Line #135 Manga/Blame


1	[[quoteright:240:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Blame!.png]]
2	[[caption-width-right:240:Part man. Part machine. [[DullSurprise No parts expressive]].]]
3
4	->''"Maybe on Earth, Maybe in the Future"''
5
6	''Blame!'' (ブラム ''Buramu!'') is a 10-volume {{cyberpunk}} {{Seinen}} {{Manga}}.
7
8	The story follows Killy, a silent loner possessing an incredibly powerful gun known as a [[WaveMotionGun Graviton Beam Emitter]], as he wanders an immeasurably vast [[CyberPunk technological world]] known as "The City". The City is inhabited by scattered human and transhuman tribes, as well as hostile cyborgs known as [[ArtificialHuman Silicon Creatures]] and [[ImplacableMan implacable]] robots called the Safeguard.
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10	Killy's primary goal is to recover the [[MacGuffin Net Terminal Genes]], an extremely rare genetic marker that allows humans to access the [[{{Cyberspace}} Net Sphere]], and gain control of The City's network. Doing so would allow him to halt the unhindered, chaotic expansion of The City, as well as stop the murderous horde known as [[RobotWar The Safeguard]] from destroying what remains of humanity... or more correctly all humans who lack Net Terminal Genes (which is essentially all humans).
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12	This story has a prequel, ''[=NOiSE=]'', and a followup anthology called ''Blame Academy! And So On'' containing two short sequel chapters: ''Net Sphere Engineer'' and ''Blame![[superscript:2]]''; as well as a three chapter spin off manga, featuring all the characters of ''Blame!'' in...[[HighSchoolAU high school?]] That's right ''Blame! Academy'' -- Adventure-student Killy in the Cyber school quest! Creator/TsutomuNihei is obviously even more insane than we gave him credit for.
13
14	A short six episode Web-{{Anime}} series adaptation was created by Creator/GroupTAC in 2003. The manga received another anime adaptation in the form of a cel-shaded CGI film called ''Anime/{{Blame}}'' produced by Creator/PolygonPictures (who also adapted Nihei's ''Manga/KnightsOfSidonia'') and has been licenced by Creator/{{Netflix}}. You can watch the first trailer [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cO0JsSYTFzQ here]] and the second [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_k75jXSruSs here]]. The film was released in Japan and worldwide via Netflix on May 20, 2017.
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16	----
17	!!''Blame!'' provides examples of the following:
18	* AbnormalAmmo: Darts that turn people into FacelessMooks, guns that fire a murderous sentient polymer that absorbs all surrounding raw materials to make itself larger, etc...
19	* AbusivePrecursors: The Safeguard.
20	* ActionGirl: Cibo, [[DarkActionGirl Sana-Kan]].
21	** In the movie, Zuru.
22	* AdaptationalBadass: Zuru is more of an ActionSurvivor in the manga, whereas in the movie she is a prodigy Electrofisher and a skilled warrior.
23	* AdaptationalWimp: While Zuru is much stronger in the movie, Electrofishers as a whole are much weaker. In the manga, they are introduced intervening in a fight, helping Killy out and two of them are more than a match for the exterminators he’s fighting. In the movie, Killy has to save them. Additionally, when [[spoiler: Sanakan begins her extermination in the manga, she has to bring a ''lot'' more firepower to bear, including a Kaiju sized safeguard. Unfortunately, being more badass doesn’t mean much in the end; they end up in a far worse position than their movie counterparts.]]
24	* AffectionateParody: ''Blame! Academy'' - A non-canon spin-off series by the same author, which involves putting his characters into stereotypical Japanese school-life comedy situations. The effect is very amusing given the [[{{Dystopia}} original]] [[CrapsackWorld series']] [[GreyAndGreyMorality tone]].
25	* AfterTheEnd: Or if you look at the prequel works, it's technically [[ApocalypseHow after multiple ends of society.]]
26	* AndIMustScream: In one chapter, Killy and Cibo stumble across a machine that [[spoiler:has been continually cloning the same woman for untold centuries.]] The worst part? [[spoiler:the original woman -- hooked up to the machine and completely incapacitated -- has apparently been ''alive and conscious'' for all that time]].
27	* AndTheAdventureContinues: In the last chapter, [[spoiler:Killy seems to have been killed by a BoomHeadshot, but the embryo with the Net Terminal Gene starts growing upon being exposed to uncontaminated water. On the very last page, after a TimeSkip, we see Killy in The City again, protecting a young girl wearing a hazmat suit, who is presumably the embryo grown up.]]
