Texhnolyze Vol-1: Inhuhmane & Beautiful (2003)
Animation Production: Madhouse
Released by: Geneon Entertainment
Running Time: 100 Minutes
By Jeffrey Couto

Introduction

Sometimes the best stories are those were few words are uttered and the world and character's actions are our storytellers.

Texhnolyze is by far one of the most original and intriguing pieces of anime work that I have come accross in some time. While the themes and overall execution are of a very dark and sometimes disturbing nature I could not help but become glued to the TV as each story unfolded. There are so many layers to everything that we see and the realization of the presentation (which is close to being visually poetic in places) that you would be hard-pressed to not get sucked right into it.

Join the JH spelunkers as we travel deep into the underground world of Lukuss and take a closer look at this amazing show.

Story

"This violent, moody tale is presented through similarly fragmented collages of images, but with minimal dialogue: 11 minutes elapse before anyone speaks in the first episode. Ichise is a muscular young fighter in the gritty distopia of Lukuss, which is ruled by the Mafia-like Organo. When Ichise crosses an Organo boss, thugs hack off an arm and a leg, leaving him for dead. He survives through sheer willpower and receives powerful cybernetic limbs through the Texhnolyze technology his parents helped develop. His fate is somehow linked to Ran, a psychic girl who lives in the subterranean realm of Gabe with her grandfather, the Sage, and to Yoshii, a visitor from Lukuss."-- DVD Box Description

Review

Volume one of Texhnolyze contains the first four episodes in the series, which include:

Episode 1: Stranger
A brutal fight between two young men is taking place as several spectators cheer the competitors and their violent attempts to take each other out. By the end of the match Ichise stands victorious, but something about his victory or perhaps this way of life has left him in a state of deep thought. Later, during an amorous rendezvous he strikes a woman associated with the top gang in town to prevent her from injuring his eye. This brings about a very gory payback for Ishise that will cost him an arm and a leg…

Meanwhile a mysterious man wearing a strange orange outfit has made his way to this underground city of Lukuss and is soon met by Ran, a young girl who wears a cat’s mask over her real face. She takes Yoshii, the outside world visitor, to meet with an elder man who may be able to help him. Who is this traveler and why has he chosen to come down to this forsaken hell hole?

Episode 2: Forfeiture
The mysterious visitor from above helps the elder man survive a surprise attack by a small number of assailants and as his thanks for his efforts the old man offers to have Ran escort Yoshii to the city. Ichise struggles to survive after losing one his arm and leg to one of the local mafia groups. Close to death he may still have a chance at survival yet…

Episode 3: Texhnophile
Ichise wakes up in a medical facility and is surprised to see that a blonde woman has helped clean up his wounds. More surprising though he quickly realizes that she is providing him with Texhnolyze parts to replace his lost limbs. What does this mean and who is this woman?

Episode 4: Synapse
Ichise begins the process of having mechanical limbs attached to his body, but it doesn’t seem like is taking to the idea of them. Meanwhile two of the city’s top two gang leaders meet for an enigmatic and off-screen discussion. Is something big about to happen inside the city?

Right from the get go as the opening theme by Juno Reactor kicks in you know you’re in for something very different in the world of anime. The music with its pounding techno beat and industrial music leanings is the perfect way to enter this quietly desperate world that is desolate and forsaken. Little about this place known only as Lukuss shines forth with life as we are left to explore it with our eyes and ears, but little more as the characters go about their lives quietly.

This quietness is at first unsettling and unusual as the first ten or so minutes unfold with no dialogue to accompany what we are seeing happening. Then, even when dialogue is introduced it is very limited and used only to highlight certain plot points or occurrences. To say this is an unusual approach would be a major understatement as it shocks our mental processing systems back into shape to interpret what is happening, really making us think as an audience about the characters, the plot and every visual cues that appear onscreen if even for a second or two.

In that way Texhnolyze becomes more of a thinking man’s anime show, at least more so than your typical Mahou Shoujo or mecha-oriented series. Much of what happens is left to us to understand, process and deduce from the many clues and slight references that appear in the animation and overall flow of the story from one scene to the next. A surprisingly small amount of plot points are presented or given to us by the characters in a more traditional fashion so the program quickly becomes an exercise in attention and complete focus on the story.

Thankfully the show’s producers and animators saw fit to putting a compelling world full of rich and detailed imagery that brings to life this corrupted city in which the characters find themselves living. In a way they succeed in making Lukuss as much of a character as the human protagonists and infuse it with personality and a presence that goes beyond mere background art.

The characters for the most part act appropriately and fit in well within the constraints of the show’s concept. Ichise who is treated as the series' protagonist is kept secluded from us in a sense and we don’t get too learn too much about him explicitly, but a lot of his information can be deduced from several flashbacks and hints we are given throughout each of these first four episodes. Yoshii, our visitor from the surface world, like Ichise, is also kept at a distance from the audience, even more so than the show’s protagonist. In fact all of the characters we meet are in one way or the other maintained as enigmatic figures for the duration of this DVD adding to the allure and mystery of Texhnolyze.

Strictly speaking from a production end this show is amazingly well put together, albeit it does go into a much darker artistic direction than I typically enjoy, with many dark grey colors used atop the animation to produce a particular atmospheric feel/look. The animation flows nicely and several visual effects are put to good use and as a way to add to the feel of the program. The character designs are particularly unique in that they are more realistically drawn than your typical anime fare.

The background music is as good a fit as the show’s producers probably hoped for with many atmospheric pieces that feel as mysterious as the story and characters themselves. The opening song is dance worthy and the closing theme is a surprisingly mellow and slower in pace than everything else that was recorded for the show making it seem out of place. The little voice acting that is employed comes across quite nicely with acting that fits the onscreen personas of the actors perfectly.

On the DVD front this one is another nice little package from Geneon. Included with this particular box was a limited edition 3D Lenticular Onsert, which is basically a color hologram card of the box’s front cover. In addition the DVD also includes an interview segment with Yoshitoshi Abe and Yasuyuki Ueda on how the show came to be, as well as dialogue outtakes and previews for other releases from the company. The video and audio transfer for this DVD were excellent and aside from some spots where it’s hard to tell what’s happening (because its too dark) I have no complaints.

Final Thoughts

To think that what appears to be so simple and straightforward on the surface is of such a complex and thought-inducing nature. I wasn’t sure on what this show would be about, but in a million years I could have never envisioned anything remotely like this. What a nice surprise it was!

After watching the first disc in the series I can’t wait to see the next one and in fact I already have the second volume on hand so I’ll be visiting the world of Lukuss in the next day or two in order to learn more about the internal war that seems to be brewing within all the different gangs in town. I have a feeling that there is much more to it though.

This one is extremely recommended to all anime fans, just keep in mind that some of the visuals are rather graphic and violent in nature.

Jeffrey Couto