Blame!, Vol. 10

Blame! [ブラム!] #10

by Tsutomu Nihei

Killy's journey takes him back to where it all began for him. The man of few words that he is, he saves the central city by granting it its greatest wish...the elimination of the silicate creatures. But there is much much more to the mystery...And will saving the city cost him his life and end his search for Net Terminal Genes?

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

256 pages, Paperback

First published September 22, 2003

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

[Monsour · Rating 5 out of 5]

Its over. Killy finally found a human with Net-Terminal Gene. So whats next for Killy?

Simple. Do it all over again

But before we dive on that lets figure out what is really happening. In theory

Many thousands of years ago on Earth, humanity had built the "mega structure" with AI to control the area without any humans guiding it. This automated infrastructure system or mega structure that was connected to the internet that centers around the area that called a "net sphere" The net sphere is like the Matrix but with no physical bodies and it holds hundreds of trillions of humans running in virtual reality. Example: Cibo, Sadaka, the AI of Toha heavy Industry(The big head from vol.5-6), Governor, the leader of the Silicon creatures(the weeboo looking guy who tries to cross the river in Vol. 8 or 9 with a badass body in the physical world) and of course Killy. I explain about Killy later

The economic, industrial and/or political systems at the time had it set up so only humans with the correct genetic access code could access and control the megastructure(NET TERMINAL GENE) all other humans that tried to access the net sphere would be dealt as trespassers by the safegards(That's why they kill people). I really dont know how this happen BUT my theory is that their something happen on the political dynamic of the megastructure that somebody program the structure to be live by terminal gene carrier only. The safeguard go guns blazing on the humans without remorse and end up killing terminal gene carrier in the crossfire but they dont care because they didn't program to do so The only thing this safeguard thinking is their objective and nothing else and even some humans who has different political differences to other people also kills. .

This didn't go so well to the people. Possibly the people try to fight back even modify themselves like cyborg enhancement, mutation and EVEN TRANSFERRING THEIR CONSCIOUSNESS ON A MAN-MADE SAFEGUARD BODY Humanity struggle of survival for so long that the Gene-carrier possibly go extinct yet some of them save their gene on a incubator'like machine to preserve in the future, yet that cause megastructure to on stasis mode and didn't try to help humanity to survive. Humans whose able start transferring their consciousness to the net-sphere and the others stay in the real world struggling to survive. The megastructure is almost on permanent stagnation, Safeguard keep killing, builders keep building and even taking resource to other building to make more building etc. and clone machines keeps on making more clones.

Now fast forward in the future We dont know how long the megastructure goes on stasis mode in this time, yet we see some grim dark construct that shows how far the world had become. The structure possibly expanded outside its own atmosphere maybe even pass the moon and even sealed the solar systems sun to make a generator of it(that kinda explain the time travel thing happen on the certain vol). Humans who has no access to the structure cant even leave the structure because most of the space is belong to the structure. Billions upon billions of floor created and humanity gets scatters all over the place. Some of them maybe similar to humans others are long as giraffe and others can even recognize letters like a caveman. In this timeline cyborg looking being "Silicon Creatures" are the apex predictor of this world, I believe that their a group cyborg(half human) who tries to connect to the netsphere and their only lead to get to it is to find the once to tries to track the humans with gene but the safeguard consider both humans and silicon creatures as trespassers to the structure.

The humans today have no idea what their history or origins are and the silicon creatures know their history and consider the megastructure their natural environment after engineering themselves so heavily to survive and thrive in the megastructure. LONG STORY SHORT THEY WANT TO TAKE OVER...I guess

Now time to venture to the actual story of the manga.

Killy is pre-safeguard that has been program to protect humans(that's his first program/mission) and his second program is...you..know. LOOK FOR THE HUMAN WITH NET-TERMINAL GENE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!(what's the best way to save this fuckers anyway). My theory is Killy is one of the humans who transfer themselves in the net-sphere and possess/control a safeguard body and because his doing this job for so long that he kinda forget his humanity but still consider himself as a human. During his adventure(if you call hiking on building without an elevator is an adventure) he meet other human,robot,cyborgs(silicon creatures) and etc. Killy tries to help humanity by regaining control over the megastructure and shut it down basically stoping the construct and even benefiting humanity to go start living normally again. The AI whose program to help humanity (TOHA's AI) can now finally do their job without restriction and even shutting down the hostile safeguard. Basically making a age of fire to humans once again.

