Review of Texhnolyze

TEXHNOLYZE (This is the Anime Amino format as i find it very easy to use) Favourite Quotes-Inhumane and beautiful-slogan What I like- the ending What I dislike- lack of protagonists dialogue. SETTING: the majority of this anime is situated in a dilapidated subterranean city known as Lux. On occasion though a surface area is hinted at.... PLOT OVERVIEW: In this city, three groups are prominent- The Oregano(a seemingly professional syndicate ), the Salvation Union(a group wholly opposed to the use of Texhnolyze limbs) and the Racan(a group of youths with Texhnolyzed limbs). In comes our exceptionally optimistic and talkative protagonist(sarcasm), the boxer Ichisee. After coming afoul of hisfight promoter he has an arm and a leg cut off. However coincidentally just before bleeding to death a particularly odd young doctor decides to take him in and Texhnolyze his missing limbs, or in other words replace them with artificial robotic like pieces(kinda like automail in FMA). However, he just so happened to get the most advanced Texhnolyzation that was developed. As such Onishee of the Oregano decides to take him and use him as a handyman. This just turns out to drag him into a territory war with the other two groups. Throughout this he is also guided by a mysterious young girl named Ran who seems to know more about this war than anyone else

ART/ANIMATION: A lot of people would pass on this because the art style seems very aged and quite dull, but that's the idea. The lack of lots of colour and the older style fit in with the plot and the setting perfectly. It really emphasises the lack of hope and optimism in the world. It's something similar to Ergo Proxy and Gilgamesh. Animation is a different story though. I can't say that it's done intentionally substandard for the sake of the anime. It's nothing you could consider dreadful, but there's nothing especially noteworthy either, with slow animation at times or just almost laggy (perhaps it was just the website I watched it on). Keep in mind that this was released in 2003 though so it's less than amazing animation is excusable

SOUND/VOICES: The OST for Texhnolyze isn't really something you could sit down and listen to(imo) nor is it that memorable either. That doesn't mean it's not great though. In fact it really is,each tune is associated with a particular feeling-usually negative-and because of that has its own personality. The songs aren't just there to remove the silence, they really add a lot of emotion to the show and create the atmosphere in most scenes. It was composed by Hajime Mizoguchi and Keishi Urata.
The voice acting is stellar too, both the dub and sub. There was not one person who sounded misplaced or forced. Everyone just went together. Personally I preferred the English version because there was a little more diversity in the cast and I just love Carrie Savage(Ran) and Victoria Harwood(the Doc).

CHARACTERS:There's not too much I can say here without spoilers so I'll try just shorten it down. This isn't a show with a massive amount of forward character development. Instead we learn more about their pasts, motivations and goals, but most of them remain the same type of person throughout. There are some good and bad exceptions to this. The Doc is one of the few characters that changes over the course of the show, and not simple goal changes or feelings but she slowly begins to become a new person which I loved. The opposite can be said for the protagonist Ichisee. We are given almost all the information we need about him early on and that's all. Following that his intentions are never clear and neither are his reasons for anything he does. He is just the embodiment of human will to survive. That's an interesting thing on is own but is annoying at times. Also he pretty much doesn't speak.

CONCLUSION:Texhnolyze is an unmarked jewel in the treasure trove of anime and sadly so. It's ost, unique characters, enthralling story and fascinating art style all add up to make this a stupendously good show but very few watch it from what I can tell. I really do recommend it so long as you don't mind slow build ups. All the negatives are hugely outweighed by the positives and can be easily ignored once you get into it.