Congratulations for reaching 1K subs! I absolutely loved how well edited and thought-provoking this video is. You have managed to piece together so many important scenes and dialogues that went over most viewer's head, including me. This was truely an eye opening video for me. Oh and thanks for the shoutout (´･ω･`)
The beginning showing Ichise wander around, trying to fit himself through metal bars but unable to, him limping around ramps and stairs.... There is something so primal and true about that imagery on a metaphorical level. A man searching endlessly, a dog wandering in search of anything to add to his survival, a speechless being in search of words. Texhnolyze hits me hard.
Nice analysis! I love how many subtleties and secrets there're in this show. The shot at 6:55 is a good example: Ichise is kneeling in front of the white flowers that've been following him throughout the show (Ran used them - like breadcrumbs in a fairy tale - to guide him out of the sewers); however, since Ichise has now been accepted into the Organo, domesticated, and tamed - so are the flowers also. They are no longer wild in the streets, like him, but cultivated and grown. Prisoners under an artifical sun: that is also the entirety of Lux. The last thing Ichise sees before he dies is a vision of the pure flower that has grown inside him throughout his journey. It's definitely a story of transformation, and I like to think that Ichise goes from being something like a stray dog (as a boxer), to a housepet (as a henchman under the Organo), then finally a wolf, himself. Maybe Ran saw that, too - which would explain her faith and support.
To me it looked like that the vial that had the remains of his mother, but maybe it was a flower. I thought maybe doc added that to comfort Ichise in his dying moments.
im so glad people are still discussing and making content about this anime. one thing i dont see brought up very often is how Ichise was able to regain control of his tex limbs even after the obelisk stopped functioning.. im not sure what to make of it, was it doc's progress in the technology? did she really find the answer to that at least? or is more to do with ichise willpower?
Doc kept talking about how Ichise was her masterpiece. I can't help but think it was in relation to how hard Ichise wanted to continue living despite his suffering.
I know its a late reply, but i believe it has to do with doc cells that she implanted on ichises limbs. We see how she uses her dna to work and access stuff in her lab, so maybe due to having doc's cells his texhnolyzed limbs probably connected to her laboratory(i might be wrong though, its been a while since i have seen the show).
Thank you. Freesia is one of my favorite manga so it's always been an idea in the back of my head. I may do a video on it in the future, upon a reread. - fuchsiafree
Kudos to tackling a show like this as it's my favourite among all the ABe-related anime, and it's really hard to write about in any cohesive way. There's points of this analysis that I agree with but I'll say that there are a few big issues I've got with it. 2:25, 3:34, I don't think you could in any way say that Ran is employing Ichise as a 'partner' for her end goals, or to say that she's interested in him specifically because he has a special ability to save Lux because he really doesn't. You quote Ueda's NewType interview in the opening of your video, but that same article is very clear about what Ran sees in Ichise. He's not simply a tool or 'proxy' for her, but somebody she came to care for deeply, knowing full well how difficult his life has been and his insistence to fight on regardless. There might not be any weepy bleeding heart anime melodrama dialogue laying it out, but their similarities are clear enough. In fact, the reason Ichise and Ran have the relationship that they do is because both of them HAVE been treated as tools or objects by the communities and environments they're attached to. Their relationship is one of the few built upon genuine empathy, which makes both of their endings so much more tragic. So while it's certainly true that Ichise gives Ran hope that the future can indeed be changed for the better, I see none of this manifesting in a way she can actually use to her advantage, the way she can with Onishi (as the voice of the city) and Yoshii. A particularly fatalistic interpretation of the series would pin the failure of Yoshii and the eventual extinction of humanity on Ran's choice to take pity on Ichise and guide him out of the sewers, as it IS Ichise who dispatches Yoshii in the end, setting the stage for Ran losing all hope and attempting to withdraw from the city's affairs. 4:06 Again, I'd argue strongly against her "enlisting" the help of Ichise as she never truly does. There's a reason she's waiting for Yoshii at the bottom of the stairwell to Lux in the very first episode, why she agrees not to reveal his future, and essentially keeps his actions and movements hidden from Onishi through almost the entirety of his failed plot. If there's any character from the beginning of the series (apart from Kano, if you believe his rambling in the final episode) with the potential to break the status quo in Lux, it's Yoshii, which you've alluded to. Ran clearly had an interest in ensuring Yoshii was successful, and the failure of his gambit in his final episode is truly why "nothing ever changes." If she'd "chosen" Ichise for this task, she would've approached him in the very first episode, yet it takes until much later (after he's been maimed and Texhnolyzed, seemingly not long for life regardless) for her to notice him among the many people in Lux. 4:34 I feel like you've missed Yoshii's larger motivations here despite acknowledging his plan to prop Shinji up as a future leader. His "Spectacle" isn't merely to give people's lives meaning, he clearly plans to wipe out the Class, which I'm surprised hasn't been addressed in the video, nor has the role of the Class been attached to what you refer to as the Organo's imposed "feudal structure". Not even mentioning his description of the Class as "weak invalids" and his intent to draw them into open warfare with the rest of the city seems like a huge missed opportunity for any arguments about his character. The same goes for his interactions with Doc, who he hails as a "goddess who mechanizes human beings", and later expresses his own urge to be Texhnolyzed. Yoshii wants violent, open rebellion against an Organo/Class-led order because he's fully aware that this arrangement will lead to extinction--this is exactly what happened to his own Theonormals (like you've said). But he's not purely altruistic with this awareness--the way he murders the prostitute he sleeps with when she reveals she doesn't want to improve herself also means that he seeks to purge all those he deems too weak to survive in his Class-less Lux. What he most likely wants is an 'evolved' generation of Texhnolyzed humans ascending to the surface and reclaiming it from the Theonormals, with Shinji leading them once Yoshii's broken the illusion of the Class's power and control over everybody else underground. I wouldn't in any circumstance call Yoshii a 'protagonist', though it's clear that under all of his sadistic smug-ness, there were legitimate reasons for his actions. 5:01 I feel like you're selling Shinji short here, as you don't address his long-held dream of joining the Class. He's not simply a hedonistic anarchist (this is later born out by characters like Hirota commenting that he's always wanted to be somebody like Onishi), and even takes steps to try to stop Yoshii's assassination of the Class dignitary. 8:05 I'm not sure if you can say the donation of Onishi's legs to Kano prompted any sort of 'recovery', as those legs were immediately (and probably cruelly) removed by Kano's doting mothers, causing him to turn to Texhnolyzation. I also think you're missing a hugely important point about Kano, which is that he, according to Doc, was deemed a heretic by the Class. To say nothing of Class royalty willingly leaving the confines of the Hill to mingle with commoners in Lux, it's his willingness to proposition one of them to go through with an archaic limb transplant (which Doc says has been long-abandoned in Lux because of the deterioration of human bodies underground), and then turn to Texhnolyzation (which the rest of the Class save for Doc, seem to abhor), that causes the rest to view Kano as a heretic. If we believe his mothers, then it's Onishi's legs that are the reason for Kano's madness. 9:27 I'm honestly puzzled where the idea that Doc is a Theonormal or is from the surface came from, even though it's been distressingly common in a lot of Texhnolyze analyses I've read/seen these days. Doc herself says that she's from the Class, lived on the Hill, but grew weary of that and chose to do her work in the city. Yoshii himself is able to deduce that she's from the Class, and we've no reason to believe he's bullshitting. Onishi cleanly lays it out to Kohakura that Doc is a woman of the Class who voluntarily left their city to work on Texhnolyzation, information which Kohakura deems useful. You can see her driving to and from the Class Hill, first to confront Kano there, then to show off her masterpiece (Ichise) to him, and she also tells Ichise before taking him to the Hill that she plans to leave Lux and return to the Class. There's literally no evidence that Doc is from the surface--if she truly was, then there would be no reason for her to be surprised and distraught about the state of its inhabitants, nor would she feel the need to argue passionately to Saginuma about the promising work she's done with Texhnolyzation. Doc is as much of a Class heretic as Kano.
