Forum - View topicANN Book Club: Texhnolyze.
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Aromatic Grass
 Posts: 2424 Location: Raleigh, NC |
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Texhnolyze【téknolàiz】
Okay, folks. Let's get started! 
As the final Book Club series discussion (for a while), I'd like to say thanks to all of those who are still willing to participate in these threads. Especially because Texhnolyze is such a heavily depressing series, yet also uplifting in some ways, so it may be a little harder to watch and is certainly not as popular as the last three: Haibane Renmei, Kino's Journey, and Serial Experiments Lain. Not to mention this is the first series we'll be discussing that is longer than 13 episodes. All I hope for is that this thread keeps itself running with as much participation as possible. Also, I apologize to all those who have been waiting for this thread for a very long time now. It was meant to be posted before the end of August, preferably before the final week of the month. But things never go as planned. Same rules apply. 1) You may skip ahead of schedule, but please do not discuss episodes ahead of time. All participants are to discuss the episodes listed for the given week ONLY. Slight foreshadowing is allowed, but absolutely NO SPOILERS. 2) Don't be afraid to speak up about anything and everything you notice in the show, so as long as you find it interesting or meaningful. Your opinions and participation will make this thread memorable and hopefully give rise to more series discussions like this one, so everyone is encouraged to speak their mind. Ask questions if necessary. Also, it is recommended by HellKorn that all viewers watch the interview with Yoshitoshi ABe and Yasuyuki Ueda on volume one before starting the series. This will help establish a good mind-set to have beforehand, which newcomers like me will need. There will be also couple of times when I will ask everyone to not read the thread before watching a specific set of episodes so as not to spoil anything, so please be on the lookout for a warning or two. I might as well go ahead an say that all newcomers should never read any of the posts pertaining to the current week's episodes. And that's it... 
Thanks, everyone! INDEX September 02–08 discussion (episodes 1-2) September 09–15 discussion (episodes 3-4) September 16–22 discussion (episodes 5-7) September 23–29 discussion (episodes 8-10) September 30–06 discussion (episodes 11-13) October 07–13 discussion (episodes 14-16) **random hiatus** November 25–10 discussion (episodes 17-19) December 11+ discussion (episodes 20-22 + final thoughts) Last edited by Aromatic Grass on Thu Dec 11, 2008 8:22 pm; edited 9 times in total |
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Aromatic Grass
Posts: 2424 Location: Raleigh, NC |
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The schedule for September 2-8 is as follows:
Episodes 1-2: "Stranger" & "Forfeiture." Remember, before watching these two episodes, everyone should check out the interview on the first disc. You might as well begin that now before the official episode discussion starts tomorrow. (I'm gonna go ahead and do that today and hopefully make some more comments later on.) Anyway, have fun with this. And happy discussing! |
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rainbowcourage
 Posts: 1216 Location: what is commonly known as "hell week" |
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excellent I've been waiting for this one! I got about 10 episodes into this series and I just haven't been able to get through it, so this thread should help. Count me in once we reach episode 11 or so. Really, I think it was the abstractness as well as the lack of dialogue that was killing me.
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RangFlash
Posts: 24 |
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Episode 1: Wow, I kinda like the intro. It's nice to hear techno one in a while instead of J-pop. I love the way the anime is directed. Very original, and not too much dialog. I noticed the visuals look almost black and white at times. Probably inspired by Raging Bull. I like the acoustic guitar music.
Slow-moving episode, but that's what I like for a beginning episode. It helps introduce things to me. However, the narration was a bit confusing to me, because it jumped around a lot without any warning. I don't what the anime is about yet. |
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angel_lover
 Posts: 645 Location: UK |
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Episode 1: Well, I actually never got further than episode 1. I guess it's like someone who loves The Firebird (Lain) and Petruschka (Haibane Renmei), but who just can't get their head (or ears) around Le Sacre du Printemps. Maybe it's something to do with eyeballs...
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Jedi General
 Posts: 2485 Location: Tucson, AZ |
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I'm currently 14 episodes into Texhnolyze (and I absolutely love it), but I'm certainly going to check out that interview. I think I may even start over so I can watch the series along with everyone else. I've had the series on hold for so long while waiting for this thread, that starting over will help me remember all that happens during those episodes (which is quite a lot). |
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JacobC
ANN Past Staff
 Posts: 3728 Location: SoCal |
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Well, I don't know about everyone else, but that interview told me to expect a lot of style and not much depth, actually.