28	* AnotherDimension: The gravity-based engine of Toha Heavy Industries creates a few.
29	** [[spoiler:Killy is trapped in one for a short period, and meets an alternate-reality (or future) Cibo, whose body is then [[TimeParadox brought to Killy's dimension]] and serves as a container for the present Cibo]].
30	** [[spoiler:Mensab and Seu]] apparently take refugee in one.
31	* AnyoneCanDie: [[spoiler:The number of surviving characters can be counted on the fingers of one hand. A hand that has recently been through a leaf shredder. Not that it's really surprising.]]
32	* ArmCannon: Sana-Kan.
33	* ArtEvolution: Nihei's style and character design changes dramatically at several points in the manga.
34	* ArtShift: Used in the spin-off, ''Blame! Academy'', for laughs. That girl with the ahoge is the Silicon Lifeform with the slasher smile Killy killed early in the manga. Same with the Gonk.
35	* BackToBackBadasses: Killy and Dhomochevsky in one chapter.
36	* BadassBookworm: Cibo.
37	* BadassLongcoat: A fashion statement frequently worn by both Silicon Creatures and high-level Safeguards.
38	** [[spoiler: Sana-Kan, when she returns and becomes Cibo's protector.]]
39	** The [[AlmightyJanitor protagonist]] of ''[[{{Spinoff}} Net Sphere Engineer]]'' wears one of these.
40	* BadassNormal: Seu, so very much. In a world where baseline humans are armed with {{BFG}}s or hyper-sophisticated hacking equipment, and ''still'' die by the dozens, Seu stands alone, as an almost-baseline human who fights off dozens of cyborgs, including the genuinely badass [[DreadlockWarrior Ivy]] and [[DarkActionGirl Maeve]] while armed with nothing more than a perfectly normal {{BFS}}.
41	* {{BFG}}: Abundant, and frequently played with. The biggest and baddest guns are the Graviton Beam Emitters, of which Killy's tiny pistol seems to be the [[SuperPrototype most advanced]]. More of a [[WaveMotionGun Wave Motion pistol]]. However, some unnamed characters are seen using BFG style weapons.
42	** [=GBE=]s have a range measured in dozens of Kilometers, no matter what is in their way. Killy's GBE is stated to have a range of 70 kilometers.
43	* {{BFS}}: Ivy's weapon is this even without the additional sections concealed inside that can fold out like a switchblade to make it longer.
44	* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:Cibo and Sana-Kan are dead, along with many others. However, Killy finds a place to put Cibo's "egg" containing a human with Net Terminal Genes on the edge of the city, which finally restores some form of order.]]
45	* {{Bizarrchitecture}}: Nihei's architecture is more improbable than bizarre most of the time. The amount of raw materials that would be needed to create most of the structures in ''Blame!'' is mind-boggling, and the City is at least the size of the solar system. Construction bots apparently beam stuff into existence; if availability of matter was of any relevance, the setting simply couldn't happen.
46	** The prequel manga ''[=NOiSE=]'' reveals that the City has grown upwards to the point that it has "captured" [[spoiler:the planet's moon]].
47	* BigDamnHeroes: It seems everyone gets at least one Big Damn Heroes moment in ''Blame!'' Even ''Cibo''.
48	* BigBad: While it initially appears that the Safeguard is the main antagonist of the series, [[spoiler:it turns out that they aren't even malevolent. The Safeguard command lost control of the city's mechanisms and are responsible not only for Killy's appearance but provide him with whatever help they can. While there are certainly rotten people found within the City, there is no one single person responsible for any of it. In essence, the City itself, with its unchecked growth and rampant Safeguard creatures, is the only thing that can be considered the real threat.]]
49	* BitchInSheepsClothing: [[spoiler:Sana-Kan, in her first appearance.]]
50	* BodyHorror: A common occurrence. Cibo fighting Sana-Kan for [[spoiler:control of her body]] springs to mind, as do the silicon clone factories.
51	* {{Bookends}}: The manga begins and ends with Killy escorting a child.
52	* BoomHeadshot: Pretty much the only way to guarantee that someone stays dead in the Blame! universe. [[spoiler:And in Killy's case, not even then.]]
53	** In the 2017 film, Cibo [[spoiler: has the forethought to avert this by putting her brain into one of her arms.]]
54	* BottomlessMagazines: Justified, seeing as how the GBE takes its power from Killy himself.
