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Blame is a cyberpunk series that explores the effects of transhumanism in a post-apocalyptic setting. In the world of blame! machines called builders were built by humans in eons past and they do exactly what you'd expect. The built and built unchecked forever building more and bigger builders until they're progress exceeded the bounds of earths atmosphere and enveloped the entire solar system. The resulting gargantuan labyrinth came to be known as "The City".

We're introduced to Killy, a man of few words, as he traverses the city looking for a human with net terminal genes. A very illusive set of genes that would allow humanity ... to gain access to "The Net", a supposed future rendition of the internet, where they would be able to stop the progress of the builders and maybe save humanity.

Tsutomu Nihei's series boasts a very dynamic and sketchy art style that's most likely a result of his training as an architect. His world is expansive and ever changing. His character designs are also very eerie and similar to the works of surrealist artist H. R. Giger.

Though there isn't much dialog the world manages to draw you in with it's atmosphere alone. It's landscapes are some of the best of cyberpunk has to offer and with characters straight from the bottom of uncanny valley.

The humans that inhabit this world have all been warped in some way. Some are excessively tall and some have been given physical augmentations to help them survive the cruel world of the City. On Killy's journey decades and then centuries pass without result. The further up he travels, the further he gets from earth, the stranger the humans become and the less human Killy acts and is perceived by the reader and other characters as he regresses further and further from his humanity. Without spoiling anything this makes the ending bittersweet as Killy's final acts of the series are some of the most human represented in this manga.

this manga is not for everyone. Its abstract story telling style and lack of dialog and characters could easily be seen as boring by the more casual reader. But for anyone who felt intrigued by this description, it is defiantly worth looking into. unfortunately, it was owned by tokyopop who have gone under making copies expensive to buy first hand.