Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today we return to a series I actually haven’t touched for several years now, at an oddly appropriate moment. With Hiroshi Hamasaki’s adaptation of Blade of the Immortal currently demonstrating the unique range and appeal of his style, today we look back at Texhnolyze, one of the shows that initially solidified his aesthetic and built his reputation.

Many elements of Hamasaki’s style have remained consistent over the years, from his clear fondness for light saturation, to his love of layouts that act more as hyper-focused tonal signifiers than coherent scene-setting. His stories are always drenched in an oppressive white light, and his regular use of uncomfortably extreme closeups and symbolism give his shows a sense of disorientation and alienation, as well as the sense that there’s some greater conspiracy or logic at work. Some works are perfectly suited to this style, while others are not; he was the ideal choice to direct Steins;gate, but a very weird one for a show like Orange. As it turns out, Texhnolyze might be the most resoundingly “Hamasaki-esque” show of all time, and its first three episodes have let him utterly indulge in his love of slow-burning, aesthetically driven theater.

To be honest, Texhnolyze’s visual style has been stronger than its narrative so far. The story being very slowly revealed here seems like a pretty familiar tale of future-tinted gang violence, with the ultimate question of “what do you become when you rebuild your body with mechanical parts” striking me as extremely quaint in 2019. But Texhnolyze is more a mood piece than a thematic treatise, and it is a goddamn effective mood piece. Let’s see what awaits in episode four!

Episode 4

Oh right, this was animated by Madhouse. A different era for them, when they had their hands in all sorts of prestige productions. It’s been unfortunate to watch them decline, but I’ve seen enough studios rise and fall at this point to understand it’s a natural process; and great creators will always congregate to create great work

We open on more shots of decay, as Kazuho trudges down a decrepit alley

Shots of the human hand’s skeletal structure, contrasted against the new CG version. The CG unfortunately doesn’t hold up, but basically none of the CG from this era of anime does

I like how the framing here gives the wires of this new arm a sort of organic quality, like flowing hair or something. It’s an effective way to convey the intended ambiguity of this moment, where your mind’s understanding of “I am moving my arm” contradicts the visual discordance of seeing the robotic limb move

“Synapse”

Right, I forgot this show had a smoldering country soundtrack. Of course it does – though this is technically a science fiction narrative, in terms of pacing and structure, it’s far more like a classic western. The punished man with no name, wandering through a desolate world defined by unseen powers and old grudges

Kazuho wanders past destroyed windows displays, the damage dealt to the mannequins once again emphasizing artificiality and the brittleness of our bodies

One thing this show unintentionally demonstrates is that understanding symbolism doesn’t require learning some specific code – symbolism is just images that reoccur, and to which you can assign some meaning based on their locations of reappearance. In Tehxnolyze’s case, the imagery is so loud and consistent that it’s kind of unavoidable

Love this overhead shot of him wandering down the alley

A woman missing an arm passes by. “Incomplete” bodies are inescapable in this world

And his thoughts turn to the girl in the mask

The scientist explains her philosophy. Before her arrival, the focus in texhnolyzed limb design was to create limbs that mirrored the feeling of organic limbs. But the scientist considered that a meaningless task, and has instead focused on simply improving the power of the new limbs. Why be bound by our assumptions of how our bodies should work?

I feel it’s going to be a persistent disconnect in my reaction to this show that my feelings on that question are “yeah, obviously, why is this even a question.” The show seems to have more misgivings regarding transhumanism than I can muster

Kazuho learns that Lukuss is controlled by the Organo. Glad he’s catching up with us

Yoshitoshi ABe’s character designs look so convincingly mundane. His style kind of reminds me of Satoshi Kon’s designs

The Organo leader resting on his couch. I like the ambiguity of the light, synthesized soundtrack here – it’s as if these are the sounds of his own mechanical body working, resounding in his head

It’s frankly amazing to me that this show got approved in any way. The pitch might as well be “a show about the tactile sensation of existing within a human body”

The scientist explains that a human host receives the texhnolyze unit’s information through the eye sensor. A smart piece of worldbuilding that echoes this show’s visual obsession with eyes – the “window to the soul,” but also the centerpiece of robotic replacement

Apparently the boxer’s father was Raffia, a man deeply involved in the development of the texhnolyzation process. Hence “cattle will never receive the benefits of Raffia” from last episode

The scientist’s movement over the boxer and talk of “informed consent” emphasize the idea that her actions are a kind of personal invasion

And he asks probably the best question he could: “why are you doing all of this for me?”

Kazuho names the Organa man – Mr. Onishi. How long the show withheld that name seems appropriate, given this show’s thoughts on the preciousness of identity

More great use of light and shadow for Onishi’s entrance into this dark warehouse

“Watch carefully what’s being done to you.” More language of invasion from the scientist

Onishi has walked into a Salvation Union meeting

All these shots focusing on the boxer’s eye. I imagine it’ll be actively replaced by the end of this process; it feels like the final, horrible act of invasion this episode is building up to

Kazuho continues to break down Lukuss society. Society is segmented in the clearest possible way here – there’s the general underclass, and then “the Class,” who live on “the Hill”

The boxer’s nerves are being connected with the machine, paying off the visual setup of those hanging wires from before. Texhnolyze’s “foreshadowing” and rising tension often comes less in overt narrative terms, and more in terms of repeated images that only later reveal their significance

Some dickweeds stole Kazuho’s bag

Oh my god, I love this shot of Onishi standing beneath a broken overpass. The pure, simple geometry of Hamasaki’s incredibly saturated, almost black-and-white style results in such a beautiful composition

The boxer’s arm is attached, and the scientist once again drinks wine that looks like blood. This show is many things, but subtle is not one of them

Incidentally, the fact that I’m occasionally pushing back against this show’s use of symbolism or implied thematic perspective shouldn’t be considered a major dig against the show – in fact, it’s only because this show is operating on a cohesive, purposeful level of aesthetic and thematic clarity that I can even critique it on those grounds in the first place. This show is smart and cohesive enough to actually be offering a conversation, rather than the straightforward “be entertained” of most shows, and that means I can actually engage with its conversation, rather than simply answer “is it successful in being entertaining.” I would happily watch far more profoundly creative and thematically motivated but potentially messy shows like this

Kazuho runs into Ran again, just before being held up with his own gun

Kazuho’s mechanical limbs allow him to outmaneuver these thugs, prompting their leader Shinji to emerge and apologize. Apparently he’s from another gang, Kazan

The boxer awakens, and is furious. He seems barely in control of his new limbs

And so the boxer runs off again, and at last comes across Ran himself

And Done

Welp, Texhnolyze continues to be as cryptic and fascinating as ever! I’m frankly quite happy to have switched from episode articles to notes on this project, simply because each Texhnolyze episode paints such a fragmentary, incomplete picture that it’s almost impossible to spin them into a coherent article. That’s not to say the show itself is confused in any way – on the contrary, it seems to have an incredibly firm grasp on what it is and what it is about, with its unity of narrative and visual intent consistently stunning me. I also feel genuinely invested in all three of our apparent protagonists now, with the boxer, Kazuho, and Orsini’s journeys all offering their own unique hooks. Texhnolyze has always proceeded at its own pace, but at this point, I’m eager to see where its journey leads.

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