Blame! is unlike pretty much any manga I have ever read and it goes against almost all common tropes of the medium. Firstly, one of the most noticeable things is the prevailing lack of dialogue, rivalled only by the all-silent Gon. There is no narration, no gratuitous inner monologue, no lengthy exposition and characters speak briefly and only when necessary. The rest of the time, these pages remain silent. But that doesn't mean there isn't a deep story being told here. This is a minimalist and surrealist manga, rich with subtext that showcases a phenomenal universe full of unique and intriguing characters. We are told just enough to get a grasp and the rest is to flow from the reader's own imagination. A distinct "show don't tell" approach. For example, main character Killy/Kiryi has a very powerful gun, but instead of describing how powerful it is, Nihei-sensei shows Killy flying back violently from the recoil every time he fires, which is followed by panel after panel of glorious destruction. We aren't told how tough Killy is, we are shown how he can fly through multiple walls and still get up and keep going. This type of quiet, limited approach and visual storytelling is very refreshing and thoroughly engaging.
With so little words, the art has to do a lot of heavy lifting. But that's not an issue, because the artistic foundation of Blame! is among the most solid. Nihei-sensei is know for having a background in architecture and this shows. The backgrounds are among the most staggering you could see in any manga, with sprawling columns, corridors, intricate machinery and indescribable megastructures that are both endlessly vast and suffocatingly claustrophobic at the same time. Everything also feels so artificial (because it is), that you can almost feel how devoid of sunlight and oxygen these unending buildings are, as you see them vanish in the distance. The creatures and landscapes can also often devolve into these twisted Lovecraftian amalgamations of flesh and technology, so hideous and beautiful at the same time that they would make H.R. Giger jealous. Few worlds feel as rich and unending as this. The scale of space and time themselves become too vast and twisted for the human mind to fathom.
But Nihei isn't here to just show how good he is at drawing architectural sketches. His art is full of personality, quiet emotion and dense atmosphere. All of this forms the meat, bones and machinery of Blame's storytelling, which remains intriguing from beginning to end and keeps you asking about the meaning of it all. His art has this scratchy, sketch-like quality to it that contrasts great with the clean lines of the backgrounds and adds a lot of character. The action flows really well and the action and destruction and glorious and captivating. The only real complaints that can be made are that, on the one hand, the faces are clearly the weakest point, being a bit wonky on many occasions. On the other, the murky nature of the art means that, while this is rare, the art can sometimes be a bit lacking in terms of visual clarity, as everything becomes a crooked blob of blackness. He makes up for it with the surprising inclusion of a few great colour pages though, with a distinct oil painting style.
At the end of the day, Blame! is a cyberpunk manga and one of the best at that. The story features lots of high tech, cybernetics, rogue automatons, alternative life forms, genetic mutation, digital realms, cruel organizations, technobabble and more. If you just want to see some great visuals and some pumping action about cyborgs fighting each other in a decrepit city, you can find that here too. It has everything you need for a quality cyberpunk tale, while also standing out greatly from all other works in the medium by taking its unique surrealistic approach to its visual presentation and worldbuilding. The writing itself is razor sharp and the characters are equal parts charismatic and enigmatic. You may be uncertain about the meaning of things, but don't let this deter you - the nuances of the story and characters, the message behind the events that unfold and the intricacies of the universe are all left to be explored and pondering what it all means is part of the experience that makes Blame! so great. So don't be afraid to stop, rewind if need be and think about it for a little while.
In conclusion, Blame! is one of the greatest manga ever made and should, in my opinion, always be considered as being up there with the true greats of the medium. It's an exciting cyberpunk story, but it's also so much more. It's a thoroughly atmospheric experience that engulfs you in its world and will captivate your imagination for a long time after you finish it. Beyond that, this manga is so rich on fine details and subtlety, that it's also among the few works that may get better on the second readthrough. In any case, I believe anyone should read Blame! and submerge themselves in this unique world, you are genuinely doing yourself a disservice by not doing so. We still need to find the Net Terminal Gene.
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