/lit/ - Literature

[Anonymous No.12322359]

Are there any works of fiction similar to Texhnolyze? I'm particularly looking for works which deal with the extinction of mankind; humanity reaching the end of its evolutionary road and declining; humanity collectively losing its will to live; etc. — things of that nature.

[Anonymous No.12322374]

>>12322359
My diary, desu
My name is Nick Land btw

[Anonymous No.12322382]

>>12322359
Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou

There Will Come Soft Rains; both the poem by Sara Teasdale and short story by Ray Bradbury.

[Anonymous No.12322426]

>>12322374
I've tried reading him before and couldn't make heads or tails of it.
>>12322382
Knew about YKK but not the others. Thanks.

[Anonymous No.12322870]

Bump.

[Anonymous No.12322942]

>>12322359
Blame!
Check it out if you haven't read it yet.

[Anonymous No.12322957]

>>12322942
Seconding this. Also recommending Biomega by the same mangaka.

[Anonymous No.12322987]

>>12322942
>>12322957
I'll look into these, thanks.

[Anonymous No.12323005]

>>12322987
No problem.

[Anonymous No.12323035]

https://philosophynow.org/issues/45/The_Last_Messiah
>The life of the worlds is a roaring river, but Earth’s is a pond and a backwater.
>The sign of doom is written on your brows – how long will ye kick against the pin-pricks?
>But there is one conquest and one crown, one redemption and one solution.
>Know yourselves – be infertile and let the earth be silent after ye.

[Anonymous No.12323052]

Check out "The Gothic Body: Sexuality, Materialism, and Degeneration at the Fin de Siècle"

[Anonymous No.12323144]

>>12322359
Childhood's End has everything you want but probably not how you want it. Also the prose is terrible

[Anonymous No.12323837]

A non-fiction is fine too

[Anonymous No.12323863]

>>12322942
Netflix made a pretty good adaptation of it, although it does not have that episodic theme and Lone Wolf and Cub feel to it

[Anonymous No.12324108]

>>12323863
Netflix didn't make the movie you fucking retard.

[Anonymous No.12324472]

>>12322359
the show devilman crybaby

[Anonymous No.12324511]

>>12322359
Ballard. Completely.

Several of his dystopia's feature characters who willingly accelerate their own or humanity's doom. Then in his more grounded books there's a recurrent idea that the modern world is in z way already despoiled beyond repair.

>
“I would sum up my fear about the future in one word: boring. And that's my one fear: that everything has happened; nothing exciting or new or interesting is ever going to happen again ... the future is just going to be a vast, conforming suburb of the soul”

[Anonymous No.12324536]

>>12324511
That would explain the strange prevalence of nostalgia for things that were current before people were even born. Why do people born after the 80s ended have nostalgia for that time, and create art based on that nostalgia?

[Anonymous No.12324577]

>>12324536
I was born in 89 and a lot of the media I grew up on was from the 80's. But then again that wasn't too far away back then.

[Anonymous No.12324616]

I think Krasznahorkai, especially Satantango has themes reminiscent of Tehnolyze. Very similar setting with the same bleak backdrop.

[Anonymous No.12324634]

>>12322942
>>12322987
If you like Blame! the author has mentioned the books that inspired the major plot points in the manga,http://www.randomisgod.com/blame/Artbook85.html
References:
Great Sky River by Gregory Albert Benford (Cibo)
Feersum Endjin by Ian Banks (Netsphere)
Busou Shimada Souko and Ad-Bird by Shiina, Matoko (Garbage storage, Tetsu, Zulu)
Dead boys and Dead Girls by Richard Calder (Ivy and Maeve)
Kirinyaga by Mike Resnick (Mensaab)
Greg Bear's New Collection by Gregory Dale Bear Permutation City by Greg Egan Hyperion, The Fall of Hyperion, Endymion, and The Rise of Endymion by Dan Simmons
Neuromancer, Count Zero, Mona Lisa Overdrive, and Burning Chrome by William Gibson
Steel Beach, The Ophiuchi Hotline, Millenium, Titan, Wizard, The Persistence of Vision, Blue Champagne, and The Barbie Murders(Picnic on Nearside) by John Varley
Billenium by James Graham Ballard

[Anonymous No.12324640]

>>12322359
Darkness by Lord Byron

[Anonymous No.12324654]

>>12324511
This,Ballard is absolutely Based

[Anonymous No.12324726]

Thanks for all the great suggestions. Glad I kept this thread alive. Some of them, e.g. Ballard, really seem right up my alley. Blame seems to be a popular one. I noticed there was a new edition of the manga published recently with a new translation and in a larger format than normal, so I may grab the first volume and see how I like it.

