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Blame!  
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Description
Killy is a man of few words. He wanders, seemingly endlessly, through a lonely, gargantuan labyrinth of concrete and steel, fighting off cyborgs and other futuristic nightmares, searching only for something called Net Terminal Genes. And he has a very powerful gun, which he uses without hesitation whenever anything resembling danger rears its ugly head.
Who is this quiet, violent, determined man and what are these Genes he seeks? The small communities he finds tucked into the crevices of this towering, dystopic ruin hardly give him leads on his treasure, driving him to find larger enclaves of civilization where people can reveal more about the world he lives in and the quarry he seeks.

Volume 1 Side Story
Nihei: Abba - A short oneshot about a man looking for his brother.

Type
Manga

Related Series
Blame Gakuen! and So On (Spin-Off)
BLAME!: Denki Ryoushi - Kiken Kaisou Dasshutsu Sakusen (Side Story)
NOiSE (NIHEI Tsutomu) (Prequel)

Associated Names
ブラム!

Groups Scanlating
Gantz Team International
Habanero Scans
Omanga

Latest Release(s)
v.1 c.1 by Habanero Scans over 2 years ago
v.3 c.12-18 by Gantz Team International over 8 years ago
v.2 c.8-11 by Gantz Team International over 9 years ago
Search for all releases of this series

Status in Country of Origin
10 Volumes (Complete)
6 Volumes (Shinsoban)

Completely Scanlated?
Yes

Anime Start/End Chapter
N/A

User Reviews
BLAME! by gjoerulv
Blame! by G. Zeus

Forum
5 topics, 20 posts
Click here to view the forum

User Rating
Average: 8.4 / 10.0 (813 votes)
Bayesian Average: 8.33 / 10.0
10
 29% (234 votes)
9+
 25% (206 votes)
8+
 22% (177 votes)
7+
 12% (98 votes)
6+
 5% (41 votes)
5+
 3% (24 votes)
4+
 2% (15 votes)
3+
 1% (9 votes)
2+
 0% (1 votes)
1+
 1% (8 votes)

Last Updated
July 7th 2018, 7:14am PST

Image [Report Inappropriate Content]

Genre
Action  Drama  Horror  Mature  Psychological  Sci-fi  Seinen 
Search for series of same genre(s)

Categories

Category Recommendations
Dogma
Gunnm
Tetsuo - The Bullet Man
Blame Gakuen! and So On
Mardock Scramble (Novel)

Recommendations

Author(s)
NIHEI Tsutomu

Artist(s)
NIHEI Tsutomu

Year
1997

Original Publisher
Kodansha (1997, 2015)

Serialized In (magazine)
Afternoon (Kodansha)

Licensed (in English)
Yes

English Publisher
Vertical (6 Omnibus Volumes - Complete)

Activity Stats (vs. other series)
Weekly Pos #436 increased(+132)
Monthly Pos #961 increased(+79)
3 Month Pos #1464 increased(+196)
6 Month Pos #1689 decreased(-80)
Year Pos #1639 decreased(-287)

List Stats
On 805 reading lists
On 1288 wish lists
On 1857 completed lists
On 85 unfinished lists
On 358 custom lists

Note: You must be logged in to update information on this page.

Forum Posts
Blame! Gets Novel and New Manga Adapting of the Anime Film about 1 year ago
Blame! Gets Theatrical Anime Adaptation over 2 years ago
Image's origin? over 4 years ago
Volumes 4 and 6 over 6 years ago
BLAME! over 8 years ago

Click to view the forum

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User Comments [ Order by usefulness ]
 

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avatar
 Impeccable Atmosphere and a Brutal Romp   
Rating: 8.0 / 10.0
by DoujinHunter
September 20th, 2015, 8:38pm
This manga focuses on and succeeds in giving itself the feel of a wired world of meat and cybernetics living in the wake of a much greater past. It's massive and hostile architecture dominates scenes and creates a sense of scale that makes the City seem truly unending.

