Blame! by Tsutomu Nihei takes us on a never ending journey alongside our protagonist Killy in the search of The Net Terminal Gene that is said to be the last hope of humanity in retaking control of the world from the hands this super AI.
On the surface Blame! might seem superficial or lazy to most people with it's lack of dialogue and attention to character details, but Tsutomu Nihei created one of the most amazing worlds ever in fiction, the lack of detail to the characters aspect portrays perfectly how insignificant they are in this massive world that never stops moving, the author did an amazing job at creating this uncanny world that makes us feel lost and alone, making us feel like a little ant as a reader. It's a brutal world that talks directly to us, from the aftermath of the fights to the architecture of a world that feels so familiar to us but at the same time so different, every panel is so impactful, we might go 5 chapters without seeing any dialogue between the characters but the ambience around is telling us directly how they feel.
Nihei is a master of his own art, his skills as an architect are shown directly in his work, his ingenuity and inspiration from one of the best architects of the modern world, (Lebbeus Woods) and a classic of science fiction genre (I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream) created this abstract and brutal world, where we venture against an almost unbeatable enemy. After almost 3 decades since it's release Blame! portrays today's world perfectly, a world that never stops changing, where everything is controlled by someone or something more powerful than we imagine, a world where we are so insignificant, we can continue to try and move forward, to dream for a change, but if we look back we are standing still.
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