Texhnolyze
Texhnolyze is a Japanese experimental anime television series animated by Madhouse and directed by Hiroshi Hamasaki. Set in the fictional city of Lux, the story focuses on Ichise, a stoic prize fighter who loses an arm and a leg after offending an unnamed figure. Written by Chiaki J. Konaka, with original character design by Yoshitoshi Abe, the series was produced by Yasuyuki Ueda and was broadcast on Fuji Television and its affiliates from April to September 2003.
Plot
Lux, a crumbling underground city, survives solely through the mining of raffia—a rare mineral used in the creation of advanced prosthetics. Ichise, a disgraced pit fighter, loses an arm and leg after angering a powerful figure. Rescued from death by scientist Eriko "Doc" Kaneda, he undergoes texhnolyzation, receiving experimental prosthetic limbs containing traces of his deceased mother's DNA woven into their circuitry. Drawn into the city's power struggles, Ichise encounters three warring factions: the Organo crime syndicate that rules Lux, the revolutionary Salvation Union seeking to overthrow them, and the nomadic Raccan youths who weaponize their own prosthetic enhancements. His path crosses with Ran, a seer from the surface village of Gabe who glimpses possible futures, and Kazuho Yoshi, a surface-dweller who sows chaos among the factions to sustain his fading existence.When Yoshi attempts to assassinate Onishi—the Organo's leader and Ichise's former mentor—Ichise kills him. The conflict escalates with the emergence of "The Class", an elitist group led by the grotesque Kano, a product of generations of inbreeding. Their biomechanical soldiers, the Shapes, begin conquering Lux as preparation for an assault on the surface world. Seeking to stop Kano, Ichise and Doc travel to the surface, discovering a desolate wasteland inhabited by "theonormals"—humans preserved by advanced technology but resigned to extinction. Records reveal that centuries earlier, surface society exiled its undesirables underground to build Lux. Overcome by despair at this revelation, Doc takes her own life.
Returning to Lux, Ichise finds the city in ruins. The Shapes, now immobilized and decaying, litter the streets as infrastructure fails. After mercy-killing his former ally Haruhiko Tooyama—now a tormented Shape—Ichise confronts Kano in the Opera House. The mad visionary, obsessed with forcibly evolving humanity, reveals Ran's suicide. In rage, Ichise beheads him. Mortally wounded on a rooftop as Lux's lights fade, Ichise's failing prosthetics briefly project Ran's crude drawing of a flower—their last connection. As darkness consumes the city, he dies with quiet acceptance.