The main characters are actually rather good for the genre. They are not supremely emotional, but they convey what they need to and have their own wants, desires, and feelings which are brought to bear with their actions. Though there is some explanation given, most of the setting and the past is shown through action as opposed to monologue, which enhances the mystery of the world.

... Last updated on September 20th, 2015, 8:40pm
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 Have some imagination   
Rating: 10.0 / 10.0
by melquiades
February 24th, 2014, 3:36am
Just a few pointers:
- Overleveled scans can be a very bad experience to read, so, buy the volumes, they are translated to many many languages.
- If the only thing you usually read is something neatly draw, you have get accustomed to the art (more than a minute to read a page would be needed xD)
- Don't expect to know everything in just a chapter, nor a volume. This is supposed to be read slowly.
- Don't expect to know every detail at the end of the manga (like the origin of every character).
- Have some imagination.
- If the latter is missing, reading many books usually helps xd.

Many people complains that they didn't really know what the story was about, some even dare to say it has no story at all -_-' It happens simply because pacing can be so slow, small pieces of data comes bit by bit and you have to arrange them by yourself to know what was really going on. Once you straighten all of those pieces in your mind, this is a really simple, straightforward story.

Personally I always hated all those shonen mangas that explained everything to you in a panel like you were some kind of dork, they didn't care of making the story interesting, they didn't left anything to the imagination, didn't put any effort to create art and just used panels to prostrate words. Blame! was the best it could have happened to me on my early days reading manga, it set a standard that i consider it to be the one in which every other manga should be measured to, in terms of letting the art do some of the storytelling, i think manga must be all about that, otherwise there would only be light novels around.
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 Masterpiece   
Rating: 10.0 / 10.0
by lolnameless
May 16th, 2013, 9:41pm
The lack of natural object in this manga is what makes BLAME! a good read.To really describe how cool this style is, words can approximate but you want to read BLAME!

Apart from visual arts, the world of BLAME! is so depressing and chaotic. It also shows how small and how low humans are. Like most reviewers, we have read it for the first time a few years ago and the flashback of this chaotic world remains in our memories. Pick it up again and love it, then write a review.

The plot is *not* ambiguous. Nihei is always like this, he left all the hints or details just about necessary, readers have to read it slowly and thoroughly to understand what is going on, it is intentional. The biggest challenge is on the cryptic or technical words, I don't like it either but it is arguably part of theme though

... Last updated on April 19th, 2014, 9:23am
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 Difficult to say. A clash between memories.   
Rating: N/A
by tk3
February 26th, 2013, 12:15pm
Read this a few years ago. The art is amazing (well, since then I have been humbled by Kaoru Mori, Etorouji Shiono, In-Wan Youn, and more) mostly in term of a "cybernized" world. The story, while being almost devoid of dialogue, generated a heavy atmosphere of devastation and ruin with scattered semiconscious beings driven by instincts or obsolete eon old commands.

Well, as I recall, the whole story was - about or ended up being - the sowing of an embryo of hope into this world overtaken by death and darkness.

Truthfully, apart from the art and somewhat slowish pace, it was not as memorable as I thought. Nonetheless, still a great post "Ghost in the Shell" work.
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 Not sure what to think of this manga   
Rating: 9.0 / 10.0
by achyif
January 30th, 2013, 8:07pm
I love it, I'm annoyed by it, I can't stop reading, I get bored of it.
Blame is a cyberpunk manga that relies heavily on its visuals and detailed environments and not on dialogue, text, or facial expressions. The places and creatures are very beautiful but it's frustrating to not know what's going on.
Either way, I think blame is worth the time to check out.
Other details:
Spoiler (mouse over to view)
The plot is very ambiguous and often I don't know what just happened. Time has no meaning as the characters live for centuries and can exist beyond flesh or metal as data. They're also killed off at a rather high frequency (though whether they really die all the time can be questioned.
Though, I think the plotholes are on purpose. Killa's mission propels him to continue on his journey and not stay behind to see the fallout. Therefore, he and the reader never know what has happened, will happen, or why.
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avatar
 Cyber and biopunk   
Rating: 8.0 / 10.0
by You Say
October 13th, 2012, 12:12pm
First and still the best Nihei's manga. Blame! depicts a seemingly endless journey of Killy. But who is this Killy and what is the purpose of his travel? Does the author knows?

