Review of Texhnolyze

Nihilism in 480p, whimpering in your right ear and gore splatter in the left. You might as well go and lock yourself in a basement for 4 hours (wait, make that 8, I couldn't tell!), stare at the concrete while someone else has a panic attack behind the wall, instead of watching this. You'll most likely end up wondering, why did I do that, was there any meaning to any of this, what was all that for after both. But at the very least in Texhnolyze you have questionable characters to keep you company and in the end you can cross this one off the listof 'oh, i am an intellectual' watch list!

I sound like such a hater and you might actually be wondering if I ticked the 'Recommended' by accident, but no, no—I don't regret watching this! I was hoping to lose sleep or to be philosophically eviscerated, but instead I'm just a little proud of myself for getting through it in three days no less! I found myself enjoying multiple characters in the show, and by the end I almost felt oddly at peace. Like... phew... I survived it. That much can't be said for everyone, cast or viewer.

Honourable mentions, since I honestly can't say I particularly understood much of the plot, I can at least say a few things about the delightful little cast:

Yoshii - I was delightfully surprised by this guy, he is like a mundane fishing magazine you might find at a gas station bathroom, just to contain someone's essay on humanity's depravity.
Doc - Oh she is disgusting, I love it!
Ichise - Pure will to live, honestly almost inspirational.
Tooyoma - "I like you, so I will kill you." He literally said it!

Some of the character interactions actually made me giggle, but to truly care about some of the tragic things that happened later I wasn't able to really attach to any of the characters... that would be my biggest problem with it. I wish I cared more, but I just couldn't! But I suppose that on it's own is fitting for the theme... And, this review ended up about as nonsensical as the anime, oh well.

Pro tip: Like in life and in watching this very anime, lean more on the side of absurdism than nihilism: it's meaningless, but might as well appreciate it for what it is. It's somehow something while being nothing. Get comfortable, put down your phone, and don't expect the meaning to just crawl to you, and you might just be fine and not mind the void.

In the end, which really didn't matter at all, Texhnolyze is how it feels like being in a chokehold by your new prosthetic limb that your body rejected, will you succumb or will you tear it off and go watch something else? If you succumb, you get to accept that Texhnolyze is now part of your system, for better or worse. Appreciate the obscure, shrug off the lack of purpose and move on the next dish in your existential dread!

Oh, and when you rewatch, you can LARP as Ran! Just start screaming when you realize what is about to happen!