Monday, September 27, 2010

BLAME!


Author:
Tsutomu Nihei
Illustrator:
Tsutomu Nihei
English Publisher: Tokyopop

Volume count: 10

Note: Epic.


     The City is a futuristic and technologically advanced world made-up entirely of artificially constructed walls, rooms, platforms, stairs and the occasional elevator. The enormous complex is divided into Floors separated by thick barriers called Megastructures. Machines called Builders continue to expand The City day and night without halt. Life is scarce in this world. Silicon Creatures, A.I. and other mutated forms are the majority of the population. The Netsphere is the central computing system of The City, and with the Authority, commanded everything within it. Unfortunately, access to the Netsphere has been cut off because of complications due to The City's rapid growth. The only way anyone would be able to enter into the system would be through special, yet very rare Net Terminal Genes. The Safegaurd, once used as a tool to prevent humans with Net Terminal Genes from accessing the Netsphere, now are out of control and attempting to eliminate all human life. To make things worse, the Silicon Creatures favor the idea and help as best they can. With humans continuously under attack, any hope left for human civilization rests with Killy. He is a mysterious man with tremendous abilities and is on a mission to find these Net Terminal Genes. He carries an incredibly powerful but small weapon called a Gravitational Beam Emitter. The world as we knew it has gone through enormous change, enough so that no one remember exactly how it happened. It is now up to Killy to complete his mission and prevent the inevitable, the extinction of mankind.


     BLAME! is an incredible piece of work. One interesting fact about the creator is that he went to school to be an architect. The series takes place in a world without vegetation or too many organic forms, so Tsutomu Nihei's skills really have a chance to shine when it comes to buildings. The manga itself was not meant to be pretty so don't expect any flowers or sparkles. The art is fairly rough to look at, and with a second glance, you can also notice that the most basic of techniques used. In fact, his styles can at times gives you the impression of a black and white painting. His style can also be seen as rather grotesque, especially when it comes to drawing certain creatures or scenes. But it is no way an eye sore; rather, more of a beautiful collaboration of a genius skill, knowledge and great efforts combined. The story itself is the central focus of this manga. It may come off as difficult for many people to understand in the beginning, especially since the story starts at a midpoint, but is so worth it. BLAME! happens to be part of what seems to be a collection of conjunctive works by Tsutomu Nihei. So while BLAME! stands by itself, a few other works by the author might help give you better ideas to some of what has happened in this series. The reader will grasp details, piece by piece as the story plays out and unravels itself. Something else that's rather unique about this series is the way people are depicted. Even in the heat of battle, it's interesting (and probably accurate) to see how human instinct and emotion place in an artificial world. These books have a generous amount of blood, action and violence. I wouldn't call it funny but it is genuinely entertaining. An overall intense but amazing series I recommend to those of you with or without an interest in the Cyberpunk genre. BLAME!


This was actually going to be my third post but it turned out to be a lot more of a challenge than I had planned. Sorry for the late update (again) but I always try to thank you guys at least once a day. But seriously, this series might be one of the best I've ever read. I also just realized that it's still September...What should I do for Halloween...Thanks again everyone, I appreciate your support!

20 comments:

  1. So cool, great review. Looking forward to different mangas.

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  2. this is a good post that makes me want to come back for more

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  3. Hey looks cool! I might look into it when I'll be up to date with Kuroshitsuji 2 ^^

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  4. Hey, another series that my brother read (I think).

    I'll make sure to take a look at this one too when midterms are finished.

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  5. thx for the great post! I will definitely come back for more!

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  6. How would you compare the illustrations to something like Highschool of the Dead? I know it's pretty mainstream, but everyone knows how it's drawn...

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  7. Mr. Micheal,
    Hahaha! Really? Well, BLAME! is really sketchy, with heavy cross hatching, lots of black and white and feels more realistic. Highschool of the Dead is what I would call pretty. Very neat lines, appealing designs, cute and clean artwork. But they also don't fall under the same category. If anything, BLAME! is what you might call hardcore. Think of something along the lines of AKIRA but lots grungier. Does that help?

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  8. dont blame the pooperman! >=(

    smoochies n' poopies! :*

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  9. Supportin :D
    Cool post bro!

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  10. How about the new animes coming out in Oct? They got any good mangas along with em? :O

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  11. wow this one sounds pretty epic. I really like tech punk or steam punk style stuff. I might have to add it too the collection.

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