Now lets go back to the "DO IT ALL OVER AGAIN" that I just said.

Now read the first episode:


What do see next to killy? A kid right

"He wanted my cell" he/she said

You know what that kid is?

TERMINAL GENE carrier.

Now ok why do you need to read 10 volumes of manga if Killy actually manage to find the one who carries the gene?

This happens



Now:

The 2nd last episode state that Killy needed to go to edge of the city to keep the fetus save from radiation and after that...We dont know because he haven't seen a kid survive the journey

The last episode:


Is this the kid we seen on the first Vol. or a different kid?
If not. How many times Killy tries to find and protect the one who carries the gene.

I DON'T KNOW :P

You know the best part of this manga is that Nihei's work wants the reader to co-wrote the story and that's the reason why this encourage me to write this one down. Its a perfect example of post-apocalyptic world that makes you feel the despair without a single dialogue on it. Its like starring on a painting you have to figure it out wants happening in the image in front of you and make you're own conclusion.

5 STARTS best sci-fi manga I ever read

[Gianfranco Mancini · Rating 4 out of 5]

My re-read of Tsutomu Nihei's Blame after 15 years was a real good one.
An original cocktail of genres where Robert A. Heinlein's Universe meets Manga, cyberpunk distopian, France-Belgium Bande Dessinée and bio-mechanic aberrations out from a H. R. Giger's nightmare.



In a world rife with decay and destruction, set maybe on earth, maybe in the future, where the oppressive atmosphere concrete and steel closed environment is a main character and you can see how author was an architect before starting his mangaka career, Killy wanders this endless dungeon looking for the Net Terminal Genes, meeting scattered human survivors and fighting nightmarish silicon creatures with the help of his overpowered gun, scientist Tsubo and a few other characters met along his travel, almost a quest for a personal grail filled with twists, action, and lots of speechless splash-pages with Killy and his shadow wandering alone in this gloomy dark world.



Storyline was a real meandering one, sometimes so confusing that I just had to go back and see if I missed reading something, but this Manga is a real hyper-detailed creepy graphic masterpiece, an open-eye nightmare leaving to the reader the final task to fill all the gaps and left open questions.



An intense image-focused, sometimes incoherent, read with barely any dialogue where the ride is far more important than the ending.



Maybe you are not going to like everything here, the ending was an half disappointment for me, but this is a real classic dark cyberpunk tale where you are the co-author of the story.



Just read it and enjoy.

[Ƙʏᴙᴀ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Giunta alla fine devo ammettere di non averci capito poi molto della trama principale. L'autore invece di affidare la narrazione ai personaggi, che restano spesso muti e abbozzati, preferisce usare gli sfondi e le architetture claustofobiche. Un vero e proprio maestro nel rendere le cose più criptiche del necessario.
In pratica mi toccherà rileggerlo almeno un paio di volte per raccapezzarci qualcosa. Però cavolo che atmosfera! Devo recuperare altri lavori di Tsutomu Nihei.

[Avatonqp · Rating 5 out of 5]

This short review is about the whole series.
Blame! is a manga with few and short dialogues while the whole story is inside the pictures. Although, the story is really hard to follow. There were plenty of times that i didn't know, what the fuck was going on. And still i'm not sure i do. Yet, i enjoyed it with all my heart. Blame! for me is all about worldbuilding and dark atmosphere. It's the best that Cyberpunk, as a genre, can be. I know for a fact that from now on, every Cyberpunk manga i read is doomed to be shadowed by a great megastructure called Blame!

About the art: Trust me,it's manga art at its best. Spectacular massive buildings and a great variey of creatures. But i have to confess, i really hate the face of the protagonist.lol

My overall rating for the series is 5 stars.
I recommend it to the fans of: sci-fi,cyberpunk,dystopias,gore and horror genre.

[Viktor Davion · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well, I think this is perfect example of Japanese post-apocalyptic cyberpunk. Dark, bleak and full of tension. Shocking biotechnologies, degrading human race and strange creatures. Whole world as one big chaotic city. All in one and humanity is already dead, there is no escape and there is no hope. Only single being, not human, but in fact intelligence being, that only purpose is to perform mission, that was set long long ago. Truly masterpiece of cyberpunk manga.

[47Time · Rating 1 out of 5]

What a crappy ending. It is indeed a different story whatever you might think. More and more world mechanisms are shoved in here with abandon. What made the author think they're easy to comprehend anyway?

