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Texhnolyze is the dark process where humans and machines have
started to merge. In the buried city of Lux life is an endless
nightmare. Entropy has gone mad and both the city and its
people are in a slow state of decay. What little there is
in the way of power and control is wielded by the various
feuding mafia clans. Lux is the city where the frightening
present clashes with an even more frightening future...
Well,
we're off on volume four of Texhnolyze (2003), directed
by Hiroshi Hamasaki from Madhouse Productions and another
four incomprehensible rouges (episodes) to watch, stretching
from episode thirteen to sixteen. At times this show appears
to be more about style than content; however, there is always
something intriguing going on to drag your attention back.
It
remains a dark and dystopian tale of people who are unsettled
and unsure about the technological changes that are happening
in their world. Though the show features plenty of violence
it's really about more philosophical choices faced by people
in a time of change. Change brings anxiety and there's plenty
of that, in the city, to go around. The show has an overall
dreamlike quality; it's like voyeuristically peeking into
someone else's dark subconscious. I've not seen the end of
the series but I'm pretty sure at this point that the makers
are letting their Freudian slip show.
With
the events set in place by the stranger in Volume
3
things are starting to fall apart for the Organo clan, as
they start to turn against each other, a violent feud erupts.
In
Vista, Ichise and Oonishi are off to Gabe as Oonishi wants
do consult one of the elders. Well, this was another weird
episode. Ichise is confronted by Ran who tells him that before
the end he will destroy everything and end his days alone.
One of the Organo turns traitor and tries to kill them both.
Nothing really much happens in the episode but it's very heavy
with exposition from the Elder, which kind of drops a clue
that you should really be listening to what he is saying as
he's obviously laying out how the series ends.
In Rejection Ichise returns to the city haunted by
the seer's look into his future. Meanwhile the Doc has spotted
some guys loading spare mechanical parts on a truck, does
this have anything to do with the wave of murders across the
city? When Ichise goes to see her to get his hand fixed she
enigmatically mentions that he is the most advanced human
being and that when 'they' see him they will know what to
do with their technology. Doc attempts to with leave the city
with Ichise, but is thwarted and she is attacked and all her
research data is lost. So, what does the Doc really know?
Whatever it is she seems to know as much as Ran, but as they
both insist in speaking in riddles, and Ichise never gets
around to asking anyone what the hell they are talking about,
your guess is as good as mine - though I do have a theory
where this is going. I was looking at the character design
more closely and for a show that seems to have cost so much
a lot of the faces have a distinct lack of features like when
you see someone out of the corner of your eye or in a dream.
Given the clues one wonders how much of this is really happening.
Shapes
and things are going all spiritual. Members of the various
mafia families have started to disappear; word is they were
taken by a ghost. When they reappear they have been changed.
Suspicion falls on a member of The Class, a suspicion that
appears to be realised when someone turns up and immobilises
Oonishi texhnolyze. This is a particularly bloody affair with
a level of violence that would make a Tarentino film blush.
There's more strange happenings and more people speaking in
riddles.
So,
we're on the last episode of Volume Four of this weird
and wonderful show. Strain, and another citizen of
Gabe is killed. With
Ran unable to shoulder the responsibility that comes with
being the seer, the locals are getting restless. The Class
enact a coup and finally take over the running of the city
with their new robots - the Shapes. Without spoiling it for
you, this episode has the best ending so far which just leaves
you panting for more.
Although
visually the disc is fine, the audio options are nothing to
write home about. Just an English and Japanese, with subtitles,
stereo track. On the extras you get the Alternative Dialogue
Outtakes, wherein the English dub actors have some fun
by putting their own warped take of some of the scenes. Some
are very funny and none are less than amusing. Other than
that there is only a bunch of trailers and the DVD credits.
The
series remains thought provoking and visually impressive.
Maybe the unending darkness that surrounds both the city and
its people may not be to everyone's tastes, but there's no
denying that this is anime at an adult level.
Charles
Packer
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