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Dec 13, 2025
I feel like I've watched this too late in my life. When I was around 16, I would've probably needed the message of just accepting your mistakes as a part of life, but nowadays it seems so self-evident that it feels almost aggravating to see the main character struggle to figure this out for eleven episodes straight. The repetitive structure of the show doesn't really help - a lot of the stories feel very same-y, which means, if the story misses for you, it doesn't miss just one time, it misses every time the story's cycle begins a new iteration. There are a few outliers
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though, and i'd say the show is the most entertaining when it adds something else into the main mix of a confused teenager figuring out their life, like the two mentors episode for example. The artstyle is unique, and even though I didn't enjoy it much, it's nice to see some experiments being tried out.
Overall - if you've already finished high school, the show is probably lost on you, if not - might as well give it a shot
Reviewer’s Rating: 4
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Dec 13, 2025
I know this anime is often regarded as one of the classics in the "artsy/philosophical" category, but for me it is probably the weakest of the bunch. The main story takes forever to take off, and the progression of everything is just so sluggish at times. And I say this as someone who likes when the story takes its' time. But the key is - that time has to be spent on actual character development, worldbuilding, and interesting visual bits. And when Texhnolyze is at its best, it can present a lot of these things. The main characters all have some unique charm, the show
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has some interesting concepts going on with all the communities surviving in this closed, technologically-advanced environment, and some shots are just fantastic. But oftentimes the show just trips onto itself and wastes time on political bickering which was way more interesting in the writer's head, or, even worse, just very slowly unfolding the events in question. And there's not too much to unfold to be frank - the character's arcs are interesting, but very brief. There are shows that accomplish EONS more of character development in less episodes. The visuals are nice though. The anime manages to make its designs both bleak and stylish, which is a rare feat. And it also mixes in some good frame composition and visual metaphors to the story, there's clearly a lot of people who cared about making this. And it breaks my heart to see the pieces just not fitting together very well.
The ending is a bit underwhelming. I'd say it fits with the show's core messages and ideas, but at the same time undermines a lot of the story that has just happened. However, that is a problem inherent to nihilistic storytelling in general.
If you like artsy shows that take their time to unfold some interesting ideas - and you've already seen all the other classics - then this is an auto-recommend. Otherwise be wary of slow pacing and very bleak story/worldbuilding
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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May 9, 2025
This review skims through the main story, but trust me, there's nothing to spoil.
If you asked me about this manga five years ago, when I just picked it up, I would've told you the most complementary review you could imagine. The artstyle is very pretty, it has this soft murky look to it, to give where credit is due, Tsukushi's landscape design and character design have remained on point over all these years.The setting is cool and atmospheric, the main mystery is very enticing, and the side characters (in the first half at least) are written quite well. The initial premise of the story is
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executed just well enough to keep you longing for more.
But if you ask me in the year of out lord 2025, I do not recommend even starting this manga. Mostly because the main plot has barely advanced in these five years. Ever since the main characters reached layer 6, the manga has been rapidly devolving into author's fetish compilation more than a cohesive story. Don't get me wrong, the bits and pieces of the weirdness were scattered all over the story from the start, but at least in the first tomes it's heavily overshadowed by the main mystery and the thrill of exploration of a world filled with quirky creatures and sprawling landscapes, which makes it easy to gloss over an awkward bath scene or two.
Sadly, chapter 40 - 45 and onwards the manga's story becomes this homeopathic substance, where one teaspoon of world exploration and character development is dilluted in two gallons of torture scenes, naked lolies and just plain misery porn. The whole village arc just put the original main characters on pause for several YEARS just to end up with the most basic revenge story about a bunch of characters with barely any personality to them being massacred by a character with at least some personality to her.
The saddest thing is, the current state of manga kind of makes the better parts of it worse in retrospect. The initial surprise of the first bloody scenes hits with a hard, but realistic twist: the wild nature is a harsh place, and the unprepared (let alone, children) are most likely going to die, be it of poisoning, of blood loss, or the claws of some exotic predator. But this shock wears off later on when you realise there's so many more of these absurdly cruel scenes going forwards, it makes you wonder whether the initial dark twist of the manga was merely an accident. Maybe there was no twist at all, maybe the author was just acting out his perversions on paper from the get-go. Maybe Ozen's self-inflicted deformities on her body weren't telling a story of being obsessed with the work of your life to the point you start giving up your very humanity to succeed. Maybe it was just author exercising his sadistic fantasies. Maybe Bondrewd's willingness to put others through painful experiments wasn't an author's take on a scientist that is too eager to achieve knowledge to the point of treating morals and laws of society as an obstacle. Maybe it was just a way to insert more loli torture scenes - the real main story of the series so far.
The initial main characters and the story premise weren't some groundbreaking writing, but it was enticing enough to read because you would assume it would get elaborated on. What is Reg's backstory? What happened to Rico's mother? What lies in the bottom of the Abyss? Yet here we are more than a decade after the first chapter was posted, and barely anything has been revealed. And I'm afraid, it won't be. Even if the author lives to finish the story (which is unlikely given his age and posting schedule), his writing has been on the decline for years. The only real story the manga is following at this point is the author's complicated history with hentai addiction.
Wasted potential/10
Reviewer’s Rating: 4
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