55	* BreakingTheFourthWall: ''Blame! Academy'' chapter 2 has fun with this when a pair of Silicon Life Forms appear, and ask Killy if he remembers them. Cibo nonchalantly identifies them from the second half of ''Blame!'' volume 1 and concludes that they must be out for revenge, but it turns out they're just mad because all the characters shown in chapter 1 appeared except them.
56	* CameBackWrong: Seu is repeatedly healed by a MatterReplicator, but each time his mind degrades more and more.
57	* [[CityPlanet City Solar System]]
58	* {{Chiaroscuro}}
59	* ClothingDamage:
60	** Oddly averted - Killy's outfits seem to be as resilient as he is. It's revealed to be "Second Skin." Whatever that means, it's probably tough [[spoiler:considering he's a Safeguard.]]
61	*** After [[spoiler: being nuked]], the clothes are revealed to literally be a part of him.
62	** Played straight in ''Blame! Academy''. [[RunningGag Several]] [[FanService times]].
63	* CompositeCharacter: In the compressed anime "demo" of ''Blame!'', it is implied that Cibo is ''every'' female character that Killy has ever met, including the girl on the elevator with the dog at the beginning.
64	* ConservationOfNinjutsu: Applies to the Safeguard. Justified in that there are apparently several different classes of Safeguard.
65	* CoolSword: The Safeguard Sword. Think GBE, but instead of shooting, you get cutting. Strangely enough, only Silicon Life like Pcell are seen using this blade. Seu and Ivy have cool swords too.
66	** The one wielded by Susono in the {{Prequel}} ''[=NOiSE=]'' is a powered up version, easily slicing through an enormous building.
67	* CrapsackWorld: The City grew in a chaotic and insecure manner, leading to loss of control. The Safeguards now attempting to destroy anyone without the Net Terminal Gene (which, in the timeframe of the story, is essentially all of humanity) due to their goals being corrupted is the icing on top of the cake.
68	* {{Cyberspace}}: Both the Authority and the Safeguard exist within the Netsphere, a Cyberspace that also [[spoiler:[[TheMetaverse houses much of humanity]]]].
69	* CrypticBackgroundReference: Ubiquitous.
70	* {{Cyberpunk}}: Has its roots here. Monolithic [[MegaCorp megacorporations]], TheGovernment inept or out to get you, [[AntiHero anti-heroes]], and transhumanism that creates as many problems as it solves, are all taken to such extremes that, like ''Film/TheMatrix'', it becomes less like traditional cyberpunk. Post-post-cyberpunk, if you will. Perhaps Neo-Cyberpunk.
71	* DarkIsEvil[=/=]LightIsGood: The most dangerous Silicon Creatures, such as Schiff, the one with the "bubbler" cannon, and the Silicon Knights, have entirely black armor. Conversely, the characters who are most good, like Mensab, Seu and representatives of the Authority, are completely white. Everyone else, who subscribe to GrayAndGreyMorality, tend to have pale skin and wear black clothes.
72	* DeathOfAChild: AnyoneCanDie, even children. The very first chapter sees Killy escorting a small child somewhere, but an altercation sees the child killed.
73	* DeathOfPersonality: [[spoiler:After Cibo enters the Netsphere and transforms into the Level 9 Safeguard, her personality is destroyed and she's left as a child-like EmptyShell.]]
74	* DecompressedComic: ''Blame!'' personifies this style.
75	* DeflectorShields: [[spoiler:The Silicon Life Knights carry shields that emit an energy field powerful enough to deflect low-level Graviton Beams]]. The GBE can also be used as such.
76	* DentedIron: Though Killy spends most of the series as a [[ImplacableMan unstoppable badass]], by the [[DistantFinale final volume]] he is visibly tired and injured—even forced to use a piece of bent metal as a crude prosthetic leg.
77	* TheDeterminator: Killy is the epitome of the Determinator trope. Sana-Kan and Dhomo fit, too.
78	* DullSurprise: At first justified due to Killy's stoic nature, but with the benefit of hindsight it's mostly due to Nihei's character designs not being particularly emotive. Cibo does show some surprise early on, though.
79	* DidWeJustHaveTeaWithCthulhu: Probably the strangest example in recent history, but every time someone meets up with the Authority, this is pretty much how it feels. And in a dystopian cyber-punk post-apocalyptic wasteland, who better to count as an EldritchAbomination than an ancient omniscient A.I.-like ruler who is essentially a god?
80	* {{Dystopia}}: ''Blame!'' is a prime example of dystopian fiction.
