Texhnolyze

In the dark underground city of Lux, people live in fear and despair under the rule of various criminal factions. Almost secluded from the surface, the gangs' only interaction with the outer world is their mining operation of "raffia," which is the raison d'être of the city.

Available only in Lux, this rare substance is the basis of "texhnolyze" transplants that permit humans to replace parts of their body with cybernetic prostheses. The latter have the particularity not to trigger an immune response in their hosts and the "Class" has the privilege to conduct research on them. This elusive organization, also in charge of the raffia production, delegates its executive authority to a group called Organo led by Keigo Oonishi—a self-righteous man with texhnolyzed legs who is rumored to hear the "voice of the city."

The fragile balance of powers in Lux is disturbed when a mysterious visitor named Kazuho Yoshii begins committing a series of crimes that puts the gangs at each other's throats. In the midst of the chaos, new actors emerge: Ichise, an ex-boxer mutilated by Organo and recently texhnolyzed by Eriko "Doc" Kamata; and Ran, a young florist who can see the future. While Lux steadily plunges into insanity, both Ichise and Ran find themselves involved in the greatest crisis the city has ever faced.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Ichise Main

Haga, Satoshi Japanese

Ran Main

Itou, Shizuka Japanese

Yoshii, Kazuho Supporting

Inoue, Takashi Japanese

Oonishi, Keigo Supporting

Tsuchida, Hiroshi Japanese

Kamata, Eriko Supporting

Niki, Shizumi Japanese

Shinji Supporting

Kitade, Shinya Japanese

Tooyama, Haruhiko Supporting

Hoshi, Mitsuaki Japanese

Kano Supporting

Tanaka, Kajirou Japanese

Sakimura, Tatsuya Supporting

Tonosaki, Akihiko Japanese

Kimata, Motoharu Supporting

Nakata, Jouji Japanese

Ueda, Yasuyuki Producer

Murata, Yoshimichi Producer

Shikata, Satoshi Producer

Gotou, Hideki Producer

Reviews

May 16, 2025

Berrybird

Recommended

Nihilism in 480p, whimpering in your right ear and gore splatter in the left.

You might as well go and lock yourself in a basement for 4 hours (wait, make that 8, I couldn't tell!), stare at the concrete while someone else has a panic attack behind the wall, instead of watching this.

You'll most likely end up wondering, why did I do that, was there any meaning to any of this, what was all that for after both. But at the very least in Texhnolyze you have questionable characters to keep you company and in the end you can cross this one off the list ... of 'oh, i am an intellectual' watch list!

I sound like such a hater and you might actually be wondering if I ticked the 'Recommended' by accident, but no, no—I don't regret watching this! I was hoping to lose sleep or to be philosophically eviscerated, but instead I'm just a little proud of myself for getting through it in three days no less! I found myself enjoying multiple characters in the show, and by the end I almost felt oddly at peace. Like... phew... I survived it. That much can't be said for everyone, cast or viewer.

Honourable mentions, since I honestly can't say I particularly understood much of the plot, I can at least say a few things about the delightful little cast:

Yoshii - I was delightfully surprised by this guy, he is like a mundane fishing magazine you might find at a gas station bathroom, just to contain someone's essay on humanity's depravity.
Doc - Oh she is disgusting, I love it!
Ichise - Pure will to live, honestly almost inspirational.
Tooyoma - "I like you, so I will kill you." He literally said it!

Some of the character interactions actually made me giggle, but to truly care about some of the tragic things that happened later I wasn't able to really attach to any of the characters... that would be my biggest problem with it. I wish I cared more, but I just couldn't! But I suppose that on it's own is fitting for the theme... And, this review ended up about as nonsensical as the anime, oh well.

Pro tip: Like in life and in watching this very anime, lean more on the side of absurdism than nihilism: it's meaningless, but might as well appreciate it for what it is. It's somehow something while being nothing. Get comfortable, put down your phone, and don't expect the meaning to just crawl to you, and you might just be fine and not mind the void.

In the end, which really didn't matter at all, Texhnolyze is how it feels like being in a chokehold by your new prosthetic limb that your body rejected, will you succumb or will you tear it off and go watch something else? If you succumb, you get to accept that Texhnolyze is now part of your system, for better or worse. Appreciate the obscure, shrug off the lack of purpose and move on the next dish in your existential dread!

Oh, and when you rewatch, you can LARP as Ran! Just start screaming when you realize what is about to happen!

Reviewer’s Rating: 7

What did you think of this review?

Nice 0

Love it 0

Funny 0

Confusing 0

Informative 0

Well-written 0

Creative 0

More reviews by Berrybird (6)

Show all

Read more

Show less

Open

Gift

Report

Apr 6, 2024

MediaDabbler

Mixed Feelings

By Far The Hardest Anime to Ever Complete for me.

Out of 100, 200, 300 animes I ever tried/watched. Texhnoloze might be the hardest and longest it ever took me while only being less than 2 seasons worth of episodes (22).