Thanks for the feedback on the video, I'll address your points here: 1 and 2: I didn't really mean to phrase it as exclusively master-slave relationship and it is clear from the end of the show that their relationship was more than this, I was primarily using that bit to focus on Ichise's figure as a "dog" and trying to pin down Ran's precognition, which is shown in the first scene with Yoshii to only be showing one potential future, and in later scenes with the tribal cult, as something she isn't in full control of due to her youth. Combining these, my theory was that she saw important actors that could fight against fate for a particular future that she only saw glimpses of and her conclusion based on these glimpses led to that end of Yoshii being killed, which afterwards gave her a different vision and realization that it changed nothing, this leading to her drawing more and more away from it all out of depression and resignation unlike how she did before. What you say is also interesting, I didn't consider it because of how Ran only freaks out over Ichise's future in episode 12, two episodes after Yoshii's death. Again, my presumption here was because she just didn't see this future beforehand and she realized it had now changed for the worse. If she had seen such a future before, she likely wouldn't have had such a visceral reaction, or so my line of thought goes. Your idea that Ran followed him more out of an emotional bond is also plausible and a fair take on it, that she saw in him something she couldn't do, actively fight against fate and the structure that's enslaved him, (something I presumed she wanted to act out herself with her "important actors" that I point out) which does explain why she is disappointed by him joining Organo, which I assumed to be because him joining Organo ensures the violent death of Lux in the future. Within your idea though the episode 12 reaction can be re-contextualized as her actually realizing Ichise's future for the first time which contrasts harshly with the bond she established with him previously. 3: I just didn't directly address it, if we take Yoshii's "ubermenschen" bit further, it is obvious he would oppose the fake and shallow religious class alongside the Organo, but I targeted the Organo specifically because by doing so it also implicates a revulsion for the class, since they use Organo as a sort of proxy. I didn't go into all of that in Yoshii's broader motivations because I intended this to be a video focusing on Ichise and I already felt that the tangent I went on with Yoshii was veering a bit off course. Wiping out the class is clearly the endgoal because to oppose Organo is to oppose them due to their shared, strict Apollonian mindset, and his extreme measures naturally beget that he sees wiping out the class as a requisite to the flourishing of life. Having an evolved generation of Texhnolyzed supermen overthrowing the weak theonormal/class is textbook Nietszcehean aristocratic revolution against slave morality. 4: Not at all? I do address his dream of joining the class at 6:05 nor did I ever pin him as just a hedonistic anarchist. My description of Racan as the "anarchistic Dionysian" ideal and why this appeals to Yoshii was not out of bare hedonism but because in the Dionysian ideal you see "life in action" as I describe, and he sees Organo/Class structure as "suffocating" and will lead to extinction as you say, due to it being "boring." Shinji, in reality, doesn't perfectly embrace this ideal due to his yearning to be someone like Onishi, something Yoshii recognizes and I think is also why he wants him to be a leader, because he could synthesize both the Apollonian and Dionysian into one impulse. His relationship with Hirota over his actual girlfriend can even be seen as emblematic of his true desires rather than the pure freedom ideal he set up for himself, essentially implying that if he is the last leader left standing, it won't be as "anarchistic" as the actual ideology as Racan claims to inhabit. This is also something implicated in the fact that Shinji is depicted as certainly the leader of Racan and holds it together, while his portrayed disbelief in this idea and propping up of "true freedom" is what leads to it's eventual dissolution, as we can see in the tragedy that struck with Hal and his girlfriend. 5: I meant this more symbolically, or at least a focus on the implications for Onishi (I honestly can't remember well the details of him giving his legs to Kano and Kano's situation with it), and you even empower this point because you say that his legs could be the reason for Kano's madness, which is what creates Onishi's tragic end and the end to the order of Lux that he tried to keep under Organo, which his eventual leading of was the reasoning for selling his legs off in the first place. 6: Again, I didn't mean this literally but symbolically as the theonormal on the surface are "of her own ilk" because of the proximity of the class and them in terms of ideas. This is also why I connect her to Kano, they may both be "heretics" to the class but this is only because their ideal, one inherently borne out of the principles of that group, contrasts with the self-preservation of the class' own rule and the theonormal's will unto death. The reason Doc submits to the theonormal on the surface and lays herself out to die is because she realizes this fact, that "her own infertility is part of the broader sterility" of that collective, and her attempts to bear life out of these inherent principles will be ultimately fruitless. She uses the technologies of Lux but still holds the fundamental basis of the class/theonormal ("intelligent life"). We can see the same with Kano's ideal, as the shapes are malfunctioning and suffering from encephalopathy meaning their functioning is most likely limited both in processing and lifespan. You may compare this well to the theonormal, who were also in a slow, peaceful (slavish) process of death. There might be things that I'm missing or haven't explained well, it's been awhile since I've watched Texhnolyze. Feel free to reply as you see fit and I'll continue getting back to it. - FuchsiaFree
@@Plasmyte 1/2 I might have been a bit too forceful with my point by reducing your interpretation of it to 'master-slave' but I do think people tend to view Ran as a character who's a bit colder, more utilitarian than she actually is (granted, she does approve of Ichise brutally beating his tormentors, and you're not exactly 100% pure-hearted when you guide the actions of somebody like Onishi, and later, Yoshii). She's just a scared little girl with way too much on her shoulders at the end of the day. It's her relationship with Ichise that gives her any solace, and I think it's one of the most emotional aspects of the show even if there's not a lot of dialogue to show it. I don't think Ran collapses because she's seen his ultimate fate. I'm certain that she already knows (possibly as early as when she says "I saw it", after noticing him in Lux), and moments after Yoshii's death (the next episode, exactly), she begins avoiding Ichise, forcing him to try to track her down to ask why, and of his future ("she can see it, but she doesn't want to"). What Ran reacts so violently to is the incident in the marketplace, where Ichise's preparing to draw his sword to defend himself from her guardians. If you watch closely, the same motion he goes through to draw his sword is exactly the same as when he later murders his father's killers. pbs.twimg.com/media/Dkzt6dXW4AI0prB?format=jpg&name=large She panics because she's seeing the murder he'll soon commit. Ran tries to prevent this almost immediately by showing Ichise that his mother knew the truth, but inadvertently helps cause the murders to happen by showing the faces of the men responsible. The final scene of episode 12 where Ichise punches the shit out of his father's murderers is cross-cut with Ran looking more and more despondent as she prepares to board the train to leave Lux indefinitely (and of course, she doesn't return until much later when she bravely decides that there's no point in running away from what she's seen). It's a turning point for Ran after the failure of Yoshii's plot, cementing that no matter how hard she tries to help the situation, "nothing changes." 3 I feel like that information--particularly his desire to purge the weak in Lux--is an important detail to include since many interpretations of Texhnolyze seem to glorify Yoshii, often at the great expense of Ichise (and Ran). I don't necessarily think your video is doing this, but for how often people point out about what Yoshii was 'correct' about (i.e, the Class, his embracing of Texhnolyzation, etc.,), they tend to leave out his immense flaws (his sadistic selfishness and his utter neglect of the humanity of people he deems to be too weak to survive the 'revolution' or uprising he wants), and give his importance as a kind of ubermensch saviour undue weight, when in all honesty he's just one failure among many of the clashing philosophies/ideas in the series. Comparing that to Ichise's immense growth throughout the series, and how the show takes pains to approve of it, would be a good thing that I've really not see many analyses of TEXHNOLYZE attempt. 4 Looking over my comment again, it seems like I'd mistaken your video for a different one, as there's the other video you've recommended that gives an overview of Texhnolyze's characters and factions, and how they respond to 'existential nihilism' (though I have my own issues with the conclusions reached by that one!). That is also the video that describes Shinji as a hedonistic anarchist! I guess I mashed that comment into my original post, so my bad. In any case, I've no problems with this. It's a good breakdown. 5 What does "recovery" refer to symbolically for Kano? It just looks to be an odd choice of words. While you can kinda just view this as semantics in the grand scheme of the video, I'm also not so sure that the sale of Onishi's legs was so important an action that it basically created the series' endgame--there seem to be too many contingencies, such as Yoshii (note that, despite being present, albeit in the background and only hinted at, for the first half of the series, Kano does not at all seem to factor into the fate of Lux or Onishi), and prior choices taken by characters/factions, like the entire structure of the Class and their fixation with incestuous reproduction, their shunning of Texhnolyzation, and how this quite literally Shapes ;^) Kano's ideology moving forward (his mothers hold the most blame, really, considering how they raised him). There's also the fact that the scene of Ran giving Onishi her prophecy is directly followed by the revelation that Gabe is literally forcing her prophecy to come true by mass-producing weapons for the Class. Onishi does say he felt "coaxed" or pressured into going through with selling his legs to Kano, so I'm not really sure that he sold the legs specifically because he knew he'd be destined to lead the Organo once he went through with the transaction. I've read stuff claiming that he sold his legs as 'starter money' in the Organo but I don't remember there ever being evidence for this, other than the fact that it would make sense as conjecture. I'm also not sure I understand that "he [Onishi] never wavers and changes course to avoid such a fate." Doesn't Onishi fight tooth and nail against the Shapes, doing just about everything he can? He only really throws in the towel at the very end when all hope (ie, Ran) is lost, and chooses to face death on his own terms. 