Texhnolyze-Review
22 Episodes.The Package Design Is Spectacular.The Free Music CD Is a Great bonus And Volume 6's Cover Has a Green Hue.Now If All 6 Had It...
Ratings:
Art/Animation: B
Tight Budget and It Shows a Little.The Opening Animation And Last Scenes Are Very Good.The Characters Are Realistic Enough.
Story: B
Very Complex.Lots Of Symbolism/Reflections On The Human Condition.Sadly,There Is Little Character Development and Many Useless Characters.The Poor Lead Character Makes It Hard To Care What Happens To Him And The More Interesting Characters Die.
Voice Acting: B+
A Solid Cast With No Clear Star.The Lack Of Dialog In Most Scenes Prevents Anyone From Truly Shining.
Music: A
One Of The Best Opening Themes I Have Heard.Diverse Types Of Background Music From Sad To Jazz To Amazing Techno Tracks.
Fan Service: B-
A Few Quick Shots Of One Female Character,Some Quick Sex Scenes.Aside From Doc,Women In The Show Are Rather Plain.
Before I Start, I Did Enjoy This Series Very Much Even if My Opinions May Seem to Dictate Otherwise.I Really Wanted To Speak Out About This Deep Mostly Dark Series.It Has Been Called "The Serial Experimental Lain 5 Year Reunion" And The Style And Complexity Are Similar.The Ambiance of The Series Is Compelling and There Is a Lot Of Action And Violence To Help Offset The Gloomy Tone of The World Of Lux and The "World Above".The Basic Plot Deals With a Clash Of Clans,Betrayal,The "Mechanization" of Humans In The Interest Of Survival And How It Affects Humans And Their Freedom Or Lack Thereof.A Prophecy Is Revealed And Ultimately Comes True.
For One, I Think this Anime is Dark,Confusing at Times And Explains Very Little Or Too Late What Is Going On.There Is Still a Linear Story To Be Followed and During My Viewing,I Was Able To Follow It Unhinged But Felt Compelled To Check What Others Thought.
CAUTION:There Are Some Homosexual Implications And Innuendos Through The Character Of Toyama. Such Junk Has No Place In The Anime (Or Any Other,For That Matter) and Seems To Be There For No Reason.His Death Was VERY Satisfying.
Characters:
Ichise: Has to Be the Weakest Male Lead in a Serious Non-Ecchi Anime I Have Seen.The Voice Actor Cannot Be Blamed Since He Has So Few Dialog Outside The Final Episodes Which Are Focused On Him...What a Waste.A Boxer Conditioned To Fight And Never Think.He Stays The "Stray Dog" that Onishi Calls Him.He Has Uncontrolled Anger And Would Have Died Early On If He Stayed Unprotected By So Many Others And Cannot Even Control The Great Gift He Has Been Given.He Does Refuse It and We Find Out Later Why.Alas, Ichise Becomes More "Vocal" Towards The End (Almost Never Uttering Complete Sentences) Yet Makes Little Case For Himself As a Hero;Only Proving He Is an Obedient "Guard-Dog".He (Or Should I Say It?) Does Start to Develop An Instinct For More Than Mere Survival Very Late in The Series.He Is Little More Than a Brute up Until Episode 11 And I, For One,Do Not Dismiss His Violent Outbursts and Excuse Them as Latent Emotions or Mere Confusion,IF he IS More Than Just An Instinctual Animal.The Fact Is He HAS To Live For The Story To Unfold.Ichise is Nothing But a Rabid Dog that Only Follows Orders.I Disliked Him.
Onishi:The Opposite Of Ichise.Strong Sense Of Ethics And Amazing Will.To Me,He Acts As The Main Character Up Until The Final 3 Episodes.He Has Much More Depth To Him Than Dog Boy.Onishi's Death Also Makes No Sense at All.He Is Not Granted a Warrior's Death.In That Scene There Were No "Pawns" Left Anywhere But There JUST Happen to Be Several Of Them as He Commits The Ultimate Sacrifice by Proving Himself to Be THE True Noble Savior By Accepting the Final Task Given to Him,Even Though He Obviously Wishes That He Had Not Been Asked Such a Daunting Task.My Interpretation,However Is That He Does Not Truly Kill The Voice But Only a Wall With a Human Shape.He Can Hear The City Of Lux Talk To Him Through His Mechanized Legs.
