Warning: Possible Spoilers ahead. I don't directly talk about any plot points but it would be better if you watch the series first before reading.
T E X H N O L Y Z E
"Not with a bang, but a whimper" This quote describes Texhnolyze perfectly, at least in my interpretation of the series. In fact, it wouldn't be too much of a stretch for me to say that it IS Texhnolyze. The Hollow Men by T.S. Eliot and Texhnolyze are one in the same. They are both loneliness, death, and overall nihilism incarnate, and I got a similar feeling while reading and watching both,
...
and it wouldn't surprise me if Abe and the writers of the show were inspired by it.
Texhnolyze is the last of the 4 great Abe shows (Serial Experiments Lain, Niea_7, and Haibane Renmei) and it is one hell of an end. The series centers on a former prizefighter, Ichise who is wrapped up in the workings of a mobster-esk world while gradual decay of humanity ensues. It is overall a series about death and loneliness, it tells the story of the end of the world, and rather than having a huge apocalyptic event wipe out humanity, it shows a grinding, slow decay of the world. While most shows have a beginning, middle, and end, Texhnolyze felt like one long end. A lingering dark road that ultimately trails off into nothingness, and everything in the show collaborates to accentuate this.
The character designs were done by one of my favorite artists, Yoshitoshi Abe, and boy do they reflect his style. Abe's art always manages to capture a feeling of loneliness. He usually draws characters alone, with detached expressions, using thin, pencil-like outlines and detail work to create a very organic, but unsettling feeling from his art. It's very different from the thick outlines and hard angles that have become characteristic of anime. The background's are also drawn in a way to create atmosphere. The city of Lukus is drawn with detail, but is fairly washed out and often cast in harsh white light, really giving the world an empty feeling. The show very rarely shows wide shots of the city, it mostly shows small areas of the city with characters isolated within the frames. There are very rarely background characters shown, and when they are show they are just as detached as the rest of the other characters. The dark, empty art serve as solid base for the atmosphere.
The sound of the series however, is where the real meat of Texhnolyze's atmosphere strikes. It starts with an opening by Juno Reactor, Guardian Angle, a high energy intense techno piece that gets you hyped for the series. It then immediately kicks that feeling of energy in the balls by cutting to dark slow background noise and a dialogue-empty first episode. Something striking about Texhnolyze it's very little dialogue. There are few monologues, and most character interaction is done through body language. But the gaps in dialogue are filed with a utterly gorgeous sound track that fits with every scene of the series. The violence is accented with gritty high energy techno music, while slower scenes are complemented by slow, instrumental songs that draw you in. Each song of the soundtrack works on its own as well as with the series. But the real musical hight of the series is the ending theme, Tsuki no Uta, a gorgeous acoustic guitar and string quartet piece with melancholic vocals that perfectly captures the tone of the series. Needless to say, I am absolutely in love with Texhnolyze's soundtrack.
The art and sound create and amazing atmosphere but unfortunately the story and characters in the show fall flat in comparison, especially with the characters acting so detached all of the time. Nothing good ever happens in Texhnolyze, and this is where it runs into problems. Because it is so bleak it will turn most people away from it within the first 5 minutes of the first episode. Sitting through Texhnolyze can be an absolutely EXCRUCIATING experience, especially of you haven't watched anything so bleak before, like End of Evangelion, Serial Experiments Lain, or Grave of the Fireflies, which all don't really even touch Texhnolyze's depression. The characters are constantly going through absolute hell, all while giving you very little to like about them. That's not to say they don't play interesting roles. Characters who are introduced as villains end up being the more likeable and morally grounded, and characters who are introduced as good at first end up being some of the most compelling antagonists in anime. But there's so lttle contrast between the morality of the series. While grey morality can make shows more interesting, Texhnolyze is really more like totally black morality, or at least a very VERY dark shade of grey, leaving nothing but oversaturation of despair.
Even though the characters do have their fair share of badass moments, they are incredibly hard to relate to, because no one does anything good. That's why I could only recommend Texhnolyze to very certain people who are in a very certain kind of mood. This is not an anime for beginners and I understand why it is so unpopular and why it is received so negatively. I can even understand hating Texhnolyze. But that's how Texhnolyze manages to be so amazing. It throws convention to the wind and excels in a way that calling anti-mainstream just doesn't do justice to. It's characters are too detached to really get behind or relate too, it's story is pretty simple, though it is told in a weird, hard to describe way, and it's merits as a narrative are entirely lacking. But while Texhnolyze is not good on the surface level, it reaches DEEP down into it's themes and presentation in a way that I don't think any anime has ever done before. Sure, it could be a technically BETTER show, but that's not what it's going for, that's not it's identity.
It's loose narative strenght makes it a different experience for everyone who watches it, and what you think of the series really depends on who you are as a person. The reason Texhnolyze manages to be compelling for me is that it is the story of the human race. The characters and setting are really just examples. The story didn't have to be told from their perspective, they just happened to be the ones that lasted the longest in a dying world.
As I said before, there is no beginning or middle, only the end. When the lights dim out and the curtains close it is over. Purely, and starkly OVER. The story doesn't continue after you stop watching, the world doesn't continue to grow, everything ends. It is the latermost end, it leaves no speculation about future events.
Texhnolyze tells a story that few would even dare to experience, it's alot to take in. The show makes you ask hard questions about the world and people around you, and more importantly, about yourself. But rather than asking directly and spouting philosophical monolouge, you find yourself asking these questions out of your own introspection after watching it. Most people will drop it at the thought of these questions, and I don't blame them, but those who finish it, and appreciate it, will look at things a bit differently afterwords. While Texhnolyze is dark, disturbing, distant, depressing, and plenty of other words that start with 'D', but when you get to the end there's a certain other feeling that comes on. Not a depressing or tragic feeling, but more like sense of melancholy. Texhnolyze reminds us that we will all die eventually, weather we're ready or not, and that we will lose people we love during our life. When characters die it feels less like someone is murdered or taken before their time, it feels like they die after a long life, doing all they can, and it is satisfying. Despite meeting a sad and disturbing end, Texhnolyze leaves you with a feeling of catharsis; the human race finally goes to sleep after the struggle, after fighting, kicking, and screaming, we all secede to the eternal slumber. There's something comforting about Texhnolyze's nihilism. Knowing that you will die, though scary at first, can make it easier to come to terms with the hardships of life. When we lose someone we love, when we feel alone, when we feel the weight of the world, we know that at least somethings are out of our control. If there is one thing we can rely on absolutely, it's death, and we could all use something to rely on. Death is overall a part of life and life is beautiful. Texhnolyze is beautiful.
"This is the way the world ends
This is the way the world ends
This is the way the world ends
Not with a bang but a whimper."
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Sep 12, 2016
Texhnolyze
(Anime)
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Warning: Possible Spoilers ahead. I don't directly talk about any plot points but it would be better if you watch the series first before reading.
T E X H N O L Y Z E "Not with a bang, but a whimper" This quote describes Texhnolyze perfectly, at least in my interpretation of the series. In fact, it wouldn't be too much of a stretch for me to say that it IS Texhnolyze. The Hollow Men by T.S. Eliot and Texhnolyze are one in the same. They are both loneliness, death, and overall nihilism incarnate, and I got a similar feeling while reading and watching both, ... 
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