Blame! Vol. 4

Blame! [ブラム!] #4

by Tsutomu Nihei

Sanakan attempts to destroy the Central A.I., as Mensab and her guardian knight, Seu, fight for the lives of the human residents they promised to protect. After the Central A.I. recklessly attempts to forward the whole of TOHA Heavy Industries, Kyrii and Cibo are left with a precious genetic sample from a very old human being. Wanting to test the genetic sample for signs of the Net Terminal Gene, Kyrii and Cibo make their way through an unofficial megastructure…

Genres: Manga, Science Fiction, Comics, Cyberpunk, Graphic Novels, Horror, Fiction

364 pages, ebook

First published March 21, 2000

About the author

See also 弐瓶 勉.

Tsutomu Nihei (弐瓶 勉 Nihei Tsutomu, born 1971) is a Japanese manga artist. His cyberpunk-influenced artwork has gained a strong cult following. He has a relatively large community of fans in Germany where his manga Blame!, NOiSE and Biomega were published by Ehapa. Blame! was also published in France and Spain by Glénat, in the US by Tokyopop and in Italy by Panini Comics.

At first he studied architecture and later it is shown up in his manga works with drawing huge structures. This became one of his general theme that makes his manga unique. His works are usually in black and white. He is also an avid fan of the video game series Halo, as he mentions in his commentary section in the Halo Graphic Novel.

Taken from Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tsutomu_...

Reviews

[47Time · Rating 4 out of 5]

This series sure doesn't hold your hand. It's a shame that more explantions aren't included. The story would get a solid 5-star rating with a few more clarifications on how this universe works. It's still a pretty good scifi that has gotten me hooked.

Cibo's identity has taken an electronic form as a result of her ordeal while controling the builder. With the Auhority's help, Cibo disables the safeguard and learns that Killy is a secret agent of a pre-safeguard system. She then trasfers her consciousness into Sana-Kan's android body. She still shares it with Sana-Kan, though, so Killy uses the Toha Heavy Industries filters to help Cibo maintain control.

The facility has an A.I. designed to fight the safeguard, so Killy's gun is also disabled. Killy and Cibo face two silicon creatures and are overpowered. Two agents from Toha Industry, Mensab and Seu, defeat the creatures. Killy and Cibo are spirited away by pixie-like creatures who reveal that Mensab has been infected by the silicon creatures. Killy wants to return to Mensab and have a talk with her.

[Strangerealms · Rating 5 out of 5]

This dark, gritty, alienating, violent cyberpunk manga is really good. The artist Nihei is really gifted to draw buildings and he creates an empty world left with never ending growing buildings, metallic structures, and deadly creatures out to get you. The structures and the Safeguards who were once protecting the population, are now out of control and kill everyone on sight, due to a virus the population was exposed to. Killy is set to find a person whose genes (Net Terminal Genes) are uncorrupted by the virus in order to get back the control over the structures and the Safeguards since only such a person can access the control center. During that time the Silicones, the official bad guys, keep causing troubles and want to stop Killy. Thankfully, Killy is a powerful cyborg and makes friend along the way with Cibo a scientist.

The manga has barely any dialogue, Blame! is the kind of manga where you really have to pay attention to each image and even reread a few times the manga in order to really understand what is going on. I think it is worth it.

This is my review for the whole manga.

[M. Ashraf · Rating 3 out of 5]

We go back to the min. dialogue as possible.
It is all artwork and you figure it out for yourself and with that things got very intense in this volume still great, like the concept.
New place and characters in this volume to advance the story.
Still holding on!

[Ashley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Unfortunately, I am dropping this one. I think there's some interesting and intriguing things about this series, but it just hasn't really grabbed me. The main character is essentially a gun attached to a body, and him and Cibo just get abused by random monsters until they reach the next checkpoint. The artwork is not enough to keep me going either. I don't feel any actual stakes and it just trudges on.

[Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

This series continues to improve!!!

[beyz · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5

[Bradley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Killy really does have the Halo one pistol...So do others. I'm at a loss here. The synthetic ones are pretty badass, but they've taken a backseat and have the least explanation (which might not be a bad thing). There is a grudge with Killy, but I always felt that some of the synthetic ones were helping him. He also destroyed that transport which contained those bodies once he discovered that they weren't trying to loot the transport. That's the type of story I enjoy.

We're getting into something much broader that goes beyond mere survival in this crazy plate-world. The different factions add variety. I don't wish to sound like I complaining, I'm simply weary of where the plot is headed. I should just shut my mouth and enjoy the ride. On to the next!

[Emperador Nui · Rating 4 out of 5]

Los episodios de combate y lucha tecnológica que se vieron en el volumen anterior no cesaron con su locura, por lo que el inicio del tomo 4 es un arranque potente de acción, que luego por fin se diezma en favor de una investigación mayor de los demás fuerzas que habitan los escenarios.

