Texhnolyze Volume 2

A bleak yet beautiful series, Texhnolyze is every bit as hard boiled and gritty as you should expect from glancing at the moody artwork and grotesque futuristic imagery.
This is a wonderfully chilling look at mankind reaching his lowest ebb; people who have somehow lost their spark and become utterly disenchanted by the apathy of modern life.

The first volume was an experimental and visual extravaganza, snubbing modern story telling techniques by starving us of character dialogue- allowing the downbeat mood and gritty setting to grasp our full attention.
Ichise’s desperate struggle from near-death was a raw emotional experience and revealed more about his hard-headed personality than any amount of dialogue could hope to achieve. He is a man who wants nothing but to live on his own terms, to be free to do as he feels. Compared to the limp, soulless characters surrounding him, Ichise is a rare chink of bright light.

Texhnolyze #2 concludes Ichise’s personal rebirth but introduces the brutal animalistic tension that has left the underground dystopia of Lukuss on the verge of blood thirsty chaos. Instigating it all is Yoshii, the plain looking stranger from the world above ground who has suddenly revealed himself as a cold and manipulative anarchist; his chilling “everyman” appearance and soft voice disguising a grotesque thirst for violence and destruction.
His fascination in the human properties of Lukuss revealing as much about the distant world he has journeyed from as the primitive society that has cropped up in this forgotten underground city.

Thoughtful Yakuza-boss Onishi and his organised thugs are fighting a losing battle as they attempt to stifle what will inevitably become an all out war between the desperate extremists and gangs of Lukuss. A few well placed bombs by Yoshii pushes tensions to boiling point, with his tactics to engineer hatred tricking rival gangs into retaliating against each other with escalating force.

I’m in love with the surreal visual feast offered up by Texhnolyze; the decaying buildings and cold mechanical designs giving the story such a bleak authentic mood. You don’t simply watch Texhnolyze, you feel it; every step Ichise takes is as thickly claustrophobic as the next, every step a confirmation of impending doom. The city of Lukuss is beyond a simple setting for the story; it’s a character of its own- every grimy wall and crumbling concrete brick a poetic testament to a life that’s nigh on extinction.

The sparse electronic soundtrack matches the eclectic futuristic mood perfectly, confirming the soulless industrial nightmare posed by Texhnolyze; if it is a resignation of hope, it is a poignant tone to leave us on. Amidst the mayhem and tearless grief, this soundtrack is a source of rousing energy and compelling emotion, allowing us to feel there is perhaps hope in the peoples of Lukuss after all.

In Summary

Texhnolyze isn’t as interested in telling a story as placing ideas and questions in the viewers mind. The moody artwork and cold animation is so attractive yet utterly devoid of hope that the bleak tone of Texhnolyze will scare many away but dare to persevere and you will gradually feel yourself sucked into the gritty hell hole of Lukuss.