6 I wanted push back on what you say in the video about Doc and the Theonormals since I didn't end up doing that in my original comment. While I wholeheartedly agree that Doc represents an "optimistic Transhumanism", I don't see how she tries to be "controlling" about it other than how she fetishizes her work and the men she fixates on. Everything she does is meant to enrich the lives of people underground, a way of freeing them from physical restrictions. All the information we learn from Yoshii and Doc early on--that human bodies are physically degrading, and that flesh-and-blood limb transplantation are no longer suitable because of this, all point to Texhnolyzation being singularly important to humanity moving forward. What Doc tells Ichise in episode 18 is the purest form of this--she says that her work can allow physically weakening people (who are often maimed in Lux as a kind of power dynamic or social ritual) to recover some of their lost humanity and extend it in new and intimate ways. She tells him to hold her with his Texhnolyzed arm, and concludes that this is the reason for her work. You can even attribute the final scene of the series to Doc, the way Ichise's arm is able to project Ran's flower, and moments earlier, where he's able to vividly reconnect with when he gives Ran a proper burial (the scene is presented as a flashback, but the timing of it is particular, and the fact that there's so much going on in his Texhnolyzed perspective gives me the impression that it's his Texhnolyze allowing him to reach back into his memories). I think TEXHNOLYZE is emphatically supportive of Doc's perspective, and it even hearkens back to Ueda's interview, where he says the inspirational spark for the entire series was imagining how he would be driven to tears and feel humiliated if he were unable to climb a simple flight of stairs. I don't believe in any way that the situation on the surface reflects the logical conclusion of Doc's beliefs or aims ("intelligent life"), or that her mindset would inevitably lead to passive death--just look at Ichise, who, while recognizing that Texhnolyzation isn't what changed him for the better, came to accept his new limbs and moved forward, aided by them. And while there's certainly things to suggest that the surface world is more 'advanced' than Lux, it's telling that when Saginuma reveals his real body to Ichise, he's not even Texhnolyzed. In fact, earlier on he tells Doc and Ichise that they see no meaning for Texhnolyzation and haven't at all utilized the Raffia shipments to improve the lives of the Theonormals for a long time, if ever. Visually comparing their respective technologies doesn't at all favour what the Theonormals have embraced (they aren't limb replacements, but supplements that appear to be an exoskeleton or support for increasingly frail bodies) compared to even the crudest-looking Texhnolyzed limb we see in Lux. No limb function is being replaced here, as the Theonormals don't see anything worth holding on to or standing on. I would call this a fundamental division between the ideals or principles of Doc and those of the Theonormals (I don't include the Class with this, because they seem to have a very different mindset), because the Theonormals haven't even taken that first step. Doc kills herself not because the Theonormals aligned with her vision and took it to its logical endpoint (and that she apparently recognizes her infertility reflects the sterility of the surface), but because they reacted with such extreme apathy to her research and work, robbing her of any remaining purpose. And the real twist of the knife isn't just their lack of interest in her work, but the dark revelation that everything the underground exiles have toiled relentlessly and literally died for (to produce Raffia) all this time--ostensibly for the Theonormals' OWN benefit--has been reduced to a mere formality. It's by far the bleakest, most brutal gut punch the show has to offer. I have a lot more to say about Kano, but a lot of what to say is wrapped up in the relative lack of information we get about the Class, so I might write it in another comment. I haven't rewatched the series in 3 years (where the hell did all the time ago) though. (EDITS: Many, many typos)
@@omoncon3941 1/2 Your interpretation is pretty good and more systemic than my own, honestly I was never very sure of Ran in motivations and her abilities due to her being the most elusive part of the series. It's still a bit weird to me how her character shifts before and after Yoshii's death, even under your interpretation, though I like yours than the one I had. 3 True, but like I said I just didn't include in the video because I wanted to focus on Ichise who is like the "ultimate character" embodying the themes of the series, for a reason, and not Yoshii or Onishi or anyone else. 5 I meant for Onishi, my original intention was with a focus on Onishi, and Kano only in how he factors into the prophecy given to him by Ran. Calling it a recovery for Kano was incorrect of me, true, I think I just forgot about Kano's situation at the time of writing because I wasn't focused on it, and I don't think Onishi was even aware of Kano's situation after he gave him the legs until episode 18 when the mothers tell him, so it looked like a recovery to him (Shinji even remarking on this going "lol i guess you lost your limbs for nothing). I don't think it created the endgame, but the language used for such a prophecy is what makes it pertinent in it's symbolism of "being destroyed by what you lost in the past (your own legs)" or something to that extent (after all, you can't literally be killed by your own legs). You can't be destroyed by your past either, if you live in the present. I checked back on episode 13, he says to Ichise that he didn't lose his limbs like he did, and he sold them. He states that it "almost felt" like he was being coaxed into it, but it was his decision in the end, however naive. Regardless of the circumstance, Onishi does not regret losing his real legs and seems to take pride in his current ones, remarking that he hopes they "never change" when speaking to Doc and that without them, he would not be the person he is now. He says his Texhnolyzed legs were even the reason he could hear the voice of the city. They didn't make him destined to lead Organo, but they gave him an advantage in many respects, and we see his heightened combat proficiency with them early on against a Salvation Front member. I look at Onishi as that stoic samurai ideal, and in leading with this he "accepts what fate binds him to," so to speak. The prophecy he heard was essentially that he would die to the shapes/Kano, it is not that he fights against fate, but he simply does what he always does, he lives in the present. Ichise was the one that was personally affected by hearing his prophecy in the same episode, and later on he hears that monologue from the Organo elite guy in the wheelchair they were tasked to protect (forgot his name) essentially telling him to forget about it, and to live in the present, true to himself that same way. Onishi's conversation with the Gabe elder ruminates on that inevitability, how Gabe can accept such a grim fate of destruction and rebirth, and how this is rare for a person in Lux. I don't think Onishi put too much stock into the future, and I look towards that quote I put at the start of the video as the perfect way to sum up the main characters at their completion. There is also a conversation in the same episode 13 between him and another Organo member where he states that Gabe "never changes," but neither does the city either. Nothing ever changes. But this isn't quite true for Ichise, is it? He changed, but the imagery of him at the underground fight as he kills many at the last episode is also pertinent, he evolved onto himself. That was the purpose of his final speech, ("not because of this arm-- because I met you") and why he looks over to the alleyway where he scavenged for food in one of the earliest episodes. He may fight and kill for survival even now, but he has infused his actions with meaning. Another way of looking at it I've thought is that the prophecy was that it was actually still referring to Onishi's legs, and that "what you lost in the past" was referring to his decision of the transaction itself rather than Kano. He regards his Texhnolyzed legs as his "true legs" and they become emblematic of his inability to change, which is what he will be destroyed by. Essentially, his fate was to be killed because of his refusal to change (fate).
Hit a character limit so here's the rest of my response: 6 She fetishizes her work and even Ichise for a reason. She drones on about Ichise being her "masterpiece" (later also due to her emotional bond to him, but at it's origin certainly due to her seeing him as a lab rat) The imagery of her raping Ichise being similar to the woman that sleeps with him for money in episode 1 is certainly intentional. Throughout their entire first interaction, she forces Texhnolyzation upon him and makes him an unwitting test subject, manipulating him through her lie of putting his mother's matter into his limbs, which are actually her own (the subject of family is of particular importance to both Ichise and Doc with his connection to his parents and her own infertility and in many other ways, and she has a commanding, almost motherly presence to him). Sure, he was on the verge of death and this Texhnolyzation saves him, but it isn't like Doc was doing this out of her own good will here, and this can be extended to her actual goals. Isn't it curious how the "Big Three" (Yoshii, Kano, and Doc) who all believe in this grand transhumanist ideal where they can evolve humans into higher beings are essentially serving themselves the most with them? And that all three of them wanted the people of Lux to be enhanced also with the explicit purpose of moving up to the surface and reclaiming the area? Despite this, I do agree it is empathetic of her, what she is generally aiming at, and in her relationship with Ichise which he benefits from by the end, but it is clear to see the lines drawn. All of those ideas put forward by Doc to aid humans by replacing lost limbs and whatnot are all well and good, but I fail to see how we can view her as more altruistic than egoist (in episode 17 she refuses to treat injured Organo members because they'll go out and get themselves killed anyway). Your comparison of her to Ichise is very flawed, because they're completely different people by nature. Doc is a very rationalistic person, while Ichise runs off of primarily life-instinct. Doc has an overarching ideology (that when unfolded to destruction destroys her meaning of living), while Ichise, again, lives off of instinct, *within the present.* The difference in death between Doc and Ichise (along with Onishi, Yoshii, and Shinji really) is pretty stark. Sure, you could say they all accepted their deaths, but Doc explicitly committed suicide out of MEANINGLESS, while the rest ensured their death (not direct suicide either) had meaning just as their life did, something that truly defines their lives on their own terms. Their deaths are, though this would seem a paradox, life-affirming, as is the series to me. Onishi chooses his death as to stay true to his very soul, as the only way to live by that point is by changing into a shape. If Doc's suicide defined her life, then how truly pathetic her life must've been. Indeed, Doc states the intention of Texhnolyze is not for killing, but for the simple good like hugging, but intention is different from how one composes themselves contextually, and in her stating that it only really distances her in ambition from Yoshii than it does from any other, who wanted Texhnolyzation specifically for open violence. Ichise is powered by will, Doc by reason. Doc and the Theonormal both by their endpoint find no reason for life, but Ichise and the others don't ever develop a will unto death. I believe it was stated that the people of the surface threw out all of their violent and destructive elements to Lux, so as to retain their own peace, only creating their passive decline. The civilization of the surface is clearly "higher" (literally!) than Lux, their division of labor is high, they have technologies unfathomable to the conflict-ridden city (it looked like a suburban town to symbolize how boring it is rather than another urban hellhole like Lux), and they even state that they have more "dominant genes" than the denizens of Lux (eugenics policy that Lux citizens were on the worse end of?). Yoshii also specifically points out in episode 4 that he wasn't texhnolyzed (a man goes "A Texhnolyze?" to his mechanized arm to which he states "That would've been nice"), and naturally it must've been some other technology we don't know of from the surface, besides, how would he have even gotten Texhnolyzed if he was from the surface in the first place? His equipment also looks visually distinct from any Texhnolyzation we've seen as well. What you state about Doc's end is true, and my point empowers that, it adds to that twist of the knife and gut punch. If it were really as literal as you state, it wouldn't be very interesting to me personally. It doesn't address the inner mechanics of the respective character's drives nor WHY the theonormal have reached this state despite having seemingly infinite possibilities and shoring off so much to Lux. How did they reach such apathy (the same apathy of the citizens of Lux that Yoshii observes, one that they weren't always in, or else things would've died off much sooner), and how come that Lux's raffia production was REDUCED to formality? To be reduced implies that it was more than formality in the past, the theonormal were not passively waiting to die from it's origin, (Saginuma must be extremely old if this is to be believed, yet he is a mortal human, and he speaks of past events from a couple generations as if he did not see them himself, so he can't just be very elderly)there was a slow, gradual, development towards it, a metaphysical turn to death. Lux was created to mine raffia, and the fact that it's trading of raffia to the surface became mere procedure is continued proof of it invariably devolving into cold regimentation and transaction. Texhnolyzation is one technology of many, an imperfect