BLAME!
Typed: Septermber.23.2025. A phenomenal read that goes straight to the point. If you want immersive jaw-dropping settings, with catastrophic action that does not stray from the main narrative point, this is a must read!
I started this read on September 01.2025 and finished around September 06.2025. I will be further delving into the other lines of this story and hope to share it with you guys & gals. I started reading Tower Dungeon, another of Tsutomu Nihei's works, and will share my input in the future (manga is still ongoing).
Though my review seems shallow, (the 'SHmoniker', being 'DEEPER-REVIEWS', the depth varies depending on what is being reviewed like mediocre to poor content compared to quality content like 'BLAME!', as an example) I do not want to extensively explain it because it is not very textual, the visuals speak in magnitudes.
I want you guys to experience it for yourselves and give me the raw outlook on this amazing piece of work; you will not regret it if you do not expect anything that the present storytellers are providing.
You pick it up, read a few pages/chapters, put it down until it is time to read it again.
I score it through a system of 5 categories: ART & DESIGN, STORY, WORLD-BUILDING, CHARACTERS, PACE-RESOLUTION which each category maxes at 20 each, where I divide it by 10.
ART & DESIGN: 17 - The art is superb, Tsutomu Nihei out does it by the zoom out panels of his dystopian world, to highlight such details is a monstrous feat. Character designs for protagonist and supporting characters a long side the antagonists and wondering miscellaneous figures are unique. If I had picked this up years back, it would have gouged such a memory that I would have kept referencing to this day.
STORY: 14 - Pretty straight forward which I really like, but it is not just about 'that goal'. The search leads to layers of that story to unwind giving you vital information on how it came to be, and you slowly understand that this is not some grey-zone blunt force wahoo trip.
WORLD-BUILDING: 17 - As Killy (the protagonist) progresses on his search, it diverts your need to understand the point of all this, instead each page makes you wonder if he will make it or not. Tsutomu Nihei throws out outwardly panels of the world he created, a world where you imagine yourself in, getting lost and having an all-out crisis. While Killy here gets things done with his arm cannon, blasting through everything in his path while showcasing the anxiety inducing realm...
CHARACTERS: 14 - Bias, but Killy is my type of character when it comes to a growing plot like this manga. I could have rated a bit higher, but characters come and go, so you cannot really form a liking for them because of the prominent situations they are constantly engulfed in... But Killy, one bad ass dude.
PACE-RESOLUTION: 18 - The pacing of the story is perfect, perfect in my opinion for that it goes on straight to the point without any stale detours that slow the pacing and wears you down nor halting the momentum Killy builds up. The ending, well fit. Nothing more, nothing less, maybe a slight thought of how and why it all came to be popped up, but at the same time putting it to rest feels more appropriate.
Overall, I give it an 80 out of 100, a solid 8/10. A slight bias- but more to come when it comes to the works of Tsutomu Nihei.
"I wonder if they have shirts with the graphic of Killy being pushed back by the blast of the Gravitational Beam Emitter... That would be so sick!"
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