Well...uhhh....jeez, I literally JUST finished watching this series and I'm blown the hell away. Okay, let me collect myself. I'M BACK! Yup, I FINALLY got around to watching this show and I'm gonna get to Haibane Renmei soon enough....comment on my profile stuff I should watch after that, I'm thinking about watching either Ergo Proxy and or Hellsing (the OG stuff, probably not the Reboot I heard about from a co-worker of mine.) On with the review:
The Story/Narrative [10/10]:
While the story is a little bit hard to follow at times, the wars between all of the different gangs, all weaponizing their own ideals, cultures, and liveliness is a REALLY cool concept. I liked how the story devolves from a war between gangs to the world LITERALLY FALLING APART, sure, it's not End of Evangelion-level insanity, but it's DEFINITELY up there. Every person in every group has their own roles in the story and sure, it's slow-building, but if you're patient with it, you get a story that (in my opinion) was AMAZING and definitely just as good as Serial Experiments Lain was with its story. I personally feel like this series had one of the most unique stories out there, or at least had the most interesting spin on the whole cliche 'only a select few people can save the world from its own destruction kind of plot. You'll either really like the plot by the end as I did...or you'll hate it if you want a show with more action and a faster-paced story. I'd still say it's EXCELLENT.
The Art/Visuals [10/10]:
Seriously, it's Yoshitoshi ABe AND Madhouse just like Lain. How can you NOT like something like that? You can definitely tell that the animators and designers upped their game when it came to the character designs, the environments, the art style itself, and the animation. It all feels like a logical but still AMAZING upgrade from Lain (not dogging on Lain's style but any means, but it's definitely late 90s and you can tell, but you can tell this anime's from the 00's just by looking at it too, I suppose, so kind of a mute argument, whatever, you get the point) and it's all consistently polished and very nice! The fights scenes are visceral, impactful, and all realistic without ever feeling too off in any way or like shounen schlock. The futuristic technology of the texchnolyzed arms, legs, and other parts are all also animated nicely and don't look all that out of place on the characters (which is definitely nice cause there's definitely anime I think that takes that stuff a liiiiittle too far, not naming any here, though.) It's a gorgeous show and I'll it looked AMAZING for 2003, seriously, this show still looks amazing even now. You could take any screenshot from the show and see all of the details, time, and effort put into it all. The CGI isn't all that distracting either, it's appropriately used and doesn't clash too much with the other 2D-animated stuff, again, as Lain did, you can tell these people knew what they were doing when working on this stuff. The editing and the shots, in particular, were really neat, for example in Episode 21 or so, you see Ichise walking around as an old man is talking to him, instead of focusing on Ichise like you'd expect the show to do since he's our main character, the camera focuses on who's talking, as Ichise's just a listener (even if everything's kinda expositional in the last few episodes.) Point is, there are A LOT of really neat visual design choices in this show that REALLY help in making it a unique-looking show, especially compared to other stuff at the time. A+++ stuff, absolutely adore it all.
The Sound Design [10/10]:
Well, I'll start with the music first and foremost as I think, much like Lain, it's just as memorable as the show itself. The music for Texhnolyze is in some ways similar to Lain, but in other ways completely isn't, you've got your groovy songs, you've got some AMAZING orchestral and acoustic pieces, and you also have techno-like music that's all effectively well in the show and definitely helps add to a lot of the scenes and helps in giving the show an identity of its own. Seriously, I've been listening to the OST outside of watching the show both during and now AFTER watching this show (hell, I have it on right now as of typing this review), and it's all gorgeous...I just wish it was on Spotify or something.
As for the voice-acting, I watched this series through the Sub, however, I do find it quite impressive that a more obscure show such as this actually got an English Dub much like Lain did back in the day. Everyone in the sub is PERFECTLY cast for their characters, and I have absolutely no complaints with anyone sounding out of place or not in the right tone for a scene, this is seriously an AMAZING sub. As for the dub...it's...alright. I don't really watch anime in dub unless it's like Fullmetal Alchemist or Death Note where the dub is GOD-TIER, but the voices and performances I've heard from the dub cast do fine with their characters.......I'd still say watch it in sub. A++ stuff, though as well here!
Characters [10/10]:
I...really, REALLY like the cast of this show. Hell, even the villains had me invested in them, since everyone's more or less got their own ideals with how they want to be in the world. Some people like Ichise and Toyama just want to survive and live while others like Onishi and Shinji (and later Ichise with Ran) want to protect their people and do what they need to do both to survive and keep their people happy. I don't think there's a single character I DIDN'T LIKE, sure, I like some more than others (my top five in order are Ichise, Ran, Onishi, Shinji, and Toyama respectively) and some DEFINITELY get more screen time and development than others....poor Kimata, the characters get enough screen time for you to understand them and care for these characters. Everyone gets some kind of introduction, development, and end in some form...with pretty much everyone but Ichise getting some kind of screwed-up fate...I guess Ran saying that Ichise would be all alone in the end really was true after all....this all made me wonder what Eriko is doing and how she would've reacted to everything (though I guess she was in Ichise's arm at the end and gave him the power to fight the people who murdered Onishi, so...yeah, maybe she's excused) along with Sakimura (though I guess he's got a job to do, at least, so he's kinda excused too.) Also a bummer the walking badass meme himself Yoshii got killed off so quickly at the beginning of the series, though I suppose he was the catalyst along with Ran that sets things off into disarray.
Alright, alright, I could on about this show for HOURS, especially since everything's still fresh in my mind, but yeah get the point. The cast is all likable, realistic, and well-written in their own ways. No complaints there. Solid A+ on the writers for this one.
The Verdict/Conclusion [10/10!]:
Well, considering how much I've basically praised this show in every aspect (though I may be biased cause 1. It was made by a lot of the same people who did Lain, which is ALREADY one of my all-time favorite shows, and 2. Psychological shows in general are like my comfort food when I'm in the mood for them...which is pretty much ALL OF THE TIME), there are some minor little flaws with it but I'd say if you either A. Loved Lain and wanted something similar but still different enough and or B. If you want to watch something a Cyberpunk series that's got a little more...let's say 'depth' to it, then THIS SHOW'S FOR YOU. It's one hell of an experience and definitely, has me going wild over Chiaki J. Konaka, Yoshitoshi ABe, and everyone who worked on Lain, this show, and Haibane Renmei....so yeah. If you're up for using your brain and gawking at some 00's Cyberpunk Psychological goodness, you'll DEFINITELY get a kick out of this show.
What's next? [New section that I'm gonna be labeling from now on because I don't want to make this part of the review and besides, I don't think anyways gives a damn about what I say here anyways.]:
Speaking of Haibane Renmei, yeah, that show's up next. I'm definitely now more motivated than ever to get around to FINALLY watching it and that series is a little bit shorter, so we'll see if it's just as good, though I can already imagine I'll really enjoy it.
I bought Azumanga Daioh's manga recently too, so you...may or may not see me write my first manga review. Been meaning to finish the Death Note, Fullmetal Alchemist, and Evangelion mangas, but at this point, I just think that Evangelion's the only one out of the three that's gonna get finished, or at the very least reviewed.
Anyways, as I said earlier if you've got any more shows like you you'd think I'd enjoy that AREN'T in the recommendations tab already, I'm all ears. See you guys...in probably like a few days once I've binged through Haibane, 13 episodes and me watching 4 episodes per day because I get addicted to every anime I watch whenever I DO watch something nowadays (definitely explains why I got through this show so fast), meh, whatever, I've got a million and one things wrong in this shell...
