Review of Texhnolyze

Texhnolyze joins Neon Genesis Evangelion, Serial Experiments Lain, Ghost in the Shell, and Ergo Proxy as another supposedly thematically heavy sci-fi show that has a massive split between those who think it’s a masterpiece and those who think it’s pretentious garbage, and the reasons behind the split are similar to these shows as well. When determining a show’s quality, people take different things into consideration and order their priorities differently, such as a show’s viewing experience and a show’s substance. Texhnolyze falls into the category of having a fairly difficult viewing experience as a result of being packed to the brim with psychological aspects andthemes, yet it is also these faults in the viewing experience that lead to faults in getting these would be amazing themes across. Texhnolyze boasts some of the least amount of consistency when it comes to the viewing experience, with some episodes being the some of the most tightly written and genuinely enthralling episodes in the medium, while some other episodes you can barely remember upon finishing them. Texhnolyze simultaneously disappoints and satisfies the viewer with its inconsistent yet powerful story.

Is Texhnolyze boring? One thing that I’ve heard many people complain about is how the first 3/4th of the show is a snorefest, full of random shots of nothing. I personally didn’t find Texhnolyze to be as boring as others say it is, but for all the wrong reasons. The things that grabbed my attention first during my watch of Texhnolyze was how Ichise would always punch girls he was having sex with, and I found it highly humorous. Also, I would always snicker whenever Ichise would fall down the stairs, which happens a lot. However, I ended up genuinely enjoying the show, but there were many moments in the show that left me scratching my head in confusion. Not because the show is 2deep4me to understand, but because… why did that person ride a motorcycle straight into a car? Did he really expect the car to stop? Why are these obviously important people walking down a dark street with no protection, especially if conflicts between the groups are commonplace and isn’t uncommon to get shot with no warning? Whenever a show adds fuel to a fire, I always prefer it to add real organic wood, yet Texhnolyze sometimes adds in the cheap man made shit you find in Costco. (My analogies are weird, I know.)

For Texhnolyze, the world is the story. The city of Lux (or Lukuss, whatever you wanna call it) is a dystopia so depressing, you wonder why humanity hasn’t gone extinct yet. Despite the extremely weird mindsets and actions some of the characters take, the world still feels like it could exist somehow. Many people believe that a show with such a high sci-fi setting would mean such a story wouldn’t be able to exist. After all, wouldn’t a sci-fi world result in less opportunities for human deaths? Well, it’s the complete opposite for Texhnolyze. Unlike other sci-fi dystopian settings, the technology in Texhnolyze is so underdeveloped, it actually feels like it takes place way back in the past. Texhnolyzation is such an experimental and crude technology, it’s questionable as to why it even exists. Texhnolyze is known for being more of a psychological show, yet it doesn’t need this sci-fi aspect to achieve that. The main purpose for texhnolyzation is to create the main rift between the subgroups of Lux. Other than that, the subplot of texhnolyzation is underexplored and is mainly used as a reason for some expositional scenes, symbolism that doesn’t become apparent until the final few episodes, and contributing to the angst of the main character Ichise. Despite the fact that texhnolyzation wasn’t exactly necessary for the show to get the job done, it wasn’t used in an overly flashy manner and didn’t make the world feel any less believable. In fact, the unnecessity of texhnolyzation could be interpreted as humanity’s desperate yet meaningless desire to go even further, as shown by how the texhnology (is that a term?) stopped working by the end of the series. This symbolized how once you achieve “perfection”, there is no point in moving forward.

Texhnolyze builds its world by being enigmatic in everything. The dreary atmosphere, Ichise, Ran, Yoshii, and the setting itself, they all feel very distant from the viewer and aren’t fully fleshed out for the sake of keeping the viewer enticed, or turning away the viewer entirely. Texhnolyze doesn’t lay down the lines between good and evil and doesn’t tell you to feel a certain way. It simply shows you its world and whatever you think about it is up to you. Well, that’s what it does for the most part, since like every psychological show that I have a problem with, Texhnolyze may not distinguish exactly which side of a conflict is right or wrong, but it does distinguish which certain individuals are multi-dimensional or straight up assholes. What Texhnolyze does do that’s a big plus in my book is that it still treats characters equally, regardless of whether or not they are assholes or not. The only thing determining a character’s chances of survival are their importance in Lux, and unlike in other anime, the importance of a character isn’t just given to them, but it feels like they either naturally deserve it or earned it. A multi-dimensional character has the same chance of being killed as an asshole character, and that’s a tribute to how realistic Texhnolyze’s world is. In fact, the world of Texhnolyze makes it so that I was questioning whether or not these asshole characters were really assholes, and maybe they were just killed off before they had the chance to show their other sides. Of course, that’s overthinking, but overthinking is something that Texhnolyze’s setting naturally creates.

