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yeah! im late but THANK YOU <3

No problem, and thank you too! If you're looking for dark queer shows, also check out manga adaptations from Gangan magazines like Happy Sugar Life or Kakegurui. There's usually a lot of that. Although often with a lot of bait or fan service.

I would describe this show as a typical case of Jump Bishonen Syndrome. When a male show has so much female appeal that you can easily tell a person that it is a "BL bait shoujo anime" and they will easily believe it. But jokes aside, despite the many ship wars, this is overall a rather interesting reading of Sherlock Holmes in the Code Geass style. By the way, the show itself is quite dark, although more due to the male lead’s lifestyle and ideals rather than any relationships.

Well, as you wish. I don't think anyone will mind if you describe it as an interesting interpretation.

"Baraou no Souretsu" shows this on an almost tragic level, essentially replacing the well-known theme of Richard III's inferiority with the idea of ​​a life broken due to intersexuality. This is a show for a female audience, so the drama level is much stronger than in many seinen. Of course, with a noticeable amount of NSFW content. Kanata no Astra is less tragic since it is a sci-fi shonen and the anime censors the explicitness of the characters discussing it. But overall this is a good show about how children are not the property of their parents. If you want serious dark themes, then you can also try Scum Wish, or Gravitation, which depict bisexual relationships in a rather agnsty manner. But both shows are pretty moe-ish, if you know what I mean. The author of the first one then began illustrating Oshi no Ko.

Well, if you examine this on a deeper level, it depends on whether you read her adoption of a "new identity" as simply a symbol of a new way of life or as something deeper. Like in Moriarty, where Irene doesn't hide her female gender, but actually directly takes on a temporary male identity during the "death" of her female identity. Even competing with male characters to get her (him?) to be fully accepted as a full-fledged man during this. If you think about it, this makes her relationship with Sherlock similar to Oscar and Andre's relationship, which the author described as "metaphorical BL".

I think this is because their appearance is completely androgynous while working and some female characters even fall in love with them due to the androgynous but hundsame appearance of the protagonist in this form. But I don't really want to make any hard-and-fast judgments until I rewatch the show again someday. But yes, there are enough queer characters for a place in such a stack.

Meaningful and important queer shows? So how about Aoi Hana and Bloom into you? In my opinion, these are some of the best yuri when you want shows that actually explore the theme instead of building yuritopia or teasing ships. You can also look at "Araburu Kisetsu no Otome-domo yo" as a show that explores different forms of female sexuality, including queer ones. While this may seem a little disappointing if you're not into shipping, the author is one of the most prominent feminists in the anime industry, so it makes a lot of sense. Also "Kanata no Astra" and "Baraou no Souretsu" for the theme of intersex, an optimistic and depressive version. Mainly showing how strongly gender influences how others perceive a person.

If you wanted to describe it as something compromising or more neutral, then I would suggest it as a show that both shows a positive portrayal of bisexuality and consensual intimate relationships, and criticizes the devaluation of the homosexual experience as just a “phase” or “a special form of friendship". The show's universe treats these relationships as temporary social connections, but we're never told whether the characters ended their "gay arc" because they had no romantic attraction or simply had too strong a heterosexual affections already. In the sense that if you are bisexual, then refusing a gay relationship because you have already built fairly significant straight ones does not yet turn you into a straight person. So, again, based on interpretations, you can easily choose this view as well.

Then I'm really flattered :). I often see very speculative lists on this topic, so I wanted to create a stack for shows that had objective meaningful and positive representation outside of the tags. Especially when it's meaningful and neutrally exploring shows like AI no Idenshi. Although I won't lie, I was once hostile to any interpretation because I thought people were just doing it for the labels and the ships.


I was talking about Kino and Boogiepop. Because in the first case, the girl accepts a male personality as a symbol of her break with her past life and acceptance of the lifestyle and outlook on life of her “teacher”, and in the second, we are talking about a male spirit that inhabits the body of a female character and with the help of this fight crime. Both characters are still open about being girls, so I don't really understand the trans interpretations. But now I think that, at least metaphorically, you could easily interpret Kino's rejection of her past life as a metaphor for transsexuality, if you like. As for Boogiepop, despite the trans question, as I mentioned, there is still significant gay content with a number of gay and bisexual characters. I barely remember the details, but it seems like the anime shows at least half of them.

I think this is a good activity. I appreciate queer work that doesn't limit characters' identities to their sexuality or gender identity, instead showing them as living people with a queer identity that influences their lives but isn't the only description of it. For example, you could easily describe Sayaka from Bloom into you as a "closeted lesbian", but the manga and LN spin-off actually show her as a very realistic girl who is finding her place in life through exploring her sexuality. Or Komi-san's Najimi, for whom gender identity never becomes the root of their entire personality, but just one element that emphasizes their cheerful disposition and eccentricity. Not only does this help bring out important themes in the show, but it also shows that we are all still people with personalities regardless of identity.