Weird. It also said that, like Lain, this is not a particularly overtly symbolic series and furthermore, multiple interpretations can and should be gleaned. So...I may not be all that useful. That "entirely subjective" thing kills me. Still, I don't digest arthouse-style stuff all that much, so this is a nice change of pace. On the long list of nominations for the book club thread, I was least impressed by this one, but once I see more of it, eh, I may change my mind. Anyway...comments on Episode 1: Ah-HEH-ah-HUH-ah-HEEEEEH-ah-HUUUUUH-AGH-AGH-AGH-AH-HEEEEEH-ah-GGGGGGGHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAUGH! Yeah, so that's all I got from the lead character in that episode.  Well, there was a wicked cool OP...
Episode 2: Clearly Ichise (got the name right, I hope?) would be a dead man without some very tight twine. Seriously, you can NOT lose that much blood and survive. The tourniquet probably barely held him together. That aside, I find it interesting that his punishment from the yakuza, harsh as it was, squarely fit his crime. Did anyone else notice this? He slapped their prized whore with his right arm when she made advances on him. Therefore, they cut off his right arm. For as much still doesn't make sense to me in this show, that rang pretty true. The yakuza are true gangsters in that they are deadly, organized by twisted (but rational to them) rules that govern everyone below them. Or should I say everyone up above? There appears to be a resistance to whatever Al-Capone-esque totalitarianism exists in the city far below ground, in this Lux place, or was it Nage? Something. I'm still pretty confused, but I know that Ran is a valuable asset to whatever underground respite hides out from the Alliance of Yakuza up top. No, who Ichise is and why he was had to sleep with the whore to get his money is ANYBODY'S guess. Why he rejected her may be obvious. I wouldn't sleep with someone who tried to put their fake fingernails in my eye socket. He's a boxer. From above. That's all we know. That, and the blonde woman looks to be having mercy on him and will probably give him a texhnolyzation...whether he wants one or not. On a side note, guys, I will be rejuvenating the Haibane Renmei and Kino's Journey threads for thoughts on ANY part of the series for a while. I'll share my own ruminations and try to give the poor dead threads some closure. I didn't mean to neglect them, mind you, it's just that my internet was GONE for two weeks, and THEN I started college. Whew. Too busy to rewatch things and write ruminations! After talk from the end of Haibane and Kino ends (if it ever starts) I figured I'd scratch the nominations process (if anyone had a burning desire to start a book club on those series on the list, they can do it, absolutely) and move on to two more series that I can do in-depth threads on WITHOUT having to constantly rewatch the shows because I don't want time to catch up with me again and disable me from sharing my thoughts on stuff. So, I'm doing threads on two series I have seen backwards and forwards dozens of times: This will be in about two weeks, mind you, but I will be doing Book Club threads on Paranoia Agent and Wolf's Rain. 
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rainbowcourage
Posts: 1216 Location: what is commonly known as "hell week" |
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I'm thinking maybe she wasn't a whore, and maybe she paid the syndicate to "use" him. Or they owed her a favor or something. I'm really happy to see you participating JesuOtaku. You always have such good insights...I feel like you're a teacher or something with all that analysis, esp. those questions you posed for the guide for Kino's Journey though I unfortunately didn't have time to participate in that thread. |
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JacobC
ANN Past Staff
Posts: 3728 Location: SoCal |
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Why, thank you! I put a lot of effort in!
And, yeah, she probably wasn't REALLY a whore, but I didn't know who or what she was, so I referred to her by how she dressed. That is a good point that she may be above the influence of the syndicate, though. We'll probably see her again.
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aya_honda
 Posts: 920 Location: Around here |
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Aha!!!!! So this is how the name is pronounced. Not that the spelling is easy either.  Ignorant me!
I, just like JesuOtaku, didn't think that this was my cup of tea, starting with the topic and then continuing even with the very slow paced action. However since I have been able to read Blame! which is so slow paced that sometimes there was no dialogue for pages at a time, I thought that I should give this a try and this is why I was happy when Aromatic Grass decided to make this new thread based on this series. I have decided to have no expectations from this series and just enjoy one epsiode at a time. (in our case two episodes). Episode 1 JesuOtaku wrote:
Ok, I got a little more then this from the episode. The first thing that came into my attention was the importance of sound. I mean, the smallest moves and actions that are done in the show have their particular sound which resounds very much in my ear. It caught my attention even though at the time there was my noisy sister in my room. Then I watched it again and this time with headphones, the sensation became even more intense. Even though there is little dialogue, almost none, the sound made it very lively to me. For instance when the water is dripping or when the man (I think it's Yoshii) makes the food and boils something: everything has an unique sound and this is what I loved a lot about it. It was also difficult to grasp at the beginning what is happening (by the way, I have watched the interview just as we have been instructed ) but towards the end of the episode I was already holding tightly the pillow and wondering what is going to happen. The final scene when they get our character and cut his hand has been quite gripping for me, especially because of the lack of the sound. Ichise's sounds are harsher and hoarse but they aren't what we usually have (I actually expected that scream to come - and when it didn't, it shoked me even more). By this time I was alreay wishing to see the second episode.
