First review. Okay. Lets go. Constructive feedback is welcome. This review will be mostly a thematic analysis since I love pretty much every aspect of the series. Ill have a warning when I start getting into spoilers. With the same character designer producer and series composer both Serial Experiments Lain and Texhnolyze werent made to appeal to everyone. They are both very experimental series that rely a lot on the show dont tell kind of narrative so you need to be quite openminded in order to enjoy these works. There are no tropes for you to rely on nor engaging fight scenes backed up with epic soundtracks. You are simply introduced to this dark unforgiving world and taken on a journey as you learn more about its workings and inhabitants. Yoshitoshi ABes characters designs fit the serious and dark tone of the series and Hiroshi Hamasakis characteristic use of lighting is masterful sometimes fleshing out the feeling of desolation of the setting other times giving a special focus to the facial expressions. 300https://i.ur.com/WXfleHX.png 300https://i.ur.com/Cl1x0eT.gif Texhnolyze differs from SEL in that its a double cour series which allows it to focus on a bigger cast of characters and we are able to see the perspective of various inhabitants of its world while in SEL the focus is almost all in Lain herself. I feel like the best aspect Texhnolyze brings to the table is its worldbuilding and how every part of it adds substance to the series themes instead of just being there for no reason which is a big breath of fresh air. The setting is really well put together and everything feels realistic. As expected from Chiaki Konaka the writing is brilliant. WARNING: from here on out heavy spoilers ahead This series is about a lot of things but if I had to say what its overarching theme is it would be the evolution of mankind. What does it take to be the perfect human being? The series doesnt reply to this directly but if we analyze its fascinating world we might be able to come to certain conclusions on the matter. The city of Lux was originated through mankinds will to separate the violent inferior people from what they thought to be the superior race though by the end of the series its speculated that the people of Lux were humanitys hope. Lux is the underground home to those who couldnt hide their instincts while the people of the Surface were to live a life isolated from dangerous factors. The Surface represents complete order routine piece at last while Lux was to be home to the chaotic nature raw human instinct. This duality can be observed not only in their inhabitants behavior but also in how the architecture differs drastically between these two locations: Luxs buildings are practical and unadorned contrasting with the Surfaces landscape which is inspired by Edward Hoppers paintings known for their portrayal of desolation in late 19th century American cities and rural landscapes. 300https://i.ur.com/huT2OF2.jpg 300https://i.ur.com/xpPKoy0.jpg With this duality in mind we should now tackle this question: what would happen to these two opposite realities in the long run? Regarding the Surface the answer seems to be spiritual stagnation. Because just like an individual needs both discipline and raw spirit to be complete a population cant evolve without both chaos and order. Order without raw spirit becomes weak. If there is no competitivity there is no challenge to ones existence and that can only lead to the metaphysical collapse of the population. I believe this spiritual stagnation of the Surface to be a warning of how our society may move in the direction of Nietzsches Last man an apathetic population that loses the ability to dream to strive and becomes unwilling to take risks instead seeking comfort. 300https://i.ur.com/0OY9g8b.png 300https://i.ur.com/4Fi5NJd.jpg Then what about Lux? When Yoshii arrives at the city it seems to be more alive than the Surface but in a closer analysis we are able to see that this population is also moving towards passive nihilism. The chaotic nature of the original inhabitants was being lost over the generations. Yoshii sees potential in Lux and takes drastic measures in order to wake up the city and prevent it from dying like his hometown. Now that Ive analyzed the duality between the Surface and Lux Id like to take a closer look at this underground city where most of the series takes place. The city is divided into factions and each of them represents a different way of living. The Class is a closed group of individuals that resorts to inbreeding in order to reproduce and controls the city it represents absolute power and the people have no word on who should represent them. The people of Gabe worship the seer a girl that has the power to see one of many possible futures. They live relying on the outcome rather than living by their values. The Organo is a very influential group and those who join it are submitted to rules and hierarchy while the Rakan seems to represent the opposite: you are free to do as you want. Lastly the Salvation Unions existence is based on a collective of individuals that seem to blindly believe in a shared ideal. They are against texhnolyzation Ill delve into that topic later on the review. The interactions and clashing between these factions are what brings Lux to life lux meaning light humanitys last hope and Yoshii is well aware of that. 400https://i.ur.com/GZGckT1.jpg Another fundamental theme the series portrays is that of fate and the different ways to deal with it. This topic can only be discussed because of the existence of Ran the girl that can see one of many possible futures. Ill now proceed to delve into two of my favorite characters and how they deal with amor fati love for ones life/fate. I love Yoshii because he doesnt belong to any group he is sure of his own values and lives by them without letting fate interfere with his decisions. He rejects the Surfaces passive nihilism and comes to Lux in order to change its structure and by the end he dies with a smile on his face showing just how satisfied he was with his life. He is truly a bermensch Nietzsche would be proud. 300https://i.ur.com/QO2rhSB.png My favorite character however is Ichise. Im a sucker for character development and his journey is quite a fascinating one. At the beginning Ichise clearly represents the raw spirit characteristic of the first inhabitants of Lux he symbolizes the pure will to survive and thats a major factor to evolution something the people of the Surface lacked. On the first few episodes we are able to observe however that his set of values is weak: he drags his dead limbs with him and even washes them in order to preserve them he carries dead cells of his mother out of sentimental attachment he refuses a meal only because he doesnt want to be pitied by others and at first he doesnt accept the texhnolyzed limbs as his own. Ichises journey is mostly about putting his values to the test and finding a deeper meaning to his life as he adapts to his new limbs and accepts them as his own. To question our values and forever be open to spiritual transformation is very important in order to live a more meaningful life. By the end of the series Ichise is like the symbol of the affirmation of human life. We can see he is spiritually alive as the series contrasts his existence with that of the people of the Surface he has evolved as an individual and cares for others he rejects nihilism as he kills Kano and just like Yoshii he shows love for his life and fate as even though things ended up like Ran had predicted he still showed satisfaction. Lastly I feel like I should delve into the reason behind the title of the series. What is texhnolyzation and why is it so important? Texhnolyzation is the process of replacing organic limbs with highly advanced prosthetics. We know that one of the purposes Lux served to the Surface was to mine raffia and test texhnolyzation as it was seen as a key factor to the evolution of men. And its with this that I thought it would be the best timing to introduce yet another one of my favorite characters of the series Eriko Kaneda aka Doc. I love Docs character because even though she is a very rational scientist she values what makes us human. She believes that mankind can evolve through texhnolyzation but at the same time respects the human factor as opposed to Kano who thinks evolution is only possible by discarding our bodies our humanity. 300https://i.ur.com/P79HG8C.jpg However by the end of the series Doc is confronted by the Theonormals lack of will to take risks and evolve. With this her developments on texhnolyzation were deemed useless detaching our scientist from her purpose and reason to live. Despite dying without love for her fate Doc leaves us her legacy and masterpiece: Ichise the proof that men can evolve and live meaningfully without discarding their humanity. All in all texhnolyze has probably the most fascinating setting Ive come across in any work and thats why I decided to give so much attention to the analysis of its world and themes. It brings together some of my favorite staff and the result is a timeless masterpiece Despera when??. Its a series that inspires me to this day so I had to make this. Thanks for reading my very first review. Any kind of constructive feedback is welcome and if you think I should make more reviews please let me know. I leave you with the series banger opening. https://youtu.be/K0VYSthqzHE
99 /100
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