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such a good show, lots to dissect from this. from how each major character symbolizes a sort of principle we all should live by to the idea of how theres not really any god, at least the way i see it. yoshii and kano are the ones that pull the strings but ultimately meet their demise, possibly to prove that they are nothing more than human. closes its themes perfectly. also a well written narrative & characters. would've been a 10 but i found about half of the episodes (mainly the first 6 episodes and some of the episodes around 11-16) to be boring. good thing the ending was just incredible and strong enough to reach my favorites. i also should've paid more attention to these episodes cuz they may have spilled their motivations (unless the motivation itself to do something about their lifeless city)
i really do wanna recommend this but i feel like people would just find it boring :(
Went into this for a change of pace, not really expecting to enjoy it, but having a faint glimmer of hope that it'd be something special for me. For lack of a better term, I will almost never pick up one of these more 'elitist' titles, other than Lain and Ergo Proxy which I plan to watch next since those are like the two big ones. So anyway, I really was not expecting to like this very much. Throughout the course of the runtime, I was thinking it was alright. I wasn't bored, I was at least mildly intrigued. And despite the dark and heavy tones, the depressing atmosphere, the muted colour palettes with even a noise filter overlaying it on multiple occasions, it actually felt like a breath of fresh air to have something so raw and visceral as compared to the moe moe kyun shounen power of friendship stuff that we get now in mainstream anime. Now I rate pretty much entirely based on my own enjoyment of the show, and I was feeling a 5/10 or a 6/10 throughout. But finishing this last episode... gave me one of those rare feelings, the kind of feeling where you kind of just sit and stare at the credits, and continue to stare at your blank black screen even after they finish. Is this what a masterpiece is? It's dark, it's depressing, there's like no hope whatsoever to be found here, yet it's somehow so beautiful. Maybe there's peace in knowing that nothing matters.
Anyway, I don't know really how to feel about this score-wise, it's a very rare occurrence for me to not know what number to put on said anime after finishing it. It's like it not only deserves, but needs something else other than a number. Last time I felt this way from an anime probably had to be clannad after story. For now, I think I'll leave it at a 7/10, I believe it deserves no less than that.
NickWolffr09 said: Probably the best anime I've ever watched. You can literally read any dialogue from this show and say that it's a masterpiece.
What's nice about it is that this is not a show that wastes time with unnecessary conversations. It just wants to show a rabbithole story, nothing more than that.
Some of the theories posted by people were really interesting, but I think that I like the most one that I saw on YouTube - while maybe everything was bound to go down in chaos, Ichise is at fault for never making the best of the chance at life he was given. Just because the world around him sucks big time, it doesn't mean that he can't make bonds with people and look to build some positive relationships, instead of walking around listlessly for most of the show's duration. If one thinks about it, Oonishi was holding up this "inferno" under control with his sole strength of character for the longest time. If more people down there tried to work towards a better future, who knows what the outcome could have been?
One thing I don't like about the idea of humanity being split in two radical opposites is that it seemingly doesn't allow for the existence of benevolent or truly good people. Oonishi, Ran and eventually Ichise come the closest from the underworld and the "best" we saw from the Surface world was someone who at least cared for his friend (despite the latter being a deranged psychopath). The Class is even worse, with Doc doing her best deed solely on a whim.
Great anime. I didn't really care about any of the characters, but neither did they, so I don't mind. The aesthetic, music and plot were all expertly crafted. It didn't mess around with irrelevant subplots, and everything tied neatly together at the end. Texhnolyze aspires to be as overwhelmingly pessimistic about its universe as it can be, and never fails at doing so. Consistency in intent is valued when writing anime, and Texhnolyze does not forget its purpose for even a second.
The ones above who have everything... waiting for death; those below who are struggling for life... are dead. The world has ended for the people in Texhnolyze.
I really wasn't sure about this series when I first started it, and even considered dropping it after the first few episodes. I'm glad to say that I saw it through to completion. While roughly the first half of the series isn't very good in my opinion (although it does set the tone which is important), the second half was absolutely amazing and carries the whole series for me. The ending tied everything together and was satisfying. Texhnolyze explored a wide variety of topics and did a good job with them; it did not shy away from taboo ideas.