81	* EarthThatWas: As the ending of ''[[{{Prequel}} NOiSE]]'' shows, the Earth is completely engulfed by The City's automated construction system. By the time ''Blame!'' takes place, nobody even remembers that there ''was'' an Earth. One chapter towards the end implies that the machinery has swallowed most, if not all, of the Solar System when Killy encounters a chamber that has a diameter matching that of Jupiter.
82	-->'''Killy''': ''(looking up from a very old book)'' [[LostCommonKnowledge What is "land"?]]
83	* EldritchAbomination: Faceless organic-machines that morph out of ordinary people and six-story tall monsters with guns for mouths certainly qualify.
84	* EldritchLocation: The City, the superstructure that serves as the series' environment, is arguably this. It either defies the amount of materials actually available to build something at this scale, or the Earth's core was used up as well. If the latter is the case, gravity, oxygen levels, molecular friction, etc. would all have to be addressed. Those challenges don't even account for reaching another planet's gravitational pull.
85	** Some of the artwork implies the structure reached Jupiter. If that's true, the distance between Earth and the Sun is less than half the distance between Earth and Jupiter. Assuming it still rotates like the Earth, the Sun's destructive energy would have to be neutralized or the structure would tear itself apart.
86	* ElevatorActionSequence: Though it quickly ends up outside.
87	* EliteMooks: Higher level Safeguard and Silicon Life.
88	* EnergyWeapon: Here and there. Flavors include infantry-sized laser weapons to [[WaveMotionGun Graviton beams]].
89	* EvilMinions: Davine has a small army of them.
90	* EvilTwin: [[spoiler:A [[BaldOfEvil hairless]], Safeguard-controlled copy of Killy appears in the final chapter and shoots the original in the head.]]
91	* FaceFramedInShadow
92	* FacelessGoons: Safeguard. Killed in the thousands, mostly because they [[HollywoodTactics line up]] and ZergRush the guy who has a pistol that can penetrate 50 miles of steel.
93	* FantasticRacism: It's not obvious under all the fighting for survival, but when Killy kills a cyborg who didn't hurt anybody who even provided information(!) and wanted to be left alone, that he justifies it with only "he was silicon life" makes it clear that he would murder them even on principle.
94	* FeelNoPain: Killy just seems to be used to massive physical trauma by now. Maybe he still ''does'' feel pain, but since he's TheStoic, it's hard to say.
95	* FishEyes: Maeve has these.
96	* {{Flashback}}: One of these is used to introduce Dhomochevsky...
97	** FlashbackCut: ...and Killy has multiple single-frame flashbacks [[spoiler:as he reboots after 40.82% of his body is obliterated]].
98	* ForgotICouldFly: Killy's ability to scan things with his eyes, among other things, got restored after he was hit with darts from a safeguard. It is indicated that he always had the ability when in an earlier chapter he asks some humans if they also see symbols in their vision but his memory damage prevented him from taking advantage of it as he didn't understand what he was seeing.
99	* TheFogOfAges: Killy is incredibly old, and admits to having forgotten a lot. This could be averted by the reactivation of the Netsphere, which is implied to house the memories of all humans. Though it isn't certain that [[spoiler:an ancient pre-Safeguard construct]] like Killy would be included in the deal.
100	* GangstaStyle: Killy has a notable fondness for firing the GBE this way. As with most things about ''Blame!'', whether or not there's a reason for this is anyone's guess.
101	* GiantMook: Some giant Safeguard units and Silicon Life, proving that size [[FakeUltimateMook doesn't matter when you have a GBE.]]
102	* GoodIsNotNice: Killy. He has principles, but he also has his mission, and may the gods help you if you come into conflict with either one of those things.
103	* GoodScarsEvilScars: Averted. Killy could easily pass as a bad guy in any other series, if one were to judge on looks alone. The character design as a whole tends to purposely lean towards pale, sickly and generally depressing.
104	* GoodThingYouCanHeal: Especially when you have a gun that can snap your arm in half on its lowest settings.
105	* TheGovernment: The Authority and The Safeguard. The former is a benevolent yet mostly impotent system that requires regular humans with a extremely rare genetic marker to tell them what to do, while the latter acts like an anti-virus system that happens to see all humans without said gene as viruses.
106	* GreyAndGrayMorality: Since everyone is technically human they do what humans do best, fight so that their faction can prosper at the expense of others. Who do you side with? The freedom-loving but [[AnarchyIsChaos utterly insane]] Silicon Life who want to maintain the chaotic decay of the City, and are willing to exterminate humans who have the Net Terminal Gene to prevent the Authority from regaining control? The KnightTemplar Safeguard who will kill anyone to keep the City from decaying further than it already has, even though it is evidently [[HopelessWar hopeless]]? The inept bureaucrats of the Authority who want to reverse the decay of the Megastructure and employ the sometimes heroic, sometimes [[IDidWhatIHadToDo ruthless]] protagonist on a quest that has gone on for millennia without tangible results? Or the more human factions that struggle to get by in this crapsack Dyson sphere?