Then no problem.

Yeah, if I wrote it like that, I may have forgotten that trans interpretations read her as a trans man. Although in the past there have also been many interpretations of her as a trans woman, as many people have suspected her dislike of androgyny to possibly imply that she is a trans woman and it is painful for her. I find this unlikely due to the fact that it is not used or mentioned in any way during interactions with Kaoru, but if you are interested, you can also look into such a theory if you want.

Well, I think he's objectively queer and Anno meant only the blurring of their relationship as such. But I don't remember why I decided that, so I'm just keeping it as my headcanon.

Yes, it can be annoying when a work clearly has no canon or the issue is quite controversial, but people say “this is the only interpretation that is correct.” I apologize if I gave that impression :D. This is one of the reasons I don't like the word "implied"; people often use it as a justification for demanding that other people accept their theories as canon. By the way, I remembered that I have an old stack on a similar topic, you can look at it if you want. https://myanimelist.net/stacks/13449

I apologize if I sounded rude. Well, if you understand that Death of the Author does not mean a loophole for ignoring canon, but an opportunity to interpret things without being strictly tied to “what the author meant by this,” then I don’t see a problem. Many of my opinions are also interpretation, I just think they have enough rational basis to not be a banal "I want to see it that way." The problem is that I often expect authors to be completely logical and consistent, so my understanding often falls apart when the author clearly hasn't thought things through that deeply.

Well, in my opinion that just cheapens it. Because if we assume that Momoe is a trans man, that would turn off the idea of ​​"women can be androgynous" and replace it with "androgyny means you're trans." This works for Kaoru because it helps Momoe realize how the girls that was attracted to her felt and how important acceptance is to queer people. If you like interpretations, then if I were you, I would point out that when Momoe is clearly touched by Kaoru's attraction to her as a girl, it can be interpreted more broadly than the joy of being seen as a girl. But this is 100% pure interpretation, since due to the sad fate of the show, we will never know any possible implications.

Why do you think I don't do this? I'm quite open in my reading Kaworu as queer and even accepting queer readings of their relationship, even though I'm a passionate Shinji x Asuka supporter. I just think it's important to emphasize that whether this is canonic depends on your perspective. Another question is who Shinji should end up with at the END, which is why you could even find huge essays on the Evangelion wiki where people dissected every interaction Shinji had with a particular characters to prove it was canon.

I don't like interpretations because they are often biased and often ignore the context and essence of the original story because of this. Especially when coupled with the Death of the Author, which many people perceive as a loophole to normalize any headcanon. For example, I've directly seen people say "the author denies this? Well, I'll use "death of the author" and ignore it." Not at all because I am against shipping interpretations in the first place. Things very often don't have an exact answer at all, so many people are also biased in the opposite direction and deliberately read things as platonic, although the lack of canon works both ways. For example, many people still dismiss the yuri in Kobayashi's Maid, simply ignoring the context that suggests she will eventually warm up to Tohru. Just because Kobayashi did not indicate her sexuality in any way for a long time.

Well, the problem here is that the story, on the contrary, is very important that Momoe is a woman, because its subplot is dedicated to the fact that it is normal for a woman to be androgynous and to be the object of gay attraction, even if she is straight. Therefore, the show connects her with Kaoru, although not in a romantic sense. They both realize that Momoe knows that Kaoru is biologically female, so Momoe expresses fundamental support for Kaoru, saying that she is attracted to men and sees Kaoru as an attractive guy and the latter experiences catharsis by appreciating it. Perhaps the show would have developed this somehow if it weren't for the complete mess with production, but for now it is what it is.

With Kaworu it’s actually easier, since Anno himself puts it on the plane of deliberate intrigue, the essence of which everyone decides for themselves. Kaworu is an objectively queer character and was clearly meant to be an archetype of the "akogare ideal", if you know what I mean. But since Anno created him under the impression of a “homoerotic” experience in a relationship with Ikuhara and apparently did not want any implications, he insisted that even translation into other languages ​​make it blurry.

In general, if we talk about interpretations, then in my opinion there are only two shows in your stack where there was an objectively non-queer context. Although one of these shows still had an important plot with gay characters.

