Rogue: 00 Texhnolyze November 7
Serial Experiments Lain was a well-known, intricate science fiction mystery that achieved mixed popularity due to the creative yet complex storyline. Fast forward a few years after it finished airing, and the majority of the team returned for Texhnolyze, a post-apocalyptic action and mystery series with twice the length. To put it simply, it achieves so much more and succeeds where Lain fails.
Set in the underground, post-apocalyptic city of Lukuss, Texhnolyze is an extremely dark series. The first episode is very artsy, with only about 12 lines of dialogue (the first half of the episode being completely devoid of it.) The main character, Ichise, is featured as an underground boxer who kicks a lot of ass. After a trippy, unexplained encounter with some sort of prostitute/assassin, he manages to escape with his life, but runs into members of an organization called the Organo, a kind of futuristic Yakuza. It’s obvious at this point that you’re supposed to just watch with the flow and not ask any questions, regardless of whether or not they will be answered.
It turns out that Ichise’s gained a bit too much attention through his boxing, and as gang violence works, he’s held down as his arm is sliced off with a single katana swing. In a fit of rage, he rushes at one of the leaders of the Organo, Onishi, but his leg is also severed as he attacks. Lying in a pool of his own blood, he’s left to die by the Organo.
Ichise somehow has enough stamina to wake up again, tie his arm and leg to his body and crawl his way to some sort of freezer in an attempt to preserve is body. After blacking out, he’s taken in by “Doc,” an attractive female scientist specializing in Texhnolyzation, a process of bonding a powerful metallic limb to a patient’s nervous system. Being the egotistical bitch that she is, she goes ahead and uses Ichise as a guinea pig for her latest, most powerful Texhnolyze technology, and he wakes up with new, inhuman-looking limbs. After losing control and backhanding her, Ichise heads back to the streets with his new limbs, and this is roughly where the story begins.
Across the series, shit happens, is an understatement. There are so many unique aspects to the world and issues Ichise is forced to work through; the way Texhnolyzation projects a HUD into your eyes through your nervous system, for instance, and getting used to new limbs not made of flesh (with an exchange for great strength.)
The characters he interacts with are also intriguing. Be it Onishi and the ruthless Organo, the Raccan, a gang of youths only interested in causing turf wars, The Union, a group of anti-Texhnolyzation advocates, a mysterious kind of folk from “the Surface” and an underlying theme of a mysterious chosen girl named Ran and the meaning of “the City.”
The alliances and enemies that are formed and appear across the series are all unexpected and change to story more times than you could ever imagine; from the beginning of the story, you will likely never be able to guess who meets their end, when and how it happens, and more importantly, the ending is just a possibility you would have never considered.
Regarding production, the animation is capable and the action is always entertaining, especially when huge brawls, shootouts and street fights break out. Sound is almost non-existent in the series apart from dialogue. A lot of the series is dialogue and discussion, apart from the first episode, and there is a lot of intelligent theory and conspiring going on. It’s a real treat for someone who wants a balance of action, grit and intelligence.
Now to bring up the dub; the show was licensed by Geneon, not unlike Lain. The production studio, however, is much different. Instead of the ever-classic ZRO Limit Productions, we’ve got a different range of actors from the unrecognizable to the extremely familiar. All-in-all, I’d declare the dub to be one of Geneon’s higher-tier productions. The actors are fittingly dramatic, and edgy when necessary.
Ichise is voiced by an awesome guy named Justin Gross, who can play a totally badass brooding role not unlike what he did for Ryu Hayabusa from Ninja Gaiden. Patrick Seitz, that lovable guy, is giving his talented voice to Onishi in probably one of the best acts I’ve ever heard; it’s almost worth watching Texhnolyze just to hear him at work. Slightly gruff, very wise. We’ve even got Sam Regal as an enigmatic man named Yoshii, who has an amazing range of tones that fit the character’s constantly changing place in the story perfectly. Many new or not quite as famous actors and actresses such as Victoria Harwood (as Eriko Kaneda, or rather, “Doc”) are getting a place in the spotlight and simply MUST do more. The dub is pretty much unforgettable, which is a great benefit due to all the new talent. The dub may be old (dating back to 2004) but a lot of the “new” members have yet to continue dubbing which is disappointing, but there’s always room in the future.
In the end, Texhnolyze is simply intrigue. It has action, edgy storytelling and intelligent dialogue, and even a bit of trippiness to keep things distracting from the dark future it presents. Before moving onto your next Gundam series or going back and watching Lain a second time to see if you can actually understand it, give Texhnolyze a watch and you’ll happily feel just a bit more seasoned as an anime fan and walk out after witnessing an amazing production, as well.
For those who live for comparisons, it’s surprisingly more fitting to compare Texhnolyze to Wolf’s Rain, rather than the also-sci-fi Serial Experiments Lain. However, in the same case, Texhnolyze does everything better. Wolf’s Rain was extremely reminiscent of an old cartoon named The Legend of White Fang, except it successfully violated my childhood memories by having the wolves go for the jugular of every antagonist that appears. With a strong cast of characters, it easily could scar children for life when they see their most beloved character go down in a pool of their own blood; I suppose this is why we have ratings.
Then, a sci-fi background element with a post-apocalyptic nature is introduced and the story quickly became something that felt like the writers just wanted to end it without too many casualties (figuratively, I mean. Literally, that would be the complete opposite of the story itself!)
Texhnolyze successfully kicks off with a post-apocalyptic theme, deteriorating the impact of the theme as the issues of the cast are brought to the front line; it’s a skillful progression since almost every character brings something unique to the table, and you can’t possibly guess at it all from first impressions. The cast is too rough around the edges to truly love, but admiration’s always a good word. In due time, everything fits into place in a way that will keep you intrigued, yet satisfied, with enough obvious imagery to let you truly appreciate the writing. It’s hard to recommend it to someone who actually liked the ending of Wolf’s Rain, as Texhnolyze will feel almost identical, but instead of a cluster of complicated themes chained together by deus ex machina mixed in with fuzzy animals committing murder, you get intelligent, level story progression with partial cyborgs and masters of brutality.
No matter the outcome, you’ll have to at least grant the series a “Wow” before the final credits roll.