Search - Texhnolyze - Death & Serenity (Vol. 6) on DVD

Indeed it does need intepretation. Now quit bitching.

Amanda | Kentucky | 05/25/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I followed Texhnolyze through it's fansubs, waited patiently for each DVD to come out.
You don't have to sit and ponder, look hard and deep to find a meaning in Texhnolyze. It hits you right in the face from the beginning.
There are some people out there that society likes to forget. Likes to shove to the backburners and ignore. In this tale, they are a whole race of people - the people of the underground city of Lux.
And even within them, sides are chosen. You're either in or your out. Ichise is one of these outcasts and he lives by what he knows. The only thing he knows - his strength, his brute force.
This point is particularly brought out in one of the last episodes, when Ichise makes the decision to protect Ran. He's come to feel something for the girl and, perhaps, in a way she reminds him of the mother he could never save. So he goes to offer the only thing he's sure of having - his body. That's always been his bargaining chip, always been what everyone wanted.
Anger, rage and fighting. Though are all Ichise knows. How do you expect him to act any less animalistic than the animal this society made him become? It's clear through most of the show that he doesn't know how to react to people.
Likewise, it's the same old sort of theme out of many a popular sci-fi movie - man bringing about an end to his own world. Ichise inadvertantly is thrust into all of this by his texhnolyze, Ran is thrust by her visions and everyone else by some intricate connection. But eventually, Lux collapses because of technology, the classic warning given in so many Apocalypse movies.

Not each episode requires such in-depth searches for meaning. It all fits into the grandier scheme and message of the series itself. This series, as a whole, is a very good series. It does require connecting together pieces and keeping larger themes in mind, as well as a little psychology but what good series /doesn't/?"

Raw and Depressing

A. Tsai | Yorba Linda, CA USA | 02/24/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Is this series depressing or what? This final dvd for Texhnolyzed shows more of the madness generated by the wild beast that is potentially brewing within all humankind. The human world was divided into the peace loving populace and those with more of a propensity towards violence, who were banished to the underground world of Lukuss. A scenario of what may happen to the world under such policies is illustrated. If non-traditional, Nihilistic story lines and raw animated expressions are what you're looking for, pick up this series.


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WELCOME TO MAD CITY

Sesho | Pasadena, TX USA | 10/15/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This beautiful but at times unsatisfying show finally comes to a conclusion that most people will find depressing and hopeless, much like Wolf's Rain. Ichise's journey to the surface world to warn them of an impending attack seems pointless when most of the people have evolved into ghost-like wraiths that only live on memories of their past lives. He decides to return to Lukuss for the sake of Ran, the seer that has watched over him for much of the show. Onishi meanwhile looks for answers in the voice of the City that has always spoken to him about his best course of action. If the city cannot be saved and brought back by from its madness, then mankind itself might become extinct!

Texhnolyze, like a fine work of art, enlightens and frightens, by showing the dangers of tying man's evolution to technology instead of evolving spiritually. The show is beautiful and sublime but does not conform to the "Hollywood" model of having a happy ending. Some issues are too big to be decided by cookie-cutters. We're dealing with tragedy here in which even if the characters knew the answers to ending the crises, they wouldn't have the power to implement them. Such is life. Great show if a tad disappointing."

As I lay dying

John Ronald | Sugar Land, Texas | 10/01/2008

(4 out of 5 stars)

"With this volume, the series ends. It could easily have been titled "As I lay dying", in English, given the way the series ends. To those of you surprised by the ending, really, did you imagine there could be a good ending to all of this? What I find most interesting is that it is the UN-modified "Salvation Union" inhabitants of Lux (Lux is Latin for "Light", by the way) end up being the most monstrous beings of all.

The ending is about as happy as the end in GILGAMESH, if you're familiar with that anime.

Ichise is indeed fairly stupid, unreflective, animalistic and violent. His only emotional growth comes from Doc's compassion for him, his acceptance of his new limbs, Onishi's grudging respect for him as a warrior, learning to forgive his late father, and his developing feelings of affection and concern for Ran, the only other human being Ichise ever learns to care about, albeit too late to be of any help. Ichise's eventual reconciliation with the Organo (they being the entity that cut his limbs off to begin with) is interesting, though he joins them mainly because he doesn't know where else to go. Ichise learns to respect the more intelligent/wise of the "godfathers" of the Organo.
If you listen carefully, you'll note one of the voice actors of the godfathers also supplied the voice of the OSS Colonel in the original Medal of Honor first-person shooter game on Playstation.

I found Onishi to be an admirable character and an honorable leader, despite being a Yakuza-like crime boss. He tries to hold his organization and the city together in the face of a direct assault by The Class. Conservative? Some things are worth trying to conserve. None of the other "pretenders" to the Organo leadership can hold a candle to Onishi's integrity.

Yoshii, from the surface world, is also ultimately a tragic figure, as we learn in this final volume. His "ghost" still inhabits the surface world, and we can see why he fled that lifeless realm to Lux to experience the full vitality of life, even as a bomb throwing anarchist/agent provocateur..."better to burn out than fade away", go out with a bang not a whimper. He disrupts the uneasy peace between the Organo, the Salvation Union, and the Racan, and the tensions cause the organizations to collapse from within, weakening their collective strength before the onslaught of The Class. All three factions do unite to put up a heroic resistance to The Class, but eventually they fail. In the ensuing madness, Kano sabotages the Obelisk, so that nothing remains but Kano and the murderous remnants of the mob-like Salvation Union. Ichise is indeed alone in the end, the last genuine, sane human being, despite his texhnolyzed limbs.

Still, if we recall one of the sages of Gabe, cities fall, are overcome, and those who overcome the cities are themselves overcome, and the city begins anew....this has happened 6 times already. So there is faint hope that the mobs of the Salvation Union will eventually lose their bloodlust and set themselves to the task of rebuilding, yet again, this time without "The Class" to guide them. It reminds me of The Matrix Trilogy, where the Architect informs Neo that Zion has fallen and been rebuilt multiple times already. Ichise is likely mortally wounded, and has only the memories of Ran to comfort him, he will not live to see the future. The series is a meditation on the failure of technology to civilize and uplift the human condition, and the misguided human hope that it ever could. There will be no technological salvation, but salvation of the human condition is more than just chanting slogans and eschewing high tech a la the so-called "Salvation Union".

The animation is very well done, quite beautiful. I have to wonder if the opening sequences later inspired the opening sequences of ERGO PROXY, as it reminds me of that. I was able to watch the entire series on rental DVDs, but I'm not sure I would buy the boxed set to this series or not.
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