The 9th level has been taken over by the silicons in search for the illegally-downloaded safeguard from that level, the one that Cibo bonded with. It's the key to save the city and the silicons are now trying to disassemble Cibo to get to it.

The new guy from the last volume, the representative from the governing agency, is also fighting the silicons. He frees Cibo and confronts some bad guy or other, probably silicon. Some narration would have helped me here. Killy springs out of nowhere and wreaks the place. He must now protect the sphere that was fused with Cibo.

And... interlude. The Little Match Girl explains what the sphere really is: an embryo created from the genes of two females. It is supposed to grow in an uncontaminated place. It's probably a new life or something and needs a place free from the corruption of the city.

Killy eventually gets to the edge of the city where the sphere comes to life.

[Engie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sobre todo el manga: fue excelente. Es denso, hay que ponerle mucha atención a los detalles, no pasar por alto ningún cuadro... será por eso que hay gente que lo entiende y lo deja a mitad; esa es otra, es un manga en específico para los amantes de la ciencia ficción y el cyberpunk, si no te gusta, de lejos.
Pd: el dibujo es impresionante.
Espero que en unos meses, con la cabeza fría, pueda dar respuesta a algunas de las muchas incógnitas que dejó Nihei en este manga.

[Ricardo Santos · Rating 2 out of 5]

Saga cyberpunk em 10 volumes, Blame! começa muito promissora, mas termina melancolicamente como uma baita decepção. Os primeiros cinco volumes mostram um universo contido, mas intrigante e em expansão, envolvendo ciborgues letais e impiedosos de um lado e alguns humanos tentando sobreviver a uma distopia claustrofóbica, dentro de enormes instalações metálicas, com vários níveis e compartimentos, um verdadeiro labirinto vertical. No início, o estilo lacônico do roteiro do mangaká Tsutomu Nihei estimula o leitor a fazer todos os questionamentos: que lugar é aquele? O que pretendem os robôs? O que aconteceu antes com a humanidade? A cada volume, apenas poucas informações são dadas. Mas tudo bem, porque há a expectativa de novas revelações, que, no final, façam algum sentido. Mas acontece que, a partir do volume 6, a trama vai ficando cada vez mais vaga, com menos personagens e menos diálogos. E os mistérios se empilham. O que leva mesmo a avançarmos na leitura é a arte criativa e detalhada de Nihei, com suas criaturas bizarras e cenários épicos. Ele também é um mestre da movimentação. Sua cenas de ação são ágeis e potentes. Sua maior dificuldade é o desenvolvimento de personagens. O desfecho é aberto demais, daqueles que dá vontade de jogar o mangá na parede.

[Eressea · Rating 3 out of 5]

去年末看了少女終末旅行
作者說是受到BLAME影響創作的
於是找來看看
雖說是科幻名著但我實在看不懂Orz
而且結尾有點凸兀
展開的劇情還沒收就完結了
也許是被斬了??

網飛有出劇場版
有空來看看，也許看完動畫回頭再看漫畫會比較懂吧

[Patrick Soares · Rating 5 out of 5]

My head is spinning... in a good way.
Such an immersive, subtle and amazing piece of storytelling.

[beyz · Rating 5 out of 5]

great storytelling

[kavi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful 10/10

[Julien K · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautiful art and sick worldbuilding. The story is very demanding to follow even with its very restricted dialog

[Himanshu Karmacharya · Rating 4 out of 5]

From its bleak, dystopian setting to its mesmerizing artwork, Blame! is nothing short of an unforgettable experience.

The series has its highs and lows, especially with its often cryptic and elusive plot, but it never loses its momentum.

I was hooked by the book from the start to the finish. An overall rewarding journey.

[Mimily · Rating 5 out of 5]

so the manga is phenomenal
the story
is non-linear (sometimes there’s 10 year jump while we follow a character that doesn’t get any time jump at all), sometimes it skips 3 months of a single elevator travel, or 250+ years of hibernation. the time is a key point in the story - you feel the endless struggle, the pain, the despair and the hopelessness of everyone living there BECAUSE of the time and the space the characters cover. that’s the baseline and the most important part of the story, not the character arc or their dialogues

the figure it out yourself
the story doesn’t spoon feed you characters, different species at war, or how they’re connected - you have to figure it out yourself. i loved that it wasn’t too clear at all times, you had to really pay attention to get it


