~Story~
The narrative of Texhnolyze is definitely one of the most outstanding parts of it. This is done subtlety in a slow, but necessary pacing for world building, resulting in careful explanations on inhabitants and society of the underground city Lux. Current society has access to a technology called "Texhnolyzation", in which humans are able to have fully operable mechanical bodies. However, there is a gist to it: the population is divided between the people who support Texhnolyzation, those who oppose it and the mysterious group called "Organ". Starting off with the main character Ichise, who lost his family, being his father murdered by what he believes is some of his father's friends. Having nothing to aim for, he becomes a full-fledged boxer in an arena. Nothing is pleasant in such an oppresive ambience, leading Ichise to get into a fight with the arena boss. From here on everything derails into a conflict between the different factions, being the main protagonist the trigger.
Another great characteristic of the story is that it's narrated through the art, soundtrack and minimalistic dialogue, instead of having an external narrator, which is a very positive aspect in my opinion. In fact, in the first quarter of the anime near to no dialogue is provided and everything is a complete mystery, leaving the spectator clueless; afterwards, it becomes apparent with more dialogue and more data is released. At the same time, new characters are introduced and carefully explained throughout the whole duration of the anime, fleshing out the motives and personalities of the cast. Throughout the storyline and characters, more information of the city is revealed or hinted at, as well as its current situation and the inaccessible surface of the Earth.
As stated earlier, Texhnolyze focuses on Existentialism. This topic really begins to show itself towards the end, which was well performed throughout the pacing of the story.The struggle for survival within Lux proved for the inhabitants a reason to live, while at the same time portraying life as something totally meaningless and bleak. Another aspect to the narrative is the fact that it tries to depict to the audience to what Texhnolyzation leads to: dehumanization and how it slowly eats all of the emotions away. It is downright depressing.
~Characters~
The characters of Texhnolyze are not the strongest point of the show. A handful of characters are introduced in the beginning, and as the story progresses, even more are shown to the spectator. The problem with this is that most of the characters lack depth and development, as for example in the case of Kano. It is true that the most outstanding ones have defined personalities, yet it doesn't fully try to convey the development and motives to the audience. The gloomy aspect and the depressing story of Texhnolyze was however greatly favoured by the characters. Nevertheless, Ichise's character development was the best among the cast, being a very quiet person who rarely speaks (almost never in fact), characterized by being very aggressive, though opening up a little throughout the anime.
Back to the motives of the characters, some remained a bit unclear in the beginning, making it confusing for the viewer how to think and feel about that particular character. This is for example in the case of Yoshii, whose motives became clear later on in the story, and it served well to explain/enhance the Existentialism part of the story. There is a thing to note though, Texhnolyze focuses much more on the story and world itself, rather than the characters, which is leads the spectator to not care about the characters, which is a shame, as the more "boring" moments of the anime could have been dedicated to character interactions and development.
~Animation and Sound~
The art that was executed in Texhnolyze was well done, though nothing out of the norm for an anime produced in 2003. However, this proved to be a really good medium to relay information to the viewer by changing the different colors and camera angles,giving the viewer a good idea of "mood" of the characters and the environment. Other part that was presented well was how the emotional state of the characters were expressed. By zooming in to the characters, as well as zooming out to places, Texhnolyze succeeds in relying meaningful information to enhance the story.
The voice actors performed their role masterfully, making it possible to really understand the characters personalities as well as the suffering they were enduring (take for example Ichise in the beginning). The mechanical sounds, footsteps, heartbeats and all other effects were done well too. Texhnolyze's soundtrack fitted well with the theme of the anime by using all different kind of sounds (techno mixes, guitar and piano), making it possible to highlight the characters as well as the different environments/places. For me this really made it possible to immerse myself in the story.
It is great that the anime managed to narrate the story through actions, art style and the soundtrack, and not by simple dialogues. Regarding the original soundtrack of Texhnolyze, it is a shame that some soundtracks were left out, especially the remixed version of "A Far Away Lightning", which I really enjoyed.
~Enjoyment~
Overall Texhnolyze was a fantastic show, but it was downright depressing. Was it enjoyable, as in, was it fun? No, in no way. The very slow pacing, the unknowing beginning and the disheartening themes it presented, left me with a bad feeling after watching it. The characters weren't that great either, yet the different approach and on how subjects were relaid to the viewer, was what really makes this a fantastic anime. I must admit, it was the first anime in a long time that I was able to watch in a very short amount of time.
It is definitely a worth a try, especially for those who are searching for a sci-fi psychological anime with an interesting story telling, though be warned, it has a very slow pacing, and is not appealing to the mainstream audience.
Thank you for reading, feedback is always appreciated.
