Biomega

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Japanese: バイオメガ

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Type: Manga

Volumes: 6

Chapters: 43

Status: Finished

Published: Jun 14, 2004 to Jan 19, 2009

Genres: Action, Horror, Sci-Fi

Demographic: Seinen

Serialization: Ultra Jump

Authors: Nihei, Tsutomu (Story & Art)

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Score: 7.48¹ (scored by 9,658 users)

¹ indicates a weighted score.

Ranked: #3096²

² based on the top manga page. Please note that 'R18+' titles are excluded.

Popularity: #613

Members: 29,078

Favorites: 544

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Nov 2, 2021

hexashadow13

Mixed Feelings

tl;dr: A manga that’s mostly just really boring with a plot that makes little sense.

Biomega is a manga that largely just doesn’t work. The plot is the tried and true plot line that involves an Earth that is essentially undergoing a virus induced zombie apocalypse where the protagonist is part of a group searching for those immune to the virus in order to protect them in order to preserve humanity, with another faction basically trying to use the ongoing apocalypse to reshape the world and humanity to their purposes. However, it’s told really badly in a really scattershot manner that makes it really hard to ...

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Feb 28, 2023

Tolstoevsky

Mixed Feelings

Its charm stemmed from simplicity it lost somewhere along the way.

During Blame!'s runtime from 1997 to 2003, Nihei released the first and only chapter of a cancelled series named Dead Heads, which could be considered as the predecessor of Biomega. If you are looking for more of the same, consider reading this one, as the art and aesthetic are very reminiscent of Blame!, yet different enough you can't equate the two... Which adds to the sadness when I say I view it as a rather mediocre read. Shame, as it could have been pretty good.

The setting and premise are mad simple: zombie apocalypse, the antagonists ... see potential for advanced human civilization, the main character is a sci-fi biker with guns whose job is to find an immune girl. It has a few interesting spins on said basic formula, but that's basically it. You get a little side story as introduction, then you are hit with a little spreadsheet containing the characters and locations of importance with basic summary for each. Some may find that dumb, but I'm here to say that I love it, and here's why:

When I watch a movie, I don't always want to watch something as profound as, let's say, Godfather. Sometimes I'm in for some action, or a comedy, or romance... Something fun just for the sake of being fun. Biomega starts off like that: simple story that you get thrown into from the get-go. A mercenary riding a futuristic motorcycle in the middle of a zombie dystopia, who is friends with an actual bear, all the while I have Carpenter Brut's "Turbo Killer" stuck in my head? I don't know how I could say no to such an offer. You are given all the necessary intel, all that is left is to hop on the ride.

The beginning is great in that regard. Very easy to follow, straight into the heat of it, and mad spectacular while still achieving suspense when necessary. To me, that is where Biomega is at its peak, in those moments of clarity and action. The characters are entertaining and with clear goals, the gags are alright, the villains are generically evil and yet do their job completely fine. Everything is easy to understand, all you need to do is follow that what's in front of you...

And then Nihei had to make it overly complex.

Adding complexity to a story is a very normal thing to do, but it didn't feel right for Biomega. It wasn't gradually introduced, but bluntly implemented, choking the momentum it had. The amount of text alone drowns any pacing it could foster, let alone how confusing it gets. It felt plane by the midpoint when the great climax happens only for it to be topped off with something one could call a "reset". Even thou there are some sparks of interest here, by that point I couldn't bother caring. Everything felt like it came out of nowhere, it didn't suit the work if you ask me.

The cast is simple, diverse, and knows to be interesting, but as is the case with Blame!, they aren't the focal point of the work. The story is nothing to write home about. The entire manga had value due to its charm. When it is stripped of that, there isn't anything to substitute for the loss.

As previously noted, in terms of art you can see how it came right after Blame! ended. They are far from same; it is a lot messier than Blame!'s, but it actually gives it character. The action feels good, it packs impact, the villains can look especially cruel in ssome situation... I wouldn't say it's nearly as good as Blame!, but it's memorable. Thou, even the art loses its charm when the entire story gets fumbled. Unfortunate, really.

