Tsutomu Nihei

I recently heard the argument that movies aren't really "narrative delivery devices", but rather "vibe delivery devices." Blame! is an excellent example of an artistic work being the latter.

I could explain the broad plot of Blame! if asked to, but I'd have difficulty describing its more intricate details. This is a weird, inhuman world, and the lack of specifics only enhances that strangeness. Still, Nihei is very clearly a student of architecture, and he's able to convey a lot to the reader via a silent landscape.

The world of Blame! takes place in an endless, ever-growing city that has long grown past the needs of humans. The architecture here has its own reasons for existing, and anyone or anything that exists within this city is on its own. This series is definitely one of the more interesting fictional worlds I've visited recently. I really appreciate it's eeriness and emptiness. The Master Editions are great because they really showcase Neihi's artwork. I feel modern media has a tendency to over explain things, getting too caught up in lore over storytelling, and I think Blame! works so well precisely because of it's obtuse world building.… (more)

Wow, this is such interesting world building.

In 2023, if seems as if every franchise will have it's lore over explained. Every tiny bit of minutiae will be explored and covered via side stories told in every form of media imaginable. "Blame!" is the opposite of that. It throws you head first into the deep end of a foreign, dangerous, and alien world. And in that way it's thematically apt!

This is a world long dead, living on via inertia alone. The inhabits of this city don't know much more than the reader, and any answer is slowly revealed simply by exploring further into the city. The artwork here is beautiful, filled with detailed cityscapes and horrifying creatures. I think the action scenes can be a bit messy, but the imagery itself is enough to keep reading.

I'm not entirely sure why I've avoided this for as long as I have, but I'm excited to finally get around to reading Blame!… (more)

Very interesting - both artistically and story-wise - SF story.

Story is placed on the surface of gigantic planetary mega-structure. Inner core is ruled by the chosen ones (victors in the large war waged in the past) while everyone else is forced to live on the surface, under harsh conditions.

And so story begins, small military training group comes under attack from Rebedoa Empire when they try to assist the unknown girl running away from the Rebedoa pursuers. This results in a very high cost for our heroes.

Wont go into more details here because I do not want to spoil experience to other readers.

Some very interesting concepts are given here - endowing people with the so called Frames, basically providing nanobots (I think, they are called placenta here) to strengthen the body and provide one with armor and advanced weapons, to as long as body can produce energy for it.

Everything is very game-like, as story progresses our main character Etherow will level up with every battle he survives. Enemies, Rebedoa Empire, are ruthless and fielding the same type of Frames. While Etherow survives initial challenges it is visible that there is more to come.

Art is very interesting. When it comes to panoramas and epicness of battle scenes, they are still the trademarks of the author, well established in Blame series.
But, unlike Blame, art style is very much like pointillism in pencil strokes - everything is very light and distorted, strong lines come into play in some panels but majority plays out like a mirage, trembling around the edges, I have to admit it does take some time to accommodate to but after a while it does create certain dynamic art. In general characters are no longer lanky ones from the Blame but with more proportional bodies, although almost everyone from this Etherow's military training unit look like kids. Gotta be related to the story itself.

All in all, interesting story. I am on a lookout for other volumes.

Recommended to fans of SF.… (more)

Plot thickens as they say. Silicon Life's goal is now clear - they are trying to connect to the Netsphere and they can try to do it in this specific part of the City where specific Net Terminal Gene is not required. Here Kyrii and Cibo find refuge with provisional Safeguards, Dhomochevsky and Iko who are trying to keep this location safe from intrusion and especially Silicon Life.

Art as always, Lovecraftian to the L. I have to admit that I am not sure how this will end, considering this is penultimate master edition I dont know how this story-line can be finished. Truly wandering how this one will end.

Recommended to fans of Event Horizon like stuff (and SF of course :))… (more)