I'm not usually one to enjoy a slow burn melancholic show with heavy symbolism and David Lynch-like abstract writing/directing. But I'll be damned if Texhnolyze didn't win me over. What starts out as a tough to appreciate first episode where no dialogue is spoken for half if not more of the episode, ended up being a poignant story about cyborn enhancements and what it means to be human.
The music was definitely a strong point. And while I did love
the glorious OP I can't disagree with the sentiment that it's such a jarring contrast to the tone and mood of the rest of the show. The actual show tends to have a much more relaxed soundtrack and it really does work on its favor. The ending song is especially gut-wrenching, and reminded me of 'Blue' from the last episode of Cowboy Bebop in its use and effectiveness.
The direction is amazing too. The use of different angles to characters to coincide with the mood was done spectacularly. Plenty of times the show would have long and slow moving background shots that meshed really well with the slow pace and the coldness of the city.
The characters are the show's strongest points by far. They evolve more than I've seen out of a majority of anime shows. And it's not necessarily in the sense of character growth as much as the audience slowly learning about them and getting to know the complexity of every one. Ichise is the lead and while I wasn't crazy about him in the first half of the show, he really does shine in the second half. Yoshi was amazing and so incredibly complex, and I can't even begin to tell you how much I loved Onishi. Every character seems to have an important role to play in their own way, even if only to make our leads grow. The dialogue I wasn't crazy about as there are plenty of times where you're trying to decipher what the characters are saying. But thankfully it doesn't occur too often, I've had enough of that with True Detective S2.
The city itself is what you would expect in a cyberpunk noir. Dark, gritty, filthy and filled with the worst of humanity. I joked around as I was watching that the show is Deus Ex the anime and I still feel it's extremely appropriate. The topic of defining what makes a man is present in both. Heck they both deal with, though this in a lesser fashion, with fully mechanical prosthetic limbs and their effect on society and the evolution of humankind.
Should you watch Texhnolyze? Well it depends. I'd only recommend it straight away to those willing to give it the attention it wants. If you watch anime largely for escapism and lowest-common-denominator entertainment, which I did when I first attempted to watch this some years ago, then no. Texhnolyze wants to tell you an extremely depressing tale. In it you'll discover a dark, depressing but beautiful view of the way humanity tackles hardship as it looks to evolve. And when I say depressing, I mean it. The show will take you for a ride as evolution is taken to extremes you know are a possibility but don't want to consider. Also the last 4 episodes took a while to process. There's theories floating around as to what it means, and all make sense. But it's not at all what matters. What matters is that if you like Bladerunner you'll enjoy this.
If you decide to watch it I can't stress enough that even if you watch it dubbed so much is told to the audience through the actual visuals it's not something you should background watch.
Better keep your eye on it
Texhnolyze gets
9.5/10. And the
Woof seal of approval.