I still decided to delete our dialogue, because even if I finish it myself, my answer could still become bait for its continuation on your part, and I don’t want to be the person who tries to leave the last word for myself or provoke an argument. But anyway, since I'm not going to ask you to change anything, and you clearly wouldn't, I think we'd better stop here and now before this really gets hot.

really nice collection of anime in your favourite section, i’ve been hoping to watch those series’ in the near future as i find alot of interest in psychological thrillers, you also have a lovely account theme :)

hi i really liked ur black butler review. i was rlly surprised to see it rated so high by everyone lmao

Firstly, I appreciate being the first one you reached out to after witnessing the conclusion of Texhnolyze. Kudos, by the way, on completing it! I know the show has been notorious for being incredibly slow, but it all culminates in a shocking yet peaceful ending, and the execution of it, to me, is beautiful. This anime has truly been a treasured gem to me since I finished it a couple of years ago (maybe 3? Can’t really remember). Yes, I’m a fan of Texhnolyze, and it holds a special place in my being, but it doesn’t quite match the level of passion I have for Code Geass and Cowboy Bebop. Those two shows hold a nostalgic significance for me, as I grew up watching them when they first aired on Television.

It's been quite some time since I finished Texhnolyze, but I'll do my best to share my insights about the show and respond to your questions. What made me like this anime so much, apart from its dope rave trance opening music and the gritty visuals/atmosphere the show portrays, is the attention the creators paid to the imagery/landscape of the setting. Not to mention the overall sound design which, to me, is exceptional, especially that particular sound audible when the viewer is in the P.O.V. of the Texhnolyzed person. Have you caught that while watching? It gives you that heavy robotic mechanical noises like gears slowly moving inside you, emphasizing the character’s integration with technology.

You can read about the imagery here: Art and Architecture of Texhnolyze.

Also, fun fact: Juno Reactor, the artist for the OP Guardian Angel, also composed the music for the groundbreaking cyberpunk film The Matrix, which I’m also a huge fan of.

I have to be honest here, capitalism and religion never really crossed my head when I was watching the show. My mind was more focused on the personal struggles and emotional state of the characters as they search for meaning and “hope” in that dreadful & bleak world. The agony, suffering, brutality, chaos, desolation, and pessimism of their everyday lives. This is the reason why I called it “the metaphor for hell itself,” which is further supported when Kohakura calls Lux the “Ninth Annex of the Reviving Hell”. But yes, there were certainly aspects of religious devotion and capitalistic exploitation prevalent in the show, which, as you mentioned, is representative of the blind faith the cultists have for their prophetess, Ran, and the businessmen who exploited the “inferior” people to be part of the workforce tasked with building the experimental underground city.

From what I read, there is no absolute certainty concerning the show's intended message or meaning as the creators themselves are too vague when asked about it. The audience can only piece together their thoughts, construct an in-depth analysis, interpret the story in their own way, and connect to like-minded people for discussions. Hats off to the director Hamasaki and the staff behind this show, especially the legendary trio (Ueda/Konaka/ABe). I mean, look at us right now, understanding the complexity of a cyberpunk show that aired more than two decades ago. That right there is a testament to its greatness and why I believe the show is a masterpiece.

As far as I understand, the surface dwellers were a part of humanity that pursued the ‘perfect being.’ Their goals somewhat resembled those of the people involved in the Human Instrumentality Project over at SEELE/NERV. Both sought transcendence, aiming to elevate their condition and take the next step in human evolution, albeit through different means. The section of humanity in favor of this ‘transhumanist’ ideology forcefully drove those who opposed them into the underground city, as they would not fit in the utopia they were trying to create and only be in the way of their goals. The emerging technology faced criticism from the opposition, who were in turn labeled as “terrorists” or “the vicious ones.” Those who objected were not inferior in any way; they simply had the morals to refuse as they found the Texhnoloyze technology evil in nature and rejected the notion of exchanging their flesh to attain what was referred to as the “pinnacle of mankind”. This faction later became the revolutionary group Salvation Union.

On the other hand, the Organo mafia (the Union's rivals) stands in stark contrast to their nemesis’ ideology as they pursue luxury and power through the use of this technology. They’d use these enhanced robotic limbs to strongarm their competitors/enemies and are motivated by the profit generated by selling raffia. This so-called transcendence wouldn’t be possible without the benefits of this substance, which promotes the prosthesis’ compatibility with the human body. This is the reason why the underground city of Lux was created in the first place. As a “prison” for the “inferior” masses, exploit them for the production of the raffia, and use them as test subjects for the R&D of the prostheses.

Ultimately, this idealistic pursuit of the perfect being through bionics backfired when it was later revealed that the "Shapes," people with fully Texhnolyzed bodies, would develop roots out of their feet, rendering them stationary for all eternity and devoid of reason. Perhaps when the surface discovered this, they abandoned the experiment and instead focused their resources on genetics, which they had successfully perfected, making the human body immune to all diseases. Hence, the answer to perfection was not complete Texhnolyzation, aka Shapes, but the artificial modification of their cells to remove the ‘bad’ genes. As a result, they became the theonormals or the true ‘perfect beings’, making them resistant not only to pain and sickness but also to mental illness, thereby actualizing the utopia or “Heaven” they so desire. While they have successfully eliminated disease, crime, and violence in this “perfect” society, I don’t believe that these beings achieved absolute immortality or cell regeneration of any kind as they age normally.

