It’s months later and Texhnolyze is the only piece of art I care to remember.

I’m being overdramatic! But in this constant media barrage of watch-this play-that be-there and don’t-forget-me’s it’s easy to forget! It’s easy for one thing after the other to be consumed, gluttonously, feeding just to feed whatever appetites we’ve convinced ourselves we have, as if it can’t be sated once and a while by a damn good meal. Now, Texhnolyze…Texhnolyze is a damned feast! I cried about it over work, I enveloped myself in analyses, I zoned out to its tranquil, harrowing tunes, I lost myself in its world. It’s oppressive, yet hopeful, serene, yet dangerous, understated, yet bold.

Helps that it makes such a grand entrance.

Immediately you get weighed down by a claustrophobic atmosphere that seems to press on your skull. The churns and groans of the underground city, street sleepers, heaving breaths and thick hopelessness is layered here, surrounding the view in this blanket of sorrow that never opens up. Yet, despite every shackling chain there’s a worn, fleshy ring around the wrist. To hell with a lack of trying! That’s what makes it so damned special to me; Texhnolyze, even at its bleakest, hopes. Perhaps inanely, perhaps illogically, but it hopes for not only The Better Tomorrow, but the better Self, the better Us! Far be it from the show to shy away from the ugly, but isn’t it always humanity that’s been beautiful? Even in its self-destruction…

Look no further than protagonist Ichise. Boxer turned lab rat turned freak of nature, thrown into the winding sewers of the city after being affixed with appendages not his. We see the pain this causes him, not only the physical but the mental, as each step he takes takes tremendous effort, and at times is just as strenuous for the helpless viewer as it is for our hapless protagonist. By some feat, again and again, Ichise manages to rise to the occasion.

What is that if not hope? And what is hope without self-doubt?

Ichise at first is distrusting of his mechanization. Hates it. Rejecting his new limbs outright, he smashes his cybernetic arm into the wall, once, twice, thrice! He chooses to lean on his flesh and bone parts instead of the robotic attachments. In this, he struggles, he really, really struggles. Ichise’s vision blurs, muffled sounds burrow into his ears, and before the story even gets rolling, he comes close to death…And only through sheer luck only does he find himself saved by a girl, an apparition? Perhaps both? A girl who guides him along the streets towards those he needs to know to make it in the world. Does she represent willpower? Destiny? The guiding hand of God? All that remains unclear…But through her, and the devil’s own luck, Ichise finds himself found, amongst people.

Through happenstance with the don of the city, Ichise confides in a group of mobsters, the Oregano, to become its everyman, a member, a bodyguard, yet always an outsider, the “new kid”. Tangentially connected to it all but observing from afar, all whilst still adjusting himself to every facet of his new life. Not only with environments and people unfamiliar, but the unfamiliar self, the parts to get used to, that which feels not his. As the plot unfolds, people begin to laud Ichise for his power, his strength, and in part to them and in part to his own strength, you see him take all this in, and trust himself. He starts to lean on those limbs, not just those of flesh, but those robotic, and accepts them as his own. Just like the rest, in this waning city he doubts, but he always returns to accept the self, and accept the state of those around him. Though, always, he remains out of place. A stick in the mud. A nail to be hammered down.

Just because there is hope in Texhnolyze doesn’t mean that it’s always present, and more often than not, it’s not! The city of Lux is one that never gives you an opportunity to hope or pray or try. But I think it’s all the more admirable that there are those who do. It’s a tough watch, all to say! None of this is easy. In fact, the majority of the time, I sat in my chair to watch Texhnolyze bit by bit, not because it was excruciating or because it was boring or because there was a lack of intrigue, but because each episode was so god-be-damned heavy. Took me two months to finish the damn thing and with anime, correction! With LIGHTER anime, I can gobble it up no problem, but Texhnolyze…Woof.

I’ve always been a sucker for stories about the will to survive. Or human willpower. Both cross over in a pretty large overlap of a Venn diagram, but I DIGRESS! Shows like Ping-Pong The Animation or Casshern Sins or even Welcome To The NHK, where in spite of everything around them, the characters choose to prevail, whether they succeed or not. In fact, we humans (as much as we’d like to be) are no superheroes, that’s why I adore the stories that hone in on failure even more so than success! There’s not a life to live without trip-ups, self-doubt or uncontrollable happenstance. What we can do is control ourselves and how we impact our surroundings, in people and in the world. A simple mantra, to be sure! And Texhnolyze is about a helluva lot more than that - look no further than people much smarter than me reviewing this work, looking at stuff like Nietzche and religion and the organic vs. technology debate, the buck hardly stops at just willpower! But, again - I’ll leave that to the other folks.

Texhnolyze is one glorious work which puts the will of man on full display, in the most precarious of circumstances…and shows how they prevail, stumble, and strive amidst hopelessness. That, I think, is the most beautiful part of it all.