Of course, the first episode is also the type of episode which either encourages or discourages people to watch this show. If you're not the type to enjoy the slow-paced action and even the lack of dialogue on quite big parts of the show, then this series isn't for you. Episode 2 The second episode comes to complete the first one when it shows what happens next to Ichise, our hero or anti-hero and picks up the action a little more with the old man and the young girl (Foxy - as I nicknamed her since she likes to wear that mask). I may be under the wrong impression here but I actully thought that the men would stop there with the chopping and that they would only cut Ichise's arm and that was it. And I had the strong impression that hadn't he dared to go over to that woman, the cutting of his leg (which to me seemed even more horrid) wouldn't have happend. Still from the bottom of my heart, as feminist as I may be, I really hoped he would punch that woman when he dashed towards her. But I don't think he succeeded since they decided to cut his leg too. JesuOtaku wrote:
Honestl, I thought that he would die and alhough I have the unique ability to plunge in the universe of the anime that I am watching, I didn't contain myself and I had to ask whether he truly would have survived with that wounds and lose all the blood and still be able to go and crawl, fall, walk, fall, walk again. But I think that his strong will to live is underlined here. When that man came (forgot whether he has a name or not  ) and wanted to shoot him, he told him that living is a matter of choice under any circumstance. This is what I see in Ichise's ardent desire to walk, to do something ... anything except to stay there and face death by losing blood. In spite of the fact that not many things are said about him and the action in only these two episodes doesn't encourage you very much, I actually liked Ichise and felt sorry for him (but I would have probably felt sorry for any human despicted in such a situation  ). However from this episode the guitar solo at some point stuck into my mind; the music in this series intensifies the action and what is going on even more.
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BrothersElric
 Posts: 1996 |
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Heh heh, yeah, I've been pronouncing it the wrong way myself.  Funny how online only conversations do that to you........ 
Anyways, sorry if I'm a little late to the party here, I didn't think I was going to be able to be online very much at all yesterday but when I figured I probably could have anyways, my dang internet/cable all of a sudden stopped working on me!!!!  (and on Labor day of all the days for it to go down too, so I won't even be able to get it fixed until latter today..... heaven bless the school computers to allow me to be on now! ) So yeah, I'll have to watch the interview sometime today and the actual episodes latter this week, though I have no clue when.......
In any case, I've been interested in this series for a while now myself. Originally I wasn't sure whether or not I was ever going to watch it but then HK mentioned it in the Ghost Hound thread so I'm mostly just watching out of curiosity at this point. The only thing that had me a little skeptical going into it is some of the things I hear about how depressing it is. I mean I'm not saying that I only like series that have entirely happy, uplifing endings or whatnot, I'm just saying that sad things such as characters being killed off or whatever else sad could possibly happen in the end can happen, just as long as there's something positive and uplifting coming out of it in the end, like a self sacrifice that saves everybody for example, or for example in Wolf's Rain, where spoiler[even though everyone died and the world died in the end, it all lead towards the main goal being accomplished in the end as well, with Darcia being thwarted and the world being reborn as paradise.] So I guess we'll see what rout this series takes, but that is the one skeptical thought I have going into this series, as to whether or not it'll be TOO depressing. I'm also worried a little bit about what aya_honda and JO have been saying about the very nature of the series. I mean lack of dialog and being really slow paced I have no problems with, it's more in the sense of trying to make sense of how hard it'll be for me to understand this friggin thing, which from what I've heard is even harder to understand than Lain was....... but then again I guess that's what this thread is for, right? It also sounds like this series will have more graphic content in it than I'd prefer as well, however I do hear it isn't like, on the level of Berserk or Elfen Lied or anything like that, so I may be able to handle it more than I think.
So yeah, I guess we'll just see how this turns out. Only one way to tell whether or not I'll like it, right?
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aya_honda
Posts: 920 Location: Around here |
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Ok, one: I may actually be the one who gets the things in a slower pace (trust me I do that many times) and maybe this series isn't that hard to get (I am trying to reassure you and myself at this point ). I think the different way of telling the story is the key and makes a different note from other series. Also the pace is slow, indeed, but then in the second episode the action really intensifies itself and it goes at a much rapid step. I think it really depends on what the creators wanted to focus on that particular episode and what they tried to make out of it. The violence isn't so 'violent' (pardon my French). I have seen worse but then again I have seen only the two first epsiodes because I don't want to cheat and I want to watch them together with the rest of the people interested in this series. But honestly, I can't have a definite opinion on the series yet, but I really want to watch it and see what happens next. So please, just watch it and make your own opnion; I wouldn't like to be the cause of your giving up on this series or not enjoying it too much because of what I said. Who knows? Maybe you will find it even more interesting than me! (See what you have done? You made me panic!  )
BrothersElric wrote:
Really, sometimes I am amazed at my ignorance when I read some of the posts here. Still so much to learn. It never ends. 
