The people with small amounts of patience will probably find Ergo Proxy hard to endure, as it really takes its time to explain the situation, with no possible forms of rushing. On short terms, it may cause a bit of boredom, but on long terms, it makes for some great storytelling.
After seeing this second episode, it seems like there are three, maybe four main characters. First of all Lil, which is obvious, since most of the episode turned around her. Second, we have this guy who’s found Lil, and appears to be stalking her or something like that, anyway, a mysterious guy in an unusual body. Third, we have the automail of the rich lady. I have no idea whether Iggy will make a main-appearance in the show, or that he’ll be forced to spend the rest of his life as a side-role. For bad guys, we have Lil’s grandfather (either that, or he’s being manipulated), the long-haired guy, and apparently the entire police-force and investigation service. I’m still waiting to see which side the two Proxys belong to, but I’ll put them along the bad guys for the time being.
This episode, there was exactly one action scene. The way the creators brought it, was incredibly original. Partially because it’s been one of the rare fights that didn’t include a prelude. We just see a guy escaping from Proxy, totally unexpected or unintroduced. I loved it. (At least, not that I think back, there was a one-second prelude… but at that time you so don’t see it coming). It was also nice to see an actual bad guy space out like that. These kinds of things rarely happen in anime. At least, they rarely happen without characters having some strange fetish-like fantasies.
Lil herself was also very interesing this episode. She was a good actor. At least, half of the time. At other times, you could just really see that she was acting. She’s also totally different from last episode. There, she was just confident in herself. Now, it seems like a bit of despair and stress have been added. Add this to the pressure from the government, and you have a recipe for succes. The government kinda reminded me of a mild version of the book 1984 by George Orwell. Everything is being controlled, people are captured like in a prison and the freedom of speech has become an urban myth.
You keep saying the bad guys, the good guys. But you need to remember that Ergo Proxy is not a black white anime. There is no 100% bad guy or good guys in Ergo Proxy. But protagonists or antagonists. Its a ambigious greygray series made up of characters with different morals. The characters have ambibtions, and are morally ambigous because they do what they belive is the “right” thing to do. But that doesnt necessarily make them the bad guy.