[Anonymous No.12325086]

>>12322359
Book of the New Sun by Gene Wolfe

[Anonymous No.12325791]

>>12322359
Ulysses by James Joyce
Gravity's Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon
Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace

[Anonymous No.12325809]

>>12325791
fuck off

[Anonymous No.12326000]

>>12322359
I was watching the whole anime during these days, I've just finished it right now. One of the most dystopian and depressing anime out there probably, it leaves you concretely hopeless, besides with many questions. Did Ichise fall in love with Ran in the end? Was Run just a projection into their mind? Is the upper world just a kind of fake ghost town? Sun, nature and sky all seem to be still there beautifully, why did they remain buried beneath there in Lux?

By the way, I know it's off topic, but if you are interested in hearing some music which fits very well with this thematic, try Exai by Autechre and Spielraum by Grischa Lichtenberger.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VgCa0toj7RA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FiRLb8AYgIc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MKFSBN2mRhw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3kwPgpbmpkw&t=4259s

[Anonymous No.12326137]

>>12324511
Ballard is a genius. Everything he said has been right and he diagnosed technology of the modern day in the fucking 60's.

[Anonymous No.12326144]

>>12326000
Why did you post exai? Autechre is based.

[Anonymous No.12326155]

>>12326137
Applied Ballardianism by Simon Sellars is fucking metal

[Anonymous No.12326159]

>>12326144
It's probably their most dark, post-human and dystopian album, as well as their peak in my opinion.

[Anonymous No.12326163]

>>12324511
JG Ballard?

[Anonymous No.12327141]

>>12322359
My diary desu.

[Anonymous No.12327150]

>>12326163
That's my name, don't wear it out.

[Anonymous No.12327429]

>>12324511
sounds like Yoshi and therefore based

[Anonymous No.12327465]

>>12326000
>Did Ichise fall in love with Ran in the end?
I don't think it really matters. He cared about another person, which is more important.
>Was Run just a projection into their mind?
I never got the impression that she wasn't a real person, regardless of what else was going on. She was somehow connected to the Obelisk and was able to do something like projection.
>Is the upper world just a kind of fake ghost town? Sun, nature and sky all seem to be still there beautifully, why did they remain buried beneath there in Lux?
I got the impression that it was some sort of political issue, if you look at the film that Ichise watches in the upper world theater. My memories on this are a bit fuzzy.

[Anonymous No.12327668]

>>12326000
>Spielraum by Grischa Lichtenberger
listening to this now, it's batshit insane.

[Anonymous No.12328916]

>>12327465
>I got the impression that it was some sort of political issue, if you look at the film that Ichise watches in the upper world theater. My memories on this are a bit fuzzy.

Everything seems quiet, but most important plants and nature are still there, I thought this was a post-apocalyptic world with nothing but technology left. I know this seems dull, but I would prefer to die on a comfy hill under the sun rather than buried into an underground hole. Ichise was probably trying to do the right thing when he wanted to bring Ran in the upper world, in fact he said "We should remain there, no one kills anyone there".

[Anonymous No.12328935]

>>12328916
There's an offhand mention early in the show about people's bodies degrading, which I guess has something to do with humanity being unable to evolve further, thus necessitating that they keep their bodies going through Texhnolyze units. But yeah, which would be a better place to die? I guess it depends on your perspective and how you view life. That's part of what the story is about, how different people relate to life and death.

[Anonymous No.12329009]

>>12326000
Autechre are incredible, I would recommend Alva noto too.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GYhXa3FLdQc

[Anonymous No.12329083]

>>12322359

[Anonymous No.12329116]

>>12326000
>>12327465
Also:
>preferring to come back into the shithole and die rather than staying with a super intelligent smoking hot blonde who loves you and who literally saved your life

What the fuck was Ichise problem?

[Anonymous No.12329127]

>>12329116
She lost all meaning in her life after seeing the surface and killed herself after Ichise left. But yeah I would've fucked her more.

