Ergo Proxy – 19

The countdown trailer used in old movies appears in the very first scene, and Pino’s eyes blink by the end of it. Pino is seemingly surrounded by disused and destroyed toys, and the mood that the environment evokes is reminiscent to that arcade game, CarnEvil. It twists a supposedly happy, playful place into something austere and downright scary, as if a place surrounded by phantoms of the past. Pino asks herself where she was, and this seems to be the cue for two cartoon-y characters to appear out of the trash of circus materials. These two welcome her to a place called ‘Smile (?).’ I can’t seem to describe these characters in terms of simple words, because they are out of this world. They are neither the Mickey Mouse or the Donald Duck of anime, as one doesn’t even know what animals they are.

The two characters then narrate (seemingly) the history of the remnants of what was once a circus. It showed the site’s once bustling popularity, having a lot of people going to it and having fun. It seems that Vince and Real were separated from Pino, and she’s lost. For the sake of convenience, I’d describe the two cartoon-y characters as ‘dogs.’ Pino asks the two if they know either a Vincent Law or a Real, but after gamboling they stop and say that they don’t. They propose a solution, though: to meet with their creator or whatever, shown in some black and white ancient movie. His name is Will B. Good (the owner or creator, anyway). An insect then appears and introduces himself to Pino; Pino asks the same question, but (seemingly) the insect doesn’t know too. A cartoon flood appears, but a rope also appears, so Pino and the insect (autoreiv?) were able to climb to safety, but it seems the ‘dogs’ escaped being erased, as well.

Pino explains to the insect that Vince loves Real, but that Vince also loves her, Pino. This was afterwards the mini-debate if the ‘dogs’ could go with them (I think). Pino and the ‘dogs,’ and the insect, after some discussion emerge from the tunnel or sewer into the carnival itself; this, however, occurs only after Pino falls after her first try in going out the tunnel because she was surprised by a car passing overhead.

It seems that the animals equate the coming of Ergo Proxy (as sparked off by an ‘Attack of the Ergo Proxy’ poster) with apocalypse or an armageddon.

Because they lack a pass inside Will B. Good’s carnival, they are attacked by some big-headed dogs. Although the ‘dogs’ were caught, Pino was able to escape their grasp, so she ran away to the moving cup machine, or whatever it is called. She outwits these guards for quite sometime, that is, until the guards spun the cups around really quickly (like centrifugation) that what came out was an inebriated Pino (without the booze). Outsmarting the guards, however, slowly gathered a crowd for her, and they clap after her dexterous performance. Will B. Good then tries to draw a cartoon form for Vincent and Real, but it seems he has failed from his voice and intonation. (Another Dome Proxy, anyone?)

The ‘dogs’ and Pino, caught, talk about her friendship with Vince and Real and her lack of family. ‘It’s all right though,’ she quips. So the insect is an autoreiv, after all. (I must be so fucked-up or depraved: I think the cat’s pretty hot. XD) Because the interrogators have been besotted with Pino’s smile, the insect autoreiv has managed to escape and then free the three by pulling a rope. The wall turns inside out, leading to the office of Will B. Good. He then speaks about stuff, and Pino becomes fixated. The viewer then finds her to be in some sort of movie house watching as the man speaks. She is all alone in the theater. Will interrogates Pino, but Pino senses some form of a trickery, so she lies (as I could see it). After his questioning, his hands extend out of the theater wall, and he invites Pino to come with him. The other cartoon characters suck Will B. Good out of the theater (maybe it’s because of Pino’s disarming smile?) and beat him up so that he’d tell Pino where Real and Vincent are. The countdown trailer rolls again, and she wakes up.

So it’s all a dream of hers? So was it some form of clairvoyance on Pino’s part? Anyway, Vincent believes Pino’s warnings, so he strays away from the Smile Land. Definitely another weird, mindfuck episode that probably would be hard to understand with subs, but even harder with just judging on the action. The animation was pretty good, however – Shinichiro Watanabe = FTW.

(In case you guys didn’t read any of my other posts and were wondering why I was so slow on updating, I’ve had some exams this week, and I felt I had to study because I already b0rked the first one I had last Tuesday. I did, but I’ve only read the source material [for the exam]about 1.87 times, so I guess that wasn’t enough, because I still feel I b0rked that exam too. *sigh* I think I’d be earlier with this week’s Ergo Proxy episode, but don’t expect much because I also have a slew of exams this week as well.)