I'm not sure why, but I always end up loving shows that devolve into insanity and everyone dies.
I really felt nothing from this end, tbh. Its cool seeing all these interpretations about these characters and how depressing it all is but I just felt emotionless about the end. Only character i really cared for was prolly Onishii.
"Perfection is perception. For me, humanity's imperfections is what makes it perfect"
i'll leave a few thoughts i had about the last episode since most "plot points" were there
1. I don't know who's Theoria. it's probably important, a shame there's so little material you can find about Texhnolyze online
2. we were already told way back then that the city folk's eyes were originally different, probably pointing out to their "essence" (as in Texhnolyze's world humans are not the same as our's, they're either Theonormal or the other, dangerous kind). they were somehow kept in check by some kind of imposed order (gabe, organo), but now it seems that with all that's happening (and it's implied that Ran, while Ichise and Doc were above ground, showed her visions to the masses) their 'bad genes' are manifesting
3. Ichise was the only one who's eyes were already in their 'true form' since the beginning, as pointed out by Doc. it fits with his earlier animalistic behavior.
4. Oonishi is one of the few who managed to not give in to insanity, which also fits with Kano's reproches about him being the reason the city was under an 'imposed equilibrium'
5. it's also confirmed that Ran has been the one talking with Oonishi all this time
6. knowing about Konaka's usual fixations (the internet becoming a sort of colective conciousness in Lain, all the stuff in Ghost Hound) i sort of have this idea that when Kano says that he's the brain of this world, he really means it. the city of Lukuss always had a symbolic place in this show (something more than just a literal city), with thoughts and images passing through person to person, like a neuronal network. Kano wants to be the head of the city.
7. Kano's explaining his genealogy, to me, serves to further sement their society as something different than ours (as human evolution is one of the series main motifs)
8. there's apparently a direct connection between the Obelisk (the thing that keeps Texhnolyzed limbs working, probably the thing that makes the Voice of City echoes,and a constantly repeated visual motif in the series) and Ran (the one who can consciously comunicate 'telephatically' with others)
1. the things about myths is that they don't abide by reality; the time of myth is a time out of time
2. one thing that never gets mentioned is that Doc's 'ghost' comes back to help Ichise: we get a shot of her painted in that strange light that sorrounds the above ground people (their ghosts) while sitting naked in her chair
3. when it comes to anime, there're only a few things to me that comes close to the image of the shapes taking roots, eternally condemned to that state of inertia, being mirrored by dragon-flys. the fact that this new form of life, born from Texhnolyze, literally takes "root" in the city gives a physical form to the idea that all the Texhnolyze were connected as a neuronal chain by the city through the obelisk
4. speaking of images that mirror each other, Rafia's flowers are life being evoked by death. it's precisely why Ichise throws Ran's remainings there, and why the flower appears in the very last scene
5. Kano's words - that there isn't anything wrong about their genes, that this is all a delusion, and that the whole city is a product of his mind - gives room to people interpreting the show as 'everything is a dream'. doesn't really sits well with me, i prefer to take Kano as a deluded mind. whatever it may be, Ichise's answer to Kano's is essentially the same one he gives to things like 'fate': he punches it as hard as he can
6. by the end of the story, Ichise has grown to have something as a sense of place, of duty. that's why he never gives in to fate and chooses to return from the upper world, despite all odds. it turns out that Ran was right about the future she foresaw, Ichise destroyed everything and ended up alone, but the most important thing is that Ichise denied it, that he was able to change himself, even if the outcome is the same (death). this work in the literal sense (of the story) and in bigger sense (like a moral)
7. all things considered, a crushing finale, again. I don't really like the simplistic take of "it's a life affirming show because Ichise finds meaning in humanity's fall"; it's not that this notion is necessarily wrong, but the images of the end of this myth are really hard to take lightly
i would love, love, love if we could ever get more material about this show translated, or if Konaka suddenly decided to talk about it before he's dead. it's highly unlikely that this will ever happen, though...
i cried. such a beautiful ending, the start of this show might not have been great but the ending is masterpiece and gave me a depression that i was literally on verge of crying. i really liked ran's character and our protag, ichise finally found peace as the last man standing and eventually passes away..