A border between cyberpunk and biopunk isn't clear. And right from the beginning some explanation may come in handy, Blame is cyber/biopunk in its pure form or it's close to that form. Before reading Blame! try to forget the modern (and wrong) "feel" of cyber/biopunk presented by various creators mostly of American nationality (you definitely know what exactly I am talking about). Cyberpunk is supposed to be confusing, ambiguous, somewhat inconclusive, with morally questionable protagonist. Nihei got every single damn thing right.

What's more expect great almost soundless atmosphere accompanied by excellent drawings. If possible I would like to take a little trip to the Megastructure.

And please, let Oshii Mamoru direct some movie adaptation of Blame!. Nihei plus Oshii would be the best possible combination. Come on, we're waiting for something like that to happen for years now!

... Last updated on October 15th, 2012, 4:20am
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 I'd like to rate this manga 10, but...   
Rating: 7.0 / 10.0
by momimomi
December 28th, 2011, 10:23am
Too many plot holes and loose ends:
Spoiler (mouse over to view)
Who is that cyborg with dog in first volume? What organisation stands behind her? Definitely not authorities or safeguards (Killy doesn't recognize them at first meeting).
First authority was like a human child. But there are no more authorities of such model later on.
Why did that child attack humans? That's what safeguards would do.
Second time Killy meets authorities they look exactly like safeguard's exterminator model.
Why Killy seeks for net-terminal gene?
Why he abandons his search for clear genes? "Net-terminal gene" doesn't sound like "clear".

I can go on... But to say it simply. Nihei has no plan for whole story.

What saves this manga is gorgeous atmosphere and art. Lack of dialogs adds to atmosphere of desolate world. No humans - no dialogs.

... Last updated on December 28th, 2011, 10:29am
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 Alien   
Rating: 8.0 / 10.0
by AMetroid
August 22nd, 2011, 10:06pm
The whole Manga is hard to relate too because all the characters are alien in the true sense of the word. No character is acting with any sort of human perspective that the reader could relate too. Also not a lot of expiation is given so it wasn't until vol 4 that there was any sense of real plot. But due the alien nature of all of the characters is was more of looking at the pretty pictures and seeing what happened next then proving any real story or characters.

In short: it's an interesting art piece.

Don't go reading it expecting anything in the way of plot or characters.
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 Odd but good   
Rating: 9.0 / 10.0
by Aeylis
March 24th, 2011, 7:48pm
The art is always good and, by the ninth volume, incredibly moving.
It is difficult to tell what is going on-- and when-- for a number of reasons.

The main one is that you have to think while reading it. You have to actively ponder what is going on.

Blame! creates a very, very unique atmosphere that can be hard to get used to (though I loved it)
It doesn't have a sense of time other than "endless." All we know is that a long time passed between certain points.

Characters tend to stick in your memory, and the story is filled with a bunch of symbolism

Definitely a series I'll have to reread

... Last updated on March 26th, 2011, 12:57pm
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 A very good series   
Rating: 8.0 / 10.0
by MangaGhost
December 6th, 2010, 12:08am
A very good series. It says much without a lot of dialogue. You get a real feeling for the size, space and emptiness of the setting because of the lack of dialogue. You feel that Killy has been wandering around the structure for a long time. The art is unique and interesting, but may not be everyone's cup of tea. I pretty much couldn't put it down. That said there are places where it suffers from a bit of incoherence and it breaks down a bit. Places where if things were better expressed would have helped the story. It sometimes gives off a feeling that it is a collage of ideas and settings stitched together. Still a very good series.
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