Inteligencia artificial, enemigos destinados a convertirse en recurrentes y una extraña metamorfosis inmaterial son los elementos más memorables, aparte de la enriquecedora acción, de los presentes capítulos.

[Alejandra Rubio · Rating 5 out of 5]

Este tomo y el tres es donde se revela más sobre killy, y también donde la trama da un poco más de cambios, lo que es bueno porque los tomos anteriores se estaban volviendo repetitivos. Realmente con estos tomos el manga volvió a captar mi interés.

[Kurtis Burkhardt · Rating 4 out of 5]

The “Blame!” Series is pretty good, lots of cool action and interesting art but can’t give a 5⭐️because it lacks in the story👍😁❤️

[scafandr · Rating 5 out of 5]

3 том меня сильно поразил развитием сюжета. Мы узнали много неожиданный подробностей, Килли оказывается сильно непрост. 4 том менее неожиданный. Я бы сказал, что это больше 3.5, чем полноценный 4. Неожиданных столкновений всего парочка штук, всего пара изображений, который я бы с радостью нанес на майку или набил на руке. Какие странные кремниевые хранители... Забавные летающие существа а-ля Венди насмешили=)
По-прежнему очень интересно, к чему идут герои, уверен, мы увидим еще кучу огромных монстров, которые не умещаются на двух страницах. И пускай этот том больше похож на флегматичный первый, он все равно меня сказочно порадовал, как и весь Blame! в целом.

[Mohammad Sabbir Shaikh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Blame! Tsutomu Nihei's popular manga is all about his fabulous art. Page after page Nihei's art blows your mind. After one point, you just don't care about the story or the character arc or anything else. No. All you wish is to get lost in the Nihei's world, which is brilliantly imagined and fantastically presented here.

[Shin Donghae · Rating 3 out of 5]

Jilid ini dan sebelumnya memberikan fakta yg cukup mendukung terutama dari sisi latar si MC. Setidaknya pada plotnya memberikan lebih banyak twist yang cukup bagus. Barangkali ini cukup menjaga asa saya utk bertahan melanjutkan serial ini :)))

[Aggrrressivtot · Rating 2 out of 5]

meh, dragged it out long enough to be sure that's it for me. I'm not one who reads for pretty picture only with vague plot and characters.
and this title is a bit weird with women, but I can't pinpoint issue surely, above basic misogyny present in lots of mangas.

[Denisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another rating: 8/10

[Angelo · Rating 5 out of 5]

It only gets better and better!❤️

[Eressea · Rating 3 out of 5]

好難懂Orz

[Raluca · Rating 5 out of 5]

The graphical work is incredible, a really interesting story and incredible visuals

[t.h. · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5

[Pennina-Lynn · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really like the art style... Oh, and the cyborgs... Sexy, sexy cyborgs...

[Ahmad Hossam · Rating 2 out of 5]

Dropping this. A bare-bones plot can only carry you so much.

[spirited.pages · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautiful panels. Story telling without needing words

[Céline NARICADOU · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5/5

[Nacho · Rating 4 out of 5]

Que carajo está pasando, me encanta

[vera · Rating 4 out of 5]

no entiendo nada bro pero que bonito es

[Saúl Meza · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nunca creo poder explicar en palabras el sentimiento de soledad, tristeza y pequeñez que me hizo sentir este manga, una completa obra maestra en todo sentido.

[Himanshu Karmacharya · Rating 4 out of 5]

minimum dialogue, packed action scenes and plenty of revelations

[Nura · Rating 3 out of 5]

akhirnya sedikit demi sedikit latar belakangnya Killy mulai terungkap. menurut controller, Killy adalah agen rahasia sistem pre-safeguard. so, this will bring another question: what is killy? *garuk-garuk* setelah bertempur sampai lengannya hampir putus, Killy bersama Chibo (yg tewas dan hidup kembali dalam tubuh Sanakan) masuk ke dalam Toha Industries. di sana mereka bertemu dengan Mensab, AI yang menguasai Cave 8. dan ternyata memang ada manusia yang tinggal di sana. yang lebih hebat lagi, ada mesin yang bisa membuat apa saja (kayak kantong ajaib doraemon) yang membantu menyembuhkan Chibo yang terluka dalam pertarungan melawan maeve dan ivy, silicon life yang berniat balas dendam sama Killy.

[Luna Jordan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Repeated review.

Alright, so, I’m just gonna immediately throw this out there. I only rated this series four stars because PewDiePie said he loved this series. Yeah, I was one of those.

In actuality, I fucking hated the artwork. I just did not like it at all. And I just did not care about the story. So, yeah; don’t like things just because a YouTuber or celebrity you like happens to like/love it.

[Baal Of · Rating 4 out of 5]

This series continues to impress me with it's grim, gritty, bizarre story and excellent artwork. On of the characters on one page actually says "What the... hell is going on?" and I agree a lot of time, but I continue to be compelled to keep reading.