BLAME!
STATUS
COMPLETE
VOLUMES
10
RELEASE
July 25, 2003
CHAPTERS
66
DESCRIPTION
Killy is a man of few words. He wanders, seemingly endlessly, through a lonely, gargantuan labyrinth of concrete and steel, fighting off cyborgs and other futuristic nightmares, searching only for something called Net Terminal Genes. And he has a very powerful gun, which he uses without hesitation whenever anything resembling danger rears its ugly head.
Who is this quiet, violent, determined man and what are these Genes he seeks? The small communities he finds tucked into the crevices of this towering, dystopic ruin hardly give him leads on his treasure, driving him to find larger enclaves of civilization where people can reveal more about the world he lives in and the quarry he seeks.
(Source: Tokyopop)
Note: Includes 1 extra chapter.
CAST
Killy
Cibo
Dhomochevsky
Sanakan
Pcell
Seu
Davine lu Linvega
Maeve
Mensab
Ivy
Iko
Blon
Schiff
CHAPTERS
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REVIEWS
CountZero
A really strong first manga, and really shows how great Nihei is with his backgrounds and sense of scaleContinue on AniListBlame! (pronounced like the onamonapia "Blam") is the first outing by Tsutomu Nihei, the mangaka who would go on to do Biomega and Knights of Sidonia, and it's an incredibly strong start to what has become an extremely impressive career.
The manga follows, initially, a man named Killy, who is exploring a massive industrial gothic landscape known as the "Megastructure", searching for a person who has the "Net Terminal Gene". It turns out at some point in the distant past the automated machines responsible for construction and maintenance went out of control, and the structure has begun expanding out of control. The Net Terminal Gene would allow a human to access the computer system that controls the MegaStructure.
Because of the nature of the setting, the story of the system doesn't focus heavily on character development, instead focusing on the journey as Killy goes through the megastructure looking for settlements, and trying to find out if any of the residents of those settlements have the Net Terminal Gene. This doesn't mean that the characters we get aren't fleshed out - it's just that there aren't very many of them. Killy is the only character who is in every volume of the manga, with a few supporting characters like Sana and Cibo coming in later volumes - and over the course of the series we get a degree of development for each character, though each is defined by the goals that drive them - Killy by his search for the Net Terminal Gene, Cibo for a better understanding of the Mega Structure, and Sana by her joint attraction for Killy and Cibo.
Probably the biggest strength here is the art. Nihei is a fantastic landscape artist, and this series features the "Industrial Gothic" design esthetic that would later get featured very prominently in Biomega. In particular, the last volume of Vertical's reprints has some spectacular two-page landscape spreads.
While it's almost impossible to track the route of Killy's journey, Nihei does a fantastic job of getting across a sense of scale and power as he makes his way through the Megastructure. This particularly comes up whenever Killy fires his signature weapon - the Graviton Beam Emitter. The gun's beam keeps going for a tremendous distance whether it hits an opponent or not, and Nihei does a great job of getting this across, with great use of wide-shots showing the additional damage of the beam.
The series does lack the sense of humor of Knights of Sidonia or even some of the quippy one-liners of Biomega. It makes for a read that I'd describe as "Angel's Egg with Explosions and more dialog." The series isn't as navel-gazy or philosophical as Angel's Egg is, but it has the dark atmospheric tone of that series.
The series was originally licensed by by Tokyopop, but recently got a re-release by Vertical which is a much more enjoyable read, with larger pages that really let the detail in Nihei's start to stand out.
deli000
A gothic, cyberpunk dystopia filled with breathtaking architecture and stunning action.Continue on AniListBlame! is pure science-fiction goodness. It doesn’t contain a coherent story nor does it have the most thorough characterization, but when it comes to creating a unique setting, it does a perfect job. This manga is very much like the sentiment, “a picture is worth a thousand words”. There is very little dialogue and not much exposition. Instead, these elements are replaced by worldbuilding and pure action.