Rhan: The Most Mysterious Of The Main Characters.She Is The Second Least "Vocal" Character,Although the Fact She Is Shrouded in Mystery and Every Statement She Makes Carries Weight In The Grand Scheme Of Things Makes Her a Well-Used Character.We Do Find Out Later That Her Occupation/Task Circumvents Her Liberty And Is Only Partially Free.Her Fate Is Also Sealed From The Start.She Does Grow Throughout The Series But Mostly As Her Identity And Role Is Explained.I Have To Say I Love The Red Hair And Fox Mask But We Rarely See Her Face Nor Any Skin.She Is Supposed To Be 18 Years Old Yet Looks Much Younger.The Show Could Have Capitalized On It And Fulfilled My Lolita Fetish.
Eriko Kaneda:The Doctor That "Texhnolyzed" Both Ichise and Onishi Is Quite The Interesting Character.Not Only Is She Amazing Eye-Candy And Perhaps The Deepest Of Characters She Is Voiced By None Other Than Victoria Harwood,Sir Integra Of Hellsing Fame.Her Sexy British Voice Only Accentuates The Blue Eyed Blond Mistress of Mechanics.Doc's Position Separates Her From All Others And Only Yoshii Truly Knows Her True Identity.She Has a Motherly Attitude With Onishi and Ichise,Even Making The Latter Her "Flavor Of The Month" In Some Quick Alluded Sexual Encounters Where She Basically Uses Ichise As a Dildo.Not That Ichise Has Any More Personality Than One.Her Research Aims Not Only The Perfection Of Limb Replacement But Also The Evolution Of Lux Through Her Dedication.She Calls Ichise Her "Greatest Work" Although That Is Never Explained.
Yoshii: Mysterious Traveler That Stirs Up Lux.Died Much Too Early On.Smart,Strong,Calculating And Devious,His Agenda Is Unclear But His Results Speak For Themselves.What Does He Desire ? Mayhem ? Chaos ? Revolution ? Anarchy ? Since Little Is Discovered About Him,I Have My Own Theory About His Possible Role.[The Fact That He Seems Above the Upper and Lower Worlds,All The While Being Mortal And Somehow Mechanical Makes Me View Him as a Type of "Angel of Death" Rather Than Someone Simply Willing to Obey His Orders.His Goal is Clearly to Cause Certain Events In Lux And He Disguises This As "Making a New Leader Emerge".The Truth of That Statement Is Never Verified or Disproved. Onishi,Not Ichise Would Have Been That Leader.One Thing Is Certain,He Does Cause Chaos (Strangely Enough, Rhan's Name Means Chaos But She Not an "Active" Protagonist or Antagonist).Is He An Antagonist ? His Categorization As An Antagonist By Most Is Not Something I Agree With.He Does Kill Many and Show Some Cruelty.Lux Itself Is a Cruel Place And Ichise Senselessly Kills Many More Without Reason.What Makes Him Fail Certain Tasks Is of Interest.Before Onishi Starts to Hinder Him,Yoshii Never Misses One Shot and All of His Bullets Are Fatal Unless He Chooses To Let That Person Alive.Clearly An Executioner Rather Than a Simple Murderer. His "Special" Status Also Reinforces My View of Him As a "Death Angel" or However One Would Qualify It.What Disturbed Me as Both a Viewer and An Observer Is The Disgraceful Death He Is Reserved At The Hand of a Rather Frail Individual That Barely Lands the Final Blow with Yoshii Already Incapacitated.There Is Some Poetic Justice to it as he meant to Kill or At Least Threatened That Person But I Am Still Disappointed by his Non-Heroic Death,Just Like With Onishi's.]
Organizations/Clans:
The Organo: Mafia Style Group With Several Families And Leaders That Have No Real Identity.Onishi Is Their Representative But His Preference For The Status Quo Ends Up Costing Him His Position And He Becomes Of The Leaders Instead With Ichise As His Underling.Predictably,The Families End Up Backstabbing Each Other As They Vie For Sole Control Of The Organization.That Title Is Symbolically Held By Their Elder,Kano.
