BLAME! by Tsutomu Nihei
This shit is genius. Pure art. This title falls under the sci-fi realm; the main character, Killy, is on a quest to find uncorrupted human DNA in a future world where the earth been augmented into a structure that extends past the moon. Don't ask me where they got all the raw material.
The plot is really just background to the amazing art of Tsutomu Nihei, and an excuse to develop the characters (somewhat) and make some social commentary about our species. There's very little dialogue, but the moods and tone of the story are communicated very well without it. At times, the drawing style is very rough and there are several panels I wasn't sure I understood the actual action. That didn't really matter, though. Large stretches of the story are scenes of traveling through the giant structures. There are hundreds of panels that I would love to have hanging on my wall (I'm working on a few of them, actually.)
Just do yourself a favor and click here to get a taste:
http://www.google.com/images?q=tsutomu%20nihei
Out of all the books I've read, movies I've seen, art I've experienced - this is one of the few that have made such a huge impact on me. I've re-read it probably 50 times now, and I doubt it will ever get old. Can you say that for any book you've ever read?
Nihei has done several other works. Most of these are related to BLAME! - I think several are prequels. Unfortunately, none of them really gripped me the way BLAME! did. Here are a few brief comments...
Disclaimer -rough Nihei is still better than 90% of the other stuff I've read. I still liked all of these series, I just don't think they live up to his original masterpiece.
The longest is Biomega, at about half the length of BLAME!. We get a taste of the BLAME! style art...but I don't feel like it (the art) had the same time and energy invested. Not saying that the work as a whole didn't - there is a lot more plot and dialogue. But the backgrounds, the buildings...the world was not the focus. I didn't feel much connection to the characters, either. The whole thing is too fast paced and jumbled as hell. I believe it's supposed to explain the origin of the BLAME! world, but although I follow the main idea, I didn't really understand 90% of what was going on, even with the addition of things like recaps. The style and tone of the original were not there for me.
Noise - this is definitely a prequel with a much simpler and shorter plot. It's a pretty straightforward dime-store detective story about the world before BLAME! and the origins of some of the craziness which appears in it. I think it's pretty good, overall. Again, the art and backgrounds, while great, don't give me the feeling he spent quite as much time on it.
ABARA - this is another prequel (I assume) similar to Noise, but a little longer. Some really fantastic art, but while BLAME! is 90% picturesque scenery and 10% action, this is the other way around. Still, some more of the fantastic panels I loved from BLAME!, a simple and short story, and a lot of ass-kicking.
Net Sphere Engineer - this is like BLAME II. I don't know if it's a prequel or sequel. The style is still more "direct" with a little more dialogue and explanation than BLAME!. The main character is very similar to Killy. It has huge potential. Unfortunately I've only read like 3 chapters. I don't know if it was discontinued or what, but the raws cut off in the very beginning.
I get all my stuff at:
http://onemanga.com
http://stoptazmo.com
http://mangahelpers.com
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