I've been looking forward to this one. Serial Experiments Lain is one of my all time favorites and I have enjoyed all of this character designer's other projects. However, despite the animation being just as strong as his other shows, this is the first show of his that I was mostly disconnected from the story and the characters. This led to a lack of immersion and boredom creeping in by the second half. While I did finish watching the show, I was partially forcing myself through it.
Several of his shows he is attached to, including this one, are avant-garde/arthouse that explore deeper meanings and themes beyond the core story. Other anime tell their stories in a similar way, however few are as effective and complex as shows like Serial Experiment Lain. The key though, is that you can entertained and immersed into Serial Experiments Lain even if you do not fully grasp all of the hidden themes, metaphors, and messages. That is the one ingredient that all of the best films and shows of this genre have in common. Then, once you finish it, you were so invested into the show that you want to re-watch it and do research to start understanding the themes and imagery. Its the icing on the cake. Texhnolyze is missing that key.
Once I finished in the show, I was not emotionally invested in the story or characters. As a result, I felt no desire to go the extra mile and do research on the overall themes. There's no point for the icing on the cake if the cake itself is bland and boring.
The music, the animation, the style, and the sci-fi elements; all the ingredients are there for something special. Unfortunately, the story quickly devolves into a generic mafia tale. It focuses on the battle between the three factions and their intricacies for far too long that it took away from all of the interesting aspects of the story and the world. All the other plot elements took a back seat to a mafia story I've seen told better in other anime. Once the story finally started to re-focus on the main story elements regarding the world and its themes in the final episodes, it was too little too late for me to care.
Even when the story focused on its strengths, I did not attach to the main character nor anyone else. All of them lacked character motivation for their actions. The details that made the characters interesting were only the purpose each one served in the grander narrative and message of the show. They all felt like soulless props where their only duty is to reflect the themes and statements of the show rather than be interesting on their own.
Perhaps I'm being too harsh on this one due to my high expectations. Like I said before, there is a lot to like from this show. Fantastic atmosphere, trippy animation, and thematic music is what kept me going to watch the entirety of the show. Sadly, I was disappointed with this one, and highly recommend watching all of the other projects Yoshitoshi Abe worked on.
Several of his shows he is attached to, including this one, are avant-garde/arthouse that explore deeper meanings and themes beyond the core story. Other anime tell their stories in a similar way, however few are as effective and complex as shows like Serial Experiment Lain. The key though, is that you can entertained and immersed into Serial Experiments Lain even if you do not fully grasp all of the hidden themes, metaphors, and messages. That is the one ingredient that all of the best films and shows of this genre have in common. Then, once you finish it, you were so invested into the show that you want to re-watch it and do research to start understanding the themes and imagery. Its the icing on the cake. Texhnolyze is missing that key.
Once I finished in the show, I was not emotionally invested in the story or characters. As a result, I felt no desire to go the extra mile and do research on the overall themes. There's no point for the icing on the cake if the cake itself is bland and boring.
The music, the animation, the style, and the sci-fi elements; all the ingredients are there for something special. Unfortunately, the story quickly devolves into a generic mafia tale. It focuses on the battle between the three factions and their intricacies for far too long that it took away from all of the interesting aspects of the story and the world. All the other plot elements took a back seat to a mafia story I've seen told better in other anime. Once the story finally started to re-focus on the main story elements regarding the world and its themes in the final episodes, it was too little too late for me to care.
Even when the story focused on its strengths, I did not attach to the main character nor anyone else. All of them lacked character motivation for their actions. The details that made the characters interesting were only the purpose each one served in the grander narrative and message of the show. They all felt like soulless props where their only duty is to reflect the themes and statements of the show rather than be interesting on their own.
Perhaps I'm being too harsh on this one due to my high expectations. Like I said before, there is a lot to like from this show. Fantastic atmosphere, trippy animation, and thematic music is what kept me going to watch the entirety of the show. Sadly, I was disappointed with this one, and highly recommend watching all of the other projects Yoshitoshi Abe worked on.