The Union: An Organization Built Through Brainwashing An a Charismatic Leader,Kimata Who Has a Dark Secret.They Reject "Texhnolization" And Technology.They Represent The Mine Workers.Kimata Does Listen To Onishi's Pleas.He Has An Unnamed Speaker.
The Rakan: Young Anarchists Bound Together By Anger And Apathy.Members Are There By Choice.Shinji Is Their Leader But Does Very Little In That Regard and Anarchy Ends Up Dividing Them.Hal Is Shinji's Right-Hand Man That Ends Up Dividing Their Ranks.Their Petty Relationship Is Noteworthy.[Hal Is Not Jealous of Shinli For ANY Other Reason Than Yoko,a Female Member That Uses Hal to Get Shinji Jealous Because He Goes On ONE Innocent Date with Onishi's Assistant,Attempting To Use Each Other To Get Information.She Does Also Do It Out Of Her Unrequited Love For Onishi.Yoko Leaves Poor Hal The Instant Shinji Leaves The Bar...Taking Away His Manhood...What a B****!!! To Me,That Is The Sole Reason Hal Leaves The Rakan And Takes Other Members With Him To Spite Shinji (Who Was Not An Apt Leader At All Anyways).Still,His Main Reason Is That Yoko Loves Shinji,Not Him And Acts Like a Harlot.].A Certain Yoko Also Broke Up The Beatles...Coincidence???
Gabe: Men Living On Mount Gabe That Have Their Own Small Village Separated From Lux.They Follow An Elder And That Follow The Prophecies Of a Seer Born Every Hundred Years.Their Representative Is The Sage Of Gabe That Meets With Yoshii At The Very Beginning Of The Series.Their Younger Members Also End Up Losing Patience And Acting Out.Underlings/Youths Of Each Group Share That Desire For a "Spectacle";a Fancy Word For a War/Clash Of The Different Groups.
The Class: This Group Is The Elite Of Lux.Strange and Separated From Lux By a Barrier,Little Is Known About Them Until The Last Few Episodes Of The Series.They Are Diverse and Some Of Their Members Are Unexpected Protagonists In The Series.
The Two Worlds Of Texhnolyze:
The "World Above": Paradise or Holographic Illusion? I Immediately Saw This As The image That Q Shows The Crew Of Star Trek:Voyager In The Episode "Death Wish" To Explain The Continuum To Mortals In his Court Case.In That Rendering,It Was a Village/Train Stop Where Life Goes On and On and Nothing Really Changes.The People There Are Also Semi-Alive,As Is The Case With The Humans/Holograms/Avatars In Texhnolyze. Humans Can Speak And Act In a Limited Manner In Both Version But Seem To Be In a Childlike Simplistic State That Clearly Is Not Fully "Sentient".The Railroad Is Also Used In Voyager To Explain Linear Time And I Think There Is a Similar Metaphor In Texhnolyze.We Do Not Find Out If Time Exists.The "World Above" Is Either Perfect Or Merely Perceived In The Minds Of The Visitors.The One Element Of Change In That World Are The Grey Clouds That Appear Once The World Below Basically Ends or Begins a Renewal Process.
The "World Below": Is Lux An Experimental Battleground ? Is It The Bleak Future Of Humans After They Have Destroyed Their Ecosystem And Become Little More Than Slaves To Hunger,Poverty And Technology ? This Is Very Similar To The Amazing Sony Playstation 2 Game Digital Devil Saga With Different Clans Warring Incessantly For Dominance Of An Artificial/Experimental World and a One-Dimensional Strong,Silent-Type Main Protagonist (I Hate That Type,By The Way).Plus, The Game Had Very Extensive Religious References to Hinduism (Buddhism In Texhnolyze) And Several Other Religious Imagery.Both Also Share The Presence of Angels,Gods,Demons And Dual Conflicting Worlds.
This Completes My Impressions On Texhnolyze.There Would Have Been So Much More To Say But I Did Not Want To Spoil Too Much And Every (Good?) Thing Must End.
P.S: Does Anyone Know Why Victoria Harwood Only Has So Few Credits To Her Name ? It is a Mystery to Me. I Love Her Voice and She Is One of The Strongest Female Voice Actresses I Have Had the Pleasure to Hear.
