Chinatown. At this point, Wincent tries to get all up on her, so she pushes him off the roof. When he hits the ground, however, the body vanishes.
Real rushes downstairs claiming that Pino is trying to kill her. Vincent locks her in a storage area, but then sees Beal jump from the roof. He checks out her junk in the trunk, then sees a shadow on the roof. When he goes up to explore, Beal pulls the shotgun on him, then locks him on the roof. Somehow, Vincent doesn’t realize that something strange is going on. By the time he gets back downstairs, their Centzon boat is gone. He believes that Pino and Real have abandoned him, and he notices the odd lake in the center of the city.
Wincent knocks out Real and slings her on his shoulder. At the lake, Wincent tries to trick Pino, but she has already figured out that there are two Reals and two Vincents. However, when Wincent tries to choke out Pino, he realizes she is an Autoreiv and runs away (after Pino unleashes a ferocious chop, and lets Wincent know that nobody messes with the bunny suit). She then goes off and fishes Real out of the water, and proves her authenticity by giving Real their coordinates in relation to Romdeau. It seems Real has also figured out what’s up.
When Vincent gets to the lake, he sees Beal all stiff with rigor mortis and sinking into the lake. He rushes in and grabs her, but it’s a trap and Beal drags him under the surface.
It seems the antagonist this time is another Proxy, one who can play trippy mind games and mimic others. Emo Proxy then goes on to talk about how he tried to be loved for himself, but ended up having to mimic other people’s loved ones to be loved. Emo Proxy feels unloved, and just wants his life to end. However, Emo Proxy feels that he and Ergo Proxy are the same because both bring misfortune to others; therefore, they should both die together. The emotasticness of this even brings a tear to Ergo Proxy’s eye.
Vincent doesn’t agree with this, so Emo Proxy sets out to break Vincent’s mind. We get a Groundhog Day set of replays with Vincent coming out of the water and seeing Beal, and on the third repeat, Vincent grows tired and chokes out Beal. However, even though it really is Beal, Vincent fears that he has choked out Real, and now dispairs and thinks he is alone.
Fortunately, Real and Pino are watching the whole thing, and when Vincent comes out of the water for the fourth time, they know which is the real Vincent because Wincent casts no reflection. Vincent marvels that he used to be all emo like the other Proxy, but Vincent’s journey to find himself has totally chilled him out. Real says nothing, but secretly thinks that she is only keeping Vincent around to take care of the ship and supply her with ginger ale.
So, long story short, Pino saves the day, and for once Vincent doesn’t kill the other Proxy. Of course this is super ironic since Emo Proxy wanted to simply end his own existence. Although this episode made my brain work hard to understand the plot, I enjoyed this episode. The bond that is developing between Vincent and Real is nice to see, even if Real pretends it’s not there, and Vincent keeps ogling her goods. Moreover, the added Pino screen time is always a good thing.
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This post was written by...
Kabitzin – who has written 1940 posts on Sea Slugs! Anime Blog.
One of the founders of Sea Slugs, I handle most of the blog admin tasks while wearing my I AM BOSS shirt. I like my action series well choreographed, and my romance series extra trashy. I also have a soft spot for puns.
{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
This episode was indeed super confusing. I didn’t understand anything at all until the end of it. It was still very enjoyable though and a nice mindf**k is good for you every now and then. ^^
This ep is, clearly, a – quite pretentious – mindf**k, but a ‘good’ one, if I may say so. I believe the “other proxy” has been killed by Ergo, noticing the FP-ray light coming out of the water in the end. The uncertain smile that Real gives Vincent at the very end of the episode is priceless, imo: the relationship between Real and Vincent is always so subtle and almost “whispered”…it’s something you have to read between the lines. Tsundere-style, no doubt, but not the classic one. Yeah it’s one of the 1000000000 things foggy and unclear in Ergo Proxy ^_^. But I like it – is quite original, and well-orchestrated.
Pino is one of the cutest thing anime has brought to video, for me. This bunny outfit is still *overkill*.
This ep, like some others from now on, brings quite nothing to the plot. I believe Ergo Proxy to be somewhat manneristic, but still with very strong points, and appeal.
Yes, I was unclear about whether the other Proxy was killed, since they didn’t explicitly show it. There was a lot of glowing, but wouldn’t it have had to have been Real that killed the other Proxy? And if so, did she use her last bullet? I feel like she would not have, since that last one is reserved for Vincent. And if Real didn’t kill the other Proxy, then Vincent would have had to have broken out of the mental hold and killed the Proxy.
I guess it’s important, since thus far Vincent has killed every other Proxy he has encountered. And while it’s not obvious, I bet this episode will end up being important as an explanatory flashback later on. Somehow I feel like the effect of the mimic Proxy on the city will be discussed in a later episode.
Since I’m far ahead (I’ve seen ep. 20 today) I won’t spoil anything, but I’m positive Ergo killed the pond-proxy.
In the last shot (when Ergo & pond-proxy are face-to-face) Vincent is already out of pond-proxy’s mental hold – they just sink underwater, and the Proxy of Death does his job – which is to kill other Proxies.
Ah, and Real still has her bullet with “Vinsento” written on it…
BTW, ep. 20 is quite similar to this one, but even more convoluted: the amount of madness pumped into this show is quite large, I must say – just wait for ep. 15 (I believe the fansubbers are having a hard time on this particular ep: on IRC has been described as “a c*nt to sub”, because of the complicated typesetting needed – and fansubbers are mostly perfectionists….).
“In the original script the film began *in the middle of the narrative*, without explaining how Phil Connors had come to be constantly reliving Groundhog Day.”
WOAH!
Yet another Ergo Proxy way to artisty attempt at anime, and a big fail at story. Good one Geneon, gfx cant save this series as they desperately attempt to elongate the story by reiterating how emo everyone is.