Texhnolyze

Texhnolyze is a show about heavy breathing, grunting, and a pissing contest between a group of gun and sword wielding alpha males in suits who speak in bad mob movie cliches. If you force your imagination enough, you may be able to find something deep in the recesses of this art, but the same could be done if you stared long enough at the textures on a rusty frying pan.

There's a subplot about "texhnolyzation", a procedure to repair or upgrade a person using technologies such as mechanical limbs. The transhumanist ideas herein, which have potential, are unfortunately enveloped in a lot of empty atmosphere. Most ... scenes are comprised of long shots of nothing, sound effects that were ran through one too many flange filters, and cryptic dialog that's just later reiterated in dull exposition.

The tone is reminiscent of the cheap drawings an angry teenager would sketch up after being sent to his room for cursing out his mother. There's hardly any diversity among the characters; they all share the same stern facial expression, and communicate by either mumbling or shouting.

Episodes 19 - 22, though still reliant on exposition, are admittedly fascinating as they focus on the aforementioned subplot. With that said, I'm not entirely sure the ending was worth sitting through the preceding 6 hours of tedium. If this show had been around 10 episodes instead of 22, it could have been good, maybe even great.

This is a bleak story about bleak people doing bleak things in a bleak city with a bleak outlook. Oh, and there is a lot of bleakness going on, just in case that did not get through to you the fourth time I said it. Seriously, this show puts the ‘mo in emo like few others.

Story:
Right off the bat you can tell this story is going to require a healthy dose of anti-depressants to sit through. Pick any ugly part of human nature and society and you’ll be sure to see it here. Abuse, power-struggles, self-destruction and then some. There is some serious ... nihilism going on, I tell you, and the pacing would run backwards if it got any slower. In the end the various strands of the story—the hero’s journey, the gang wars and the changing city--do come together to form a brutally ugly picture of human devolution. It’s like the writers were holding a contest to see how fast their viewers would fall into despair. Jolly bunch, I can tell.

Characters:
Ichise: is the sad sod we follow around for the most part as he plods through one desolate panel to another, from one depressingly violent situation to another. I suppose we’re expected to relate to him but for the life of me I couldn’t. He always seems to be drifting and basically doing nothing but follow someone else around. I’m sure that was intentional in order to “make a point” which is why it bugs me. If he had been someone who looked a little more alive and less distant then the story’s ultimate end would have been much more powerful instead of just predictably unimpressive. Go ahead and apply that last sentence to every other character, too.
Onishi: is one of the various mafias’ top dogs. He seems to be one of the few who are not ready to just keel over and get it over with so he is more sympathetic to the viewer. Still, you know what happens to honourable generals in times of civil war.
Ran: the prophet girl is very adept at walking around town in her fox mask, looking mysterious and saying as little as possible. Er…that’s it. I really didn’t care what happened to her or why.
Basically, these characters are not here for the viewer to like, they are just pawns in a game and the story is all about the game. Sorry, but that’s not my cup of tea. For me, it all starts and ends with the characters.

Animation:
Every goth’s dream palette: nothing but black and grey all the way. It does set a great atmosphere and a suitably despairing tone and the backgrounds are beautiful to look at, especially if you are feeling quasi-suicidal. It has the post-apocalyptic scenery porn nailed and believe me, the way the plot moved you have ample time to do your sightseeing.
I actually liked the character design, mostly because I hate the alien moe-turd look and love the realistic style. The story might be a bit too much on the emo side but the animation is really spot-on. It has any number of inventive sequences, works a great feeling and never shies from showing the buckets of blood and gore that are raining here.
As an aside, here’s a fun exercise for you: jot down the number of people who die violently in this anime and get back to me, because I lost count after the first 50 or so.

Music:
Suitably ambient and dark.
OP: I actually really liked the opening sequence. Plus, you can just take the OP, play it 322 times and you will get the same result as watching the anime.
ED: skipped it, even if it was Gackt (love you Gackt but after 20 minutes of this anime I need AKB48 to stop thinking about suicide…)

Overview:
It took superhuman determination to sit through this over a period of 6 months. To say that it didn’t draw me in would be a colossal understatement. I generally love post-apocalyptic scifi stuff but this felt as appealing as the stuff I found in my fridge when I cleaned it after 3 years. it was just too gritty, too depressing and too bleak.

