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Texhnolyze Your Thoughts... Spoilers




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joel_s95387



Joined: 29 Jun 2005
Posts: 1804
Location: California... The Village Hidden In The Porn
PostPosted: Mon Jul 03, 2006 3:57 am Reply with quote
So I finally got a chance to watch all the episodes in 4 nights straight, and I have to admit it was a much different experience than when I had seen it before.

I really love the intro song because I feel it´s something that most anime lack, songs that can appeal to people who don´t like more traditional japanese anime intro songs. I´m glad I bought the combo pack from Rightstuf a while back, although I like the short version of the intro better. I didn´t bother listening to the outro for all 22 episodes. What were your thoughts on the intro or/outro?

Scattered Spoilers I don´t want to just make small spoiler sections, or put a spoiler on the whole post so read at your own risk, I wouldn´t reccomend reading if you haven´t seen the series. I just added spoilers to the title.

So I really liked how the first couple of episodes began. It´s one of those few anime where I wasn´t bored during the intro episodes. Everyone got a turn in the spotlight and in some way revolved around our ¨hero¨ Ichise. Yoshii was one of my favorite characters because his motives were not made known until mid-series. The way he started the spectacle was just awesome. The part where the den blew up was unexpected, and beautifully executed.

I´m still a little unclear on why exactly the video would become grainy, which I know was on purpose, during some of the scenes, but I thought it was cool because I just figured it was a way to show us ¨their¨ perspective. I was also unsure of who and where Yoshii´s friend came from, the one who ends up finishing him off.

Just when I started to understand the series and I knew the name of the gangs involved, it takes a weird twist. The class comes out and I had no idea where the hell it was headed now. Even worst when they actually end up making it to the world above. I admit I watched most of the episodes really late at night, so some things might be even more unclear because I was probably falling asleep in-between.

What happened to Ran was really weird and I was a bit confused about the ending. Was it another ¨everybody dies because you´re future can´t be changed¨? He did die... right?

So what did you think of the series?
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RDespair



Joined: 24 Apr 2006
Posts: 245
Location: California
PostPosted: Mon Jul 03, 2006 11:26 am Reply with quote
I only saw the first DVD and it, well, rather surprised me. I expected it to be along the lines of Serial Experiments Lain but Texhnolyze was vastly more graphic than Lain to the point where I wasn't enjoying it. This surprised me because if I remember correctly, the ratings on the DVDs for the two series were about the same (I think Lain was 15+ & Texhnolyze was 16+); I'm glad to see that in the database here that Lain is rated as a Teen and Texhnolyze is rated as a Mature.

The series looked interesting (although slow paced); I think if the gore and the sex weren't above my limits, I would have enjoyed it.
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posah-tai-vo



Joined: 11 Jun 2003
Posts: 9
Location: The playground of my mind....
PostPosted: Mon Jul 03, 2006 11:49 am Reply with quote
Quote:
I´m still a little unclear on why exactly the video would become grainy, which I know was on purpose, during some of the scenes
I am not so sure it was all intentional. I had a real quality problem with disc 5. graininess, washed out color, and it made my DVD player keep freezing up. Disc 6 was not much better. I returned disc 5 to where I bought it, and they gave me a new one, and it was exactly the same. Other than that, it was a really good series. Watch the out-takes on the extras, some of them are hilarious! Smile
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joel_s95387



Joined: 29 Jun 2005
Posts: 1804
Location: California... The Village Hidden In The Porn
PostPosted: Mon Jul 03, 2006 4:05 pm Reply with quote
posah-tai-vo wrote:
Quote:
I´m still a little unclear on why exactly the video would become grainy, which I know was on purpose, during some of the scenes
I am not so sure it was all intentional. I had a real quality problem with disc 5. graininess, washed out color, and it made my DVD player keep freezing up. Disc 6 was not much better. I returned disc 5 to where I bought it, and they gave me a new one, and it was exactly the same. Other than that, it was a really good series. Watch the out-takes on the extras, some of them are hilarious! Smile

I´m not a big fan of outtakes so I just skipped them. I checked them out on one disc and just sighed and moved on to the next volume and juse continued the series.

As for the graininess and the twitching, I´m almost positive it was intentional. My disc 5 didn´t have any problems playing, it didn´t freeze up or anything.
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Vortextk



Joined: 10 Jan 2006
Posts: 892
Location: Orlando, Fl
PostPosted: Mon Jul 03, 2006 11:31 pm Reply with quote
I didn't understand the beginning, at first, or the ending, at all. Not really anyway.

I was under the impression the show had more action than actually had so that threw me for a little bit. Especially considering the first 2 episodes? Or atleast 1, words aren't even said. Like the same problems I had with Eva, especially since I just said that in another topic, the resolution with the show is too much about the characters. I still felt left in the dark about a lot of the happenings of the world and the mysteries in the show, and that kind of annoys me.

I liked it...I guess...until it finally concluded and I didn't know what to think.
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Kagemusha