Im still waiting an explanation why Ran was following this random dude(ichise) everywhere. Why Kano is not resisting at the end to be killed its weird.
To me was this mistery in the first 7 episodes(i think) that made this show interesting, damn it changed to a gang war with lots of boring dialogue and it finished with this weird city and the returnal to lukkus. Well thats Chiaki J. Konaka for you, hes good to create weird concepts but bad at wraping it up.
i give this show a 6/10 because im not happy with this conclusion. Its like he dont know how to finish a show and kills everyone to never make a sequel or a movie.
its crazy how theres not a explanation to what the hell happened in the surface.
a very melancholic ending. i would expect no less from Texhnolyze. its really the ending, of everything. the Shapes are truly in hell as the last beings alive.
lack of logic defined this whole story and there were a lot things that simply happened and never got any kind of explanation
the back and forth of "conflict" between factions that never result in anything, nobody ever killed or made an attempt to kill the leader of an enemy faction despite being enemies
what was yoshi end goal? to free the city of the class? of the people of the surface?
and even if that was indeed his goal, how starting a gang war was going to accomplish that?
doctor and onishi deciding they were going to watch over ichise because yes, the plot demands it, even after his attempt to hurt doctor or after killing organo members
shapes simply stopped working
and kano end goal, to evolve humanity by turning them into disgusting abominations that become fix to spot for the rest of their lifes
how stupid, but yet one could make the case that he was simply insane so i dont see this lacking so much sense as the rest of the series
and kano, who previously show to have a device to render people with artificial limbs unable to move, never uses it again despite sending his troops to kill onishi
why did ran believe herself to be responsible for the city going to shit?
and if she wanted to avoid such outcome, why didnt she told anyone about kano?, whom she personally knew, why did she leave gabe to return to the city?
the people of gabe never did anything, even after the attempt to kill onishi, they simply remain irrelevant to the plot
why was onishi wife crazy?
what was the ultimate goal of the salvation union? if they were to ever take control of the city then what?
the same could be asked for rakkan
kimata and shinji felt pointless, you could remove them from the plot without any major losses
and ichise all of the sudden, ichise limbs start to work again, but only after all the goons fail to deliver a fatal blow or wait patiently while he is on the floor talking to himself
onishi remained but didnt try to confront kano, despite he knowing he was on the theather
shinji going to the class's city instead of confronting kano in the theater
people of the surface being "dead" or "slowly dying", what was killing them? apathy? how did they end up like that? why did they believe that "evolving" was the solution to such situation?
vague and nonsensical, that is texnolyze
and with the exception of the last 5 or 6 episodes the animation is very lacking, dialogues happening out of frame to avoid having to animate lip movement, the action often being still frames of the character before and after dealing a blow to an opponent, the cars being static and simply sliding across the fucking screen during car chases, the texno vision constanly showing a still frame of whatever the character has in front of him.
in short, no, i didnt like it, i give a 5 out of 10.
Ergo Proxy cares more about how it looks with its stupid mascara-ridden goth character and bunny-suit moe girl than exploring any worthwhile ideas, and when it tries it just waffles on with exposition and shit.
TeXhnolyze is real cyberpunk done good.
Just my wee little opinion.
@Beatnik if this is "good" cyberpunk i cant imagine how awful bad cyberpunk must be
Really good anime this anime can be really boring and would be if you are not a fan of just pure story but without cliche hook since this anime has none of that even a singular comedic relief which us basically essential in all of anime this is the only one ive seen and people claim to be the only one that doesn't have them.
This would be hard to watch but I was able to finish it because I only watched them when I was feeling down because I like watching peolle suffer worse than me so I can realize what im suffering from isnt that big of a deal, I wish ichise the best.
Really good anime this anime can be really boring and would be if you are not a fan of just pure story but without cliche hook since this anime has none of that even a singular comedic relief which us basically essential in all of anime this is the only one ive seen and people claim to be the only one that doesn't have them.
This would be hard to watch but I was able to finish it because I only watched them when I was feeling down because I like watching peolle suffer worse than me so I can realize what im suffering from isnt that big of a deal, I wish ichise the best.