Overview
“Blame!” is a 2017 Japanese anime film based on Tsutomu Nihei’s sci-fi action manga of the same name (serialized in “Monthly Afternoon” in 1997-2003).
Directed by Hiroyuki Seshita. Animation produced by Polygon Pictures. Distributed worldwide as Netflix’s original film. 105 minutes.
Plot Outline
Set in a dark future in which technology runs out of control, and humankind lives a primitive life in a big proliferating city, without access authority to cyberspace, evading attacks of the defense system called “Safeguard”.
A girl from a village of the “Electro-Fishers”, Zuru meets Killy, a young man who is searching for “Net Terminal Genes”, and a scientist named Cibo. They attempt concerted operations to make the city controllable.
Commentary
The original manga is a work incorporating the elements of cyberpunk and gun action, and a unique work depicting a big layered city that proliferates indefinitely as a landscape, and expressing the sublimity of a vast architecture space.
This film version is a 3DCG anime film created by the staff of the TV anime series “Knights of Sidonia” (2014, 2015) based on Tsutomu Nihei’s manga, under the control of the original author Tsutomu Nihei as the supervisor (creative consultant).
It was finished as an heroic and entertaining sci-fi action film for the general audience including those who have never read the original manga, by simplifying the setting and story of the original, though it lacks the sublime and enigmatic atmosphere of the original manga.
The beautiful 3DCG images including characters drawn by toon shading in the 2D drawing style, and dynamic mecha battle action scenes are worth seeing.
