Ergo Proxy – The Fusion of Philosophy and Sci-fi in an Anime

Péter Zolczer

IN: Partitúra Irodalomtudományi folyóirat, Volume: XII. , Issue 2, 2017, p. 39-50., ISSN 1336-7307

DOI: 10.17846/PA.2017.12.2.39-50

Abstract:

Although the word sci-fi probably makes notions like futuristic technologies pop up into our minds, it is without question that many of these works (also) deal with serious philosophical questions. From this point of view, Ergo Proxy, a Japanese anime (animated series), is interesting and relevant, because despite its sci-fi genre it fuses different philosophical schools (e.g. existentialism, phenomenology, relativism) into itself in such a way so that they form one whole. At the same time, the not easily extractable realistic message of the story is obviously present in the narrative. The storylines of the anime create loops which tend towards their own beginning – this phenomenon makes certain “layer-like” interpretations possible, which then can be used to connect seemingly unrelated levels of the narrative structure.

Keywords: Ergo Proxy, anime, sci-fi, philosophy, existential crisis, loop

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Partitúra is a Hungarian literary journal published in Slovakia twice a year. The first edition was issued in 2006. From 2007 to 2014 its publishers were the Faculty of Central European Studies at The Constantine the Philosopher University in Nitra in cooperation with Sambucus Literary Society. Since 2014 the Faculty of Central European Studies at the CPU in Nitra became the sole publisher.

The journal releases peer-reviewed scientific articles, literary studies and art reviews of both Hungarian as well as world literature. It is also a forum for essays on several other arts and intercultural relations. Furthermore, special attention is devoted to the Central European literature and literary studies; the magazine not only publishes the reviews of such studies, but also provides the arena for reflections about them. The journal aims to give an account of the contemporary Hungarian literature of the Hungarian minorities as well as to serve as a cluster for discourses.

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