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Reviews
BLAME!
by gjoerulv on November 14th, 2006, 11:50am

Rating - 8.6 / 10.0

User rating of this review - 5 out of 5
Story/Plot - 4.5 out of 5
Characters - 3.5 out of 5
Drawing Style - 5 out of 5
Enjoyment - 4 out of 5
Overall - 4.5 out of 5

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ブラム

Plot/Story

Killy is a silent lone strifer in shearch for Net Terminal Genes in a far-fetched futuristic world beyond any wild fantasy. This world is called the megastructure, as it appears an endless structure of vast devided space inhabited by scattered humans, transhumans and savage cyborgs known as silicon creatures. The megastructure is constantly enlarged by builders seemingly without purpouse and end. These builders are controlled by the Netsphere and the Authority who also controls the Safeguards and the Megastructure as well. However, they have lost the power to control the expansion of the Megastructure with the loss of Net Terminal Genes, thus lost control over the Safeguard, whose job it is to eliminate any humans who try to access the Netsphere without Net Terminal Genes.

Killy posess the Gravitational Beam Emitter, an incredibly powerful weapon. Eventually he is joined by the engineer Cibo, who appears to be very resourseful.

The plot is not easily understood if it's not explained. The story is mainly progressed by the drawings, noy by dialouge. And by some it may take a while to grasp the vast universe BLAME! is. The only thing that may be considered negative in the way BLAME! is presented is the time it may take to understand it, if at all. And that it appears to have some elements in the story that doesn't include in the main plot, however includes what the author may wish to show inderectly.

Characters

Killy shearch the megastructure for the Net Terminal Genes. As the story starts he vields the Gravitational Beam Emitter. An incredibly strong, but suprisingly small gun. He deosn't express much feelings an apperas to be very silent.

Cibo was the head scientist of a corporation in the Capitol. She offers to help Killy on his quest for the Net Terminal Gene.

Electro-Fishers are people who used to inhabit Toha Heavy Industries. However they have been locked outside for generations, thus dwelling outside and forgotten why they are there and what Toha is. They fight the Safeguard using powerful bolt-shooting rifles.

Sanakan is high level agent of the Safeguard who first appears as a short, young girl with black hair. She appears to have a particular interest in wiping out the human tribe of Electro-Fishers, and seems to know Killy from the past.

Drawing Style

The strength of BLAME! is indeed the arts, as it features a very original approach. The art is dark and highly detailed. The plot is carried in on with the arts, and its's pure setesfaction. What may be negative is it may take a while for some to get used to the arts, and at times is hard to figure out what is going on. But considering that the plot is mainly driven by the arts those obstacles are actually somewhat needed to grasp it.

And the style is stabile to the very end. Mainly black-white as most mangas, but when coloured it's truely stunning. Tsutomu Nihei is indeed a great artist.

Enjoyment

This factor can be discussed. Most of the "enjoyment" comes from the action and the arts. But some, too, comes from the curiousoty of what's actually going on. The defenition enjoyment in this manga is a loose term. However the events, anf the outcomes of them could in most cases be satesfying to those expectations which are generated while reading. It really depends on who reads and if the reader is generally used to expect anything at all. But I guess of those who finish this story, the most of them feel entertained by this manga. Why else read to the end lol.

Overall

A great manga, and parhaps Tsutomu Nihei masterpiece. Take in consideratin that this review is based on "who" this manga is "for". Because it's certainly not for everyone. If a mix of adventure, sci-fi, action, graphic voilence and twisted fantasy seem tempting than this is something for you. There is a sequel too named BLAME! NSE.
 
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User Comments

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No Subject by Isabel on November 19th, 2006, 8:31pm
Rating: 5

Although there are a few spelling errors and type-o's, this is an excellent review of Blame! I am one of those people this manga is NOT for, as it truely does take a while to understand, and the lack of dialogue was frustrating. However I can easily understand that there is greatness there for the few who can deal with these issues. I may one day try this manga out again, keeping in mind the plot summary mentioned above- it is truely helpful to understand from the beginning what you are looking at. And yes, the art is awsome. The stunning visuals were the only thing that got me completely through the first volume before I gave up.
 
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