"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.