one too, as the Salvation Front leader shows it's negative effects over-time (Doc produces an upgraded version for Ichise that doesn't show such effects, though it is also rather chained to Lux as well). To me, given all of these details, my theory is that the theonormal, one way or another, attempted to empower an evolution in humanity, and this was the end result, because this required rationalized regimentation (Yoshii and Sakimura's seemingly infinite office spaces), dystopic erasure of any criminal or violent element from it's society, and a strict labor system that "squeezed" ethos and the spontaneity of human life through their attempts to create a sort-of pacifist utopia. They relied so much on nomos (human law/reason) and created an overreliance on technology as enshrining this principle. The fact that Yoshii came out of it with a sadistic love of pure chaos and violence should stand as a testament to how truly boring this "evolution" turned out to be. The fact that Doc always fell back on nomos, enshrined her Texhnolyze experiments as the future for her ideology, and tried to neglect life and nature, or at least view it also as a transaction, is what makes her relationship to Ichise so compelling, as it is what constantly drives him unconsciously, as it should, something foreign to a mind of reason. She becomes slowly attracted to that, to Ichise, though having to put it under the masquerade of her rationalizations, and over time is driven to drink more and more to cope with all of these developments until it reaches it's conclusion, as she proclaims she's "already dead." What's interesting is that, like the other characters, she's quite actually seeing the fate of her own doctrine, and responds differently than the others. You can also see a similar line of thinking between her and Kano, the latter of which can only recognize Ichise's actions propelled by his own instincts as "insanity." It even states that the Theonormal once also had the prospect of evolving into the next generation of humans, but that "no miracle happened" that would cause this (possibly an attempt to create a master race through eugenics and genetic meddling, or maybe involving the Yoshii technology, it's unclear). Then, another hope in the Lux project to create that same generation. Both failed in the end. Why? It is not because of the progression of technology inherently, not Texhnolyze itself, that was not my intention. I state "technocratic mindset" and the "rationalized, materialistic" world of view as the main driver of it. Ichise did not "evolve" into a higher person because of his Texhnolyzation, but because of his journey as a person, his "soul-searching." You seem to agree Ichise is put above the other characters in approval, and ultimately his journey was primarily a spiritual one, no? The texhnolyzation aided him, but it wasn't an end-all be-all that many of the others worshipped it as, even if Doc's ideal was the least bad, she lacked something in the end. An overreliance on nomos, perhaps. She takes an almost Hobbesian stance towards Ichise, as if people such as him (citizens of Lux as a whole I think) are wild beasts that only require specific education (she says Ichise would be perfect if he went to school) and her Texhnolyzation to evolve, and become truly social creatures, otherwise they aren't worth life. Indeed, many of the characters have "a point" but are done in by the flaw, no, the core of their character, or their ideology. Yoshii can be said to be fell due to his ideology requiring his solitude to be everyone's enemy, Onishi due to his refusal to change, Shinji because of his contradictions and the transience of freedom, and so on. But they all go out with a smile. Kano is the one character I've put the least amount of thought into honestly, so I don't focus on him as much as how characters are related to and inform his character. I would love to hear what you have to say on him if you could humor me. Also, apologies for the late response, I was a bit busy recently and your comment was marked as spam for a bit and had to be recovered. EDIT: some clarification
@@Plasmyte Man that's a lot to respond to, no need to apologize for expanding on your thoughts! I feel like the scale of this discussion isn't something that UA-cam's shitty comment system deserves. I want to address some of your other points since I find them interesting and want to offer some food for thought. Bits about Doc: I'd go further with her 'motherly presence' because she's literally referred to as Ichise's second mother in the ep 21 narration, and early on in the series we get a very overt transition that foreshadows it before the show even develops their relationship any further. pbs.twimg.com/media/DijImdaWkAEgb4z?format=jpg&name=medium There is a lot of incestuous subtext(?) floating around in Texhnolyze, what with the Class's favoured method of reproduction, Doc and Ichise, Toyama and his dad, arguably Kano and Ran with how he obsesses over his 'dear sister', and anything else I'm missing--I suspect there's something very distinctly Japanese about the inclusion of these parts of the series, hell, I'm pretty sure the main creation myth for Japan already deals in incest. Yoshii's modifications and the Theonormals: In the past I've pointed out that Yoshii isn't Texhnolyzed in other discussions (not on YT, though!). Doesn't the fact that he claims that being Texhnolyzed "would have been nice" suggest that there is no equivalent technology aboveground? Taking that with his brief interaction with Doc (marvelling and respecting her work, calling her a "goddess who mechanizes human beings"), we get the impression that he desires what people in Lux can potentially get. His own Theonormals have apparently no access to this despite the constant shipments of Raffia, and what they (like Saginuma) have built for themselves--the aforementioned crude "orthotics" that seem to be fused into an increasingly frail body in order to sustain it physically--are utterly inferior. I think this even extends to his own body modifications, which I've figured were something he did to himself in a very DIY manner. He has the right mindset for accepting Texhnolyzed limbs, telling the whore he sleeps with to consider the modifications a part of his body, but he seems to have a certain yearning to be imbued with technology he finds far superior to his own group's. His modifications seem far less advanced, less effective and less elegant/refined than most Texhnolyze, conferring none of their benefits, like enhanced strength/speed/coordination (though Yoshii is of course able to hide a massive retractable blade within it to blindside Onishi, which I guess I should call a benefit). I can't imagine this approach was favoured by anybody other than Yoshii, who probably altered himself in anticipation of the violence he knew he'd meet and go on to enact on a wide scale in Lux. Just as a rule, I doubt the rest of the Theonormals would approve or even see a reason to go down the same path, having no illusions about what they're going to do with the rest of their lives. On Onishi: I like what you're saying here. I'm well aware of what he tells Ichise, but I guess it's just a wording thing with your initial reply indicating that he sold his legs for a specific reason--to lead the Organo ("which his eventual leading of was the reasoning for selling his legs off in the first place"). I shouldn't belabour this with more semantics. I might caution against taking interpretations that refer to the "Bushido code" or "samurai ideal" too seriously (if we're going with the "7/8 virtues" or whatever). If you look up the author of "Bushido: The Soul of Japan", Nitobe Inazo, it's apparent that everything he wrote has little historical or factual basis in Japanese history/culture, and the entirety of the book is dedicated to constructing an anachronistic and ahistorical idea of "Bushido" around completely 'Western'/European cultural facets and ideas. Like many nationalist authors in Meiji Japan, he hardly has anything meaningful to say about the historical samurai class or what their values apparently were. To be a bit crude, it is literally another Meiji-era doofus with a throbbing boner for all things Western and a throbbing boner for explaining how the Japan of the day was perfectly compatible with Western-ness, in a time where Meiji authors and statesmen felt a passionate drive to be seen as equals with Europe and the larger western world, capable of running a modern, European-style nation-state where other Asian polities had failed. While I wouldn't 100% discount the possibility that the creative staff might have been referring to this text--though the only charitable way I could view this would be as a harsh critique (Hamasaki at least engages with the Hagakure in this way when he directed Shigurui, though this was already in the source, and at the very least the Hagakure is far less of a fabrication!), I don't think that Ueda, Konaka, or even Hamasaki and ABe, would be the types to draw so heavily from a text this blindingly nationalistic and ultimately in the service of Imperial Japan--TEXHNOLYZE deserves a lot better! www.tofugu.com/japan/bushido/ www.reddit.com/r/badhistory/comments/kcbgpt/how_bushido_was_fabricated_in_the_nineteenth/ On the point about the Union, Kimata, and Texhnolyzation: It's unfortunate that we never get to spend more time with Kimata or learn more about him (though I'm sure this was partly the point), but I've recently suspected that the reason his body had such a violent reaction to his Texhnolyzed arm is that he was never able to afford the Raffia needed for his Texhnolyzation to be free of complications (refer to Doc's words about the 'black magic phase' of Texhnolyzation, and Yoshii commenting on how Raffia surpresses the human body's response to the addition of 'foreign material/substances'). We don't have too much evidence to prove the theory completely, but contextual details, like the fact that the Union headquarters are situated in the poorer, industrial area of Lux, and that Onishi, when confronting his Salvation Union asasilants outside his home, makes the bold claim that Kimata cares not about the 'liberation' of his followers, but is really only after the Raffia. I think the fact that the Class are able to entice so many of them to defect (chief among them, Kimata's second-in-command) point to the possibility that most of the Union wouldn't be so opposed to Texhnolyzation if the material conditions for acquiring the technology hadn't been denied to them for so long, be it by oppression from the Organo or simply the socio-economic structure of Lux itself through the Class's mandate. Everybody--especially the Union--wants Raffia because they're the ones dying for it. But they're denied this crucial resource by those above them, and so the Union end up passionately detesting what could truly benefit them. Admittedly, this doesn't seem to play out as expected since the Union really don't do much at all to go after the Raffia supply, and seem to be sitting there doing fuckall after being dragged into Yoshii's Spectacle outside of sending an infiltrator into Gabe, which ultimately goes nowhere. At the same time, though, I like this theory since it goes to show how well, among many other things, TEXHNOLYZE engages with issues of class (the literal underclass banished to Lux, the capital C Class!!!, to say nothing of the many factions and how they've chosen to try to "reconstruct" humanity) in such a unique way that most anime (and even a lot of sci-fi/cyberpunk) don't.
Good for the most part but please slow down. A lot of times you slurred and mushed your words together and it was hard to understand what you said. Other than that this was a pretty good video and analysis.
Thanks for the feedback, I've gotten this criticism a few times and I understand this is an issue with my narration and a lot of it kind of boils down to my accent where words are generally very slurred (you might've noticed a few odd pronounciations because of it too), I already make a lot of effort to make my voice as clear as possible but I'm still trying to improve on that front lol
Why ichise called as hero?,i see in show he is not like a hero,i think the story not about hero,but about be human and meaning life,i dont see ichisw as a hero in story
Congratulations for reaching 1K subs! I absolutely loved how well edited and thought-provoking this video is. You have managed to piece together so many important scenes and dialogues that went over most viewer's head, including me. This was truely an eye opening video for me. Oh and thanks for the shoutout (´･ω･`)
The beginning showing Ichise wander around, trying to fit himself through metal bars but unable to, him limping around ramps and stairs....
There is something so primal and true about that imagery on a metaphorical level. A man searching endlessly, a dog wandering in search of anything to add to his survival, a speechless being in search of words.