[Anonymous No.12329134]

Is this the end of the wasted way?
Is this the death of time?
Is this the end of blue psychic seas?
Are we sailing blind?

[Anonymous No.12329211]

Poor Doc.

[Anonymous No.12329329]

>>12326000
>Did Ichise fall in love with Ran in the end?

[Anonymous No.12329711]

>>12326137
Which works would you recommend?

[Anonymous No.12329912]

wat was yoshi problem? :)

[Anonymous No.12329959]

Why does Ran wears the mask? She seems somewhat random about it. I always thought she put it on when she didn't want to "see"(the future, the world she's in, etc), but I'm always baffled when it happens, and it obviously holds a lot of symbolical signifcance.

[Anonymous No.12329981]

>>12326000
>Is the upper world just a kind of fake ghost town?

The people there became ghosts as they lost their animating energy, their will to power, to the degree they physically became faded. But it was 100% real. Lux had to exist because it had Raffia in there which became humanity's sole purpose of existence. The flame of "life" migrated underground in a way.

>>12329912
Nothing.

[Anonymous No.12330017]

>>12329912
>wat was yoshi problem? :)
His character confused me a lot until it showed what the upper world was like. He was trying to light a fire under people so that they'd retain their will to live unlike people on the surface.
>>12329959
That's how I interpreted it the first time I viewed it but yeah it seems like there's more there. I've been meaning to rewatch the show. I'll have to pay more attention to that when I do.

[Anonymous No.12330072]

I am convinced this show is trying to tell something and it's not just a very poignant story full of kinetic energy, I'm just not yet sure what, maybe even it's creators weren't.

[Anonymous No.12330088]

>>12322359
The city and the stars, Clarke
Accelerando, Stross
Childhood's end, Clarke

Also maybe Blood's music by Bear, at some point it's like End of Evangelion

[Anonymous No.12330135]

Blu-ray never

[Anonymous No.12330232]

>>12330072
I think it's complemented well by this >>12323035, but that of course may just be bias from my own interpretation of the show.
>One night in long bygone times, man awoke and saw himself.
>He saw that he was naked under cosmos, homeless in his own body. All things dissolved before his testing thought, wonder above wonder, horror above horror unfolded in his mind.
>Then woman too awoke and said it was time to go and slay. And he fetched his bow and arrow, a fruit of the marriage of spirit and hand, and went outside beneath the stars. But as the beasts arrived at their waterholes where he expected them of habit, he felt no more the tiger’s bound in his blood, but a great psalm about the brotherhood of suffering between everything alive.
>That day he did not return with prey, and when they found him by the next new moon, he was sitting dead by the waterhole.

[Anonymous No.12330308]

>>12330232
I think global philosophical pessimism/antinatalism/existential nihilism is a bit of a stretch as a realistic reason for the extinction of the species, mostly because the average person is too stupid to entertain abstract concepts.

This guy has some good takes on Texhnolyze imo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lK47Azd6OO8

[Anonymous No.12330344]

>>12329711
Not him but for starters i think Crash!,Concrete Island and High-Rise are all great

[Anonymous No.12330365]

>mfw an excellent thread about an excellent show filled with excellent recommendations

[Anonymous No.12330391]

>>12329912
Yoshi did nothing wrong.

[Anonymous No.12330784]

bump

What do you think of this guys?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Aj4Sr7fUns

[Anonymous No.12330813]

>>12324511
We should try nazism or national socialism. See if it's boring.

[Anonymous No.12330868]

Several Harlan Ellison short stories, primarily I Have No Mouth and Must Scream, and Deathbird Stories.

[Anonymous No.12331394]

_

[Anonymous No.12332361]

>>12329116
i prefer ran indeed

[Anonymous No.12332563]

>>12323863
>>12324108
The studio is Polygon Pictures. They also made the anime for Knights of Sidonia. Personally, I like their style but it seems everyone dislikes 3D animation on principle. You might hate the Blame! movie if you expect it to be like the manga, it's pretty much just the setting and some characters, everything else is different, from artstyle to story to atmosphere. Big visual theme of the manga is mixing inorganic and organic, but that's nonexistent in the movie, the non-human designs are more robotic, more mechanical. I think it evokes Polygon Pictures more than it does Blame!, so I like both.