107	* GuiltFreeExterminationWar: The Silicon Life have been hunting humans since the dawn of the city, as they pose a threat to the established state of the Net Sphere. Humans fare no better: [[spoiler:when they get a hold of the architects, they find no guilt in destroying entire hives, as told by Pcell in the sequel one shot.]] Neither seem to consider coexistence to be possible, even though the City is big enough to house both their civilizations. [[spoiler:She seems to value human life, however, so there might be hope after all]].
108	* GunPorn: Nihei ''loves'' his guns. Shells ejecting? Check. Nameless RedShirts using detailed weaponry that is often [[{{BFG}} bigger than them?]] Check. Safeguard weaponry that range from [[HandCannon pistols]] to portable [[WaveMotionGun beam emitters?]] ''Check indeed''.
109	* GunsAkimbo: Killy does this once, and [[spoiler:in addition to her GBE, Sana-Kan's battle form has a hand that fires darts which transform organic life into Exterminator units.]]
110	* GratuitousEnglish: Common fan speculation is that the series title is a misspelling of the English onomatopoeia for gun-fire, "BLAM!". The Author has yet to comment on this, but the title is written in katakana as "ブラム (buramu)", when "blame" would be more accurately transliterated as "ブレム (buremu)" or "ブレイム (bureimu)".
111	* HandCannon: Killy's Graviton Beam Emitter. A small pistol slightly larger than a small Glock... that better qualifies as a WaveMotionGun.
112	* HardHead: Killy, literally, has half his head blown off ''and survives''.
113	* HealingFactor: Killy has the most resilient one. Various high level Safeguard and Silicons also have the ability to reform their bodies much more quickly, but no one sticks around like [[NighInvulnerability Killy]] does.
114	* HeelFaceRevolvingDoor: [[spoiler:Sana-Kan]].
115	* HighSchoolAU: ''Blame! Academy''.
116	* HomosexualReproduction: [[spoiler:Sana-Kan and Cibo are the mothers of the child with the Net Terminal Gene]]. Just [[HandWave go with it]], okay?
117	* IAmWho: [[spoiler:Killy is related to the Safeguard. It is also theorized (and [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded]] by the [[WordOfGod author]]) that he is also a kind of ''Internet Ghost'' that appears whenever humanity is in danger... And judging by the sequel, not only humanity. Everyone is [[TranshumanTreachery human]] in Blame! anyway.]]
118	* IdealHero: Seu
119	* InASingleBound: Justified, seeing as how most characters are augmented in some way.
120	* [[IneffectualSympatheticVillain Ineffectual Sympathetic Villains]]: The two nameless Silicon Creatures killed off near the beginning of ''Blame!'' return in ''Blame! Academy'' 2 and 3 as a pair of these.
121	* InherentInTheSystem: Doubly so, seeing as how ''the system'' is literally trying to wipe out humanity at the same time.
122	* InstantDeathBullet: Justified in that even the most ''mundane'' weapons in this [[TheVerse 'verse]] are quite powerful.
123	* {{Interquel}}: "Fort of Silicon Creatures" is a one-shot ''Blame!'' chapter packaged with the deluxe Blu-ray edition of TheMovie, drawn by Nihei in his modern ''Manga/{{Aposimz}}'' art style. It's set during the last volume of the original ''Blame!'' manga when Killy was traveling with "Mori", the personality construct recorded on a backup device that Killy wore around his neck.
124	* TheJuggernaut: Killy, Sana-Kan. But especially [[NighInvulnerability Killy]].
125	* KilledOffForReal: [[spoiler:Cibo and Sana-Kan don't survive until the end]].
126	* LargeAndInCharge: In the [[TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}} grim darkness of the far future]] every president of every remaining corporation is literally [[Series/ThirdRockFromTheSun The Big Giant Head]]. [[BoomHeadshot Many headshots ensue.]]
127	* LawOfInverseRecoil: Averted spectacularly. At its lowest setting, firing the Graviton Beam Emitter causes Killy's arm to violently snap backwards; at max output, it sends him flying; when he ''overcharges'' the gun, it rips his arm off.
128	* LayeredMetropolis: In the form of a DysonSphere.
