Line #29 YMMV/Texhnolyze


1	* AlternateCharacterInterpretation: Given the nature [[MindScrew of the series,]] it's difficult to assess the motives of the characters, particularly since many of the characters, [[TheAloner Ichise]] and [[MadOracle Ran]] in particular, are given to introversion, and the [[ShowDontTell show's style]] means that we get little insight into the characters' thought processes except when they interact with each other. For example:
2	** Is the affection from Doc to Ichise mutual or one-sided on her part? Is the relationship akin to lovers, siblings or mother and son? Bit of each, or none of the above? [[spoiler: Does Ichise leave Doc on the surface because he never really cared, or because he realized he couldn't get her out of her funk no matter how hard he tried?]]
3	** [[spoiler: Ran is technically the [[BigGood Big Good]] of the show, but given that she can see the future, and [[BitchInSheepsClothing Yoshii]] flat out asked her about it, it's all but outright stated that she knew what Yoshii was and still let him loose on Lux. Did she believe that [[YouCantFightFate You Can't Fight Fate]] as her village believed? Did she believe Yoshii was [[NecessarilyEvil necessary to Lux's preservation]] [[InMysteriousWays in some way?]] Again hard to say.]]
4	** [[spoiler: Yoshii. A monster who brought a city to its knees over a delusional desire to see [[TheSocialDarwinist everyone at each other's throats?]] Given his willingness to murder a prostitute and her pimp in cold blood for no pragmatic reason, and [[IHaveYourWife his demands towards Onishii,]] it's certainly a likely portrait of his character. Or in fact, a [[WellintentionedExtremist Well Intentioned Extremist]] who saw what an ugly mess Lux was, and sought to help the people of Lux through [[NecessarilyEvil extreme yet possibly necessary methods?]] Given his [[AffablyEvil general politeness,]] [[NobleDemon his willingness to]] [[PetTheDog protect Ran at his life's risk early in the series]], and his [[MotiveRant Motive Rants]] towards [[WhatTheHellHero Tatsuya,]] [[WeCanRuleTogether Shi]][[DareToBeBadass nji]], and Onishii, it's an unusual, yet equally possible interpretation.]]
5	* AngstAversion: The main reason why a lot of people don't end up watching this show. It contains brutal violence, no entirely sympathetic characters, pretty much no humor or lighter moments whatsoever, one of the most bleak and cynical views of humanity to ever be portrayed in an anime series, and unabashedly heads towards one of the biggest ShootTheShaggyDog endings without ever promising otherwise. It's no wonder that when people read up on it consisting of all of these things, they don't want to put themselves through it.
6	* AudienceAlienatingEnding: [[spoiler:Everyone just gives up and dies]], something a lot of viewers saw coming a mile away.
7	* CultClassic: The anime is little known on account of being one of the grimmest examples of anime, let alone fiction, ever put to screen, but it has remained a well appreciated series by those who have watched it precisely because it is so dark and unusual, and the unlikelihood of something similar appearing in the near future.
8	* EveryoneIsJesusInPurgatory: Inevitable in a series this abstract. One theory among fandom holds that [[spoiler:Kano is telling the truth when he claims that Lux exists only within his mind.]]
9	** By the end, the series is so heavily saturated in Gnostic symbolism and ideology that you can hardly move for the paranoia, philosophical debate (or maybe "dog fight" would be a better word), and archetypal parallels. The fact that Kano actually ''thinks'' he's the demiurge does ''not'' help things.
10	* HoYay: Toyama is a walking source of HoYay in himself, but he seems to have a very particular relationship with Ichise.
11	* ItWasHisSled: [[spoiler:Everyone died. The end.]]
12	* JerkassWoobie: Plenty of them, practically a whole cast in fact, on account [[KickTheDog of what they do]] [[CrapsackWorld to survive in this rotten place.]]
13	** Ichise is [[TheStoic a cold]], [[LackOfEmpathy deeply anti social]] individual with little interest in relating to or helping the people around him. This attitude however, stems from the [[TraumaCongaLine quiet hell that is his life,]] having lost his parents at a young age, and growing up as an ostracised outsider with viscous pit fights being his only means of existence. Soon into the series, he is crippled for defending himself against a sadistic prostitute, and is forcibly Texhnolyzed to survive. [[spoiler: By the end, he is forced to watch the people he has come to relate [[KilledOffForReal to either die,]] or become a [[DespairEventHorizon broken shell]] of a human being, and having failed to save [[FateWorseThanDeath Ran from her fate,]] we last see him curled into a ball, bleeding out and with his texhnolyzed limbs running out of energy, [[TheHeroDies calmly accepting his slow death]] [[LastOfHisKind as the last living human being in Lux.]]]]
14	** [[MadScientist Doc]] is [[RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil a rapist]] who treats Ichise like a science experiment, but as we learn, [[FallenPrincess she was a former member of the Class who rule Lux,]] and was forced out on account of her ideological differences with the new ruler. Her obsessive research into Texhnolyzation is ultimately a desire to prove her worth and regain a place amongst those she considers her equals. [[spoiler: And when confronted with the reality that not only do her people have no interest in her research, but that the human race as we know it is effectively dead, [[DrivenToSuicide she ultimately kills herself]] [[DespairEventHorizon in the face of the pointlessness of her entire life.]]]]
15	%%* MainstreamObscurity: Is it any surprise that nobody ever gets around to watching this?
16	* MoralEventHorizon: Kano leaps over it with [[spoiler: what he does to Ran]].
17	** Toyama's father crosses it with his [[spoiler: continuous sexual abuse of his son]].
18	* SlowPacedBeginning: Very few people have actually made it past the first three episodes, if not the pilot. It isn't until halfway through the first episode that ''the first line of dialogue is spoken''.
19	* {{Squick}}: ''Everything'' about Kano.
20	** Also [[spoiler:Toyama and his father]]. NoYay indeed.
21	** And the random member of the Racan who tells Ran he'll "show her a good time" while lustfully caressing her.
22	* StoicWoobie: Ichise and Ran are both emotionally dead for the most part, but [[spoiler: they both receive the cruelest fates in the whole series, with Ran locked into a horrific AndIMustScream scenario until Ichise {{mercy kill}}s her, and Ichise outliving the rest of the human race before DyingAlone]].
23	%%* TearJerker: The end of the show.
24	* TooBleakStoppedCaring: Due to the series having EvilVersusEvil it's kind of about this trope. Nothing the characters do has any hope of saving the world, as it turns out; and there are copious hints that this is the case; but the series is very tight-lipped about it, and up to the moment they turn into plants, it looks like the Shapes (that is, the bad guys) might have lives worth living. And we don't get confirmation of [[spoiler:Ran's]] death until the last few minutes. So the first viewing becomes a sort of staring contest: How much do you care about these characters, and how much hopelessness are they worth to you?
25	* TheWoobie: Any sympathetic character in this show. The main character Ichise may the worst though, as his suffering truly knows no bounds. ''[[Anime/CodeGeass Lelouch]]'' can't hold a candle to Ichise.

Context YMMV / Texhnolyze