Hello everyone, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today I am eager to return to a long-dormant property, as we at last continue our journey through Texhnolyze. Fortunately, Texhnolyze isn’t the toughest show to catch up on: in fact, it’s basically an exercise in dramatic minimalism, possessing a scant handful of characters, and generally focusing more on director Hiroshi Hamasaki’s stifling atmosphere than overt narrative progression. We have the boxer Ichise, we have Kazuho, and we have Orsini, but more important than any of them is this oppressive world they inhabit, this bleak expanse of ominous shadows and overbearing sunlight.
In this saturated alien landscape, consistent themes are beginning to emerge. Chiaki J. Konaka is clearly fascinated by the advent of transhumanism, but seems skeptical regarding the “legitimacy” of artificial bodies. His doubts are realized through the ambiguous perspective of the Raffia surgeon, as well as the anxieties of groups like the Salvation Union. Meanwhile, Orsini’s criminal dealings emphasize the unequal distribution any such gifts would be subject to in our own world; even if whole replacement bodies can be acquired, such rebirths would only be available to the upper classes, here literally defined as “the Class” from “the Hill.”
As a representative of Organo, the criminal organization secretly running our city Lukuss, Orsini possesses the unique capacity to travel between class lines, existing in both the upper and lower societies. But Orsini is no savior; he’s a criminal and a company man, with his proud amorality standing as one of the most interesting things about him. If anyone is going to challenge this system, I’d bet it’s the mysterious Ran – but with her motives as unclear as anyone’s, it seems more likely she’s just trying to survive. This is a world of scroungers, not saviors, and it feels all the more convincing for it. Let’s return to Texhnolyze!
Episode 5
Ah, early ‘00s anime. There’s a specific type of goth-adjacent cool that was all the rage in anime back then, and considering that period served as both my adolescence and my first introduction to anime, I’ve got a lot of nostalgia wrapped up in that aesthetic. Basically everything Yoshitoshi ABe was involved with exemplified that aesthetic, along with lesser-known shows like Witch Hunter Robin. The style probably reached both its apotheosis and nadir in Death Note, which fused these aesthetics with Tetsuro Araki’s bombastic directorial style to create something a lot louder and stupider
It also seems like the better examples of these shows were genuinely aimed at “young adults” specifically, and not a general adolescent audience. Serial Experiments Lain doesn’t make any efforts to make itself palatable to young children craving continuous excitement, which feels like a rarer thing these days. Perhaps something to do with the relative newness of the late-night anime block system, when the various broadcast networks were still working out the kinks regarding expected content, and so there was more room for blocks aimed at wider audiences. Sort of like how noitaminA has slowly abandoned its adult-oriented mantra over the years
“Loiter”
An amusing trick used to convey “restless energy” or “pandemonium” as we drop in at some music club, with the camera rapidly panning across dutch angled compositions to evoke a sense of movement and disorientation. It doesn’t really work, but I appreciate the effort
At the bar, Kazuho seems to be scouting out some kind of a deal
Our first jump outside offers a reminder of this show’s delightfully stark environmental compositions. The bar is a black tombstone rising above the gray of the sky, festooned with loose wires and hemmed in by the refuse of the city. Even shots aimed at the sky are made to feel cramped through the foreground obstructions
On the roof, Kazuho meets up with the mysterious deal-maker from the club
“Sure, you can.” A loaded phrasing. They could have chosen any phrase in the world to signal these two’s intent to have sex, but “sure, you can” centers the act on a framing of permission versus invasion. It’s not that transhumanism is inherently suspect here; it’s that all bodily exchanges are “transactions,” everything framed in a language of ownership
The stranger appears to be a member of the Salvation Union, and states the woman is free to do whatever she wishes, like all of them
“True freedom can’t lean on anything. It’s transient, lonely, and arduous.” Interesting words from Kazuho, implying that freedom is impossible within any sort of larger group structure. I’d be curious if he includes technology and artificial bodies as something that you “can’t lean on”
“You just said you don’t belong to anything, but that’s a lie. You belong to this city. Without a doubt, so does your freedom.” Kazuho only seems to see himself as free, the one man who’s wandered beyond the city limits
Meanwhile, the doctor is demanding Orsini find the escaped Ichise
Always love the symmetrical shots of Orsini’s impossibly huge room. It feels a bit like a modernist art invention, both in its failure to obey linear perspective, and its intent to imply visually the power Orsini possesses metaphorically
And Ichise is off stumbling down stairs again, with Ran quietly watching him
Ichise attempts to smash his robotic hand, but it is only his human hand that takes damage. The “invading” form is already more resilient than the original
Kazuho seems to be looking for a specific kind of brothel. Seems like he’s actually just looking for a specific sort of interview subject
The men who tormented Ichise in the first place find him again, and dump him in a sewer. I frankly don’t understand what this show has been doing with Ichise so far; aside from his transformation, he’s literally spent four episodes dragging his body uncomfortably through back alleys, accomplishing nothing in the process. I accepted it as a sort of tone-setting exercise the first time around, but it’s hard to feel like it’s serving much dramatic or aesthetic purpose at this point
Yep, as expected, Kazuho’s just using this woman to get a better grasp of city power and politics. As the two of them speak of their desire for freedom, the visual composition hems them in from above, trapping them in a visual square of the city’s limits
This woman’s body was deliberately scarred by her pimp. Once again, sexuality is explicitly tied to invasion or violence in this world; everything seems to accept an inherent valorization of “bodily purity,” which contrasts uneasily with the production’s depictions of transhumanism. I’m still unsure whether it’s Konaka himself who finds body modification offensive in some way, or simply the attitudes of the characters
“Don’t let it bother you. It’s just a part of my body.” This scene seems to imply the story’s more keen-eyed characters can look beyond that prejudice, as Kazuho bonds with this woman over their similarly modified bodies. So it’s more that certain powerful people like that doctor have made a fetish of their own innovations, treating the bodies of others more as canvasses for their glory than treasured possessions of their actual owners. That fits with the invasion language – the key is not that you refuse to modify your body, but that the ways you modify your body are pursued willingly, with full consent of all parties
Meanwhile, Ichise is still wandering in the sewers. His portion of this narrative feels kinda like a Tsutomu Nihei manga; the “story” is told through the environments he traverses, not his own actions
Yeah, I suppose he could serve as “the body” to Kazuho’s “the mind,” each struggling with their own interpretation of the same prison. An interesting choice
And Kazuho shoots down the abusive pimp. His bullets are muffled by the roar of the train, tethering this act of violence to the idea of escape from the city
“Half-measures won’t do.” It seems he actually killed the prostitute, as well!? What is your game, Kazuho?!
And finally, Ran helps Ichise escape, guiding him with a trail of flowers
And Done
Well, that sure was some Texhnolyze. The show remains as proudly unapproachable as ever, but Kazuho’s actions this episode did provide us some intriguing new details regarding his mission, along with some clarification regarding this overall world’s thematic structure. In many ways, this is a show about different forms of entrapment: the body as a cage, the mind as a cage, and the city of Lukuss as an external cage for all of its inhabitants. The Salvation Union seeks freedom through community, but Kazuho seems to believe true freedom can only exist alone – and furthermore, that those who cannot claim freedom might be better off dead altogether. He has positioned himself as something like a messiah figure for Lukuss, and I am eager to see how his story dovetails with Ichise’s genuine death and reincarnation.
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