the universe (time travel, cyber space, megastructures)
this is probably the best sci fi i’ve ever seen. it is so unique, with so many crazy, scary elements. the morality went out the door billions of years ago, the survival is now not the goal, but just one keg in a machine leading to a more important purpose. it is all consuming, and i truly felt like we were there while reading

the art
is out of this world stunning. the time, space, purpose, destination, emotions - all are portrayed visually through the art only. the architecture is phenomenal, the biology of characters build is incredible, the details are too real for 2d. insanely beautiful artwork on every page

the characters
don’t matter as much as the world does, and they recognize it themselves. they leave to fulfill their function, but when they die someone else would pick up their task. they’re all fearless for death doesn’t matter to them, they pursue their goal and will stop at nothing.

the time loop
i think the end of Vol10 (the birth of the babe) predates the beginning of Vol1 (the death of the child). Killi’s programming (or human goal?) is to find and to protect the human with the gene. He will continue doing so endlessly, for as soon as the first one dies, he’ll start looking for the second one. he doesn’t have a destination, his only program is to find one - and so he does. again, and again, and again.

the emotion without words
the fear, despair, anxiety, and the overwhelming marvel at the ugliness and the beauty of the world i felt without any words from characters is insane. i felt alive, yet endless, hopeful and hopeless. all from the visual art this manga created.

phenomenal work, i do not regret picking it up. hope we’ll never live to see something like this happen to us.

[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.

[Andres Zen'In · Rating 4 out of 5]

Solo por el dibujo ya vale la pena, en cuanto a la historia realmente me dejó varias preguntas pero creo entender lo que se quiere decir con el final, eso no quita que es una de las cosas más complejas que he leído en mi vida

[Javier Avilés · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pongo el último volumen solo para lanzar una pregunta al aire... ¿alguien entiende el final de Blame!?

[Shin Donghae · Rating 4 out of 5]

Oke, jadi saya akhirnya menyelesaikan seri, dan masih tidak yakin apa yang saya pikirkan XDDD

Di dunia yang penuh dengan pembusukan dan kehancuran. Settingnya (mungkin) bumi di masa depan, dimana lingkungan tertutup beton baja (begitu luar biasa melihar begitu luasnya imajinasi ruang2 yg ada, wajar karena Nihei sensei dulunya seorang arsitek sebelum memulai karir mangakanya). Sang MC, Killy mengembara ini penjara bawah tanah tanpa akhir mencari Net Terminal Gen, bertemu dengan manusia yang selamat yang tersebar (tidak terkontaminasi??) dan melawan makhluk silikon yang mengerikan dengan bantuan senjatanya yang kuat. Seiring perjalanan, Killy ditemani ilmuwan Cibo dan beberapa karakter (minor) lainnya bertemu di sepanjang perjalanan tsb. Penuh dengan aral, aksi, dan (sangat khas) banyak halaman tanpa dialog dengan Killy dan bayangannya berkeliaran sendirian di dunia gelap yang suram ini.

Alur cerita benar-benar berkelok-kelok, sangat membingungkan terkadang saya harus kembali dan melihat apakah saya melewatkan membaca sesuatu (padahal ini betul2 minim balon komik LOL), tetapi jujur manga ini adalah mahakarya grafis menyeramkan yang detail, mimpi buruk yang membuka mata dan ujung2nya menyerahkan tugas terakhir kepada pembaca, mengisi semua celah dan membiarkan pertanyaan terbuka. Hahaha

Bisa jadi tidak akan menyukai semuanya di sini, akhir ceritanya setengah mengecewakan bagi saya, tetapi ini adalah kisah cyberpunk gelap klasik yang nyata. Hal yg wajar jika Blame! telah diangkat beragam adaptasi anime dan live action.

Kesimpulan dari seri manga ini cukup aneh dan tumpul, tapi saya cukup puas, meskipun saya tidak yakin apa yang terjadi pada akhirnya wkkk. Implikasinya (menurut saya) adalah Killy mencapai permukaan (semacam permukaan air luar ke megastruktur), tapi hidup atau mati - saya tidak tahu. Anehnya meski terkesan berantakan dg garis2 yg terkadang tidak tegas, tapi saya melihat sensei menggambar dengan indah, dengan seni terkadang tampak sedikit terburu-buru, tapi tetap menarik.