129	* LegacyCharacter: Another "version" of Pcell is the main character in ''Blame![[superscript:2]]''. It's not entirely clear if she is a [[BrainUploading reincarnation of the same Pcell]], or a descendant.
130	* LittleMissBadass: Again, Cibo, when [[spoiler:she takes over Sana-Kan's sleep-mode body]].
131	* LostTechnology: ''Lots'' of this. Even Killy's own weapon is considered as such.
132	* {{MacGuffin}}: "I'm looking for humans with Net Terminal Genes."
133	* MadeOfIron: Many characters.
134	* TheManBehindTheMan: Killy seems to be on some kind of a mission, and towards the end it is shown that his actions are being monitored by some unknown authority. He is actually shown to be in contact, or at least on friendly terms, with said Authority several times prior to that.
135	* TheMedic: Again, Cibo.
136	* MegaCorp:
137	** Toha Heavy Industries. A subversion, as despite being a monolithic and once mighty organization, they lack any real power outside of their jurisdiction.
138	** The Bio-Electric Corporation that rules Cibo's home district are a smaller but more conventional example. Although small fry compared to Toha, they'd be an NGOSuperpower in any other 'verse. They also seem to have done a surprisingly good job [[TheExtremistWasRight rebuilding civilization from scratch]] without the help of the Safeguard or Authority.
139	* MegaDungeon: The superstructure is essentially this, and effectively the entire world as well.
140	* MessianicArchetype: Killy, and later [[spoiler:the Net Gene Child]].
141	* MindScrew: You'll be lucky if you catch everything the first read through.
142	* {{Mooks}}: Basic Exterminator units. At least if you have a [[{{BFG}} GBE]]. The Safeguard is apparently commanded by [[WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}} Zap Brannigan]], since they ZergRush targets armed with [[strike:kilo]] [[strike:mega]] teraton class weapons.
143	* MookMaker: Conversion Towers
144	* MotiveDecay:
145	** The Silicon Life start out attempting to destroy all traces of the Net Terminal Genes and forever seal humanity from the Netsphere - but by the time ''Blame![[superscript:2]]'' takes place, the new generation of Synthetic Life are being hunted down and simply want to be left in peace.
146	** The Safeguard was originally set up to keep unauthorized users like Silicon Creatures from logging onto the netsphere and screwing things up [[{{KnightTemplar}} by killing them]]. Now that people with the Net Terminal Gene that grants authorization are essentially extinct, they usually just kill everyone everywhere and hope that things will work out.
147	* [[MrExposition Ms. Exposition]]: Cibo fills this role at times, if only to give the story a semblance of coherency. This is justified though as she was a scientist, and so most of the time she is trying to sort things out.
148	* MysteriousPast: Again, Killy. May also apply to [[TheLancer Dhomochevsky]].
149	* NervesOfSteel: Killy; don't expect his composure to crumble under any sort of situation.
150	* NinetiesAntiHero: Killy is just a stoic, less muscle-headed version.
151	* NoBrows: most characters other than Killy and Cibo.
152	* NormalFishInATinyPond: Basic Safeguard exterminators. In the movie the basic exterminators are considered very dangerous robots, that keep the human population completely terrified, while in the Manga they are in fact low-level {{Mooks}}.
153	* NotQuiteDead: Happens quite often. It is [[MindScrew arguable]] that no one really dies in the world of ''Blame!'', thanks to the [[spoiler:{{Cyberspace}} backups]].
154	* NotSoStoic: Though his expression never changes, Killy ''rips into'' the trader and the dock workers of the Bio-Electric Company when [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone he realizes that he had unwittingly helped their operation to harvest organs from the Dry Men]] (but especially after noticing that the girl he had previously rescued was among the bodies). And though he may not mourn their passing, he does seemingly go out of his way to save his companions from harm.
155	** He has been seen grinning several times while causing total mayhem. The guy seems to get off on violence that has been cranked up.
156	* NoTranshumanismAllowed: Completely and thoroughly inverted. Humans who haven't been altered in some way or another are completely extinct, and it is unlikely a normal person would be able to survive in The City. The MacGuffin itself is a result of averting this trope: only humans with a very ancient gene are allowed to access the "series of tubes" in this future. Attempting to log onto the Internet without said genes will result in an immediate permaban by the Safeguard.
157	** "Permaban" in this case means [[BodyHorror exploding into a mass of Safeguard Exterminators]] that kill every living thing in sight.
158	* TheNudifier: The Women's Clothing Disintegrating Beam Emitter from ''Blame Academy!''
159	* OlderThanTheyLook:
160	** Killy is [[ReallySevenHundredYearsOld well over 3000 years old]], but looks to be somewhere in his 20's.