[Anonymous No.12332567]

>>12329116
Because Ichise had something to live for, and he had no use sticking around a bunch of people waiting to die.

He had Ran. And then he had nothing.

[Anonymous No.12332578]

>>12330813
It is boring. Why do you think Spengler stopped supporting them?

[Anonymous No.12332596]

>>12329711
When you are ready, read atrocity exhibition, but only after reading either high-rise, crash, or concrete island.

[Anonymous No.12332860]

>>12329981
>>12330017
>>12330391
If only Shinji let him kill Kano when he was going, everything could have been saved.

[Anonymous No.12333923]

>>12322382
YKK is great.

[Anonymous No.12334048]

>>12330784
Part two of Kokoro made me weep like a fucking baby.

[Anonymous No.12334271]

>>12324634
Thank you anon

[Anonymous No.12334413]

What books would our guy Yoshii like?

[Anonymous No.12334448]

I don't want this thread to die

[Anonymous No.12334509]

I was surprised at the elitist tones of Texhnolyze, it approaches Aryanism. The old man in the factory tells us the people's eyes changed colors, living underground. Was this a bad thing? Later, doc tells Ichise she liked him at first because of his eyes and the old man returns, affirming something to the effect of that they should retain their eyes at all costs. They weren't the dull brown of the mass of lux, they were the shining blue of the underground founders. Ichise's defining feature is his insurmountable will to power. Though born among the masses, he inevitably and unwittingly rises above them as though he is oil and they are water. At the very last stand of Humanity in episode 22, Ichise destroys the brown eyed men and is left all alone, but he smiles.

[Anonymous No.12334686]

>>12325086
Seconding this. All the other sagas in his Solar Cycle are also about civilizations ending.

Play Kenshi if you're a /v/irgin.

[Anonymous No.12334796]

>>12334448
Me neither. I'm just glad that Texhnolyze's cult appeal is slowly but steadily growing and it seems to remain.

>>12334413
Any of Shakespeare's tragedies would be right up his alley. Titus Andronicus, Macbeth, and Julius Caesar specifically.

[Anonymous No.12334807]

salvation union did nothing wrong
SHIN. SHIN. SEI. KYU. SAI.

[Anonymous No.12335423]

_

[Anonymous No.12336228]

Bump

[Anonymous No.12337514]

[Anonymous No.12337929]

I forced myself to watch this even though I hate chinese cartoons and anything involving asia or videogays

I enjoyed it, though

[Anonymous No.12338873]

>>12322359
My diary desu.

[Anonymous No.12339551]

Should I watch it with my gf?

[Anonymous No.12339568]

>>12324472
Fuck that, the manga is better although the very ending is better in Crybaby.

[Anonymous No.12339750]

>>12339551
Yoshii approves. Always good to get out of your comfort zone.

[Anonymous No.12341083]

>>12339551
Gf (male)? Or what?

[Anonymous No.12341592]

>>12341083
even if my girlfriend has a penis, that doesn't make her male

[Anonymous No.12341803]

>>12339551
If this is a serious question, probably not. It has a very slow start that some people fight off-putting. At least watch a few episodes by yourself first to see if you think they'd like it.

[Anonymous No.12341882]

>>12330072

the show is 100% about the dangers of transhumanism, and how if humanity got the capability to truly decide our own destiny, we'd just end up killing ourselves

[Anonymous No.12341888]

>>12341882
So transhumanism is a good thing then?

[Anonymous No.12341899]

>>12341888

depends on who you are, right?

[Anonymous No.12341924]

>>12341899
I'd just like for humanity to go extinct.

[Anonymous No.12342102]

>>12329116
dude it's his (second) mom

[Anonymous No.12342116]

>>12332860
was it kano?

[Anonymous No.12342132]

>>12334509
stop correlating everything with your nazishit, faggot

[Anonymous No.12342147]

>>12322359
>I'm particularly looking for works which deal with the extinction of mankind

Mine, but probably not in the way youre looking for. Expect it soon

[Anonymous No.12342157]

>>12342147
>Mine, but probably not in the way youre looking for. Expect it soon
Based
Make it quick and painless anon

[Anonymous No.12342250]

>>12342157
Epic, but ill let it slide since suicide permeates the work

[Anonymous No.12342299]

>>12323035
Damn

[Anonymous No.12343061]

>>12342116
quite sure was him yeah

[Anonymous No.12343071]

>>12332860
Would Yoshii have wanted to kill Kano though?