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rainbowcourage
Posts: 1216 Location: what is commonly known as "hell week" |
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hey, I'm not here for pure entertainment value. It's like some classic literature-- you may not love it but you can learn to appreciate it and glean value and lessons from it. That's why I'm going to finish Texhnolyze.
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Aromatic Grass
Posts: 2424 Location: Raleigh, NC |
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Wow, what a great way to start. The first two episodes felt perfect together, because there's no way I would've let it sit with just the first one. And the last scene of episode two was quite a cliffhanger for me!
I'm confident that I'm really going to like Texhnolyze.
Good news! I also need to revive my Lain thread, which has also been sitting around for a week or two. (Here's to hoping that some of those other posters there will finish the darn series and discuss!) But, yeah, I can totally relate to the college thing. Actually, I'm more productive at school; it just takes me a while to get started and I'll be postin' all over the place here within a few weeks. Right now I can only manage one thing at a time, that being this thread.
I think those are good choices, especially Wolf's Rain. Also, I'm glad to hear that you're working on more discussion threads, as I didn't want this one to be the only Book Club thread hanging around for a while.
Definitely. That's almost all we had to rely on during most of the first episode besides the short, frequently switching scenes. Which isn't a bad thing; we got a pretty good idea of the kind of world these people live in – "grimy," as ABe said. Uninviting and unforgiving.
Gah, it drove me crazy that the episode ended here. That was brilliant! But yes, I was also surprised by the lack of "natural" sound coming from Ichise. At the very beginning and throughout most of the first episode he was like an emotionless robot. And at other times, like in the beginning when he was boxing and at the end when he was defending himself from the yakuza, he seemed more like an animal. So I'm getting the impression that he was made to seem unhuman to the viewers, at least for now. Or at least the world he lives in has made him this way.
I'm guessing that the yakuza would have either ended it with the arm if he hadn't attempted to attack that woman, or they would have killed him completely if Onishi hadn't shown up. From the sounds of it, these guys are really itching for some action. I guess that's why we were shown those many scenes of people killing each other during episode two. And I forgot what those two guys in the market area were talking about, but I'm pretty sure it had something do with all these yakuza fights. For a second there, I was wondering why so many people seemed to have texhnolyzed parts. But I oh so wish Ichise would've punched that woman in the face on his way down, too. By the way, the girl's name is Ran. That way you don't have to call her "Foxy" all the time.
This was very well said, at least I think so. That Ichise's strong will to live is what kept him from dying is probably going to be emphasized many times in the future. Which makes me think of him as a strong character, but at other times it seemed as though he was ready to give up. One scene that especially stuck out to me was when Ichise saw (imagined) the stairs, which would look short from our point of view, stretch out as though walking up them would be like walking to his death. This was also emphasized because of the shining golden quality of the stairs as he saw himself (with both arms and legs) walking up past his real self, like an important part of him died. And for a second there, I thought he really had died because of the look on his face when that woman doctor found him. (What an interesting smile she wore. I guess she's going to have fun playing around with him.)
Aw, c'mon, guys! It's always been right there by the "TEXHNOLYZE" just waiting to be acknowledged. Even so, you can always look it up.
You heard that? I heard Texhnolyze was more straightforward. But anyway, yeah, you shouldn't have too much to worry about thanks to this thread. What you may have trouble with is just the heavy emotional aspects of the series rather than trying to understand it. Either way, it doesn't bother me cause I'll watch anything and be fine even if I'm emotionally scarred in the end or have no idea what happened.
The graphic content isn't too bad, although this is just from my point of view. As you may have guessed, and assuming you've watched the interview by the time you read this, the series has quite a bit to do with losing one's limbs, so there's only so much that can be done with that. |
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doug19992000
 Posts: 81 Location: Philadelphia, PA |
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I remember the first time I watched this show; everything seemed to go by so fast in the first several episodes I had a hard time figuring what was going on. However, once I got settled in I started to get a better grasp of what was going on. When I went through my second-run of this series that is when the first few episodes slowed down for me.
I must be sick or something because for some reason I found the part where Ichise had his arm cut off to be funny. I think it must have something to do with his facial expression. Not sure if anybody noticed this, but when Ichise was having sex (or about to anyways) with that woman was she wearing a neck brace? |
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