The first half of this series is incredibly predictable and boring. By episode twelve little is known about the situation or the characters; largely because the show spends way too much time playing lazy music while showing shaky, blurry scenes that ultimately have no point. A slow pace can work, as long as there is a point and I love psychological dramas. However, this series felt more suited to entertaining people getting high rather than provoking deep thought.

Around episode 12 the series gets into some actual plot/ character development and becomes much more interesting. There are some good moral conundrums, ... though these fit into the “asking the oldest questions in the newest ways” category.

The plot wasn’t overly original or complex, and the ending was apparent pretty early on. I had hoped for a bit more here. The dynamic between the main characters and the antagonists held a lot of wasted potential. In general they were all cookie cutter bad guys. The ultimate antagonist at the end, in particular, lacked any interesting characteristics.

And, it was depressing. At some point I started having flashbacks to when I read Upton Sinclair’s ‘The Jungle’. I wanted to the finish the story, but at the same time I couldn’t help but think “come on . . . would everyone just give up and die already!”

Overall, I enjoyed parts of this, but there are a lot of more interesting things out there to watch.

***PS. When the femoral artery in the leg is severed, the person has approximately 3-5 minutes to live before fatally bleeding out. Having an arm and a leg cut off without immediate medical care would result in shock, loss of consciousness, and death within minutes. So the part where he is wandering around the city on handmade crutches with a tiny string that is supposed to be a tourniquet he made himself is just laughable.

Texhnolyze is one of many anime that have some good ideas, but bad execution ruins everything.
Both protagonist and antagonist are empty characters that either don't say anything meaningful at all or say something pretentious. Their stories don't add anything to empathize with them or to unfold their internal life philosophy better.

Another problem is that anime is very slow paced, and not in Tarkovsky's way. There's absolutely no reason for it to be that slow. Slow scenes don't add any depth or immersive emotional experience. The anime can easily be compressed to about eight series.

I'm sorry to say that, but Texhnolyze is just another pseudo-elitist anime ... hyped by its fans that don't have much experience in philosophy and cinematography.

However, I enjoyed a few things: power struggle and setting. And because failed attempt is better than no attempt I think it's worthy of 7/10.

Well that was something.

Texhnolyze immersed me instantly with its cool "show, not tell" atmosphere/vibe. Sure not much character development happened in the early episodes but I was fine with that because it was only the first act, so I enjoyed it for what it was.

Despite saying I liked "show don't tell," as the series progressed and the stakes were raised I wish they told us just a little more, like why some characters behaved certain ways.

I feel like I'm missing a few plot points... I think it's great that this show doesn't fully explain everything, but I need just a little more to be ... able to piece stuff together.

I do like parts of it and ideas they were going for, but the show didn't make enough sense and felt like a weird fever dream that gets worse further into the night. Though I guess that also ties into why I partially liked it.

I both liked Texhnolyze and I didn't and it's a very difficult show to rate. At least it showed a side of humanity we don't always see, that's why I like sci-fi. So, it's refreshing in that regard and there is just something about it that I do like. Maybe I'll grow to like it more the longer it resides in my brain. It's definitely a show that leaves an impression, which is a good quality in itself. Unlike many other shows that I score "low", I could see myself rewatching this and maybe even introducing it to someone else just to see what they think. It's not perfect but at least it's different.

Update (08/17): Texhnolyze is an anime that stays with you. It's a heavy story that brings about emotion when I think back to it. I'm still not sure how much I "like" it, but I think I've grown to appreciate it more over time. It's an interesting exhibition of mankind that you will rarely see elsewhere.

Ok... so I will be straight up. This might be an anime that is too smart for me. Here is the problem... I think I am fairly smart and really tried to pay attention. Said a different way... this comes across a bit pretentious in that it doesn't hold the viewers hand AT ALL. Like... there is subtle, hidden, and then this which is something FAR more difficult to understand. By the halfway point I really didn't understand this anime much at all. It goes out of it's way to not explain things, relationships, or really much of anything. In an attempt to be subtle ... and edgy it just becomes confusing and a hot mess. I can see that it did a LOT of things right and it's world and tone are very interesting... if only it would explain a lot more, not try to shroud most things for a "big reveal" at the end and it might be pretty good.