Doc’s whole situation was a tragic one. The Texhnolyzation scientist whose goals are to improve her understanding of the technology and further advance her studies for the betterment of mankind. She just wanted to save everyone and get recognition for her work, but as soon as she found out the current state of the surface and how they rejected her research, she broke down mentally and succumbed to despair, ultimately killing herself. Was she a bootlicker? Well, it’s up to the viewer to decide what kind of person she is. Personally, I think she simply was a “driven” individual and her intentions were pure.

I also find Yoshii to be a puzzling yet interesting character. Many view him as the true hero, and his death as the real ending of the story. I perceive him as a bored corporate salaryman with psychopathic tendencies who grew weary of the monotonous life on the surface and its people. The above-ground is a desolate place, where the residents have been reduced to "ghosts," or what the anime referred to as theonormals, living unexciting and unfulfilling lives, gradually moving toward extinction. It's a "lifeless" city where the inhabitants have already accepted their doom, functioning without purpose and only by procedure. Due to this, Yoshii traveled underground to incite chaos and conflict among the factions for his amusement, and also to ignite the “life” and “passion” that the surface world lacks. He believed that by doing this, he could revolutionize Lux and prevent it from suffering the same fate as the above-ground. In simpler terms, he sought excitement, went underground, had fun, tried to "change" things, and in the end, accepted his demise with a smile.

For me, Tooyama represents the decline of morality in a dystopian society.


He is the type of person who has no care in the world and will do anything as long as he survives. That’s the only thing I can say about him.

Overall, Texhnolyze can be interpreted in so many different ways. Its characters embody various philosophies and ideologies. It is so rich in that department. Personally, I view it as a cautionary tale on the consequences of idealism, particularly concerning transhumanism and the pursuit of perfection. It explores the moral and socio-economic decay, as well as the disharmony associated with these ideals. The revelation that the surface world was not the 'hope' they sought highlights the pointlessness of their struggles, as it proves to be no better, if not worse, than their current situation. Additionally, nihilism underscores the theme that despite one’s efforts, people may remain indifferent, rendering all endeavors ultimately meaningless and futile.



Despite the overall feeling of bleakness/hopelessness, I found great enjoyment in the show.

Welp, that’s my take on it. If you're interested in diving deeper into the show, I suggest checking this review out. It provides an insightful analysis and offers a different perspective on the themes portrayed in the anime.

I hope all that made sense. It’s been quite a while since I wrote this long lmao.

Sorry for taking so long to answer.

I knew about the parallels, but didn't know anything about the authors themselves. At school we learnt about only a few foreign authors, most of them were from my country. This explains a few things. And yes, this humor is not in good taste.

Probably if I persisted longer I would have enjoyed it a little more. Same goes for most of my dropped shows (but definitely not all of them).

Meanwhile I continued VLR and got my first ending (Dio's). I learnt from other games that determination is important. Every time I switched from the good guy path to the bad guy path in a game or vice versa, I always got punished. So this time I listened to Phi all the way and got a pretty interesting outcome.

Agree. I think i'm somewhat biased and nostalgic about the show since it was my first "non-shōnen" show back when i was 14. Everything available on free TV in the early 2000s when I was a teen was stuff like Dragonball, One Piece S1, Pokemon, maybe Naruto etc. and since i never was that much into shōnen, Elfen Lied was effectively what got me into anime in the first place. And yeah, my 14 yo me thought the show's INCREDIBLY deep, because of course lol.
OP with art from Gustav Klimt and lyrics in latin? Check!
A story that isn't p o s i t i v e but actually about negative aspects of humanity (on crack)? Check!
Themes regarding trauma and nurtured "evil"? Check!

But yeah, you're absolutely correct when you call it a edgy gore-fiesta and a early 2000s time capsule. I think the show would've been waaaaaay better with either a satirical approach (because it takes itself way too serious) or less unhinged edge, like not every character needs to have the most ridiculously dark background imaginable, you can create drama without piling 12 trillion kinds of abuse and trauma on top of each other lol. I still think it's a very entertaining show to watch and even tho most of the show is a over the top edgy af clownfiesta², some dramaturgic elements are actually somewhat fine imo, like the theme of evil being nurtured instead of natural, or some details in Lucy's descent into madness (the white lie Protag tells her to not hurt her ironically being what starts the entire tragedy).

Anyway, srry for the wall of text, i just rarely see ppl having decent takes on this show because it mostly seems like most folks either absolutely despise it in a weird overperformative way, or unironically think it's some kind of Shakespearean masterpiece (lmao).

I find it genuinely hilarious how I'd sign 95% of your Elfen Lied review and yet you gave it a 2 and i gave it a 7 x). Guess one of us is overcorrecting (or both) - anyway, decent review + pretty good taste in anime.