TEXHNOLYZE
Volume 3: Retaliation
(MVM Region 2 PAL DVD)
(2005)
review by Blackgloves

Volume three of artist Yoshitoshi ABe and writer Yasuyuki Ueda's strange sepia vision of a dystopian underground future kicks-off with more chaos in the dismal city of Lukuss: the mysterious visitor from above ground, who goes by the name of Yoshi, continues with his inscrutable mission to bring destruction and death (or, as the residents of Lukuss call it, a "spectacle") to a city already precariously balanced between the class-conscious rule of the gang coalition known as The Organi (who control the futuristic bio-enhancement technology called Texhnolyse), an anti-Texhnolyse fundamentalist religious group called the Salvation Army, and a gang of young street punks called the Racan. Maintaining a tense and uneasy peace between these three factions has been the success of Organi boss, Keigo Onishi: a sharp-suited, Texhnolysed crime Lord with a talent for diplomacy. But his delicate political manoeuvring has ben smashed by the duplicitous intervention of Yoshi who has set each group against the other with a series of terrorist attacks designed to make each one blame the other and start a full-scale Inter-gang war!

Volume three begins with the destruction of the obelisk in the heartland of Organi territory. Yoshi's plan seems to be working, for not only are the three main groups poised to destroy each-other, but factions within the Organi led by an opportunist named Mizuno are about to use the crisis as a pretext for challenging Onishi's leadership by blaming the wave of attacks on his softly-softly approach. Onishi finds himself on the run as both the Racan and Mizuno's men are after him. He meets up with a contact named Toyama and sets him to work looking for the person who bombed the Obelisk. Meanwhile, Shinji, leader of the Racan, realises that Yoshi is behind the whole wave of terrorism that has brought the City of Lukuss to the verge of war. Onishi eventually comes face to face with the mysterious surface stranger and a bloody sword battle ensues. The newly Texhnolysed underground fighter, Ichise, meanwhile, has become involved with the Organi and helps Toyama in his investigation to uncover the perpetrators of the Obelisk bombing; Ran, the curious young redheaded girl with psychic powers, continues her trek across Lukuss and appears to have mysterious helpers among the population who come -- wearing fox masks -- from the City's shadowy recesses whenever she needs protection! As the competing factions attempt to rebuild some sort of order after the terrorist outrages, Ichise's new job with the Organi reawakens old wounds concerning his Father's alleged treachery.

This third volume sees the series continuing in the same relentlessly dark vein as before. Curiously, after spending an age slowly developing the plot line concerning Yoshi's campaign of destruction, it appears to get resolved rather suddenly without a great deal of explanation in episode ten. The tone of these episodes is still cryptic and very, very grim with some of the seedy underbelly of the City revealed as being less than wholesome: during these four episodes we encounter cute little Ran having to deal with the threat from a potential pedophile and Toyama enduring sexual abuse at the hands of his own, sleazy father! That's child abuse, and homosexual incest -- this show is a laugh a minute folks!

The relentlessly serious tone is lightened somewhat by what is now a regular feature of the DVD volumes: the alternative outakes! This is where the English language voice cast perform alternative "joke" versions of some of scenes from the four episodes included on the volume. What started out as just an idle piece of filler on Volume One has developed into one of the pleasures of the series, as an increasing amount of time and effort is being put into these highly amusing sketches which somewhat puncture the ponderous pretensions of the show.

As usual, we get both Japanese and English audio options and the anamorphic widescreen presentation looks wonderful, despite the rather grey colour palette of the show. "Texhnolyse" is an acquired taste for sure, but fans of Yoshitoshi ABe's offbeat work should check it out.