Ratings:
Art/Animation: B
Tight Budget and It Shows a Little.The Opening Animation And Last Scenes Are Very Good.The Characters Are Realistic Enough.
Story: B
Very Complex.Lots Of Symbolism/Reflections On The Human Condition.Sadly,There Is Little Character Development and Many Useless Characters.The Poor Lead Character Makes It Hard To Care What Happens To Him And The More Interesting Characters Die.
Voice Acting: B+
A Solid Cast With No Clear Star.The Lack Of Dialog In Most Scenes Prevents Anyone From Truly Shining.
Music: A
One Of The Best Opening Themes I Have Heard.Diverse Types Of Background Music From Sad To Jazz To Amazing Techno Tracks.
Fan Service: B-
A Few Quick Shots Of One Female Character,Some Quick Sex Scenes.Aside From Doc,Women In The Show Are Rather Plain.
Before I Start, I Did Enjoy This Series Very Much Even if My Opinions May Seem to Dictate Otherwise.I Really Wanted To Speak Out About This Deep Mostly Dark Series.It Has Been Called "The Serial Experimental Lain 5 Year Reunion" And The Style And Complexity Are Similar.The Ambiance of The Series Is Compelling and There Is a Lot Of Action And Violence To Help Offset The Gloomy Tone of The World Of Lux and The "World Above".The Basic Plot Deals With a Clash Of Clans,Betrayal,The "Mechanization" of Humans In The Interest Of Survival And How It Affects Humans And Their Freedom Or Lack Thereof.A Prophecy Is Revealed And Ultimately Comes True.
For One, I Think this Anime is Dark,Confusing at Times And Explains Very Little Or Too Late What Is Going On.There Is Still a Linear Story To Be Followed and During My Viewing,I Was Able To Follow It Unhinged But Felt Compelled To Check What Others Thought.
CAUTION:There Are Some Homosexual Implications And Innuendos Through The Character Of Toyama. Such Junk Has No Place In The Anime (Or Any Other,For That Matter) and Seems To Be There For No Reason.His Death Was VERY Satisfying.
Characters:
Ichise: Has to Be the Weakest Male Lead in a Serious Non-Ecchi Anime I Have Seen.The Voice Actor Cannot Be Blamed Since He Has So Few Dialog Outside The Final Episodes Which Are Focused On Him...What a Waste.A Boxer Conditioned To Fight And Never Think.He Stays The "Stray Dog" that Onishi Calls Him.He Has Uncontrolled Anger And Would Have Died Early On If He Stayed Unprotected By So Many Others And Cannot Even Control The Great Gift He Has Been Given.He Does Refuse It and We Find Out Later Why.Alas, Ichise Becomes More "Vocal" Towards The End (Almost Never Uttering Complete Sentences) Yet Makes Little Case For Himself As a Hero;Only Proving He Is an Obedient "Guard-Dog".He (Or Should I Say It?) Does Start to Develop An Instinct For More Than Mere Survival Very Late in The Series.He Is Little More Than a Brute up Until Episode 11 And I, For One,Do Not Dismiss His Violent Outbursts and Excuse Them as Latent Emotions or Mere Confusion,IF he IS More Than Just An Instinctual Animal.The Fact Is He HAS To Live For The Story To Unfold.Ichise is Nothing But a Rabid Dog that Only Follows Orders.I Disliked Him.
Onishi:The Opposite Of Ichise.Strong Sense Of Ethics And Amazing Will.To Me,He Acts As The Main Character Up Until The Final 3 Episodes.He Has Much More Depth To Him Than Dog Boy.Onishi's Death Also Makes No Sense at All.He Is Not Granted a Warrior's Death.In That Scene There Were No "Pawns" Left Anywhere But There JUST Happen to Be Several Of Them as He Commits The Ultimate Sacrifice by Proving Himself to Be THE True Noble Savior By Accepting the Final Task Given to Him,Even Though He Obviously Wishes That He Had Not Been Asked Such a Daunting Task.My Interpretation,However Is That He Does Not Truly Kill The Voice But Only a Wall With a Human Shape.He Can Hear The City Of Lux Talk To Him Through His Mechanized Legs.