Texhnolyze hits me hard.
amazing video bro, don't see enough texhnolyze stuff these days. looking forward to seeing what you put out in the future
Nice analysis! I love how many subtleties and secrets there're in this show. The shot at 6:55 is a good example: Ichise is kneeling in front of the white flowers that've been following him throughout the show (Ran used them - like breadcrumbs in a fairy tale - to guide him out of the sewers); however, since Ichise has now been accepted into the Organo, domesticated, and tamed - so are the flowers also. They are no longer wild in the streets, like him, but cultivated and grown. Prisoners under an artifical sun: that is also the entirety of Lux. The last thing Ichise sees before he dies is a vision of the pure flower that has grown inside him throughout his journey. It's definitely a story of transformation, and I like to think that Ichise goes from being something like a stray dog (as a boxer), to a housepet (as a henchman under the Organo), then finally a wolf, himself. Maybe Ran saw that, too - which would explain her faith and support.
To me it looked like that the vial that had the remains of his mother, but maybe it was a flower. I thought maybe doc added that to comfort Ichise in his dying moments.
It was definitely a flower. Doc wouldn’t have added an image of his mother’s remains, considering she threw out the real thing.
im so glad people are still discussing and making content about this anime. one thing i dont see brought up very often is how Ichise was able to regain control of his tex limbs even after the obelisk stopped functioning.. im not sure what to make of it, was it doc's progress in the technology? did she really find the answer to that at least? or is more to do with ichise willpower?
Doc kept talking about how Ichise was her masterpiece. I can't help but think it was in relation to how hard Ichise wanted to continue living despite his suffering.
I know its a late reply, but i believe it has to do with doc cells that she implanted on ichises limbs. We see how she uses her dna to work and access stuff in her lab, so maybe due to having doc's cells his texhnolyzed limbs probably connected to her laboratory(i might be wrong though, its been a while since i have seen the show).
This analysis is amazing. Can you do an analysis of Hiroshi Kano and Mariko Higuchi from Freesia?
Thank you. Freesia is one of my favorite manga so it's always been an idea in the back of my head. I may do a video on it in the future, upon a reread. - fuchsiafree
This is one of the best videos on Texhnolyze that I have seen! Amazing video!
Kudos to tackling a show like this as it's my favourite among all the ABe-related anime, and it's really hard to write about in any cohesive way. There's points of this analysis that I agree with but I'll say that there are a few big issues I've got with it.
2:25, 3:34,
I don't think you could in any way say that Ran is employing Ichise as a 'partner' for her end goals, or to say that she's interested in him specifically because he has a special ability to save Lux because he really doesn't. You quote Ueda's NewType interview in the opening of your video, but that same article is very clear about what Ran sees in Ichise. He's not simply a tool or 'proxy' for her, but somebody she came to care for deeply, knowing full well how difficult his life has been and his insistence to fight on regardless. There might not be any weepy bleeding heart anime melodrama dialogue laying it out, but their similarities are clear enough. In fact, the reason Ichise and Ran have the relationship that they do is because both of them HAVE been treated as tools or objects by the communities and environments they're attached to. Their relationship is one of the few built upon genuine empathy, which makes both of their endings so much more tragic. So while it's certainly true that Ichise gives Ran hope that the future can indeed be changed for the better, I see none of this manifesting in a way she can actually use to her advantage, the way she can with Onishi (as the voice of the city) and Yoshii. A particularly fatalistic interpretation of the series would pin the failure of Yoshii and the eventual extinction of humanity on Ran's choice to take pity on Ichise and guide him out of the sewers, as it IS Ichise who dispatches Yoshii in the end, setting the stage for Ran losing all hope and attempting to withdraw from the city's affairs.
4:06
Again, I'd argue strongly against her "enlisting" the help of Ichise as she never truly does. There's a reason she's waiting for Yoshii at the bottom of the stairwell to Lux in the very first episode, why she agrees not to reveal his future, and essentially keeps his actions and movements hidden from Onishi through almost the entirety of his failed plot. If there's any character from the beginning of the series (apart from Kano, if you believe his rambling in the final episode) with the potential to break the status quo in Lux, it's Yoshii, which you've alluded to. Ran clearly had an interest in ensuring Yoshii was successful, and the failure of his gambit in his final episode is truly why "nothing ever changes." If she'd "chosen" Ichise for this task, she would've approached him in the very first episode, yet it takes until much later (after he's been maimed and Texhnolyzed, seemingly not long for life regardless) for her to notice him among the many people in Lux.
4:34
I feel like you've missed Yoshii's larger motivations here despite acknowledging his plan to prop Shinji up as a future leader. His "Spectacle" isn't merely to give people's lives meaning, he clearly plans to wipe out the Class, which I'm surprised hasn't been addressed in the video, nor has the role of the Class been attached to what you refer to as the Organo's imposed "feudal structure". Not even mentioning his description of the Class as "weak invalids" and his intent to draw them into open warfare with the rest of the city seems like a huge missed opportunity for any arguments about his character. The same goes for his interactions with Doc, who he hails as a "goddess who mechanizes human beings", and later expresses his own urge to be Texhnolyzed.
Yoshii wants violent, open rebellion against an Organo/Class-led order because he's fully aware that this arrangement will lead to extinction--this is exactly what happened to his own Theonormals (like you've said). But he's not purely altruistic with this awareness--the way he murders the prostitute he sleeps with when she reveals she doesn't want to improve herself also means that he seeks to purge all those he deems too weak to survive in his Class-less Lux. What he most likely wants is an 'evolved' generation of Texhnolyzed humans ascending to the surface and reclaiming it from the Theonormals, with Shinji leading them once Yoshii's broken the illusion of the Class's power and control over everybody else underground. I wouldn't in any circumstance call Yoshii a 'protagonist', though it's clear that under all of his sadistic smug-ness, there were legitimate reasons for his actions.
5:01
I feel like you're selling Shinji short here, as you don't address his long-held dream of joining the Class. He's not simply a hedonistic anarchist (this is later born out by characters like Hirota commenting that he's always wanted to be somebody like Onishi), and even takes steps to try to stop Yoshii's assassination of the Class dignitary.
8:05
I'm not sure if you can say the donation of Onishi's legs to Kano prompted any sort of 'recovery', as those legs were immediately (and probably cruelly) removed by Kano's doting mothers, causing him to turn to Texhnolyzation. I also think you're missing a hugely important point about Kano, which is that he, according to Doc, was deemed a heretic by the Class. To say nothing of Class royalty willingly leaving the confines of the Hill to mingle with commoners in Lux, it's his willingness to proposition one of them to go through with an archaic limb transplant (which Doc says has been long-abandoned in Lux because of the deterioration of human bodies underground), and then turn to Texhnolyzation (which the rest of the Class save for Doc, seem to abhor), that causes the rest to view Kano as a heretic. If we believe his mothers, then it's Onishi's legs that are the reason for Kano's madness.
9:27
I'm honestly puzzled where the idea that Doc is a Theonormal or is from the surface came from, even though it's been distressingly common in a lot of Texhnolyze analyses I've read/seen these days. Doc herself says that she's from the Class, lived on the Hill, but grew weary of that and chose to do her work in the city. Yoshii himself is able to deduce that she's from the Class, and we've no reason to believe he's bullshitting. Onishi cleanly lays it out to Kohakura that Doc is a woman of the Class who voluntarily left their city to work on Texhnolyzation, information which Kohakura deems useful. You can see her driving to and from the Class Hill, first to confront Kano there, then to show off her masterpiece (Ichise) to him, and she also tells Ichise before taking him to the Hill that she plans to leave Lux and return to the Class. There's literally no evidence that Doc is from the surface--if she truly was, then there would be no reason for her to be surprised and distraught about the state of its inhabitants, nor would she feel the need to argue passionately to Saginuma about the promising work she's done with Texhnolyzation. Doc is as much of a Class heretic as Kano.
Thanks for the feedback on the video, I'll address your points here:
1 and 2: I didn't really mean to phrase it as exclusively master-slave relationship and it is clear from the end of the show that their relationship was more than this, I was primarily using that bit to focus on Ichise's figure as a "dog" and trying to pin down Ran's precognition, which is shown in the first scene with Yoshii to only be showing one potential future, and in later scenes with the tribal cult, as something she isn't in full control of due to her youth. Combining these, my theory was that she saw important actors that could fight against fate for a particular future that she only saw glimpses of and her conclusion based on these glimpses led to that end of Yoshii being killed, which afterwards gave her a different vision and realization that it changed nothing, this leading to her drawing more and more away from it all out of depression and resignation unlike how she did before. What you say is also interesting, I didn't consider it because of how Ran only freaks out over Ichise's future in episode 12, two episodes after Yoshii's death. Again, my presumption here was because she just didn't see this future beforehand and she realized it had now changed for the worse. If she had seen such a future before, she likely wouldn't have had such a visceral reaction, or so my line of thought goes. Your idea that Ran followed him more out of an emotional bond is also plausible and a fair take on it, that she saw in him something she couldn't do, actively fight against fate and the structure that's enslaved him, (something I presumed she wanted to act out herself with her "important actors" that I point out) which does explain why she is disappointed by him joining Organo, which I assumed to be because him joining Organo ensures the violent death of Lux in the future. Within your idea though the episode 12 reaction can be re-contextualized as her actually realizing Ichise's future for the first time which contrasts harshly with the bond she established with him previously.
3: I just didn't directly address it, if we take Yoshii's "ubermenschen" bit further, it is obvious he would oppose the fake and shallow religious class alongside the Organo, but I targeted the Organo specifically because by doing so it also implicates a revulsion for the class, since they use Organo as a sort of proxy. I didn't go into all of that in Yoshii's broader motivations because I intended this to be a video focusing on Ichise and I already felt that the tangent I went on with Yoshii was veering a bit off course. Wiping out the class is clearly the endgoal because to oppose Organo is to oppose them due to their shared, strict Apollonian mindset, and his extreme measures naturally beget that he sees wiping out the class as a requisite to the flourishing of life. Having an evolved generation of Texhnolyzed supermen overthrowing the weak theonormal/class is textbook Nietszcehean aristocratic revolution against slave morality.