Menurut setiap buku secara individual mungkin mendapatkan tiga bintang. Akan tetapi secara keseluruhan dari segi konsep, artwork dsb, barangkali serial pendek ini cukup layak mendapat empat bintang yang solid. Sekali lagi agak aneh untuk mengikutinya hha (karena begitu kurangnya banyak dialog dan artwork Nihei sensei juga terkesan abstrak tidak menjelaskan begitu banyak). Ada banyak pemandangan gelap tak berujung dan adegan pertarungan gila yang terkadang membuat agak sulit untuk membedakan sesuatu.

[Khyzer (is studying) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Man, the existential dread that this manga gave me was IMMENSE.

In my opinion, the art was phenomenal, skillfully establishing a dark and brooding atmosphere throughout the entire series. It's evident that Tsutomu Nihei extensively studied architecture, as it perfectly bled into the pages. This is particularly important given that Killy spent the majority of his time traversing desolate and empty corridors. The views depicted were scenic in a frightening way, looming and expansive, effectively emphasizing the vastness of the The City.

This hugely reminds me of the video game Hollow Knight, where we explore the decaying remnants of a society. That's precisely why I loved it so much. There are just so many questions I want answers to. Blame! serves as my introduction to the cyberpunk, and it stands out as one of the best works I've had the pleasure of reading in the genre.

[Nikola Š · Rating 3 out of 5]

(Review for entire series)

Blame starts off as an impressive sketchbook in search of a narrative, and ends up... well, pretty much where it started. It definitely has a unique atmosphere, consisting of page after page of characters silently scaling monumental architecture, occasionally interrupted by short bursts of violence. I especially loved how it plays with time, only subtly hinting that days or even years might have passed between two successive panels.

But while succeeds in world-building, the story itself is both simplistic (if you give your protagonist the most powerful gun in the world, it turns out all problems are solved by shooting) and completely incomprehensible. The latter I can admire to a point, but at 2000 pages it does start getting a little tiresome.

[Mohammed · Rating 5 out of 5]

مشعارف أيش اقول النهاية مفهومه وغير مفهومه في نفس الوقت يعني أيش حصل بالظبط ضاع في فضاء دامس ؟
هل حصل ع الجينات؟ هل ولد الطفل؟ الأحاديث بين الشخصيات والعوالم آلتي تتكلم منها نوعًا ما دوختني لأنها كل أحاديث يخذونها تكون عن فعل الماضي أو تكون في العالم الواقع او يكون المكان مجهول غير معروف وغالبًا المكان الشخصيات تتكلم مايتحدد من وين غالبًا مايذكرون أنها الأحداث الي يتكلمون عليها وكأنها من الماضي ولكن في نفس
الوقت يقولون بإنها إحداث من الواقع يعني إيش ؟
وشيء آخرًا هوا التحولات الي ماتقدر تفهمها كيف صارت فجاة هكي تحدث ، ولكن من الرغم من هذا الكم الهائل من التساؤلات يبقي اكيده جواب للنهاية بالنسبة للقارئ ورغم ع حد فهمي من النهاية أعتقد بإنها نهاية غير مرضية الصراحة ونهاية تحزن الصراحة تتركنا في هدؤء مع الكثير من التساؤلات

[vera · Rating 4 out of 5]

a veces solo tienes que decir no entiendo el final y seguir con tu vida lol
siento que sinceramente está hecho a posta porque tiene 5 diálogos por tomo, killy es emo y no habla y los bicharracos no explican nada. Es básicamente un manga para apreciar el arte que el Nihei se sacó la poya de manera MUY intensa, nunca había visto a alguien dibujar edificios tan sublimes y con el rollo cyberpunk ya esque es alucinante.
Pero eso no hay ke darle vueltas y simplemente disfrutar de lo que ves y punto

[Kittyki · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hát esküszöm, ez mindig is egy hatalmasnál hatalmasabb kérdőjel lesz a számomra ez a manga. Imádom egyszerűen, de mégis nehéz megemészteni.

[Denisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another rating: 8/10

[Ed Blake · Rating 4 out of 5]

kinetic, ugly, confusing and absolutely compulsively readable.

[Maryam · Rating 5 out of 5]

it was like playing a video game

[Raluca · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well...still some unansweared questions here...I'll keep searching!

[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👍😁❤️

[Shaima1408 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not a big fan of cyberpunk, but I loveeedd this one and I loved its art style
Now it’s become one of my favorites of all time

I miss killy already :(