[Anonymous No.12343248]

>>12342116
>>12343061
I thought that was just a random Class member. There are more male Class members than Kano.
>>12343071
This is a good question.

[Anonymous No.12343911]

>>12343071
>Would Yoshii have wanted to kill Kano though?

Why not? He would have prevented the later drama.

[Anonymous No.12344099]

>>12323863
The Blame movie is terrible. It doesn’t capture anything that makes the manga good and as a film it’s shallow and generic. It’s like one long anime video game cutscene

[Anonymous No.12344108]

>>12324634
>its all swill
wow really makes you think!

[Anonymous No.12345224]

bump

[Anonymous No.12345451]

What should I watch after Texhnolyze? Haven't watched Lain, should I? Something else?

[Anonymous No.12345569]

>>12345451
Lain its pretty cool. I say that as someone who doesn't watch a whole lot of anime at all. There's a great sense of ambiance to it that makes it feel both spectral and real at the same time

[Anonymous No.12345782]

>>12329116
I can understand being depressed about having your limbs hacked off, but having them replaced by a blonde bombshell scientist who literally undoes her lab coat to rub her titties on you when you wake up is pretty much the best case scenario to get past that and in conclusion Ichise is a fucking faggot.

[Anonymous No.12345785]

>>12345451
Dennou Coil

[Anonymous No.12345789]

>>12339551
It's incredibly slow-paced and relentlessly nihilistic. I would say no.

[Anonymous No.12345815]

>>12345451
Yeah, go ahead and watch Lain. I didn't particularly like it myself, but I seem to be in the minority in that regard. It's much more difficult to follow and more abstract than Texhnolyze, to the point where I doubt whether some of it is even following a comprehensible plot. So just be aware of what you're getting into.

[Anonymous No.12345874]

>>12345451
Haibane.

[Anonymous No.12346013]

>>12343911
But that's what Yoshii was all about was drama. That's the whole reason he went underground was solely to raise hell.

[Anonymous No.12346380]

>>12345451
Serial Experiments Lain is the greatest anime of all time

[Anonymous No.12346394]

>>12345874
Haibane Renmei is an anime about nothing. It is the Seinfeld of anime.

[Anonymous No.12346410]

>>12346380
No it isn't. Even Texhnolyze is better.
>>12346394
Agree. It manages to make you think it's going to be about something (sin, redemption, etc.) while simultaneously not having anything meaningful to say about the subjects at all.

[Anonymous No.12346449]

If people were honest about the reasons they like Lain, it would break down something like this
75% - Lain is a cute girl
24% - the soundtrack
1% - the substance and "plot" of the show

[Anonymous No.12346492]

>>12346449
Your just to unintelligent too properly understand Lain.
>Lain is a cute girl
>the soundtrack
SEL is an aesthetic in of itself. The visual and aural experience of it are inseparably part of the "substance and plot" of the show and this is why it is an ascendant form of anime.

[Anonymous No.12346502]

>>12346394
Nah, that's Lucky Star.

[Anonymous No.12346505]

>>12346492
>Lain is my waifu but in a very deep way that is too intelligent for you to understand
Okay

[Anonymous No.12346532]

>>12322359
Casshern Sins

[Anonymous No.12346535]

>>12346502
yeah but lucky star is based and fun

[Anonymous No.12346627]

>>12324634
the thing about BLAME! is that it's a direct rip-off of those works you mentioned, but none of those works (maybe with the exception of Feersum Endjin) captures the feeling that attracts such a strong cult following to Nihei's work. The despairing and beautiful vastness of BLAME! is really one of a kind, it nails an atmosphere that little else has accomplished.

[Anonymous No.12346689]

>>12346449
Nice bait.
Lain was not only a cute looking girl. She makes a great cute autistic doll type.
I first watched it around 2000 when cyberpunk was hip and such technical concepts were in vogue and everyone wondered and speculated what the world would be like and what would happen to the human mind.
The plot is a solid mystery if you pay enough attention, stuff escalates nicely and the atmosphere is great throughout the show.