4: Not at all? I do address his dream of joining the class at 6:05 nor did I ever pin him as just a hedonistic anarchist. My description of Racan as the "anarchistic Dionysian" ideal and why this appeals to Yoshii was not out of bare hedonism but because in the Dionysian ideal you see "life in action" as I describe, and he sees Organo/Class structure as "suffocating" and will lead to extinction as you say, due to it being "boring." Shinji, in reality, doesn't perfectly embrace this ideal due to his yearning to be someone like Onishi, something Yoshii recognizes and I think is also why he wants him to be a leader, because he could synthesize both the Apollonian and Dionysian into one impulse. His relationship with Hirota over his actual girlfriend can even be seen as emblematic of his true desires rather than the pure freedom ideal he set up for himself, essentially implying that if he is the last leader left standing, it won't be as "anarchistic" as the actual ideology as Racan claims to inhabit. This is also something implicated in the fact that Shinji is depicted as certainly the leader of Racan and holds it together, while his portrayed disbelief in this idea and propping up of "true freedom" is what leads to it's eventual dissolution, as we can see in the tragedy that struck with Hal and his girlfriend.
5: I meant this more symbolically, or at least a focus on the implications for Onishi (I honestly can't remember well the details of him giving his legs to Kano and Kano's situation with it), and you even empower this point because you say that his legs could be the reason for Kano's madness, which is what creates Onishi's tragic end and the end to the order of Lux that he tried to keep under Organo, which his eventual leading of was the reasoning for selling his legs off in the first place.
6: Again, I didn't mean this literally but symbolically as the theonormal on the surface are "of her own ilk" because of the proximity of the class and them in terms of ideas. This is also why I connect her to Kano, they may both be "heretics" to the class but this is only because their ideal, one inherently borne out of the principles of that group, contrasts with the self-preservation of the class' own rule and the theonormal's will unto death. The reason Doc submits to the theonormal on the surface and lays herself out to die is because she realizes this fact, that "her own infertility is part of the broader sterility" of that collective, and her attempts to bear life out of these inherent principles will be ultimately fruitless. She uses the technologies of Lux but still holds the fundamental basis of the class/theonormal ("intelligent life"). We can see the same with Kano's ideal, as the shapes are malfunctioning and suffering from encephalopathy meaning their functioning is most likely limited both in processing and lifespan. You may compare this well to the theonormal, who were also in a slow, peaceful (slavish) process of death.
There might be things that I'm missing or haven't explained well, it's been awhile since I've watched Texhnolyze. Feel free to reply as you see fit and I'll continue getting back to it.
- FuchsiaFree
@@Plasmyte 1/2
I might have been a bit too forceful with my point by reducing your interpretation of it to 'master-slave' but I do think people tend to view Ran as a character who's a bit colder, more utilitarian than she actually is (granted, she does approve of Ichise brutally beating his tormentors, and you're not exactly 100% pure-hearted when you guide the actions of somebody like Onishi, and later, Yoshii). She's just a scared little girl with way too much on her shoulders at the end of the day. It's her relationship with Ichise that gives her any solace, and I think it's one of the most emotional aspects of the show even if there's not a lot of dialogue to show it.
I don't think Ran collapses because she's seen his ultimate fate. I'm certain that she already knows (possibly as early as when she says "I saw it", after noticing him in Lux), and moments after Yoshii's death (the next episode, exactly), she begins avoiding Ichise, forcing him to try to track her down to ask why, and of his future ("she can see it, but she doesn't want to"). What Ran reacts so violently to is the incident in the marketplace, where Ichise's preparing to draw his sword to defend himself from her guardians. If you watch closely, the same motion he goes through to draw his sword is exactly the same as when he later murders his father's killers.
pbs.twimg.com/media/Dkzt6dXW4AI0prB?format=jpg&name=large
She panics because she's seeing the murder he'll soon commit. Ran tries to prevent this almost immediately by showing Ichise that his mother knew the truth, but inadvertently helps cause the murders to happen by showing the faces of the men responsible. The final scene of episode 12 where Ichise punches the shit out of his father's murderers is cross-cut with Ran looking more and more despondent as she prepares to board the train to leave Lux indefinitely (and of course, she doesn't return until much later when she bravely decides that there's no point in running away from what she's seen). It's a turning point for Ran after the failure of Yoshii's plot, cementing that no matter how hard she tries to help the situation, "nothing changes."
3
I feel like that information--particularly his desire to purge the weak in Lux--is an important detail to include since many interpretations of Texhnolyze seem to glorify Yoshii, often at the great expense of Ichise (and Ran). I don't necessarily think your video is doing this, but for how often people point out about what Yoshii was 'correct' about (i.e, the Class, his embracing of Texhnolyzation, etc.,), they tend to leave out his immense flaws (his sadistic selfishness and his utter neglect of the humanity of people he deems to be too weak to survive the 'revolution' or uprising he wants), and give his importance as a kind of ubermensch saviour undue weight, when in all honesty he's just one failure among many of the clashing philosophies/ideas in the series. Comparing that to Ichise's immense growth throughout the series, and how the show takes pains to approve of it, would be a good thing that I've really not see many analyses of TEXHNOLYZE attempt.
4
Looking over my comment again, it seems like I'd mistaken your video for a different one, as there's the other video you've recommended that gives an overview of Texhnolyze's characters and factions, and how they respond to 'existential nihilism' (though I have my own issues with the conclusions reached by that one!). That is also the video that describes Shinji as a hedonistic anarchist! I guess I mashed that comment into my original post, so my bad. In any case, I've no problems with this. It's a good breakdown.
5
What does "recovery" refer to symbolically for Kano? It just looks to be an odd choice of words.
While you can kinda just view this as semantics in the grand scheme of the video, I'm also not so sure that the sale of Onishi's legs was so important an action that it basically created the series' endgame--there seem to be too many contingencies, such as Yoshii (note that, despite being present, albeit in the background and only hinted at, for the first half of the series, Kano does not at all seem to factor into the fate of Lux or Onishi), and prior choices taken by characters/factions, like the entire structure of the Class and their fixation with incestuous reproduction, their shunning of Texhnolyzation, and how this quite literally Shapes ;^) Kano's ideology moving forward (his mothers hold the most blame, really, considering how they raised him). There's also the fact that the scene of Ran giving Onishi her prophecy is directly followed by the revelation that Gabe is literally forcing her prophecy to come true by mass-producing weapons for the Class.
Onishi does say he felt "coaxed" or pressured into going through with selling his legs to Kano, so I'm not really sure that he sold the legs specifically because he knew he'd be destined to lead the Organo once he went through with the transaction. I've read stuff claiming that he sold his legs as 'starter money' in the Organo but I don't remember there ever being evidence for this, other than the fact that it would make sense as conjecture.
I'm also not sure I understand that "he [Onishi] never wavers and changes course to avoid such a fate." Doesn't Onishi fight tooth and nail against the Shapes, doing just about everything he can? He only really throws in the towel at the very end when all hope (ie, Ran) is lost, and chooses to face death on his own terms.
6
I wanted push back on what you say in the video about Doc and the Theonormals since I didn't end up doing that in my original comment. While I wholeheartedly agree that Doc represents an "optimistic Transhumanism", I don't see how she tries to be "controlling" about it other than how she fetishizes her work and the men she fixates on. Everything she does is meant to enrich the lives of people underground, a way of freeing them from physical restrictions. All the information we learn from Yoshii and Doc early on--that human bodies are physically degrading, and that flesh-and-blood limb transplantation are no longer suitable because of this, all point to Texhnolyzation being singularly important to humanity moving forward. What Doc tells Ichise in episode 18 is the purest form of this--she says that her work can allow physically weakening people (who are often maimed in Lux as a kind of power dynamic or social ritual) to recover some of their lost humanity and extend it in new and intimate ways. She tells him to hold her with his Texhnolyzed arm, and concludes that this is the reason for her work. You can even attribute the final scene of the series to Doc, the way Ichise's arm is able to project Ran's flower, and moments earlier, where he's able to vividly reconnect with when he gives Ran a proper burial (the scene is presented as a flashback, but the timing of it is particular, and the fact that there's so much going on in his Texhnolyzed perspective gives me the impression that it's his Texhnolyze allowing him to reach back into his memories). I think TEXHNOLYZE is emphatically supportive of Doc's perspective, and it even hearkens back to Ueda's interview, where he says the inspirational spark for the entire series was imagining how he would be driven to tears and feel humiliated if he were unable to climb a simple flight of stairs.
I don't believe in any way that the situation on the surface reflects the logical conclusion of Doc's beliefs or aims ("intelligent life"), or that her mindset would inevitably lead to passive death--just look at Ichise, who, while recognizing that Texhnolyzation isn't what changed him for the better, came to accept his new limbs and moved forward, aided by them. And while there's certainly things to suggest that the surface world is more 'advanced' than Lux, it's telling that when Saginuma reveals his real body to Ichise, he's not even Texhnolyzed. In fact, earlier on he tells Doc and Ichise that they see no meaning for Texhnolyzation and haven't at all utilized the Raffia shipments to improve the lives of the Theonormals for a long time, if ever. Visually comparing their respective technologies doesn't at all favour what the Theonormals have embraced (they aren't limb replacements, but supplements that appear to be an exoskeleton or support for increasingly frail bodies) compared to even the crudest-looking Texhnolyzed limb we see in Lux. No limb function is being replaced here, as the Theonormals don't see anything worth holding on to or standing on. I would call this a fundamental division between the ideals or principles of Doc and those of the Theonormals (I don't include the Class with this, because they seem to have a very different mindset), because the Theonormals haven't even taken that first step. Doc kills herself not because the Theonormals aligned with her vision and took it to its logical endpoint (and that she apparently recognizes her infertility reflects the sterility of the surface), but because they reacted with such extreme apathy to her research and work, robbing her of any remaining purpose. And the real twist of the knife isn't just their lack of interest in her work, but the dark revelation that everything the underground exiles have toiled relentlessly and literally died for (to produce Raffia) all this time--ostensibly for the Theonormals' OWN benefit--has been reduced to a mere formality. It's by far the bleakest, most brutal gut punch the show has to offer.
