So I got to watch Ergo Proxy recently.
As for what I expected, I'd pretty much guessed that it would involve some post-apocalyptic, cyberpunk undertones within a mysterious city while entwining unashamedly heavy themes of advanced philosophy, as that was as far as I read up of it before actually giving it a go.
In the end, that's…sort of what I ended up getting, lol, and it was pretty damn good. However, you can tell how the anime seemed to be a tad bit unable to strike a balance between plot development and thematic characterization, forcing the writers to put the philosophical allegories in the forefront while letting the actual point of the main plot slip, at times. Not necessarily a bad thing, of course, (especially considering how well-done the philosophical concept was pulled off in several individual episodes) but definitely a little off-putting for those not that interested in continuous segments of hyperbolic psychobabble with little relevance to the original cyberpunk, noir-reminiscent themes it started off with. Imo, though, if you were to truly dissect the elements of the show and look at it as more of a symbolic metaphor of modern philosophical contemplations than an actual sci-fi detective story of some sort, then you may find yourself watching one of the more impressive titles of the past decade, in spite of its heavy use of allusions and references to significant figures/works in the field of psychology and philosophy that might otherwise go unnoticed, 'ey.
Overall, though, I thought it wasn't too bad. Too flawed to be a masterpiece, but intricately crafted and damn if it isn't a helluva ambitious attempt at posing the major questions of life through the allegorical formula of an anime, lol. To those looking for somethin' a little different, and considerably darker and grittier, than your usual anime, I'd say that Ergo Proxy is highly recommended. Not to mention that it's got some of the finer animation of today and impressive art design to boot.