[Anonymous No.12346701]

>>12346627
BLAME's whole setting reminds me of a world that's kind of moved past humanity. Not to say that humanity is dead of course, but it's more like humanity is obsolete. Humans are just another blip on the radar when it comes to existence on the enormous scale that BLAME takes. I love that shit so much and I'm always looking for any sort of works that are sobering reminders to just how small and insignificant humanity really is.

[Anonymous No.12346794]

There is a curious thing with non-lit Japanese media - I'm speaking for the manga, anime and video games: and by this curious thing I mean how poorly written they are, to the point that you remember the movement, the poses, the mechanics and the cuts but not the actual written/spoken content. Lain? I remember the hum of wires. Berserk? I remember the skull horseman sprinting up-tower. MGS? You're even bigger than the boss... you're big boss. Just horrifyingly bad statements spoken with dead certainty and without an ounce of humor (one notable counter-example being Jojo, but exposition there is still just that, shoddy exposition, however self-aware it may be).

The only time when Japs write something good in these media artefacts is when the put in wiki entries and stuff like that - movie buff content in Deadly Premonition or Sigint rants in MGS 3. They are incapable of writing anything memorable.

[Anonymous No.12346805]

>>12346794
pleb-tier opinion.
you only consume pulp media

[Anonymous No.12346842]

>>12346794
What were you expecting?
It's obvious that translations of genre fiction are going to have boring prose, especially if they're done by some nerd on the internet.

[Anonymous No.12346887]

>>12346794
The problem with Nips is that they recycle too much of their tropes. It's some shitty meta they have. You can read Musashi's account by Eiji Yoshikawa written in the 30s and it literally reads like an adventure manga from today.

There's plenty of good anime and film with original stuff and mature stories. Not exactly massively popular, but it exists.

[Anonymous No.12346956]

>>12346887
If I asked you for examples you'd give me something amounting to mumblecore aka slice of life.

[Anonymous No.12347069]

>>12346956
There's hardly a plot in SoL, so not exactly. There's nothing wrong with the genre anyway and it's not exactly new either (mumblecore wtf).

Mushishi; NGE; Tatami Galaxi; Planetes; Monster; Rakugo; Kino's Journey; most Satoshi Kon and Ghibli's.

At any rate, I'm too old now for anime. By definition it's made for children. Same with games.
Most of the guys who do seinen come from a background of writing stuff for children and it shows, and I can't do it anymore (the last things I could digest was girly stuff or josei).
Last I checked I was at 400+ series, so nothing is new anymore. Most was forgettable trash, but some things I still love and would recommend.

[Anonymous No.12347137]

>>12326000
>Grischa Lichtenberger
never heard of him before, it's really great

[Anonymous No.12347267]

>>12346794
Someone's never read Fukumoto. I'm pretty sure I can recite the akagi anime.

[Anonymous No.12347282]

>>12346449
>1% - the substance and "plot" of the show
If that's true, why is the anime dissected just as often if not more than NGE even though it's much less popular than it?

[Anonymous No.12347316]

>>12329912
He understood that in lux revenge is self perpetuating, and used that against the lux. He wanted to expose the primordial through chaos to see the core of man, something that's impossible to see above ground in the nihilistic humans consumed in simulacra.

[Anonymous No.12347553]

>>12345451
I'll just assume you're into artsy anime, so I won't venture beyond that, so here are a few recs (aside from Lain); unfortunately, since we're talking about a niche within a niche type of thing, there's not a lot of good stuff in the first place:

Haibane Renmei - often grouped with Lain and Texhnolyze because the same guy worked on character designs in both (and they let him write the story as well in case of Haibane); too slice-of-life-y at first, but things "pick up" (i.e. get worse in-universe) in the second half, although it still remains a low-key, small-scale "fable" sort of affair. Lots of depth to it, though, it being a fable. That said, you probably won't like that much if you're after the specific mood and themes that Texhnolyze has.

Paranoia Agent - as dark as Texhnolyze (if not more dark, and that's a tall order), but the facets of darkness are completely different; meant, I think, to convey insanity and confusion rather than suffering or despair. Masterfully directed and animated.
As with Texhnolyze, the opening is a decent "taster" of what you should expect.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-anabfAg06U

More generally: Satoshi Kon's darker stuff (Paprika, Perfect Blue, Magnetic Rose (part of an anthology movie called Memories))

Shigurui - same director as Texhnolyze, similar overarching sense of despair, most characters are assholes, lots of violence, rape; has somewhat more of a focus on spectacle/viscerality over big themes, but still worth watching if you liked Texhnolyze.