I have a lot more to say about Kano, but a lot of what to say is wrapped up in the relative lack of information we get about the Class, so I might write it in another comment. I haven't rewatched the series in 3 years (where the hell did all the time ago) though.
(EDITS: Many, many typos)
@@omoncon3941 1/2 Your interpretation is pretty good and more systemic than my own, honestly I was never very sure of Ran in motivations and her abilities due to her being the most elusive part of the series. It's still a bit weird to me how her character shifts before and after Yoshii's death, even under your interpretation, though I like yours than the one I had.
3 True, but like I said I just didn't include in the video because I wanted to focus on Ichise who is like the "ultimate character" embodying the themes of the series, for a reason, and not Yoshii or Onishi or anyone else.
5 I meant for Onishi, my original intention was with a focus on Onishi, and Kano only in how he factors into the prophecy given to him by Ran. Calling it a recovery for Kano was incorrect of me, true, I think I just forgot about Kano's situation at the time of writing because I wasn't focused on it, and I don't think Onishi was even aware of Kano's situation after he gave him the legs until episode 18 when the mothers tell him, so it looked like a recovery to him (Shinji even remarking on this going "lol i guess you lost your limbs for nothing). I don't think it created the endgame, but the language used for such a prophecy is what makes it pertinent in it's symbolism of "being destroyed by what you lost in the past (your own legs)" or something to that extent (after all, you can't literally be killed by your own legs). You can't be destroyed by your past either, if you live in the present.
I checked back on episode 13, he says to Ichise that he didn't lose his limbs like he did, and he sold them. He states that it "almost felt" like he was being coaxed into it, but it was his decision in the end, however naive. Regardless of the circumstance, Onishi does not regret losing his real legs and seems to take pride in his current ones, remarking that he hopes they "never change" when speaking to Doc and that without them, he would not be the person he is now. He says his Texhnolyzed legs were even the reason he could hear the voice of the city. They didn't make him destined to lead Organo, but they gave him an advantage in many respects, and we see his heightened combat proficiency with them early on against a Salvation Front member.
I look at Onishi as that stoic samurai ideal, and in leading with this he "accepts what fate binds him to," so to speak. The prophecy he heard was essentially that he would die to the shapes/Kano, it is not that he fights against fate, but he simply does what he always does, he lives in the present. Ichise was the one that was personally affected by hearing his prophecy in the same episode, and later on he hears that monologue from the Organo elite guy in the wheelchair they were tasked to protect (forgot his name) essentially telling him to forget about it, and to live in the present, true to himself that same way.
Onishi's conversation with the Gabe elder ruminates on that inevitability, how Gabe can accept such a grim fate of destruction and rebirth, and how this is rare for a person in Lux. I don't think Onishi put too much stock into the future, and I look towards that quote I put at the start of the video as the perfect way to sum up the main characters at their completion. There is also a conversation in the same episode 13 between him and another Organo member where he states that Gabe "never changes," but neither does the city either. Nothing ever changes. But this isn't quite true for Ichise, is it? He changed, but the imagery of him at the underground fight as he kills many at the last episode is also pertinent, he evolved onto himself. That was the purpose of his final speech, ("not because of this arm-- because I met you") and why he looks over to the alleyway where he scavenged for food in one of the earliest episodes. He may fight and kill for survival even now, but he has infused his actions with meaning.
Another way of looking at it I've thought is that the prophecy was that it was actually still referring to Onishi's legs, and that "what you lost in the past" was referring to his decision of the transaction itself rather than Kano. He regards his Texhnolyzed legs as his "true legs" and they become emblematic of his inability to change, which is what he will be destroyed by. Essentially, his fate was to be killed because of his refusal to change (fate).
Hit a character limit so here's the rest of my response:
6 She fetishizes her work and even Ichise for a reason. She drones on about Ichise being her "masterpiece" (later also due to her emotional bond to him, but at it's origin certainly due to her seeing him as a lab rat) The imagery of her raping Ichise being similar to the woman that sleeps with him for money in episode 1 is certainly intentional. Throughout their entire first interaction, she forces Texhnolyzation upon him and makes him an unwitting test subject, manipulating him through her lie of putting his mother's matter into his limbs, which are actually her own (the subject of family is of particular importance to both Ichise and Doc with his connection to his parents and her own infertility and in many other ways, and she has a commanding, almost motherly presence to him). Sure, he was on the verge of death and this Texhnolyzation saves him, but it isn't like Doc was doing this out of her own good will here, and this can be extended to her actual goals. Isn't it curious how the "Big Three" (Yoshii, Kano, and Doc) who all believe in this grand transhumanist ideal where they can evolve humans into higher beings are essentially serving themselves the most with them? And that all three of them wanted the people of Lux to be enhanced also with the explicit purpose of moving up to the surface and reclaiming the area? Despite this, I do agree it is empathetic of her, what she is generally aiming at, and in her relationship with Ichise which he benefits from by the end, but it is clear to see the lines drawn.
All of those ideas put forward by Doc to aid humans by replacing lost limbs and whatnot are all well and good, but I fail to see how we can view her as more altruistic than egoist (in episode 17 she refuses to treat injured Organo members because they'll go out and get themselves killed anyway). Your comparison of her to Ichise is very flawed, because they're completely different people by nature. Doc is a very rationalistic person, while Ichise runs off of primarily life-instinct. Doc has an overarching ideology (that when unfolded to destruction destroys her meaning of living), while Ichise, again, lives off of instinct, *within the present.* The difference in death between Doc and Ichise (along with Onishi, Yoshii, and Shinji really) is pretty stark. Sure, you could say they all accepted their deaths, but Doc explicitly committed suicide out of MEANINGLESS, while the rest ensured their death (not direct suicide either) had meaning just as their life did, something that truly defines their lives on their own terms. Their deaths are, though this would seem a paradox, life-affirming, as is the series to me. Onishi chooses his death as to stay true to his very soul, as the only way to live by that point is by changing into a shape. If Doc's suicide defined her life, then how truly pathetic her life must've been.
Indeed, Doc states the intention of Texhnolyze is not for killing, but for the simple good like hugging, but intention is different from how one composes themselves contextually, and in her stating that it only really distances her in ambition from Yoshii than it does from any other, who wanted Texhnolyzation specifically for open violence. Ichise is powered by will, Doc by reason. Doc and the Theonormal both by their endpoint find no reason for life, but Ichise and the others don't ever develop a will unto death. I believe it was stated that the people of the surface threw out all of their violent and destructive elements to Lux, so as to retain their own peace, only creating their passive decline.
The civilization of the surface is clearly "higher" (literally!) than Lux, their division of labor is high, they have technologies unfathomable to the conflict-ridden city (it looked like a suburban town to symbolize how boring it is rather than another urban hellhole like Lux), and they even state that they have more "dominant genes" than the denizens of Lux (eugenics policy that Lux citizens were on the worse end of?). Yoshii also specifically points out in episode 4 that he wasn't texhnolyzed (a man goes "A Texhnolyze?" to his mechanized arm to which he states "That would've been nice"), and naturally it must've been some other technology we don't know of from the surface, besides, how would he have even gotten Texhnolyzed if he was from the surface in the first place? His equipment also looks visually distinct from any Texhnolyzation we've seen as well.
What you state about Doc's end is true, and my point empowers that, it adds to that twist of the knife and gut punch. If it were really as literal as you state, it wouldn't be very interesting to me personally. It doesn't address the inner mechanics of the respective character's drives nor WHY the theonormal have reached this state despite having seemingly infinite possibilities and shoring off so much to Lux. How did they reach such apathy (the same apathy of the citizens of Lux that Yoshii observes, one that they weren't always in, or else things would've died off much sooner), and how come that Lux's raffia production was REDUCED to formality? To be reduced implies that it was more than formality in the past, the theonormal were not passively waiting to die from it's origin, (Saginuma must be extremely old if this is to be believed, yet he is a mortal human, and he speaks of past events from a couple generations as if he did not see them himself, so he can't just be very elderly)there was a slow, gradual, development towards it, a metaphysical turn to death. Lux was created to mine raffia, and the fact that it's trading of raffia to the surface became mere procedure is continued proof of it invariably devolving into cold regimentation and transaction. Texhnolyzation is one technology of many, an imperfect one too, as the Salvation Front leader shows it's negative effects over-time (Doc produces an upgraded version for Ichise that doesn't show such effects, though it is also rather chained to Lux as well).