Blame! is a perfect example of how creative and imaginative a science-fiction world can be. Instead of focusing on its societies and individuals, it looks more at the building blocks of the world itself, comprising of massive monoliths and structures that stretch out far beyond the human eye can see. The angles, scaling, and shading are all done brilliantly in order to capture the dystopian beauty of the world. The amount of detail is just insane. But while Blame! works to highlight its environment, it also contains various amounts of interesting characters that all contribute to the story. The characters do take more of a backseat, but they are still given proper amounts of characterization.
Blame!’s protagonist is the perfect vessel for a story like this. We can immerse ourselves through his silent journey through endless amounts of steel and beams. It is through his eyes that we are able to get a feel of the bleakness and darkness of the world, and his lack of dialogue allows you to take everything in without needing to really think. Just taking in the sights as if you were there yourself, standing atop those massive platings and pathways. The gothic atmosphere the manga creates is an encaptivating one, and it only highlights how great it is at immersing you in the manga’s environment. The structures and buildings are filled with detail from both afar and near, showing bits and pieces of the world’s history as the protagonist navigates through the robust landscape.
The protagonist also stumbles upon an assortment of machine lifeforms that lead to many action-packed exchanges. The action in Blame! is short and sweet but also come by frequently. The action is consistently amazing, and it ends up being right up my alley. Action within a gothic backdrop is just pure bliss for me. The lack of dialogue within these scenes also makes them more engaging as you can take in the weight of the action without really working your brain all that much. The action is completely unfiltered and comes in short bursts, but its consistency is what makes it loveable.
Blame! is the type of manga that seeks to show rather than tell. It contains a perfect dystopian, science-fiction world with an equally enticing atmosphere. The story is absolute bonkers, but it was also perfect for something like this. The presentation of the story itself was well done, keeping the engagement levels to a high despite its disorientating nature. While Blame! is nowhere near being the pinnacle of storytelling or creating complex characters, it manages to instead be one of the coolest and most fascinating depictions of a science-fiction setting. Blame! oozes style with its cyberpunk dystopia, creating an experience that speaks louder than words.
FayePixie
Blame! is a place where art is the story, words are optional and loneliness is inevitableContinue on AniList__Blame! is a place where art is the story, words are optional and loneliness is inevitable__ 
~~A lot of the comics and manga I've read are passable, or even good. Others are excellent and exceed my expectations. But for the first time since finishing Berserk, something so profound and beautifully stylised has come along (or has been around for a long time) and blown my mind.
This is a manga with fantastic drawings that set an atmosphere I haven't encountered since the mystique of Blade Runner 2049. This masterpiece is an author's blood, sweat and tears poured into an artwork that took him six years to complete. You can feel its beauty seeping at the edges of every page as the mangaka studied architecture to create this wonderful, topsy-turvy world where up and down are the only ways to go.
Unlike anything else I've read before, this work of art does not hand you the story up front - it gives you an atmosphere, a drawing and a tiny smattering of dialogue to fit the pieces together, more like a broken rubix cube than a puzzle. Blame! contains one of the most unique forms of narrative I've ever experienced - a narrative where you are the co-author; where you fill in the blanks and enrich the story with your own thoughts. You are given the creative freedom to surmise and actualise your feelings regarding the state of this dystopian world.
From these small instances you can gather that the protagonist, Killy, is looking for a way to cure humanity of the grossly inhuman thing it has become. Civilisation is fully integrated into technology, with automated cities. But a virus causes these systems to malfunction, putting humanity on the brink of complete extinction.
Blame! is filled with philosophical meanderings that aren't too forced or lacking - in fact, it has the perfect blend of existential dread and kick-ass action. Most importantly, this manga is so personal. In every frame featuring a life form you feel their sadness, distrust and anger shouting at you from the pages.
A must-read for fans of cyberpunk and the existential elements that follow suit. I'd definitely call this one of those manga-for-people-who-don't read-manga types of manga. This is definitely not a manga you can binge, unless you want your brain to explode from too much sensory input. I'm deeply saddened by how underrated this manga is. Understandably, it's difficult to adapt into an anime, which makes it less accessible to most anime-only types.
"What is land? - Killy
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SCORE
- (4/5)
MORE INFO
Ended inJuly 25, 2003
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