Rhan: The Most Mysterious Of The Main Characters.She Is The Second Least "Vocal" Character,Although the Fact She Is Shrouded in Mystery and Every Statement She Makes Carries Weight In The Grand Scheme Of Things Makes Her a Well-Used Character.We Do Find Out Later That Her Occupation/Task Circumvents Her Liberty And Is Only Partially Free.Her Fate Is Also Sealed From The Start.She Does Grow Throughout The Series But Mostly As Her Identity And Role Is Explained.I Have To Say I Love The Red Hair And Fox Mask But We Rarely See Her Face Nor Any Skin.She Is Supposed To Be 18 Years Old Yet Looks Much Younger.The Show Could Have Capitalized On It And Fulfilled My Lolita Fetish.
Eriko Kaneda:The Doctor That "Texhnolyzed" Both Ichise and Onishi Is Quite The Interesting Character.Not Only Is She Amazing Eye-Candy And Perhaps The Deepest Of Characters She Is Voiced By None Other Than Victoria Harwood,Sir Integra Of Hellsing Fame.Her Sexy British Voice Only Accentuates The Blue Eyed Blond Mistress of Mechanics.Doc's Position Separates Her From All Others And Only Yoshii Truly Knows Her True Identity.She Has a Motherly Attitude With Onishi and Ichise,Even Making The Latter Her "Flavor Of The Month" In Some Quick Alluded Sexual Encounters Where She Basically Uses Ichise As a Dildo.Not That Ichise Has Any More Personality Than One.Her Research Aims Not Only The Perfection Of Limb Replacement But Also The Evolution Of Lux Through Her Dedication.She Calls Ichise Her "Greatest Work" Although That Is Never Explained.
Yoshii: Mysterious Traveler That Stirs Up Lux.Died Much Too Early On.Smart,Strong,Calculating And Devious,His Agenda Is Unclear But His Results Speak For Themselves.What Does He Desire ? Mayhem ? Chaos ? Revolution ? Anarchy ? Since Little Is Discovered About Him,I Have My Own Theory About His Possible Role.[The Fact That He Seems Above the Upper and Lower Worlds,All The While Being Mortal And Somehow Mechanical Makes Me View Him as a Type of "Angel of Death" Rather Than Someone Simply Willing to Obey His Orders.His Goal is Clearly to Cause Certain Events In Lux And He Disguises This As "Making a New Leader Emerge".The Truth of That Statement Is Never Verified or Disproved. Onishi,Not Ichise Would Have Been That Leader.One Thing Is Certain,He Does Cause Chaos (Strangely Enough, Rhan's Name Means Chaos But She Not an "Active" Protagonist or Antagonist).Is He An Antagonist ? His Categorization As An Antagonist By Most Is Not Something I Agree With.He Does Kill Many and Show Some Cruelty.Lux Itself Is a Cruel Place And Ichise Senselessly Kills Many More Without Reason.What Makes Him Fail Certain Tasks Is of Interest.Before Onishi Starts to Hinder Him,Yoshii Never Misses One Shot and All of His Bullets Are Fatal Unless He Chooses To Let That Person Alive.Clearly An Executioner Rather Than a Simple Murderer. His "Special" Status Also Reinforces My View of Him As a "Death Angel" or However One Would Qualify It.What Disturbed Me as Both a Viewer and An Observer Is The Disgraceful Death He Is Reserved At The Hand of a Rather Frail Individual That Barely Lands the Final Blow with Yoshii Already Incapacitated.There Is Some Poetic Justice to it as he meant to Kill or At Least Threatened That Person But I Am Still Disappointed by his Non-Heroic Death,Just Like With Onishi's.]
Organizations/Clans:
The Organo: Mafia Style Group With Several Families And Leaders That Have No Real Identity.Onishi Is Their Representative But His Preference For The Status Quo Ends Up Costing Him His Position And He Becomes Of The Leaders Instead With Ichise As His Underling.Predictably,The Families End Up Backstabbing Each Other As They Vie For Sole Control Of The Organization.That Title Is Symbolically Held By Their Elder,Kano.