Also... I think my main issue was at the end nothing was really solved, I was still left not really understanding the relationship between most people and major and I mean MAJOR plot points went so far over my head I was just left confused and frustrated. You can't get emotionally connected if you're just confused the whole time. This is a miss for me though some people may really like it if they are able to get it.

Texhnolyze. I didn't enjoy this series very much. The story and characters were decent or rather scary really. This story revolves around, fate, loathing, and fear. The atmosphere was dark and moody. The story also goes into cybernetically enhanced humans or cyborgs with texhnolyze technology. It raises a good question, can technology destroy everything? Perhaps, but it can also be used for much good.

This series had very little talking and tried to let the visuals do the talking. This is fine for a little while, but it's like listening to hours and hours of classical music. ... Words can mean so much more and help you not to be bored. This series also had a lot of violence and no sense of humor or comedy.

Fate has its place, but decisions still determine destiny. This was a disappointing anime series to me. Remember the importance of weight in action.

Texhnolyze was messy and confusing. Although this is common for bad Psychological animes. It was slow and there were a lot of pointless episodes. The main character was a bit dull and boring. He was also unlikeable and acted inappropriately, for the situation. Ran was also dull as well, but she was interesting and I wish I saw more of her.

The animation wasn't the best. The characters sometimes looked similar to each other and that was confusing. It also looks dull. Texhnolyze animation looks simular to Ergo Proxy and Serial Experiments Lain, but worse. I preferred the Sub to the Dub. The Sub's voice acting ... was decent and fit the characters well. The OP and ED are fine as well.

If you like psychological anime, then you might like this. But I don't think it's worth watching.

I've been looking forward to this one. Serial Experiments Lain is one of my all time favorites and I have enjoyed all of this character designer's other projects. However, despite the animation being just as strong as his other shows, this is the first show of his that I was mostly disconnected from the story and the characters. This led to a lack of immersion and boredom creeping in by the second half. While I did finish watching the show, I was partially forcing myself through it.

Several of his shows he is attached to, including this one, are avant-garde/arthouse that explore deeper meanings and themes ... beyond the core story. Other anime tell their stories in a similar way, however few are as effective and complex as shows like Serial Experiment Lain. The key though, is that you can entertained and immersed into Serial Experiments Lain even if you do not fully grasp all of the hidden themes, metaphors, and messages. That is the one ingredient that all of the best films and shows of this genre have in common. Then, once you finish it, you were so invested into the show that you want to re-watch it and do research to start understanding the themes and imagery. Its the icing on the cake. Texhnolyze is missing that key.

Once I finished in the show, I was not emotionally invested in the story or characters. As a result, I felt no desire to go the extra mile and do research on the overall themes. There's no point for the icing on the cake if the cake itself is bland and boring.

The music, the animation, the style, and the sci-fi elements; all the ingredients are there for something special. Unfortunately, the story quickly devolves into a generic mafia tale. It focuses on the battle between the three factions and their intricacies for far too long that it took away from all of the interesting aspects of the story and the world. All the other plot elements took a back seat to a mafia story I've seen told better in other anime. Once the story finally started to re-focus on the main story elements regarding the world and its themes in the final episodes, it was too little too late for me to care.

Even when the story focused on its strengths, I did not attach to the main character nor anyone else. All of them lacked character motivation for their actions. The details that made the characters interesting were only the purpose each one served in the grander narrative and message of the show. They all felt like soulless props where their only duty is to reflect the themes and statements of the show rather than be interesting on their own.

Perhaps I'm being too harsh on this one due to my high expectations. Like I said before, there is a lot to like from this show. Fantastic atmosphere, trippy animation, and thematic music is what kept me going to watch the entirety of the show. Sadly, I was disappointed with this one, and highly recommend watching all of the other projects Yoshitoshi Abe worked on.

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.

Texhnolyze starts with very slow pace and a very confusing way of presenting itself so I'd warn people to be prepared for that and to try and stick with it because the show does pick up eventually. The slow and confusing opening works out in a unique way because it gives the viewer a lot of time to really see the world from an immersive stand point and see what's going on in that world as it unfolds. Once the show picks up I think it manages to tell a pretty good story that unfolds in a memorable way.