161	** Almost all characters, for that matter: Dhomochevsky was fighting Davinel's gang for at least 300 years before Killy arrived.
162	* OneManArmy: Killy, Sana-Kan.
163	* OneWordTitle
164	* OnlyAFleshWound: Killy has a habit of losing limbs, only to shrug it off. Dhomochevsky also has a similar outlook:
165	--> ''"[[FeelNoPain By the way, you might see my arm lying around somewhere.]] [[DeadpanSnarker If you could pick it up, that'd be great.]]"''
166	* OnlySixFaces: While non-human characters have a great variety of facial features, humans have a much more limited repertoire. This is why ''Blame ver. 0.11'', the 2003 series of animated shorts, can justify saying that the girl with the dog from the beginning of the manga is Cibo in some kind of time loop -- they look exactly the same.
167	* OrderVersusChaos: In ''[=NOiSE=]'', the main character is a cop investigating a cult who worship the power of chaos who are kidnapping children to use for human sacrifices in their bizarre MagiTek rituals. When they kill her, she is resurrected by the Safeguard, protectors of order, but they turn out to be a pack of fascists who plan on disenfranchising or killing everybody who can't afford network implants and brainwashing the ones who do. Then in Blame!, we see the aftermath of this; the cult succeeded in throwing the world into chaos, but since they're so poorly organized their descendants, the Silicon Creatures, don't amount to much more than a bunch of roving cyber-barbarians. The Safeguard doesn't fare much better, as their directives become so corrupted that they essentially believe that everything that's not them must be exterminated with [[AbusivePrecursors extreme prejudice]].
168	* OutOfTheClosetIntoTheFire: [[spoiler: Cibo and Sana-Kan]] are killed shortly after it's revealed that they [[spoiler: conceived a child together (see the entry for Homosexual Reproduction)]].
169	* OverlyLongName: Davinellulinvega, usually shortened to Davine.
170	* PartlyCloudyWithAChanceOfDeath: One of the last scenes shows Killy being drenched by rain for the first time in the series, [[spoiler:right before he has an encounter that leaves him pretty much dead.]]
171	** Although there is a sequel, [[spoiler: Killy's alive]], although there a rather endless number of ways to get around the whole being dead thing in Blame.
172	* PercussiveMaintenance: In Chapter 2, the woman with the dog gets a communications device to work by kicking it. One of the few humorous moments in ''Blame!''
173	* PerpetualFrowner: Killy again, though to be fair, he does smile once... Sort of.
174	* PersonOfMassDestruction: Killy, Sana-Kan. Emphasis on ''mass.'' [[spoiler:Level 9 Safeguard Cibo.]]
175	* PetTheDog: Killy indiscriminately destroys any Silicon Life he encounters, regardless of whether they're hostile to him or not. [[spoiler:Until ''Blame![[superscript:2]]'', where he rescues a heavily injured SL from the Safeguard and takes her to safety.]]
176	* PlatonicLifePartners: [[spoiler:Dhomochevsky and Iko.]]
177	* PowerGivesYouWings: Slight subversion. Most wings seen in ''Blame!'' are black, but they do coincide with the character having a notable upgrade. Considering that most power upgrades coincide with being able to change your body shape, it's fairly reasonable that you would want to have wings in a superstructure with huge chasms of hundreds (or thousands) of kilometers.
178	* RedBaron: In the epilogue ''Blame![[superscript:2]]'', the silicon beings refer to Killy as "The Calamity".
179	* ResurrectionSickness: Seu suffers from this -- seems being the BadassNormal isn't always enough to survive in Blame!, since this happens to him a lot. The constant amnesia of being healed also interferes with his love life...
180	* TheReveal: [[spoiler:Turns out that Safeguard command has lost control of their own security protocols, and as a result they are unable to do anything about the Safeguard creatures that attack anyone who attempts to access the Netsphere without Net Terminal Genes. They are just as confused as the protagonists about the true scope of The City, and are only able to provide minimal support to Killy in hopes of discovering a human with Net Terminal Genes.]]
181	* RidiculouslyHumanRobot: [[spoiler: Killy, apparently. He needs to eat and sleep (at least at first), feels pain and doesn't show up as anything but human to doctors like Cibo who heal him, but he's revealed to be much more than that eventually.]]
182	* TheRival: Killy and Sana-Kan, Seu and Ivy, Dhomochevsky and Davinel.
