Rating: 
Summary: Intricate Enigma
Review: Texhnolyze... surreal, dark, mysterious, unpredictable, interesting, intelligent, highly complex...I guess if I could sum it all up in one word, it would have to be masterpiece! I watch alot of Anime and from the selection of titles that I have seen, that have been released this year, Texhnolyze is indeed a rare treat! Fans of Lain, Evangelion, Boogiepop Phantom, Ghost in The Shell, Akira, Haibane Renmei, The Soultaker and Witch Hunter Robin will very likely enjoy this engaging series as it is a highly complex puzzle to be solved, revealing itself in bits and pieces at a time. The pacing of the story is slow in this first volume but it is one of its strengths as the focus is brought down on realistic character development and gives a chance for the viewer to familiarize themselves with the surreal environment. However, things start to take off in the second volume as more answers are revealed about the main players in this story as well as the beginnings of the roles that they will play. Texhnolyze is not an easy story to understand, and for this reason it would probably be best for the average viewer to watch one episode and then take a little time to reflect upon it before continuing on to the next chapter. For those persons that are just getting in to Anime, I very highly recommend this series if you found the original Matrix or Twelve Monkeys rewarding. To stay true to the series, it was my intention not to reveal too much of anything about this story or it's characters but for those of you who are interested in going a little deeper... http://www.texhnolyzedvd.com/
Rating: 
Summary: Find a Way to Rent it First
Review: There's been a lot of good reviews bandied about for this title and admittedly, it looks good. The fine animation from Madhouse (Hellsing, serial experiments lain) again proves that they have a lot of style. The problem, however, is that the casual viewer (as well as the die-hard anime fan) will have some trouble getting through this first disc. Perhaps in the next DVD releases, one will learn what's going on but the first four episodes feel like two episodes worth of material stretched out to improbable lengths. The show drags and wanders and never quite gets to the point. Did I enjoy the show? Not really. I bought the disc based on rave reviews and probably should have found a way to rent it first. The concepts are dull and the pace is spotty and it never quite lives up to its potential. Perhaps it gets better in subsequent episodes but I don't care, I'm not picking them up.
Rating:
Summary: One of the best anime series!
Review: This is one of the best anime series! And it has yet to conclude! Up to Volume 4 of 6 has been released, and five is set for a late November release. This is an anime to watch with the lights turned off and when you are ready to concentrate on what you are watching.
This anime is slow-paced, but certainly never boring, especially when you come to know the characters more. This anime has a purpose, none of the story elements are contrived or used as filler, and when you watch an episode you feel you have moved further and deeper into the story from the last episode. For example, by volume 4, Ichise, the main character, becomes a powerful member of the Organo gang, and you are capable of understanding his position and remembering how he got there from his origin as a limbless(texhnolyzeless) street scum. You feel as if you are moving with the characters(especially Ichise). The further into this anime you get the more fascinating and involving it gets.
The aesthetic of this anime is very dark, brooding and muted. The colours don't stray far from black, grey and a dirty brown, and they tend to bleed into eachother in sublte and watercolourish ways.
I am very eager for the release of volume 5! Will they be able to defeat this new "ideology"?! Why are people disappearing and changing their attitudes so severely? Have they joined that blue-haired guys "ideology"? And just who is that blue-haired guy?
If you want a smart, adult anime, with political intrigue, emotional involvement then you have found it. Oh, and politically powerful, samurai-sword wielding men in business suits is super very cool!
Rating:
Summary: DBZ, Sailor Moon, and Pokemon this is NOT!
Review: To preface my review: First, this review is for anime fans. If you are not an anime fan, you probably won't like Texhnolyze. Second, I prefer my anime on the darker, grittier, heavier side, with a healthy helping of violence and huge dose of meaning and significance for human life: anime that makes you think (I prefer Eva over Gundam, for example). Third, I like to see different approaches to anime, not just in content, which is important, but in the art and animation, in the direction and production: all of these factors are like another character in the show that relates with all the others and helps reveal the truth within a show.
Preface over, onto the review. I love Texhnolyze. The characters, while on one level coming across as gangster show stereotypes, all have the feeling of depth and consequence to them. You also have some characters that don't fit that genre thrown into the mix: an elderly sage, a young, almost autistic seeming girl who can see possible futures, a strange visitor that seems to play all sides and none, and the star of the show, a Raging Bull like pit fighter named Ichise whose struggle to survive and preserve some shred of human dignity in a decaying world leads him to cross the wrong people, which, in an act of vengeance, literally costs him an arm and a leg.
Enter Texhnolyze, the technology that replaces human limbs with high tech mechanical ones. The relationship between human beings and technology and how it plays out in and affects the relationship between human beings and their world and human beings with each other forms the main theme of this story, or at least one of the main themes. The series is so rich and multilayered, a dozen Amazon reviews could present a dozen different ideas and still not even scratch the surface.
Yes, it's a slow cooker. Yes, the art and animation can be experimental. Yes, it is at times very confusing. But for the patient and dedicated thinkers of the anime world who like, or at least don't mind, some very mature content (including sex, nudity, violence, gore, some profanity, incest, and others), I cannot recommend this series enough.
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