All in all, I am sad. I really liked it in the beginning exactly for how simple it felt. Nihei has already proven capable of enticing the reader through just action displayed, so a title focusing more on show with a more basic concept honestly hyped me up. But, alas, what happened has happened. It had good parts, and the ending is fine. It did get me more familiar with Nihei, thus I don't regret reading it. It's just a shame I couldn't like it more...

Thank you for reading up to this point. I wish you all the very best. Kind regards.

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Jan 18, 2023

bergars

Mixed Feelings

A simple race against time to save the world, and what happens afterward.

"Biomega", as well as the other Tsutomu Nihei works I've read, work within the confines of showing, never telling. Even with that, this manga does have much more dialogue, but it's never dialogue that explains anything. Characters react to a situation, they move towards the next step of the operation, but what's the operation?

Story: 5/10
Zouichi is one of those simple Nihei protagonists; an unrelenting force of humanity, dead set on completing his mission, even if the world itself has ended. With the goal of saving the world, we observe the creatures, ... the world, pretty easy to follow at the beginning. Zouichi must save a person introduced in chapter one, and diverse elements snatch her, causing all kinds of trouble, but that's not the important part. The concepts of infection, of cosmic impotence against a world ending threat, and the small forces against so many different moves to take over everything. The confusion starts when so many organizations interfere with each other in their constant battle of plans, of schemes, introducing concepts of mind combination, instrumentalities, world union. Of course, you can say none of that really matters, since the protagonist does his thing, and nothing the others say matters against his goals, but it really bothers me to not get anything that happens. Another Tsutomu Nihei manga, another story where nothing gets explained, only inferred, or implied to give a sense of rewatching, re-reading. We get concepts, we get imagery, and that's the story, but don't expect a straight narrative, even if we actually get a straight narrative if you ignore most of what's presented. However, I do like every other aspect more.

Characters: 7/10
We get a colorful cast of characters with personalities we can love, mostly Kozlov for the unexpected comedy, and the irony of having a bear on a cyberpunk, post apocalypse. Zouichi has some personality as a protagonist, and I just like to see these characters talk, interact and prepare for things. This is not just a force of nature, but a sympathetic being we can follow while they do something important, and being badass.
The key difference with every one of these protagonists is how much time they've been alive. In "BLAME!", the main character has lived for an unfathomable amount of time, rendering him completely emotionless, reactionless, timeless. "Knights of Sidonia" presents a guy whose time is simple, not too long, just a young person (more or less), creating an emotional, connecting personality that manages to compel people easily. Zouichi is right in the middle, living a lot, with not much emotion, but not dead on the inside; hence, the interactions and dialogue, although limited, are appreciated.
The other characters feel strangely personal, anecdotal in nature. People live in this strange wasteland, that's not something you show so calmly. People have legends, traditions, weird ways to express love, dialects, you don't think about that when the story has a sentence like "it has the length of 4.8 billion kilometers". Weirdly comforting, and strangely appealing, to have such a thing within cosmic horror.

Art: 10/10
Now this is where Nihei never disappoints, at all. Away from a less than appealing, and unapproachable story; characters that don't matter in a grand scheme of things, and scarce dialogue that never explains anything, the art holds your metaphorical hand to visual mastery. Art is a medium, a way to tell a story, the contrast between both whiplashes your brain into thinking that those speech bubbles matter; that what's happening needs to be coherent after the first watch, and this is a compliment. The art in "Biomega" simply rocks; amazing battles, the character designs got so much better than past Nihei works, landscapes where you can now, coherently, observe the scale of the world against the characters. Although some battles become incomprehensible, it isn't as hard to understand as "BLAME!", I never got headaches. If anything, this is the reason to read "Biomega", if not because you're a fan of Nihei's works.

Overall: 7.3/10
I didn't particularly like "Biomega", since it was more of an endurance test, where my brain wanted to read the speech bubbles, thinking they ought to make sense with what I'm seeing. This is a story that needs you to pay extreme attention, a manga that trusts your intelligence, and cunning brain to put every piece together. It assumes you get every name presented, that you get every piece of information, given out of order, in conversations from which you can only peep. I like stories that show, but showing is something that's limited in "Biomega", a story that fights your understanding. I don't know if this is an underrated masterpiece, but personally, I can't look at it as such, or get the love. Perfect art, extremely hard to understand story, and good characters, blended into the cosmic idea of how the end of the world can happen, and what goes on after it.

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