Resurrected Spotlight Manga: BLAME!

"Don't think; feel. It's like a finger pointing away to the moon. Don't concentrate on the finger, or you will miss all the heavenly glory." Bruce Lee in Enter The Dragon (1974)


Nihei Tsutomu is quite simply the Bruce Lee of the cyberpunk genre. Unlike other cyberpunk titles that often centers around the philosophies of existentialism or nihilism, Nihei carves out his own path in BLAME!. There is no thought-provoking or multi-layered story plot. There is very little dialogue and narration. What you get here is just stunning visuals which act as the principal mechanism for story progression, and Nihei accomplishes it with aplomb. To be able to transcend the boundaries of normal storytelling is nothing short of a masterpiece. It is an extremely satisfying read that made me finish it in just two marathon sessions.

The BLAME! universe is a post-apocalyptic dystopia. Whatever little that’s left of the human population is scattered into small communities across the vast and seemingly unending darkness of the mega landscape. We join our protagonist, Killy, in his quest to search the gigantic labyrinth for the Net Terminal Genes. I won’t spoil too much but the Genes are the key to save the world which has spun out of control. He wanders around aimlessly for (amazingly) long periods of time, hoping to find clues to his goal. Equipped with his trusty SFG (little brother to the Big Fucking Gun), Killy is a force of nature. Well, I jest. It is actually called the Gravitational Beam Emitter. (Cool name huh?) In any case, this incredibly powerful little gun can blow a hole that extends for miles in anything that stands in its way. On his journey, Killy’s encounters with other strange creatures (cyborgs, machines and the like) usually explode into high octane battles. Surprisingly, there is no lack of action scenes despite the passive nature of the manga. The fighting is straight to the point. The characters do not make any cool poses for the sake of it, and we are also spared the annoying in-battle blabbering found in most shonen mangas. Yes, it’s pure, unadulterated, actual fighting. Absolutely fantastic.

Another highlight is the glorious artwork. Nihei’s experience in architecture really shows in the manga. Never before have I seen colossal structures being drawn is such detail and cool angles. It may take a while to get used to his style, but be prepared for a barrage of eye orgasm. You’ll have to see it to believe it.

As I’ve described earlier, the artwork replaces the role of narration. The characters seldom talk, unless absolutely necessary. The resultant slow pace of the story might be a turn off for some people. However, it accentuates the gloomy atmosphere very well. The delivery also adds a different dimension to the reading experience. Little details are revealed as the story progresses. It may seem confusing to some due to the lack of explanations and spoon feeding by the author, but it allows the reader to interpret the events in their own way. While the plot may not be particularly remarkable, it is very engaging. It fits Nihei’s style perfectly as it lends it a mysterious touch. The reader is constantly left wondering about the history of the events, backgrounds and motives of the characters. It certainly tickled my curiosity. As we follow Killy’s exploits, we watch as the world of BLAME! slowly unfolds before our eyes. Before you know it, you’ll find yourself (spiritually) living in it!

This is not a thinking manga. To truly enjoy it, you must heed the words of the grandmaster. Activate your sensory perceptions and immerse yourself into the world of BLAME!. Don’t just think. FEEL.

Well, instead of writing a few more paragraphs, let me try to summarize the whole thing using a few descriptors and keywords:

Atmospheric; Dark Ambience; Vast Universe; Colossal Structures; Explorative; Passive; Surreal; Explosive Action; Magnificent Artwork, Grotesque Character Designs; MASTERPIECE

How I wish I could do a review using drawings instead.

BigSimo said:
best artwork in any manga ever? i think so.

A curious manga, to which I had fed my curiosity since I had watched the anime Special. After a lot of consideration, I ended up giving it an almost perfect score [9]. As it really is a very special manga, who deserves its cult status and, in my opinion, should be read by everyone. Where to start a review? It's hard, as I'm still digesting everything I've read, but I'll try.

This is an universe that is dystopian and cyberpunk. Something in this far away future went very wrong. This is the first spectacular point of the manga: the universe where it's set. The characters travel through cities on various levels, with stairs and tunelsE in which we can't understand what's up and down, where you can't see sky or earth, true labirynths, a surrealistic babel without a meaning or an end. This brings to the reader an extremelly opressive feeling, even though it's calm and contemplative. This manga barely has dialogue, as the travel through this world is made in a silence that is almost never interrupted: this allows us to enjoy better the visual festival.

Effectively, the art could not be better. It's very different than usual, let's admit it since the beggining. With a great use of black, we have extremelly detailed sceneries opposed to more intimate moments, conceptual sketches with a very plastic texture. The vividness of the scenery is frightening, creating an expectation towards what is on the eand of each staircase, of each corridor, which normally reveals into spectacular framesi, of a very fragile and delicate eauty. The author of this manga, as it's said, used to be an arquitect that left everything to wrote this. His formation is noted in the exact proportions and realism of buildings and machines that, even though they don't make sense, are buildt in a way very close to reality.

The story is highly dense and very given to different interpretations. I tried to think a little about it to be able to do an anlysis, but I have to read more about this manga since I did not come to a conclusion yet [this at the time of the review. At the moment, I still don't have a conclusion :p ] The truth is that each ot us can think what we want, with all the development and, especially, with the weirdly inconclusive ending. In fact, everything is very simple: Killy is a man, supposedly humon, who searches for people with a gene. On the way he makes a friend, Cibo, and finds many weird people, robots, cyborgs or humans. None has what he wants. Everyehre there's the threat of the safeguards, robots with the only mission of destroying humans. Sometimest we find builders, robots that bluid the cities and, as it seems, are out of control. Sometimes, we meet the Silicon Creatures, who have an indefinite mission that goes against what Killy searches. It's a very complex situation, that suddenly develops in the last volume and that leaves us thinking.

However, it seems to me that the story and characters exist more in function of the universe than something else. In the end, we should read this manga to enjoy the travel through the weird world of Blame!, more than something else. As it really is a walk where you sustain your breath.

Highly recommended, (...)