I give up.
Pino!
Pino?
What's a bookstore doing here?
I'm lost.
Excuse me...
Anybody?
Welcome to the City Lights Bookstore.
Are you a traveler?
Please, this way.
In the White Darkness
Let's wait for a bit until the tea is steeped and ready.
So then, traveler.
I'm lost.
That's what everyone says who comes here.
There's a thick fog.
The future is a closed book. People used to say that all the time.
And closed books can't be read.
Somewhere around here our ship was...
What you're looking for is always inside you.
That's the way it is.
You haven't seen a little girl AutoReiv, have you?
Her name's Pino. She's about this tall...
You mustrt be in such a hurry.
It's the same with the tea, brewing it enances the flavor.
You can't seek everything at once.
Besides, this is a bookstore, isn't it?
I don't mean to be rude...
but I just wanted to ask you for directions.
Well, since you have so many...
there must be at least one book I'd like to read, I guess, maybe...
Go on. Pick one out and take a look.
It looks like he still hasn't figured it out.
This is a special setting here.
We are, so to speak, inside his head.
In order for there to be all these books...
people who read must first create society.
But in order for people to create society...
they need to converse using language.
It's like the question of the chicken or the egg.
Each one requires the other.
Which means it's impossible to say for sure...
that books came to exist purely through human means.
That leads me to think that perhaps...
they've been given to us by a god-like being.
But that can't be.
I believe that was Rousseau's argument in "On the Origin of Language."
That's enough philosophy for now.
Let's continue by looking at this mars past and future...
two playthings in the hands of fickle fate.
Why is my name...
Where'd he go?
What the heck?
Don't tell me...
It must be a dream.
This is no dream, Vincent Law.
I'm over here.
Who is it?
Dorothy?
I am nobody.
Even if I was someone, people couldn't comprehend me.
And even if they could...
they wouldn't be able to communicate it to those around them.
Chief...
That's pretty much the way it is.
As I'm sure you know.
It must be a dream.
This is no dream, Vincent Law.
In others' eyes, I am part of the world.
But when I look out at the world from my own vantage point...
I am not in it.
What I see is the world.
As an observer, I am the point of view that creates the world.
I can't belong to the world.
In principle, we can say that is the truth.
Even if I was someone, people couldn't comprehend me.
And even if they could...
they wouldn't be able to communicate it to those around them.
I do not belong to the world.
That is the world's limit...
the boundary between the world and the self.
Well...
I was there because someone reported seeing an infected AutoReiv.
No, it's not "I think therefore I am."
But it's true.
If you take a look at the facility's records...
That's right, it's "I think therefore you are."
Although you don't remember.
Wait. In that case...
tell me what the monster is.
What is a Proxy?
You think Proxies are monsters?
You've got a lot to learn, young lady.
- They're said to be beasts and demons...
- but that's all nonsense. - Re-I!
Proxy is...
You.
They can change themselves into any form.
They can disappear at will with ease.
That's you.
They can also enter human beings and control their spirits.
That's what you are.
They can shoot lightning bolts, scorching the earth in an instant.
Remember!
And they've even been known to conjure up flame-spewing planets.
Ergo Proxy!
No!
I'm... l'm Vincent Law!
Registration number 0724FGARK.
My name is Vincent Law.
You really are a fool.
Have you lost your eye for the truth as well as your memory?
My memory?
I remember things just fine.
Then who are you?
See if you can tell me who you are.
I'm...
After I immigrated to Romdo...
I worked on the staff of the AutoReiv Disposal Facilities.
Before that?
I looked for ajob in the FG Temporary lmmigrant District.
That's where I first ran into Re-I.
Before that?
Before I immigrated to Romdo, I was in the Mosk Dome.
The city was destroyed in a mysterious accident.
It was a dreadful sight.
Before that?
I was in Mosk.
What did you do there?
I'm thinking...
What?
I can't remember.
That's because you don't want to remember.
Come on, see if you can answer my question.
As long as you can't find the answer...
even if I told you, you wouldn't be able to understand.
Why?
I told you. Because I am you.
Look.
No... l'm...
It must be a dream.
This is no dream, Vincent Law.
Nothing is more important to a bookstore than books.
The magic of words written in a book...