My biggest complaint is that the main ... character feels very uninvolved, he feels like he has less lines than most side characters do. That's probably a stylistic choice, but I found it made it hard to understand him and his motives throughout the series. The final act is also a bit confusing with few clues as to what the details of it are, but there is enough explanation in the show that you should at least kind of understand what's happening and the specifics don't super matter anyways.

Overall it's a bit rough around the edges, it tells an intriguing story that unfolds nicely and has a number of really memorable moments. It's worth watching if you've got the patience for it.

Texhnolyze is a ride. A good way of putting the experience is thus: Imagine someone reading Nietzsche to you very slowly, but every 2 hours the lights flash and they shout a haiku at the top of their lungs. Overall, this show paints a portrait of Nihilism as a concept, and while it paints an excellent picture, it's still a deeply flawed portrait that leaves the viewer with a sense that the portrait itself was painted haphazardly because in the end it doesn't matter anyway. First, the story, which I feel for most people is their favorite aspect. To start with the positives, it is ... obviously well-written, with painstaking detail given to construct a complex storyline that weaves throughout the dozens of primary and secondary and tertiary characters and gives everyone time in the spotlight to be studied, developed, and ultimately deconstructed. The concept itself is also very well-formed, the idea of an underground city run by various gangs and featuring cybernetic enhancements is an excellent foundation from which to build off of. The lore, motivations, and interactions between different characters and groups is also often pretty compelling. However, there are several major flaws with the story of Texhnolyze. First, that the pacing is absolutely busted, which leads to a very disorienting vibe, which even if that's what the show is going for, doesn't do its more engaging concepts any justice. There are whole episodes made up of 13 sentences total and 2 minute panning shots. It takes at least 10 episodes to become even passingly interesting, and that is way too much of an investment for the payoff we end up getting. The story itself also comes to these bleak conclusions about human nature that are so bleak they get in their own way, making no sense at all, even for the clinically depressed populace of Lux. I do indeed understand that this is supposed to be the whole point, that the world the story takes place in is the product of nihilism and that humanity is slipping into extinction as a result, but by the last couple of episodes people's motivations are so obscured and misaligned that they stop making sense in their situations. Even people acting illogically wouldn't act they way they do in the last 2 or 3 episodes, and it makes one acutely aware that they are watching characters that were in fact written to be this bleak and fatalistic, even against what bleak and fatalistic people are actually like in real life. Though even this could be forgiven if the pacing was fixed. This anime takes so long to get anywhere, and lends itself to fits of boredom over and over again, and when one is not bored, one is bewildered, and not because of the high-minded philosophy, but because of poor delivery and insane aesthetic decisions. This brings me to the art. The art, I will say, is a perfect fit for this show. It is bleak, monochromatic, dirty, complicated, and depressive. It is a bulls-eye, and while it is often unpleasant to look at, that's often the point. My issues come with the character's faces, because while their bodies move impressively and flawlessly navigate their scenes, their faces have a distinct issue with emotion. While some faces are ugly or mismatched and others are great fits for their characters, nearly all of them seem to be wearing "masks", which can sometimes be a problem in anime. When a character is supposed to be portraying this emotion or that, they fail to animate it and the character seems dumbstruck instead. Certain characters notably do not suffer from the dreaded mask, like Yoshii, Ichise, or Oonishi, but indeed most seem to suffer from that numb expressionlessness. The sound, like the art, is a spot-on match for the anime it is a part of. The music is dark, depressing, frantic, anxious, grating, harsh, slow, it has it all, and matches itself well to its scenes. The sounds of life meet the necessary standard, especially for a show like this that at first roots itself in realism. All the crunching bones, clanking metal, grimy footsteps, meaty punches, and shuddering breaths are very impressive. To expand on that last example, the voice acting is also quite good, with the sounds of their suffering unmatched for realism elsewhere I have seen. It's almost like they actually beat up their voice talent to achieve such excellent performances. The characters are good, their motivations and interplays interesting, though of course I sincerely wish they were carried through their story at a more lively pace and that their motivations made sense all the way to the finale, which they unfortunately stop short of doing for the sake of arriving at an emotionally complex ending. At the end of the day, I can see what makes this show good, I understand its themes and I comprehend what it tries to tell me, but it fails to reach that image of itself, and it tells me in ways that diminish the content of its message in the first place. I wish it could be as good as that kernel of genius I see inside it, but it just simply falls short.