Texhnolyze

Have you ever watched something so good it made you want to throw up?

I am being completely serious - Texhnolyze, as well as being less than intuitive to spell, is nauseous in all the right ways. The grotesque, bewildering, horrifying and utterly despairing all have their place.

Don't let the first few episodes put you off. At first I kept watching for the style alone (no point bothering with the details but there's some crazy and better yet successfully experimental art/sound/space/editing stuff going on), but far better things grow out of it. The last few episodes, for instance, are honest-to-god one of the most jaw dropping sequences I have ever watched. What happens in between is also great, but fuck me, the end of it..

Lots of anime claims to think. Usually that means half-arsed monologues by side characters that either don't make sense or are completely irrelevant, trying to pass as philosophy by using lots of big words and being boring. Here's one that actually does.

I value animes that seek to provoke reflection and thought rather than simply entertain. Nowadays, most productions focus more on providing instant entertainment than exploring deep concepts, life lessons, or moralities.

Texhnolyze, with its dark and monotonous aesthetic, doesn't stand out for beautiful and captivating visuals. However, it focuses on showing rather than telling a relatively simple but thought-provoking story, although its 22-episode runtime can seem long and tedious to follow.

The visual appearance of the anime faithfully reflects events, sometimes charming despite the lack of colourful images or flashy animations that characterise contemporary animes. This choice, however, contributes to the overall concept of the anime.

Regarding the music, although I haven't paid much attention to the ambient music, I must highlight that the opening song seems very fitting, and the ending song is the best thing I'll take away from the anime; I loved it.

As my final detail, in a world marked by dilemmas addressing violence, cyberpunk issues, and the destiny of humanity, Texhnolyze presents interesting directions that provoke reflections on current and future themes, some of which have already been lived. What will be the human fate in the future? Will it be consumed by the desire for immortality through «texhnolization»? These are fascinating analyses, even in a dystopian setting distant from our own.

However, there are important warnings. The anime's pace is slow, and its 22-episode duration can become tedious. Characters come and go, experience joys and sorrows, without making a significant impact. Although it presents shocking events, it fails to fully deliver, and because of this, the anime doesn't feel worthy of another look. Texhnolyze, while having a well-constructed and fluid story, a gloomy appearance, and interesting themes, lacks the ability to captivate and entertain, which, though not essential, is important. Ultimately, it's a decent anime but one that could easily be forgotten.

Yeah seriously, I hadn't a notion what the damn hell was going on but man, the soundtrack to the whole series was so damn upbeat including the opening song and the fighting scenes were brilliantly intense. The art may be old for an early 2000's anime but it still has its charm of producing such fantastic scenes and the fact it was produced by Madhouse, makes it 10x better.

Definitely check out this anime folks if you want to have a mixture of emotions and hear a lit soundtrack!

"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

Lux ... the underground city of dark imagination where philosophies clash in form of mob-like gangs. Are you a free spirit, religious or do you fancy a well-structured leadership similar in a way to most current governments? Or maybe you do not care for any of these? A traveler descends into this dream-like world in order to find an intensity of life that is missing from his existence. A professional fighter has to find his path after a very violent incident makes him unable to continue his job. A mysterious young girl is able to see the future or rather a possible future. Their paths cross in unexpected ways and their destinies are difficult to fathom.

Texhnolyze has a really special atmosphere, with shots carefully composed and beautifully drawn. It's by no means a fun or fast-moving anime. It includes plenty of violence and some mechanized robots and body parts but the focus is definitely not on getting things blown up but rather on the psychological side. You have to be prepared to give it your full attention in order to understand the sinuous story and visual metaphors. Most important you need at least a minimum affinity to the stylish dark atmosphere because every episode is imbued with it. For those who can feel it and maybe understand it, Texhnolyze will prove one of the most rewarding experiences. It may well be the most mature and artistically valid anime series ever made.