Trouble finishing
That’s what she said
Normally a 22 or 24 episode series has me pretty much hooked by episode 15 or so, even if it’s half-shit. After all, that’s a major time investment I’ve already put in. Yes, a show should really be selling you by episode 3 at most, but sometimes I keep pressing on without really knowing why. Shakugan No Shana really took a while, I was pushed on simply by the occasional island of true brilliance in its sea of clichés.
But one series that has let my interest dwindle more the farther I go, rather than the opposite, is Texhnolyze. What is it about this show that can’t hold my attention? Let’s look at the facts:
- It’s about gangsters. Gangsters are rad! Everyone knows that.
- It has a creepy child. Creepy children rock the house.
- Cyberpunk, despite being a little passé nowadays, is still pretty swell.
- Juno Reactor, that sure as shit is better than some generic J-Pop.
- Broody anti-hero lead character, OK, I can deal.
- Atmosphere, atmosphere, atmosphere.
We should be good to go, right? Apparently not. I was really excited early on about this show, but my attention span is nonexistent as of about episode 16. What happened?
First off, they blew their wad pretty early on. The incredibly atmospheric, nearly dialog-free first couple episodes were outstanding. They were almost Lynch-ian, and like nothing else I’ve ever seen, although I saw shades of a sexed-up Lain (did that sound gross? I totally apologize). But they couldn’t hold that without totally alienating everyone trying to follow what the hell was going on, and the more I learned about the weird moss and the warring gangs, the less I cared. I loved Yoshi, who comes in for the express purpose of fucking with everything (and having a mustache), but without him the show became pretty standard young guy-joins-gangster-organization fare. Just without Al Pacino.
The animation also started to get to me. The job is really sub-par for Madhouse, both in character design and straight up quality. People aren’t distinctive, and drawn without any real appeal. Of course, they’re also written without any real appeal. I’m guessing that Ichise will manage to develop some sort of personality as a climactic event, but as of now his aimless floating through existence is not endearing to me.
And as for the plot… I accused Shana of introducing too many new elements all the time, but those are just standard anime plot contrivances designed to get the writers out of whatever corner they paint themselves into. Texhnolyze’s story just adds layer upon layer of humorless, dry intrigue that just isn’t very intriguing. I love following a complicated plotline, especially in a gangster story, but I really stopped caring a while ago.
I’m sure I’ll finish at some point, and maybe then I’ll change my tune, but as of right now it’s collecting dust. Which is a shame, because this seems like the kind of show that is designed to have some appeal to Western audiences, Akira-style. But when I’d rather watch the next Clannad than something with gangsters and cybernetic limbs, I think there might be something wrong.
