Animanga/Manga| Information
|
Animanga/Other| Information
|
is a ten-volume
Science Fiction Manga by
Tsutomu Nihei . A series of 6 short
OVA episodes were produced based on the series.
A full-length CGI render movie is planned to be released, based on the story-line of the manga series.
The tagline for this manga is ''"Adventure-seeker Killy in the Cyber Dungeon quest!"'' or ''"Maybe on Earth, Maybe in the Future"''. There is some debate over the meaning of the title, which may be a mistranslation of the
Onomatopoeia "blam."
, a silent loner possessing an incredibly powerful weapon known as a
Gravitational Beam Emitter , wanders a vast technological world known as "The City". He is searching for
Net Terminal Genes , a (possibly) extinct genetic marker that allows humans access to the Netsphere. "The City" is an endless vertical space of walls, stairways and caverns, and separated in some kind of "floors" composed of several thousand of levels and divided by nearly-impenetrable structures known as "
Megastructure " that separate entire floors or sections of "The City". "The City" is inhabited by scattered human and
Transhuman tribes as well as hostile
Cyborgs known as
'''Silicon Creatures''' . The Net Terminal Genes appear to be the key to halting the unhindered, chaotic expansion of the Megastructure, as well as a way of stopping the murderous horde known as the
'''Safeguard''' from destroying all humanity.
Along the way, Killy meets and joins forces with a resourceful engineer named and a tribe of human warriors called the
'''Electro-Fishers.''' They are pursued by the Safeguard, who view any human without Net Terminal Genes as a threat to be extinguished on sight.
''Blame!'' features extremely dark, highly detailed depictions of the fantastic, ever-changing world of The City, punctuated by brutal combat. There is generally little dialogue to support the action or story, and the reader is left to piece together the plot for themselves. Many scenes are spent on the long, lonely travels through The City.
]]
The City is actually a structure that began on
Earth . The mechanical beings known as
, which move around reforming and creating new landscapes, appear to have begun building without end, creating an enormous structure with little internal logic or coherence. There exists some kind of major isolation system between the gargantuan floors of The City. Between them, there are entire layers of an unknown, nearly-indestructible material called "the megastructure". Attempts to approach the megastructure result in a massive safeguard response so as to prevent trespassing. Bypassing the safeguard is pointless, as it is nearly impossible to even scratch the megastructure. Only a direct Gravitational Beam Emitter blast is known to have been capable of digging a hole into a megastructure.
The City, and the Builders, were controlled by the Netsphere and the Authority but they have since lost the power to control the expansion of The City due to the chaotic and insecure manner of its growth. Without intervention by a user with Net Terminal Genes they cannot reestablish control over The City nor the Safeguards, whose original job was to eliminate any humans who try to access the Netsphere without Net Terminal Genes. The Safeguard now attempts to destroy ''all'' humans without the Net Terminal Gene as the degradation of The City has corrupted their true goals.
It has been suggested by . No evidence contradicts this speculation, and the prequel to ''Blame!'', ''
NOiSE '', even states that the structure has passed the orbit of the moon. In the last chapter of
NOiSE , it is stated ''"At one point even the moon which used to be up in the sky above, was integrated into The City's structure"''
See Also: Blame! characters and structures
;
: The main character. He is on a journey to find a human with Net Terminal Genes to access the Netsphere. He is equipped with the
Gravitational Beam Emitter , a small but incredibly powerful weapon capable of destruction on a massive scale.
: Killy's origin and motives are unknown. He speaks very little and rarely hesitates to fight. He also has shown superhuman levels of endurance and strength, and appears to be able to heal extremely rapidly. However he usually relies on his GBE to dispatch the opposition. Killy appears to be linked in someway to the villainous Safeguard, but exactly how is uncertain. It has been suggested that Killy is an early version or even a prototype of the safeguards seen in the manga.
: Before receiving Safeguard implants from Safeguard Sanakan, Killy is just like ordinary human, but has greater physical strength. But after that, he can obtain scanning ability and detect Sanakan as a Safeguard. And late in the story he becomes stronger and is able to kill silicon creature without the GBE. He even survives Cibo's attack even though she turned into a level 9 Safeguard.
; (also addressed as , "Chief Scientist Cibo")
: Head scientist of a corporation in the Capitol. She tries to access the Net Sphere with an artificially created version of Net Terminal Genes, but the experiment fails with disastrous results and summons the Safeguard, leading to the destruction of the entire facility.
: During their journey, Cibo undergoes many changes of bodily form, emphasizing the transhuman nature of life in the Megastructure. Cibo cracks security systems and gathers information to help her and Killy's journey. She speaks rather more than the taciturn Killy, often serving to advance the plot.
: Since Cibo obtains "another" Cibo form, she's capable to fight more. Her Safeguard suit makes this possible.
;
Sanakan
: A 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.
: Sanakan has 3 forms. First is a child form who later is stolen by Cibo and used until 10 years is over. The second one is Safeguard form. This form is her battle form, and this one can be revived many times. She uses a GBE like Killy, but it has a bigger shape and is less powerful. Her third form, also the original form, is a human like Killy (she looks like Musubi Susono, but different hair cut). According to the manga,the Safeguard form of Sanakan does not possess a Sanakan soul, only a remote body controlled by the main Safeguard system, which is why, when Cibo hacks into the Safeguard system, all exterminator and Sanakan Safeguard stop moving for awhile. The real Sanakan, now protecting Cibo who brings Net Terminal Genes, is again killed by the silicon creature. Then her leader warns her, if she goes back to base reality with Safeguard form (one possessing a Sanakan soul), and if she's killed again, they can't revive her anymore. Sanakan finally has the same goal as Killy. She even helps Killy to destroy Safeguard, who tries to eat Cibo's core.
The original
Japanese manga was collected into 10 volumes (
Tankōbon ) by
Kodansha 's ''Afternoon KC'' division.
- ''Blame! #1'' (1998/06) ISBN 4-06-314182-9
- ''Blame! #2'' (1998/12) ISBN 4-06-314194-2
- ''Blame! #3'' (1999/08) ISBN 4-06-314218-3
- ''Blame! #4'' (2000/03) ISBN 4-06-314235-3
- ''Blame! #5'' (2000/09) ISBN 4-06-314251-5
- ''Blame! #6'' (2001/03) ISBN 4-06-314263-9
- ''Blame! #7'' (2001/10) ISBN 4-06-314277-9
- ''Blame! #8'' (2002/04) ISBN 4-06-314289-2
- ''Blame! #9'' (2002/12) ISBN 4-06-314310-4
- ''Blame! #10'' (2003/09) ISBN 4-06-314328-7
In February 2005,
Tokyopop announced that it has licensed Blame! for U.S. distribution, with publication beginning in August 2005.
- ''Blame! #1'' (2005/08) ISBN 1-59532-834-3
- ''Blame! #2'' (2005/11) ISBN 1-59532-835-1
- ''Blame! #3'' (2006/02) ISBN 1-59532-836-X
- ''Blame! #4'' (2006/05) ISBN 1-59532-837-8
- ''Blame! #5'' (2006/07) ISBN 1-59532-838-6
- ''Blame! #6'' (2006/11) ISBN 1-59532-839-4
- ''Blame! #7'' (2007/02) ISBN 1-59532-840-8
- ''Blame! #8'' (2007/05) ISBN 1-59532-841-6
- ''Blame! #9'' (2007/08) ISBN 1-59532-842-4
