While being constantly tragic and painful, Texhnolyze is, in the end, utterly hopeful. The show is intimate and personal in its portrayal of every character, instead of focussing on any broad theme. Where Texhnolyze stands out most is its ability to avoid reducing any character to a mouthpiece of any given theme. Every inhabitant of Lux, or the miserable outside, is clearly defined by their own history and experiences, becoming a multifaceted representation of a certain mindset, with a clear path to adopting that perspective. This thesis allows for the ending to be more poignant with the final conclusion of a character like Ichise, after seeing what he went through.

Despite being a central figure in the first section of the show, Yoshii remains a somewhat mysterious figure until near the finale. He is initially contrasted from Keigo, as someone clearly at the bottom of the ladder, eating scraps in the slums, while cutting to Keigo in his high tower. This expectation is turned on its head when a more detailed characterisation of both becomes clear. Yoshii comes from outside, living among the people of Lux and seeming to empathise with them, but looks down on the city as a lost cause, and chooses to exterminate its people out of a twisted hope in humanity’s potential, which he believes Lux has utterly failed to realise. Keigo, however, is shown to rely on the will of the city itself, wishing to serve the people from above by finding the ideal way forward, whereas Yoshii condescends towards the city from below. Despite being in a position of power, Keigo is shown to have a great sense of empathy. He is more visibly caring towards his wife than almost any other character in the show is, and thus his belief in the voice of the city is justified by the existence of Ran, a girl who is eventually revealed to be a literal human representation of Lux itself. His empathy informs his view of Texhnolyzation, not regarding it as dehumanising in any way. He feels no shame in Texhnolyzed limbs, as long as he can still hear the voice that he follows.

The doctor demonstrates a more intimate relationship to Texhnolyzation, fetishising Ichise as a doll that she holds complete power over, and can experiment on. She is obsessed with control, wishing to use Texhnolyzation to construct her vision of evolution in humanity, but we eventually see that this obsession is borne from her estrangement from the Class, where she came from, as they no longer welcome her as one of their own. Her belief in Texhnolyzation as the next step in evolution is borne from a sense of inadequacy compared to the Class, and to her perception of the outside world.

Among others, these characters and their histories, as well as their perspectives on Texhnolyzation, allow the show to reach a conclusion primarily about the different things these people put their faith in, and strip away all meaning from those things, one by one. The doctor is disillusioned when she is rejected by the Class, and sees the outside world full of fading ghosts, rejecting the faith she had in Texhnolyzation, and admitting her lie about Ichise’s mother being a part of his new limbs. Yoshii is revealed as a former citizen of the outside world, despairing at its dying state, and choosing to come seek the real humanity under the ground, then losing his faith when what he found did not match his expectations. Gabe believed they could distance themselves from Lux. They believed in Ran’s prophecy of destruction and rebirth, and Ichise as the arbiter of that prophecy.They were wrong, however, about both of them, and could not escape destruction in the end. Keigo recognises that the voice of the city he trusted in for so long was always fallible, but that brings him comfort in the end. He died knowing that he did not fall to madness, or lose his empathy, always retaining trust in that ultimately human voice.

Ichise is the Messiah of Lux, and a figure that singularly proves the existence of hope in the city’s demise, where everyone else’s beliefs have come to nothing but destruction. While his limbs may not have come from his own mother, they came from the doctor instead, allowing her to give him new life, as a sort of Mary. Ichise’s limbs and life serve as proof that her faith in him as her creation was not unfounded. When Yoshii tries to destroy the people of Lux, the city itself seems to reject him, killing him, but resurrecting Ichise from its depths. Ran follows him after this, believing specifically in Ichise as her saviour. He ascends to the aboveground, and she falls to the rapidly spreading views of those remaining underground. In the chaos in Lux, everything people believed in is overturned, and everyone searches for a broader answer, some way out of death. Many fall on the dystopian conclusion of being a half conscious being, rooted to the ground in an eternal purgatory. Ichise, however, returns for Ran, allowing her to truly move on from the ruined world.

Ichise is a Messiah to some, but like every other character, he is ultimately deeply human. We see him act in kindness and anger, and go through immense pain and misery. In spite of this, seeing everyone’s beliefs overturned and losing everyone else in the world, Ichise retains hope through the connections he made. The world has completely stopped making sense, but the Ichise’s empathy and his principles matter, even in a world where they shouldn’t. In his final moments, he sees an image of a rose, a thank you from the doctor and from Ran, for saving them, and he sits in comfort that he achieved something for other people. Ichise experienced the worst of humanity, being treated as a dog or puppet by most, but never faltered in his overarching belief that living as a human, and dying a human, was all worthwhile.