Blame! Vol. #04

By Jarred Pine     May 17, 2006
Release Date: May 09, 2006



Creative Talent
Writer/Artist:Tsutomu Nihei
Translated by:Stephen Paul
Adapted by:

What They Say


The Review
The one aspect I've really come to enjoy with Tsutomu Nihei's Blame! is the unknown in this enormously grim cyberpunk world he has created. When flipping through the story page by page, you never know what is going to happen next. I'm not talking about suspense or mystery here, but rather, Blame! itself is a fascinating yet foreign world that functions at a level that is completely out of bounds of conventional thought. In a world that seems to be replicating itself autonomously, where machine and flesh have merged, the possibilities for what may occur feel endless. This truly makes for an engaging experience.

One may also quickly forget the enormity of Nihei's world when Killy is running around with his beam gun shooting everything in sight. There is a terrific scene here where Killy fires off a blast at a Safeguard transporter, with each successive frame pulling back the perspective as you follow the laser into what seems infinity. The cataclysmic events surrounding Killy, Cibo, Safeguard, and the Electro-Fishers are huge, but in the end are a miniscule event in this almost void of a world.

The plot continues to move forward with Cibo and Killy reaching the inside of Toha Heavy Industries where more and more revelations bring more and more questions. It's also fun to see the frightful Silicons make their return here for some exciting action sequences.

Unlike most of TOKYOPOP's releases, SFX are translated with subs (although a few were missed). My one pain point with the release continues to be the muddied print reproduction which looks too dark overall.