The Union: An Organization Built Through Brainwashing An a Charismatic Leader,Kimata Who Has a Dark Secret.They Reject "Texhnolization" And Technology.They Represent The Mine Workers.Kimata Does Listen To Onishi's Pleas.He Has An Unnamed Speaker.
The Rakan: Young Anarchists Bound Together By Anger And Apathy.Members Are There By Choice.Shinji Is Their Leader But Does Very Little In That Regard and Anarchy Ends Up Dividing Them.Hal Is Shinji's Right-Hand Man That Ends Up Dividing Their Ranks.Their Petty Relationship Is Noteworthy.[Hal Is Not Jealous of Shinli For ANY Other Reason Than Yoko,a Female Member That Uses Hal to Get Shinji Jealous Because He Goes On ONE Innocent Date with Onishi's Assistant,Attempting To Use Each Other To Get Information.She Does Also Do It Out Of Her Unrequited Love For Onishi.Yoko Leaves Poor Hal The Instant Shinji Leaves The Bar...Taking Away His Manhood...What a B****!!! To Me,That Is The Sole Reason Hal Leaves The Rakan And Takes Other Members With Him To Spite Shinji (Who Was Not An Apt Leader At All Anyways).Still,His Main Reason Is That Yoko Loves Shinji,Not Him And Acts Like a Harlot.].A Certain Yoko Also Broke Up The Beatles...Coincidence???
Gabe: Men Living On Mount Gabe That Have Their Own Small Village Separated From Lux.They Follow An Elder And That Follow The Prophecies Of a Seer Born Every Hundred Years.Their Representative Is The Sage Of Gabe That Meets With Yoshii At The Very Beginning Of The Series.Their Younger Members Also End Up Losing Patience And Acting Out.Underlings/Youths Of Each Group Share That Desire For a "Spectacle";a Fancy Word For a War/Clash Of The Different Groups.
The Class: This Group Is The Elite Of Lux.Strange and Separated From Lux By a Barrier,Little Is Known About Them Until The Last Few Episodes Of The Series.They Are Diverse and Some Of Their Members Are Unexpected Protagonists In The Series.
The Two Worlds Of Texhnolyze:
The "World Above": Paradise or Holographic Illusion? I Immediately Saw This As The image That Q Shows The Crew Of Star Trek:Voyager In The Episode "Death Wish" To Explain The Continuum To Mortals In his Court Case.In That Rendering,It Was a Village/Train Stop Where Life Goes On and On and Nothing Really Changes.The People There Are Also Semi-Alive,As Is The Case With The Humans/Holograms/Avatars In Texhnolyze. Humans Can Speak And Act In a Limited Manner In Both Version But Seem To Be In a Childlike Simplistic State That Clearly Is Not Fully "Sentient".The Railroad Is Also Used In Voyager To Explain Linear Time And I Think There Is a Similar Metaphor In Texhnolyze.We Do Not Find Out If Time Exists.The "World Above" Is Either Perfect Or Merely Perceived In The Minds Of The Visitors.The One Element Of Change In That World Are The Grey Clouds That Appear Once The World Below Basically Ends or Begins a Renewal Process.
The "World Below": Is Lux An Experimental Battleground ? Is It The Bleak Future Of Humans After They Have Destroyed Their Ecosystem And Become Little More Than Slaves To Hunger,Poverty And Technology ? This Is Very Similar To The Amazing Sony Playstation 2 Game Digital Devil Saga With Different Clans Warring Incessantly For Dominance Of An Artificial/Experimental World and a One-Dimensional Strong,Silent-Type Main Protagonist (I Hate That Type,By The Way).Plus, The Game Had Very Extensive Religious References to Hinduism (Buddhism In Texhnolyze) And Several Other Religious Imagery.Both Also Share The Presence of Angels,Gods,Demons And Dual Conflicting Worlds.
This Completes My Impressions On Texhnolyze.There Would Have Been So Much More To Say But I Did Not Want To Spoil Too Much And Every (Good?) Thing Must End.
P.S: Does Anyone Know Why Victoria Harwood Only Has So Few Credits To Her Name ? It is a Mystery to Me. I Love Her Voice and She Is One of The Strongest Female Voice Actresses I Have Had the Pleasure to Hear.
Wow Pretty detailed here dude....thanks for the great review :)
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