Things directed by Mamoru Oshii:
Angel's Egg, Patlabor 2, Ghost in the Shell (1995), GitS 2: Innocence
Want more of Texhnolyze, can't go wrong with this guy's stuff. Start with GitS 1995 or Angel's Egg.

[Anonymous No.12347710]

>>12347282
>why is the anime dissected just as often if not more than NGE
It's not.

[Anonymous No.12347973]

>>12347553
Not him so can you venture beyond artsy anime for an even bigger list please?

[Anonymous No.12348001]

I know it's shallow in relation to everything else that is being discussed, but I really like how Konaka always gives his episodes weird names, like how in Ghost House they're called Focus:01, Focus:02, etc. and in Texhnoloyze Rogue:01, Rogue:02, etc. .

[Anonymous No.12348030]

>>12345451
This discussion is making me want to restart watching anime... One of the last that I watched was Kino's Journey that I would raccomend. Same thing for Ergo Proxy. Speaking of the latter, are there any anime with similar aesthetic? It's a mixture of Baroque, Gothic, and Cyberpunk

[Anonymous No.12348473]

>>12347069
Mushi-shi is a literal work of art.

[Anonymous No.12348618]

>>12346532
hard second

[Anonymous No.12348666]

>>12348030
Original Kino or 2017?
2017 "updated" the graphics but it also sort of killed all momentum, the original was way more contemplative, all the anime original aditions were great and it got two movies after the show.

You could consider the old Boogiepop Phantom anime. It also went way above the source material, a very interesting way of telling it's story half episodic half a complex net of interconnecting points of view that only make full sense after repeated viewing.

[Anonymous No.12348762]

>>12348666
Original, of course. Anyway thanks for the raccomandation even thought it isn't exactly what I was asking for (but I'm pretty sure that something like E. P. is unique for many aspects)

[Anonymous No.12348947]

Sorry kid, I don't know any suitable picture books or cartoons that might interest you.

[Anonymous No.12349035]

>>12348947
Phoenix Goes to School is agood one, my lil fuckboi wont shut up about it absolutely loves it

[Anonymous No.12349044]

>ctrl F "Firepunch"
>0 results
Read Firepunch, it's alright.

[Anonymous No.12349598]

>>12347973
Well, I don't know much, but if we go by general darkness, fucked-up-ness, as a major criterion
then from the stuff I know is good, or heard it might be good...

Books (just a name dump):
Neal Stephenson
Jeff VanderMeer
George Saunders
Philip K. Dick
Some of DFW's short stories qualify, actually
Also, movements like The New Weird, Slipstream fiction, etc. might be worth checking out.
Also, Hard SF people like Greg Egan,
Ted Chiang, Toh EnJoe..

TV/Cinema (haven't seen much, just stating the obvious):
Blade Runner, Alien, Prometheus (all directed by Ridley Scott)
Stalker, Solaris (directed by Tarkovsky, nothing much happens, lots of food for thought, slight sci-fi elements)
Dr. Strangelove, 2001 (Stanley Kubrick)..
that's it, I don't know much..
I guess one can add some of Mamoru Oshii's better live action movies (Avalon, Garm Wars: The Last Druid).
There's also older Japanese shit I haven't personally seen, like
Woman in the Dunes (1964)
Tetsuo: The Iron Man
but both seem to be acclaimed movies that also happen to be dark, so perhaps worth a look.

Games:
Planescape Torment (and Torment: Tides of Numenera)
games directed by Yoko Taro (Drakengard 3, NieR (2010), NieR: Automata)
games from this studio called Quantic Dream or whatever, never played them
probably Metal Gear Solid, but never played any
Prey
Icepick Lodge games (forgot the actual game titles, this Icepick Lodge is the name of the studio that made them)
Wolfenstein: New Order, actually (eerily depressing if you look at it the right way, also a good game with great storytelling for actual grown-up humans).
Witcher 3 (tackles lots of philosophical issues in a fantasy setting)
SOMA (never played it, but most likely fits the bill)

[Anonymous No.12350384]

>>12348947

[Anonymous No.12350440]

>>12347710
There are thousands of websites solely dedicated to lain and lain discussion.