Texhnolyze is known for being a fairly dialogue free show, and while this is true to some extent, it is only half true. While this leads to some amazing show don’t tell moments that are genuinely unforgettable and mind numbingly powerful, the inconsistent amount of dialogue works as a negative on both fronts. During some of the scenes with no dialogue, the shots are long and hold very little actual meaning other than… being long. There are episodes where it’s just one long meaningless shot after another, and these episodes are some of the most forgettable episodes in the world. In some other scenes, it’s nonstop expository dialogue with, again, very little actual meaning other than a speck of world building or some insight into some random character. These episodes are also forgettable and lack the impact that the great episodes have. Unfortunately, these episodes can be extremely jarring to get through and while I wasn’t as bored as others, I can understand how these immersion breaking snore inducing episodes can completely ruin the series for others. Texhnolyze employs a lot of the cheesy techniques used to extend the length of an episode, such as people falling in slow motion when shot, people talking unnecessarily when at gunpoint, etc. While I implore those who watch the show to be patient and that the amazing episodes are worth the wait, I will not be surprised nor disagree with those who drop the show due to these unnecessary and painful to watch moments.

As for the main characters, Ichise is a character who’s angst isn’t hard to understand, yet it’s almost impossible to call his angst “relatable,” since I don’t think any of us see random numbers and bars in our field of vision due to texhnolyzation. However, while we don’t know and probably will never know to what extent these technological enhancements fuel Ichise’s rage, considering his position and his backstory, it isn’t hard to believe that Ichise would at least have some angst built up in him. While not being particularly relatable at first glance, he is easy to empathize with, and he gains more conflicts throughout the story that eventually give a sense of relatability to his character as well. He is also a fairly unpredictable character since he bottles himself up constantly and never really talks, nor do we hear his internal monologue. Instead, we can only assume what he’s thinking through his body movements and facial expressions, which were done very well. Unfortunately, the show uses Ichise as somewhat of a plot device, as he constantly either starts or fuels conflicts with his presence alone. However, what the show also manages to do through stellar directing and the enigmatic nature of the show is to make all of these conflicts through Ichise feel… planned somehow. Even so, Ichise’s convenient habit of jumpstarting plot points and conflicts can break immersion to some degree and can leave you with a bald spot from scratching your head so much.

Ran is a complete enigma, and while the power to foreshadow the future is… weird for an apparently supernatural free sci-fi world (then again, the whole “hearing the voices of the city” thing was weird too), she’s the personification of the meaningless struggles that the characters go through. She also subtly shapes the events of the show, and the show doesn’t make it clear whether or not the outcomes she’s involved with are what she desires. Her revelation at the end of the series does bring to light the reasons behind her initial enigmatic nature.

Yoshii is the one who initially sparks the wheels of change within Lux, and his charismatic nature is what initially makes him the easiest character to like. He gives off the first impression of someone who is simply curious in the city of Lux. His motives, although unclear at first, were eventually highlighted during the story, and made his character deceptively complex. He doesn’t simply want to change the city of Lux, he wants to change humanity and stir the passions and beliefs of the residents of Lux as compensation for the lack of humanity that he is exposed to. Unfortunately, Yoshii suffers from being too charismatic, as he is constantly shown to just announce his plans to those he is supposedly about to kill like some kind of cheesy villain. His motives for spurring change within Lux label him as downright insane, yet even so, his terrifyingly calm demeanor of carrying out his plans makes him extremely compelling, and he is one of the few genuinely likeable characters in the show. Also, his fairly anticlimactic death also gives his efforts a sense of meaningless, which is perfect for the overall message of the show. Yoshii is then replaced by a, in my opinion, much less compelling villain, Kano. He is complete destruction, and doesn’t have the enticingly charismatic nature that made Yoshii so interesting. Even so, his insanity and some of his actions are actually disturbingly justified so a certain degree, which just shows how fucked up Texhnolyze is. He also hits home the “meaningless” theme, highlighted by his backstory with Onishi, and his eventual death felt meaningless because all the damage he created was done. Something that I did appreciate about the villains is how they matched Lux’s setting so well, as they masked their sanity with their ideals and charisma. As expertly said in the 21st episode, Lux was always a crazy city, pretending to be sane.

A lot of people find that developing characters in a show where everyone dies is meaningless, but that’s the point. Everything is meaningless. Hell, even this review is meaningless, I'm probably just regurgitating points that have already been said a million times over. Texhnolyze is infamous for being pessimistic and nihilistic, with the overall message being that life has no meaning. In fact, the inclusion of all these unnecessary developments, expository dialogue, and long shots of nothing could just be a fancy way of saying “these scenes are meaningless, just like life itself.” These scenes don’t harm the overall message of the show, they are simply negative aspects of the viewing experience, which unfortunately plays a major role in how one perceives these themes. However, despite this extremely depressing message, someone once told me that Texhnolyze’s message is actually ultimately positive, and I have to agree. Texhnolyze is actually optimism disguised as hardcore nihilism and pessimism. While Texhnolyze preaches that human development and life itself is meaningless and that there is always room for death and destruction, it also tells us that death and destruction are meaningless and that there is always room for life, hope, and existence. As for whether or not this is pretentious overthinking is up to the viewer, but as I said before, overthinking is something Texhnolyze naturally creates, and that is why despite its disappointments and flaws, Texhnolyze is ultimately satisfying.