To me, given all of these details, my theory is that the theonormal, one way or another, attempted to empower an evolution in humanity, and this was the end result, because this required rationalized regimentation (Yoshii and Sakimura's seemingly infinite office spaces), dystopic erasure of any criminal or violent element from it's society, and a strict labor system that "squeezed" ethos and the spontaneity of human life through their attempts to create a sort-of pacifist utopia. They relied so much on nomos (human law/reason) and created an overreliance on technology as enshrining this principle. The fact that Yoshii came out of it with a sadistic love of pure chaos and violence should stand as a testament to how truly boring this "evolution" turned out to be. The fact that Doc always fell back on nomos, enshrined her Texhnolyze experiments as the future for her ideology, and tried to neglect life and nature, or at least view it also as a transaction, is what makes her relationship to Ichise so compelling, as it is what constantly drives him unconsciously, as it should, something foreign to a mind of reason. She becomes slowly attracted to that, to Ichise, though having to put it under the masquerade of her rationalizations, and over time is driven to drink more and more to cope with all of these developments until it reaches it's conclusion, as she proclaims she's "already dead." What's interesting is that, like the other characters, she's quite actually seeing the fate of her own doctrine, and responds differently than the others. You can also see a similar line of thinking between her and Kano, the latter of which can only recognize Ichise's actions propelled by his own instincts as "insanity."
It even states that the Theonormal once also had the prospect of evolving into the next generation of humans, but that "no miracle happened" that would cause this (possibly an attempt to create a master race through eugenics and genetic meddling, or maybe involving the Yoshii technology, it's unclear). Then, another hope in the Lux project to create that same generation. Both failed in the end. Why? It is not because of the progression of technology inherently, not Texhnolyze itself, that was not my intention. I state "technocratic mindset" and the "rationalized, materialistic" world of view as the main driver of it. Ichise did not "evolve" into a higher person because of his Texhnolyzation, but because of his journey as a person, his "soul-searching."
You seem to agree Ichise is put above the other characters in approval, and ultimately his journey was primarily a spiritual one, no? The texhnolyzation aided him, but it wasn't an end-all be-all that many of the others worshipped it as, even if Doc's ideal was the least bad, she lacked something in the end. An overreliance on nomos, perhaps. She takes an almost Hobbesian stance towards Ichise, as if people such as him (citizens of Lux as a whole I think) are wild beasts that only require specific education (she says Ichise would be perfect if he went to school) and her Texhnolyzation to evolve, and become truly social creatures, otherwise they aren't worth life. Indeed, many of the characters have "a point" but are done in by the flaw, no, the core of their character, or their ideology. Yoshii can be said to be fell due to his ideology requiring his solitude to be everyone's enemy, Onishi due to his refusal to change, Shinji because of his contradictions and the transience of freedom, and so on. But they all go out with a smile.
Kano is the one character I've put the least amount of thought into honestly, so I don't focus on him as much as how characters are related to and inform his character. I would love to hear what you have to say on him if you could humor me. Also, apologies for the late response, I was a bit busy recently and your comment was marked as spam for a bit and had to be recovered.
EDIT: some clarification
@@Plasmyte Man that's a lot to respond to, no need to apologize for expanding on your thoughts! I feel like the scale of this discussion isn't something that UA-cam's shitty comment system deserves. I want to address some of your other points since I find them interesting and want to offer some food for thought.
Bits about Doc:
I'd go further with her 'motherly presence' because she's literally referred to as Ichise's second mother in the ep 21 narration, and early on in the series we get a very overt transition that foreshadows it before the show even develops their relationship any further.
pbs.twimg.com/media/DijImdaWkAEgb4z?format=jpg&name=medium
There is a lot of incestuous subtext(?) floating around in Texhnolyze, what with the Class's favoured method of reproduction, Doc and Ichise, Toyama and his dad, arguably Kano and Ran with how he obsesses over his 'dear sister', and anything else I'm missing--I suspect there's something very distinctly Japanese about the inclusion of these parts of the series, hell, I'm pretty sure the main creation myth for Japan already deals in incest.
Yoshii's modifications and the Theonormals:
In the past I've pointed out that Yoshii isn't Texhnolyzed in other discussions (not on YT, though!). Doesn't the fact that he claims that being Texhnolyzed "would have been nice" suggest that there is no equivalent technology aboveground? Taking that with his brief interaction with Doc (marvelling and respecting her work, calling her a "goddess who mechanizes human beings"), we get the impression that he desires what people in Lux can potentially get. His own Theonormals have apparently no access to this despite the constant shipments of Raffia, and what they (like Saginuma) have built for themselves--the aforementioned crude "orthotics" that seem to be fused into an increasingly frail body in order to sustain it physically--are utterly inferior. I think this even extends to his own body modifications, which I've figured were something he did to himself in a very DIY manner. He has the right mindset for accepting Texhnolyzed limbs, telling the whore he sleeps with to consider the modifications a part of his body, but he seems to have a certain yearning to be imbued with technology he finds far superior to his own group's. His modifications seem far less advanced, less effective and less elegant/refined than most Texhnolyze, conferring none of their benefits, like enhanced strength/speed/coordination (though Yoshii is of course able to hide a massive retractable blade within it to blindside Onishi, which I guess I should call a benefit). I can't imagine this approach was favoured by anybody other than Yoshii, who probably altered himself in anticipation of the violence he knew he'd meet and go on to enact on a wide scale in Lux. Just as a rule, I doubt the rest of the Theonormals would approve or even see a reason to go down the same path, having no illusions about what they're going to do with the rest of their lives.
On Onishi:
I like what you're saying here. I'm well aware of what he tells Ichise, but I guess it's just a wording thing with your initial reply indicating that he sold his legs for a specific reason--to lead the Organo ("which his eventual leading of was the reasoning for selling his legs off in the first place"). I shouldn't belabour this with more semantics.
I might caution against taking interpretations that refer to the "Bushido code" or "samurai ideal" too seriously (if we're going with the "7/8 virtues" or whatever). If you look up the author of "Bushido: The Soul of Japan", Nitobe Inazo, it's apparent that everything he wrote has little historical or factual basis in Japanese history/culture, and the entirety of the book is dedicated to constructing an anachronistic and ahistorical idea of "Bushido" around completely 'Western'/European cultural facets and ideas. Like many nationalist authors in Meiji Japan, he hardly has anything meaningful to say about the historical samurai class or what their values apparently were. To be a bit crude, it is literally another Meiji-era doofus with a throbbing boner for all things Western and a throbbing boner for explaining how the Japan of the day was perfectly compatible with Western-ness, in a time where Meiji authors and statesmen felt a passionate drive to be seen as equals with Europe and the larger western world, capable of running a modern, European-style nation-state where other Asian polities had failed. While I wouldn't 100% discount the possibility that the creative staff might have been referring to this text--though the only charitable way I could view this would be as a harsh critique (Hamasaki at least engages with the Hagakure in this way when he directed Shigurui, though this was already in the source, and at the very least the Hagakure is far less of a fabrication!), I don't think that Ueda, Konaka, or even Hamasaki and ABe, would be the types to draw so heavily from a text this blindingly nationalistic and ultimately in the service of Imperial Japan--TEXHNOLYZE deserves a lot better!
www.tofugu.com/japan/bushido/
www.reddit.com/r/badhistory/comments/kcbgpt/how_bushido_was_fabricated_in_the_nineteenth/
On the point about the Union, Kimata, and Texhnolyzation:
It's unfortunate that we never get to spend more time with Kimata or learn more about him (though I'm sure this was partly the point), but I've recently suspected that the reason his body had such a violent reaction to his Texhnolyzed arm is that he was never able to afford the Raffia needed for his Texhnolyzation to be free of complications (refer to Doc's words about the 'black magic phase' of Texhnolyzation, and Yoshii commenting on how Raffia surpresses the human body's response to the addition of 'foreign material/substances'). We don't have too much evidence to prove the theory completely, but contextual details, like the fact that the Union headquarters are situated in the poorer, industrial area of Lux, and that Onishi, when confronting his Salvation Union asasilants outside his home, makes the bold claim that Kimata cares not about the 'liberation' of his followers, but is really only after the Raffia. I think the fact that the Class are able to entice so many of them to defect (chief among them, Kimata's second-in-command) point to the possibility that most of the Union wouldn't be so opposed to Texhnolyzation if the material conditions for acquiring the technology hadn't been denied to them for so long, be it by oppression from the Organo or simply the socio-economic structure of Lux itself through the Class's mandate. Everybody--especially the Union--wants Raffia because they're the ones dying for it. But they're denied this crucial resource by those above them, and so the Union end up passionately detesting what could truly benefit them. Admittedly, this doesn't seem to play out as expected since the Union really don't do much at all to go after the Raffia supply, and seem to be sitting there doing fuckall after being dragged into Yoshii's Spectacle outside of sending an infiltrator into Gabe, which ultimately goes nowhere. At the same time, though, I like this theory since it goes to show how well, among many other things, TEXHNOLYZE engages with issues of class (the literal underclass banished to Lux, the capital C Class!!!, to say nothing of the many factions and how they've chosen to try to "reconstruct" humanity) in such a unique way that most anime (and even a lot of sci-fi/cyberpunk) don't.
The real Texhnolyze was the journey we made along the way
So true
Best(or most unique) experience ever?!
Doc should know this
This was awesome thanks for taking the time to make it!
Awesome and loved it!
Great video man earned a subscriber keep it up!!
great effort mate. make more when u feel like makin them
Great job
This needs a Blu ray release. I would buy two copies.
I have theory : ran from experiment class
Man, your understanding of the subject matter and your writing style are immaculate, truly scholarly level of interpretation
Good for the most part but please slow down. A lot of times you slurred and mushed your words together and it was hard to understand what you said. Other than that this was a pretty good video and analysis.
Thanks for the feedback, I've gotten this criticism a few times and I understand this is an issue with my narration and a lot of it kind of boils down to my accent where words are generally very slurred (you might've noticed a few odd pronounciations because of it too), I already make a lot of effort to make my voice as clear as possible but I'm still trying to improve on that front lol
Why ichise called as hero?,i see in show he is not like a hero,i think the story not about hero,but about be human and meaning life,i dont see ichisw as a hero in story
That’s what makes this anime timeless, you can have endless discussion on if he’s a hero or not. 🦾😠🦿(
@@weissgrimoire4386literally hid face more likely judt blank snd emotionless