[Anonymous No.12350448]

>>12350440
The average Lain discussion goes something like this
>I'm confused, what does X mean?
>I dunno lol
>Lain is so cute
>I know right

[Anonymous No.12350526]

>>12330813

It's just a secular authoritarianism after millenia of religiously backed authoritarianism.

instead of priests that represent god in dictating a government, or having those descended from divinity ruling, You have the folks up top running things for the sake of "the people" or "the Party" or "The Greater Good", controlling and dictating the world as a means of controlling it.

in the past, you didn't matter just how useful you were to gods and kings.

In Socialism and nazism, your worth is how much of a benefit you are to the political apparatus.

New Boss same as the Old Boss, so fuck off.

Now Liberty and Free Markets, there's something no one has tried enough.

[Anonymous No.12350579]

>>12322359

I concur with those saying anything JG Ballard

another that might work is Veniss Underground by Jeff Vandermeer.

one or two cringey moments, but it's this biomechanical nightmare tales where the stuff people make are ultimately their undoing. you have grand cities collapsing because the AI running it was destroyed, armies of gengineered animals and mutants living under the earth, them eventually rising up and it gets into some Gigerian terminator shit in spots, with the whole thing ending in a post apocalyptic feel.

what will always fuck with me when I remember is a the last story where a guy sees his brother fall in love in the war, the brother lose sight of the chick in a night battle, then in a waiting game of stealth, finds mutant warhounds with the crying heads of people fused on to them, one being the head of chick his brother loved, calling out his name, that she hurts.

kinda like the bear bit in annihilation now that I think about it.

[Anonymous No.12350601]

>>12350448
Yeah in the fucking YouTube comments you idiot. They say the same thing about Eva.

[Anonymous No.12350620]

>>12350448
But what DOES x mean, and Lain IS cute.

[Anonymous No.12350672]

cereal lain is fucking gay overrated hipster trash
same with angels egg except angels egg has enough of a story to at least be interpretive and not just void
only people with yellow fever enjoy either of them

[Anonymous No.12350759]

>>12349598
Snow Crash was pretty good, /lit/ was wrong about yet another book.

[Anonymous No.12350773]

>>12348001
Still don't know why they thought giving him Digimon was a good idea.

[Anonymous No.12350836]

>>12349598
>icepick lodge
Pathologic is the more well-known one since it's more "tradtional"(very unpleasant to play, confusing, and a bit rushed in Artemiy and especially Clara's scenarios, but still more traditional), but I'd like to vouch for The Void because a lot of people tend to skip over it.
It can be difficult to get used to, but, as silly as this sounds, it's a goddamn experience.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QpaPltqnCqU

[Anonymous No.12351096]

SWAG ME UP
SWAG ME UP INSIDE
(I CANT SWAG UP)
SWAG ME UP INSIDE
(SWAAAAAG ME)
SWAG ME FROM THE SWAAG I HAVE BE-CUM

[Anonymous No.12351671]

What's their first car, and why is it actually a shitty old vespa?

[Anonymous No.12352338]

_

[Anonymous No.12353397]

_

[Anonymous No.12353993]

>>12350836
both are shitty walking simulators but at least the void doesn't drag on for 3x24hrs

[Anonymous No.12354149]

>>12322359
The Road by McCarthy seems to fit what you're looking for

[Anonymous No.12354686]

>>12329329
God fucking damn it why does everyone think shit like this always means fucking romance? Jesus christ

[Anonymous No.12354746]

Texhnolyze will be what humanity will look like in 50 years if we don't change our ways. Its not nihilistic at all , but a dire warning, akin to Heidegger's work on technology and technicity. Such a work could only come from the Japanese who have immersed themselves so much in technicity that they recognize that only annihilation lies in its wake. Man must learn not to master technology but to stop using technology in order to find salvation for all his existential problems.

[Anonymous No.12354804]

>>12323863
Dont listen to this subhuman piece of garbage. The blame! movie is nothing but an insult to the source material and should be avoided at all cost.

[Anonymous No.12356032]

_

[Anonymous No.12356054]

>>12330813
You mean neo-napoleonic post-neo classical eugenic pan caucasoid militarist performance art imperium-triumvirate?

[Anonymous No.12356528]

>>12329134
I cried like a bitch