~~~~~~A lot of the comics and manga I've read are passable, or even good. Others are excellent and exceed my expectations. But for the first time since finishing Berserk, something so profound and beautifully stylised has come along (or has been around for a long time) and blown my mind.
This is a manga with fantastic drawings that set an atmosphere I haven't encountered since the mystique of Blade Runner 2049. This masterpiece is an author's blood, sweat and tears poured into an artwork that took him six years to complete. You can feel its beauty seeping at the edges of every page as the mangaka studied architecture to create this wonderful, topsy-turvy world where up and down are the only ways to go.
Unlike anything else I've read before, this work of art does not hand you the story up front - it gives you an atmosphere, a drawing and a tiny smattering of dialogue to fit the pieces together, more like a broken rubix cube than a puzzle. Blame! contains one of the most unique forms of narrative I've ever experienced - a narrative where you are the co-author; where you fill in the blanks and enrich the story with your own thoughts. You are given the creative freedom to surmise and actualise your feelings regarding the state of this dystopian world.
From these small instances you can gather that the protagonist, Killy, is looking for a way to cure humanity of the grossly inhuman thing it has become. Civilisation is fully integrated into technology, with automated cities. But a virus causes these systems to malfunction, putting humanity on the brink of complete extinction.
Blame! is filled with philosophical meanderings that aren't too forced or lacking - in fact, it has the perfect blend of existential dread and kick-ass action. Most importantly, this manga is so personal. In every frame featuring a life form you feel their sadness, distrust and anger shouting at you from the pages.
A must-read for fans of cyberpunk and the existential elements that follow suit. I'd definitely call this one of those manga-for-people-who-don't read-manga types of manga. This is definitely not a manga you can binge, unless you want your brain to explode from too much sensory input. I'm deeply saddened by how underrated this manga is. Understandably, it's difficult to adapt into an anime, which makes it less accessible to most anime-only types.
"What is land? - Killy
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