Major reasons for that could be how it is in fact hard to watch with how subtle the narrative is and how it drowns you with utter silence (literally the first episode there was no dialogue till 12 mins in) and lot of dark tone background imagery and music. The reason why pointing this out is important to me is because by far is this ... not my first encounter with psychological thrillers yet alone my first experience with the creators work. I seen Serial Experiments Lain, Haibane Remnai, Pretty much every Satoshi Kon work, Evangelion, Devilman Crybaby, ghost in the Shell, and Ergo proxy (surprisingly is the closest in comparison to Texhnoloze when Ergo Proxy is by a different person.) none of which came close to how long it took me to get through this show.

By all means Texhnoloze is not bad at all, in fact it’s one of the more Unique animes out there, and lot of the times “unique” isn’t always a good or bad thing, really depends on execution however with Texhnoloze it doesn’t really seem to be an issue here for me as you come to understand why the story seems so pessimistic and despairing. Really tying it to its themes of Theseus Paradox, Dehumanization, nihilism, and existentialism (that being in its more hopeful elements that are near the ending tho).

Even though it took me about 2-3 months to finish this 22 episode show, I really do not feel that negative about it and in fact rated it 9.2-9.3/10, it really does what it’s supposed to as a post apocalyptic world and it’s psychological element regarding the human condition and human evolution and limit of existence, the narrative itself has a hard to grasp plotline because the storytelling is very much on the “show don’t tell” side where it is subtle and leaves lot of interpretation towards the audience rather than spoom feeding every detailed event which I like about this show. The biggest pros of the show is it’s show dont tell storytelling and themes/concepts and the biggest con of the show is it’s lack of entertainment and bleakness but again it’s a more justified issue.

Give it a watch if you want.

Reviewer’s Rating: 9

What did you think of this review?

Nice 0

Love it 0

Funny 0

Confusing 0

Informative 0

Well-written 0

Creative 0

More reviews by MediaDabbler (8)

Show all

Read more

Show less

Open

Gift

Report

May 22, 2025

1stDecame4Danime

Not Recommended

Funny

This show is a (bad) concept-art walking-simulator and vapid im14andthisisdeep delinquent/mobster fighting series. Even at 2x speed this is comatose-inducingly uneventfully boring.

It is an absolute waste of time with nothing of value to say. This show stretches almost nothing across all 22 episodes with the most unwatchable garbage filler imaginable.

There is no actual plot beyond a series of pointless bs barely even strung together as excuses for more walking/violence while idiots spew pointless filler words to continue wasting the audience's time because they have nothing of substance to show.

The characters all lack any real motivations and just do occasional edgy spectacle bs in lieu of ... any actual characterization or plot or worldbuilding.
100% of their arcs meander around meaninglessly before teetering off into nothing having accomplished nothing nor changed meaningfully nor said or done anything beyond the occasional pointless action bs.

The art is almost entirely just shades of brown smeared everywhere, boring desert stuff, boring desert city, boring sewers, boring vague nothings of dumb scifi architecture, etc.

the denpa elements are little more than tacked on powerlines repeated ad nauseum as an excuse for the plot to be a bunch of meaningless contrived bs (and even then they still manage to fuck it up because they shat this out without planning properly, so their character who didn't actually want anything of the sort to happen got retconned into an idiotically destructive 'all according to keikaku' character) because the only point it actually has is the fundamental (im14andthisisdeep) notion of absurdism: pointlessness. A pointless show to convey the idea of pointlessness in the most pointlessly boring way possible. Congrats, you made a pointless waste of an anime.

1/10 (where 5/10 is average)

Reviewer’s Rating: 1

What did you think of this review?

Nice 0

Love it 0

Funny 0

Confusing 0

Informative 0

Well-written 0

Creative 0

More reviews by 1stDecame4Danime (82)

Show all

Read more

Show less

Open

Gift

Report

Shows With Christian Elements/Themes

by Undella_Town

22 Entries · 13 Restacks

Must-Watch Original Anime Series

by kizumi91

50 Entries · 649 Restacks

Delusions and Dystopias

by ryck66x

50 Entries · 72 Restacks

	Poll: Texhnolyze Episode 1 Discussion ( 1 2 3 4 ) xXDaijinkazeXx - May 6, 2009	180 replies	by Shocked »» 6 hours ago
	Possible sequel/new project Texhnolyze related. Klad - Jul 20, 2024	7 replies	by ssvmdh »» May 29, 1:39 PM
	How is this supposed to be enjoyed? AnnualStorm - Aug 8, 2021	9 replies	by ssvmdh »» May 29, 1:37 PM
	For those disappointed by Texhnolyze, why? ( 1 2 3 ) WitherThrakh - Sep 12, 2023	139 replies	by ssvmdh »» May 29, 1:33 PM
	Is there any talking in texhnolyze? AnimeDownUnder - Sep 29, 2020	23 replies	by ssvmdh »» May 29, 1:30 PM

12 Complex Psychological Anime to Wrap Your Head Around

In a genre with anime of various types ranging from action to sports, these are the psychological anime that will actually challenge you and the way you think.

by MAL_Articles

274,168 views

Top 20 Best Sci-Fi Anime of All Time

So what's this genre all about anyway? Complex formulas and futuristic, science-y stuff? Well, only some of the time. Check out our list to find out!

by madokamage

545,099 views

Spoiler

CollectionSci-fi