Anna Daniels
Texhnolyze isn’t just very different from the rest of the anime on this list, it’s very different, period. The cyberpunk setting and exploration of humankind’s increasingly intimate relationship with technology are nothing new, but Texhnolyze ramps the nihilism up to all new levels. This original anime unfolds in Lux, an underground city torn apart by warring factions. We see this grim, violent world through the eyes of Ichise, a former orphan who turns to prizefighting for survival. After crossing a dangerous promoter, Ichise loses a leg and an arm, making him the perfect test subject. His limbs are replaced with advanced “texhnolyzed” prosthetics and he falls in league with Organo, a shady conglomerate with ties to the Lux underworld.
What makes Texhnolyze so unique is that nothing good happens to anyone over the course of 22 visually impressive, but highly depressing episodes. The show is uncompromisingly dark, forcing viewers to ask existential questions that they might not like the answers to. Given how the story ends (it’s not exactly a happily ever after scenario), it’s quite clear that writer Chiaki J. Konaka (Serial Experiments Lain) doesn’t hold high hopes for the future of humankind. Texhnolyze is pretty light on dialogue (it resists the urge to bog the narrative down with overly complex world building and philosophical monologues like most anime of this nature), but it’s a very heavy show. This one will leave you feeling more hopeless than heartbroken.
Written by: Looper