This world is ruled by logos.
That is to say...
it is through words which have opposite meanings...
that the world's secrets are frequently revealed.
It's always been that way.
The word "bios" means "bow" and "life" at the same time.
While a bow and life seem completely unrelated...
they both lead to the same thing, "death."
Those people long ago said pretty remarkable things.
Yeah.
Anamnesis.
It means "memory," while at the same time...
it also means "recollection."
Remembrance.
Who was Vincent Law? What was he afraid of?
What did he erase here?
At times there is destruction.
There is misfortune in the stars.
The sky was lost and the seas froze over.
It brought to a halt the life circle...
which is necessary for the perception of people and all nature.
The ones who'd kept the story alive had already left the scene.
It acted as curtains for the system.
And yet there was no escaping the fact...
that this world, which had rotted away, was yet another circle.
Because you still exist.
Which means that if those born of this world continue to exist...
there will be no one to perceive the world...
as such, and it can no longer exist.
For example...
it's like an enormous stack of books that rot away...
without anyone ever having read them.
No, I'm...
In order to survive, the world plunged once again into a new phase.
Listen.
You can hear the pulse of the awakening.
The pulse of the awakening...
Don't interfere with him anymore. His nerves can't take it.
It looks like I made itjust in time.
A pulse...
That's what our lifespan is.
Each living organism has a heart size corresponding to their body type.
It's the pulse rate based on that heart size...
which determines how long we live.
That is the divine law.
A struggle by those whose lives are not determined as such is meaningless.
Shut up, old man.
What are you doing interfering with his core self?
And that's no way to treat the memory keeper.
A memory keeper who rejects everything is won'thless.
Come on now, remember!
Stop it!
Do you get it?
My own pulse was altered by us.
Remember.
You can feel it if you hold your hand against your chest.
It belongs to no one.
It's our pulse, yours and mine.
This is what brings us to the truth.
It's what proves that we are the very world itself.
Follow your instincts.
The answer is already there.
The white noise echoing in the white darkness...
is the rhythm which proves we are alive.
It is the pulse which never leaves the stage.
I have constantly suppressed and distorted myself...
in my frantic efforts to become a fellow citizen.
Constantly... everywhere...
Even if we're interrupted...
at some point the words we're supposed to speak...
become the necessary bonding agent connecting us to someone else.
And look what's happened to me.
I'm a failure.
In order to secure this world, known as a system called "life"...
someone other than ourselves dreamed us up.
Don't question the system. Always obey.
That's what it takes to be a fellow citizen.
And that's why you can hear itjust as I can.
The pulse of the awakening, beating in your chest.
Can't you hear that?
But I'll never become a fellow citizen.
Vincent!
It's over.
It's all over.
I am you.
You are me.
No! I'm...
I'm Vincent Law!
Then look.
I am you!
I'll ask one more time.
You are the agent of what?
I'm...
Re-I...?
Even though I don't remember anything...
I know now.
I'm Ergo Proxy.
Remember...
you are still merely standing at the entrance of truth...
you must lose in order to know.
Well, it's been just about three minutes.
The tea is steeped and ready.
Drink up.
What's the matter?
Well, I'm lost.
Yes, that's what everyone says who comes here.
There's a thick fog.
The future is a closed book. They used to say that all the time.
And closed books can't be read.
We docked our ship somewhere around here.
It seems what you're looking for is always inside you.
You haven't seen a little girl AutoReiv, have you?
Her name's Pino.
I can't answer everything at once.
The ship... No, I mean Pino...
Have you seen her?
No.
What's necessary is for you to accept.
Otherwise you'll wander off in the darkness...
and lose sight of what's truly important.
I've accepted it for a long time.
That's quite admirable.
Then, what is it you've accepted?
What?
Please, answer.
I'm lost. That's all.
Very good.
Well then, I'll point you in the right direction...
Vincent Law...
No, I mean Ergo Proxy.
Wait!
Vince?
Vince?!
I know now.
I'm a Proxy.
I finally found you.
It must be a dream.
This is no dream, Vincent Law.
He knows the truth I've been seeking...
as well as all my doubts.
Tell me, Vincent Law...
When You're Smiling everything you know.
When You're Smiling