Joined: 20 Feb 2004
Posts: 2783
Location: Boston
PostPosted: Tue Jul 04, 2006 1:21 am Reply with quote
Texhnolyze is one of my favorite series. It's really refreshing to see an anime that's actually unique and challenging and doesn't dumb-down the story even at the cost of some people "not getting it." The ending certianly is a bit difficult for most people, and I probobly don't understand every aspect of what the show's staff was trying to say, but here's my loose interpritation (spoilers obviously)-
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spoiler[Yes, Ichise dies at the end. I suppose you could argue that he survived, but that serves no purpose since mankind's time is over. The people on the surface have clearly given up on attempting to live and evolve, and are only mimicking their previous lives until they die out (you could interprit that the surface world literally is hades and those people are actually ghosts). Underground, the leader of the class (forgot his name) has wiped out any sign of resistance and his technolyzed soldiers are truely evolving into the next form of life, something that Doc attempted to accomplish. Their growing roots and "becoming one with the earth" may seem bizarre, but they are truely evolving. Unlike humans, these beings will not die out, but they will also live a life that we can't comprehend; passive and plant-like. Eventually they could lose all freewill; or on the other hand, accend to a state of being beyond free will. In any case, they will inherit the world. Doc was right when she said that texhnolyzation is the next form of human evolution, he she was doomed to fail simply because Ichise was TOO human. His will would not allow him to evolve into such a form, and therefore he was the last human being.
Ran's character and her purpose in the story is pretty ambiguous, and I'm sure people have many diffrent interpritations. I believe she was meant to represent the mythological aspect of human nature. Whether it be a god, many gods or something else entirely, humans throughout history have been drawn to the idea that there is a higher being. In the desolate and fatalistic world of Texhnolyze, I believe Ran represents this. She is able to see the folly of man and yet can do nothing to prevent their eventual fall. She is the only thing that keeps Ichise (who seems to be the raw embodiment of human survival) going, just as mythology gave purpose to the lives of humans across history.]

I'm a little short on time right now, but I've got alot more I can write about the series (in particular Onishi's place), so I'll get to that at a later time.
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The Naked Beast



Joined: 26 Jun 2006
Posts: 1028
Location: A Blue Planet
PostPosted: Thu Jul 06, 2006 4:22 pm Reply with quote
I have recently finished the series and now scratching my head. The ending was very ambiguous and I had no idea what happened. The opening is very interesting with the industrial and techno mix. I really did not give the ending a chance so I can not say anything about it.

Here is what I think of the series. Ichise is a survivor. It is sort of "survival of the fittest" to some extent as he struggles throughout the series to survive. spoiler[Since his right arm and left leg were severed, this puts him in a tough situation. However he does whatever it takes to struggle which leads him to his discovery by Doc. At first, he rejects he newly Texhnolyzed limbs but finally accepts that he needs them.

All this time, Ichise has been fighting. But for what does he fight? Ichise fights to survive but he wants more out of it. Eventaully he joins up with Onishi and the Organo. At that point, Ichise has sort of found some meaning in his life. He goes on a few jobs here an there and has the occasional bodyguard duty.

After Kano and the Class decide to come show themselves, all hell breaks loose. Eventually the leaders of the Organo, Racan, and Union, all die supposedly never fulfilling their personal beliefs. Ichise finds Kano with Ran's head on a mannequin or something. Kano spouts out some long monologue, that I have no idea what is happening. Ichise kills Kano, puts Ran's body down a cliff or something, then crawls to some random spot only to die. ]


Thinking back on all that time, Ichise wanted more out of life. His constant struggle will only let him live so long. I think he represents humanity endless struggle for survival. spoiler[In the end, Ichise dies. To me I guess he can not go on anymore. It probably represents humanity. In the end, we all die. Everything we do is a constant struggle to go on living as we try to accomplish something meaningful in our short lives. ]

I guess that is my take on life. I could be wrong but this thought provoking series has a lot of symbolism in it. I enjoyed it even though it was weird to see grainy scenes near the end. I still am trying to figure out what happened in the end and would like to hear more from everyone.


Last edited by The Naked Beast on Sun Jul 09, 2006 5:15 pm; edited 1 time in total
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Kagemusha



Joined: 20 Feb 2004
Posts: 2783
Location: Boston
PostPosted: Sun Jul 09, 2006 1:36 am Reply with quote
Good take on Ichise's character. I think he's the most facinating character in the series despite his overall lack of important dialouge. His inability to communicate through conventional makes to viewer interpret much of his emotions and goals. When we meet him, he's quite literally a wild dog: a man lacking basic human warmth, able to interact only on a primal, violent level. His grueling trial in the initial episodes should have killed him. Like Naked Beast said, his raw instinct helped him to survive, but it was Ran who truly saved him, as I said in my previous post. Ichise could be seen as mankind in it rawest form: constantly struggling not only survival, but for meaning. It's this universal, almost elemental purpose that makes his character accesable to me, more so than ones like Onishi or Shinji who have more complex personalities.
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Kruszer



Joined: 19 Nov 2004
Posts: 7994
Location: Minnesota, USA
PostPosted: Sun Jul 09, 2006 4:55 am Reply with quote
It was an interesting series and had some good characters with an entertaining storyline but it's not really all that clear with it's message. The last episodes are highly trippy as well. Having watched the whole thing twice I still don't know what to make of the ending. I rated it as Decent seeing as how I didn't exactly like it or dislike it, though I would have prefered it if it made a little more sense and spoiler[didn't kill off all of humanity at the end.]
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DKL



Joined: 08 May 2005
Posts: 1962
Location: California, USA
PostPosted: Sun Jul 09, 2006 5:08 pm Reply with quote
I didn't read through (don't have the time)

but I was wondering if people had some answers for these few things:

spoiler[What the hell is Yoshii equipped with if it's not Texhnolyze? (it sort of resembles that thing on that guy's legs near the end of the series)

Also, when Ichise went off to kill Tsujinaka (the old blad dude), he was actually fooled by Kohakura (the guy who hangs around Touyama a lot), right?

I mean, to reinforce that idea of "you'll destroy everything," because... with Tsujinaka's disappearance, the organization got real weak and The Class was able to take over...]


but yeah, I'm assuming this is how it worked, but for the most part, I'm stuck here

Also, I sort of agree that it's (Texhnolyze) not as clear as it should be... I mean, a lot of the details, I felt, were communicated a little too silently than need be... but I dunno, it might be part of that really cool atmosphere the series has, so it might've been necessary
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