Texhnolyze

"Texhnolyze" (pronounced "Techno-lyze") is a compelling and pretty hard-to-follow Anime' series. The plot is very indirect and slow-moving; it's obvious that a lot of thought went into building its story and characters. The first episode is pretty unique because over 10 minutes go by before a single word is uttered by anyone.

In the presumably distant post-apocalyptic future, years have passed since an unnamed calamity forced much of the human population to abandon Earth's surface and settle into the underground city of Lux. Many humans have undergone "Texhnolyzation" - exchanging organic body parts for prosthetic ones. Lux, meanwhile, is the center of a three-way power struggle by those looking for ultimate control of the city: the Organos, led by Onishi, who all appear to be Technolyzed in some way or another, more or less; the fanatical populist movement the Salvation Union, who are radically opposed to Texhnolyzation; and the Racans, a gang of adolescent street punks.

Thrown into the chaos is Ichise, a prize fighter who is brutally dismembered - his unwise provocation of a ruthless fight promoter's wrath costs him an arm and leg, quite literally - and he is put back together again like the Six-Million-Dollar Man by the beautiful mad scientist Doc. Another wrinkle comes from Ran, a young girl who has the ability to see the future of anyone she comes into contact with. Needless to say, her prophetic warnings to Ichise about his future have horrifying implications not just for him, but for everyone in Lux.

This is an extremely difficult and frustrating Anime' series to try to wrap your head around. I'm not even going to try to decipher what the Japanese artists were trying to convey with this series. Maybe it was mankind's insatiable quest for power? The obsessive need for human perfection by exchanging organic limbs for artificial ones? I have no idea. I do know that this is an unusual science fiction series - definitely not one for the kids, if any are around, since there is plenty of graphic bloody violence, nudity, and some colorful language.

There is also an atmospheric score and soundtrack by Keishi Urata and Hajime Mizoguchi, with songs by Juno Reactor, Gackt, and Yoko Ishida.

Sit back and prepare to be mind-boggled by "Texhnolyze."

10/10

If you are the type of viewer who enjoys fast-paced action, bubbly and/or quirky characters, romance, cool depictions of violence or just a happy ending, then Texhnolyze is not for you. This anime does exactly the contrary to everything listed before: is cold, slow, realistic, challenging and the ending may leave you with an empty or bittersweet feeling.

Personally the first time I watched it, it left me confused and to be fair, I didn't payed the attention I should have and even a year later, it left a huge impression on me. After the second watch everything is more comprehensible so I can say a couple of things to be considered if you decide to give it an opportunity.

Even if the first episodes seem slow or too abstract, none of them are fillers, events that will have an impact at the end, start from the very beginning but the anime doesn't care to explain to you how or why.

This story is rewarding if you reach the ending, the message is clear and it doesn't leave you with an ambiguous interpretation, but it's your work as a viewer to pay attention, because the exposition is not spoon-fed to to you, but don't misunderstand me, it is not hard to understand it either, the dialogue chooses to be poetic or figurative at times.

I may say that the story of Texhnolyze is focused on the search for the meaning of life on an individual and collective scale, you should watch it if that's something that sounds interesting to you.

With minimal dialogue and an overwhelming emphasis on atmosphere, Texhnolyze's first episode can be off-putting. While there are elements of surrealism in the visuals, this is more of an artistic direction and does not extend to the plot - which for the most part is founded in reality.

While the show's first few episodes were inaccessible and seemingly pretentious, I was surprised that they managed to be entertaining. The overarching plot does not reveal itself until episode 7 of the show. From this point the show becomes far more involved and exciting, and the emotional aspects of characters are developed as the show progresses.

The action sequences are fun to watch but always tasteful, and I think it's the well-handled balance between the violent scenes and more subdued, detached dialogue between characters that made this show great.

The pacing might be alienating to most people, however I never felt that the show tried too hard to appear smart or "artistic".

Texhnolyze is a demanding series - it is not until after episode 10 that each episode becomes filled with clear plot developments - but what is most noteworthy about the series is the final 3 episodes, which are refreshingly beautiful and haunting.

Having really enjoyed Haibane Renmei I was interested to see another film from its creators. While this series is very different; it is slower moving, much darker in tone, violent and has a much bleaker look to it, however the animation is of an equal standard and the backgrounds are very detailed. The series is set in a bleak underground city were various groups are in conflict. As the story begins it is hard to tell who the protagonist will be; there is Kazuho Yoshii a visitor to the city who at first appears to be a tourist but soon starts to stir up trouble, then there is Ichise a young man who is violently attacked in the opening episode and ends up having his severed arm and leg replaced by cybernetic parts, and finally there is Ran a mysterious girl who is frequently seen around the others. As the series progresses we gradually learn more about these characters and others while the situation for them and the other people of the city gets more dangerous. As to the title; Texhnolyzation refers to the process where some people have body parts replaced by cybernetic parts; some people just have one or two parts others are almost entirely mechanical.

For the first few episodes I wasn't sure what to make of this series; there was very little dialogue and what there was didn't make it that clear what was happening; some viewers might find it boring but I found it gradually drawing me in to the lives of the characters. The animation looked good if a little bleak; the bleakness was increased as several scenes the picture contained static like you would find on a television with less than perfect reception. The regular bloody violence means that this series isn't suitable for younger viewers although I suspect the slow pace would put children off watching anyway.

Texhnolyze is a fantastic, brilliant and unfortunately underrated anime that comes from most of the staff who worked on a similarly dark anime Serial Experiments Lain.

The plot is as follows: Lux, the name of the underground city is ruled by gang warfare, all aiming for more and more control of the decaying city that is Lux, and the technology of Texhnolyze (allowing the use of robotic limbs in humans). The story follows Ichise, a young man who spends his life fighting in underground fight clubs, Doc, the creator of Texhnolyzation, Onishii the leader of Organo, Ran, a young girl who can see into the future and Yoshii, a mysterious visitor from the surface world.

Unlike most anime, Texhnolye is very experimental, (with very little or no fan service whatsoever) and this is often seen in the dramatic angles, fight sequence, explicit violence and even in its soundtrack, which itself, is a mix of acoustic, electronic and orchestral music which suits the show very well.

Texhnolyze is thought provoking series, often characters will talk about the nature of humanity, man's ego, the effects of technology on humanity, power, greed, redemption and salvation. Although you might think the characters talking about these subjects could be out of place in the anime, it is not and fits naturally within the scene.

One of the flaws of Texhnolyze (and this is one echoed by many) is that the first few episodes (particularly the first episode) are not very interesting. For example, in the first episode, barely 3 lines of dialogue are spoken. It's something like that that can turn most people off the anime instantly. Unfortunately for Texhnolyze, it is a slow burner, and it can take a at least four, maybe five episodes before it really draws you in. But when it does, it doesn't let you go.

I encourage everyone to see this series and most of all, give it a chance, because this piece of art deserves to be seen.