*MINOR SPOILERS*
Texhnolyze stands out as an anime of its' own tier. The author Chiaki Konaka, take us on another mind exhausting, depressive and existentialist drive after its previous work of Serial Experiments Lain. I should point out, that the show is not for everyone. Not everyone will get the message of the show, neither may have the attention span to watch this nihilistic and mind-provoking piece of art. If Nietzsche was japanese living in early 2000s, he would certainly take inspiration from this piece of work.
The story begins in the underground city of Lux, where everyone is living at the edge, and utter poverty. Strong
...
beat the weak, the powerful beat lesser ones. Our main character, Ichise, is a modern-day gladiator, fighting for survival in set-up boxing matches. Although he got his leg and arm cut off by his superiors, he dragged himself along the slums of Lux, like a dead beat dog, showing his will to live, along with animalistic instincts we all are subordined to. As the show goes on, you will encounter many characters each with their own story, all surviving their own way. Even then, the series will slowly but surely, show humanity's attempts to survive, either by biologically and technologically advancing, in vain. Any trace of hope you get, will be lost in just a following episode. The religious symbolism, as with Konaka's previous work, is strong with this one. Metaphorically presenting the purgatory through Lux, and Hell (often called Heaven by those in the purgatory) as Surface world, the prophet from a far away land, the inevitable apocalypse, are just some of parallels writer put in this void anime. As you read this, and saw the grim future we are moving towards, as every species is doing, or done in the past, you are either left with the feeling of hopelessness, or futile, insane, yet bold motivation to live your life as good as you can, knowing that everything is going to end one day, and that technological advancement, and utopia, are fictional concept sold to wide masses, blinding them from their animalistic origins, which involve having a will to survive and live, and in the same time, drifting them away from truth of inevitable doom, limiting their stressors and worries, killing the will to survive in the proccess.
As of art in this show, it is done incredibly well. The animation and budget is that of an average anime from early 2000s, which can be seen, in some shots even more poorly than the other. The first person shots, are taken incredibly well, giving us a glimpse of distorted vision from that of a Texhnolyzed human. The white light is, moreover, exaggerated, used as means to overemphasize the dark objects and shadow (dark sides) of humans through color contrast. The colors are mostly those of earth tone, containing mainly the brown and dark colors, showing the true, depressive atmosphere of Lux, "The City of Light". Interestingly, Surface world took inspiration from American realism artist Edward Hopper, not resisting to show themes of urban isolation and despair that resides throught the bright colors and simple tones with as less shadow as possible.
Sound in Texhnolyze is pretty well done, with the track "Guardian Angel" used as opening, by psytrance producer Juno Reactor. Throughout the series, the first person shots have the slightly distorted bottle-like noises, which further conjure up the viewpoint of Texhnolyzed human. Interestingly, in the dreadful city of Lux, there are no birds to be heard, whereas in Surface world, made up only of ghosts, several scenes have sounds of tweeting birds, probably as the only living thing left there. The ending, as well as final track, is sad and melancholic, giving it the atmospherically perfect finish this show had.
There is too much to say about characters in this show, as they are very important to story, each having their own role, symbolizing either characters from the Bible, or metaphorically each representing human emotion itself. Every character is different from each other, some being having similar ideas, but different actions. You simply can't judge them, as even in that hopeless atmosphere the void show of Texhnolyze gives, it offers you to emphasize and understand their way of being. For example, Yoshii massacred citizens of Lux, and caused chaos throughout the slums, just because the dark boredom and depression in the Surface world, where there is no killing, thus, no living, made him on the verge of going insane.
For the end, I would say again that this show is not for everyone, especially if you are seeking some action-based fighting anime with superpowers. This anime makes you think, should you give in to the doom that is awaiting everyone, or should you spitefully live the best you can, up until the last day of this civilization who already started to corrupt itself. There are some flaws to the show that are worth pointing out. First - The pacing. First few episodes are very slow, where you don't even have a line spoken until 3 or 4 episodes later. You know nothing about the world, while the show will bombard you with all the information in period of 2 or 3 episodes. Also, the animation may become irritating sometimes, as there are simply too much white lights used in several scenes, especially those with Obelisk shown (the pillar in center of Lux, to be always in front of eyes of citizens, reminding them that there is always someone watching them, particulary Class society in this instance).
The nihilistic, grim, and somewhat realistic take on society, and human civilization in general, in this show, is well done, rating it 9/10.
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Jun 29, 2021
Texhnolyze
(Anime)
add
*MINOR SPOILERS*
Texhnolyze stands out as an anime of its' own tier. The author Chiaki Konaka, take us on another mind exhausting, depressive and existentialist drive after its previous work of Serial Experiments Lain. I should point out, that the show is not for everyone. Not everyone will get the message of the show, neither may have the attention span to watch this nihilistic and mind-provoking piece of art. If Nietzsche was japanese living in early 2000s, he would certainly take inspiration from this piece of work. The story begins in the underground city of Lux, where everyone is living at the edge, and utter poverty. Strong ... 
Dec 16, 2017
Tokyo Ghoul
(Anime)
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*Minor Spoilers,without great impact on story*
I've watched Tokyo Ghoul as a recommendation of friend back in 2014 when it was coming out and I was witnessing my cringy "otaku" phase,it was 10/10.I rewatched it very recently,and man the thoughts can change by the time. Story:3 Story mainly focuses on Kaneki Ken who becomes a ghoul by the night.As the story progress,Kaneki struggles between two factions-Ghouls and Humans.Did the story have depth?It wanted to have,yet failed.Tokyo Ghoul had interesting premise that failed to present it and process it into something good.It had themes such as Grey Morality and different perceptions between factions. As for grey morality,we can't know anything ... 
Dec 30, 2016
*MINOR SPOILERS*
Well,what a strange,long trip it's been.Finally we got finished Diamond is Unbreakable anime adaptation. Story:7 Why it is 7/10 you ask?Well,I couldn't give more than 7 when plot is so much slow at start (even tho every JoJo part has slow pace at start) and gets a plot twist at (SPOILERS) ~20th episode out of 39.Climax was,how to put it,boring.Repeating same thing 3 or 4 times and also we repeat bubble shooting from part 2. Characters:7 I really enjoyed mini-arcs before plot twist,but they were just fillers.Plenty of characters appear in 1 or 2 episodes and vanish,without any trace,or with only one,in 3rd opening. ... |
