>>281722043
>>281722462
The characters basically all represent different philosophical outlooks. Ran's followers adhere to a sort of determinism or calvinism. Doc is a Nietzschean character who is trying to create the ubermensch via texhnolyzation and therefore prevent human extinction; the surface people are the Last Men, who no longer try to evolve or do anything dangerous, and that's what Yoshii is trying to prevent. Onishi and Shinji broadly represent the extremes fascism (esp. in a Japanese way) and libertinism.
Kano himself is obviously solipsism, i.e. the idea that nothing outside your own mind can be proved to exist. Ran on the other hand is the collective unconscious that took human form through texhnolyzation and raffia, so she's basically his complete opposite, as she's connected to everything and can see past her own present experience.
Ichise, the protagonist, represents the body in a physical, political and philosophical way; he's a proletarian in the truest sense, only able to persist through the selling of his own body (fighting and prostitution) completely alienated from everything including his own family history, basically just part of the "masses" to be used. The story kicks off when he loses his arm and leg due to an act of bodily self-defense, and then is texhnolyzed by Doc, entering society proper and forming a mental bond with Ran. His last great act is being able to use texhnolyzation independently of the obelisk that houses Ran's mind therefore proving Doc right.
Kano, being solipsism, doesn't care one bit about the body. His plan for human evolution is to turn people into just brains, as in the "brain in a vat" thought experiment. This includes Ran; notice that Ichise has the exact same type of guttural response to seeing Ran without a body as he does when he loses his limbs.
Texhnolyze is about the body, its relation to the mind, and the horror of being a cyborg.