183	* RobotWar: Both Safeguards and Silicon Life are mechanical constructs trying to hunt down what remains of humanity. In fact they come from the same template: the former made to secure access to the Netsphere and the latter reprogrammed to serve the machinations of a chaotic sect.
184	* RussianGuySuffersMost: Considering how crap every other character's life is, "''most''" might be an overstatement, but Dhomochevsky's certainly wasn't pleasant. It should be noted that Dhomochevsky isn't Russian, he just has a Polish sounding name. It's [[{{Ruritania}} all the same place]] anyway.
185	* ScarsAreForever: Killy gains several noticeable facial scars throughout the course of the series.
186	* ScavengerWorld: almost everything that's still working is running on automatic. Killy gets by by finding equipment caches set up centuries in advance; the Electrofishers and tech-nomads have put their suits and guns together out of stuff they found. Partially averted by Cibo's people and Silicon Life, who are both developing new technology and rediscovering the secrets of the City, but tend to [[PossessionImpliesMastery overestimate their own abilities]].
187	* SceneryPorn: It is impossible to read this manga and ''not'' stop on a double page dedicated entirely to depicting a single piece of [[SceneryGorn gritty, abstract architecture]] and think, "Wow... Just, wow."
188	* ScrewThisImOuttaHere: [[spoiler: Having found herself on the outside of the City itself at the end of ''Blame![[superscript:2]]'', Pcell decides to leave and find a new home where she can peacefully restart the Silicon Creature civilization using the recorded archive of her home she's carried with her.]]
189	* SecondaryFire: Kind of. The GBE has 4 modes of firing.
190	* SequelHook: ...And it got ''two''. One, ''Net Sphere Engineer'', was planned to be a full length manga, but the author dropped it after just one chapter. The second, ''Blame[[superscript:2]],'' was in full colour and ''also'' a single chapter long, but it served to show that [[spoiler:Killy is alive and kicking]].
191	* ShortRangeLongRangeWeapon: Killy has a habit of being in spitting distance of his target before pulling the trigger, despite his weapon having an unstoppable 70km range. [[SelfDestructiveCharge It helps to be sure.]]
192	* ShoutOut:
193	** The names of Killy and Cibo are tributes to Killeen and Shibo, the protagonists of Creator/GregoryBenford's ''Great Sky River'' and its sequels.
194	** Silicon Creatures have heads like [[Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration Borg]], bodies like [[Franchise/{{Alien}} Xenomorphs]], and dress like [[Franchise/{{Hellraiser}} Cenobites]].
195	* SilentSceneryPanel: Many, many, MANY of these.
196	* SlasherSmile: Most Silicon Creatures have mastered the Slasher Smile. Dhomochevsky is often depicted with one in artwork, and both Killy and Sana-Kan do it at least once.
197	* SleepModeSize: Sana-Kan's one is a little creepy girl.
198	* SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism: Largely idealistic, even if it wears a mask of cynicism.
199	* SlidingScaleOfSillinessVersusSeriousness: Hits the [[SeriousBusiness Serious]] end and ''keeps sliding''.
200	* SpellMyNameWithAnS: Early scanlations translated Sana-Kan's name as "Sanakan", but Tokyopop insists Sana-Kan is the correct spelling.
201	* TheStoic: Killy defines stoic. Killy is also the latest and possibly leading contender for the title of [[VisibleSilence master of the ellipsis]].
202	* StormingTheCastle: See Crowning Moment Of Awesome.
203	* StuffBlowingUp: When your gun does [[WeaponOfMassDestruction more damage than an atomic bomb]], it is hard not to make some explosions.
204	* SuperSenses: Killy, Dhomochevsky, Cibo... In fact, ''most'' beings in ''Blame!'' seem to possess superhuman senses. Though it isn't surprising, seeing as how they all live in a futuristic dystopian hellhole where it pays to come prepared for ''anything''.
205	* SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute: In "Fort of Silicon Creatures", "Mori" transfers her mind into a new body that looks almost exactly like Cibo's, except for a beauty mark on her cheek. This may be justified if you assume that this type of female body is very commonly manufactured.
206	* SweetPollyOliver: In ''Blame! Academy'', the [[TheNudifier "Women's Clothing Dissolving Beam"-Emitter]] reveals that [[spoiler:Iko is actually female.]]
207	* SynchronizedSwarming: Issue 7 has the main character briefly interacting with a swarm of microorganisms, which assumes various simple forms -- :) for "hello", O for "yes", X for "no", etc -- to answer his queries.
208	* TabletopGames: ''[[http://1d4chan.org/wiki/Blam! Blam!]]'', a homebrew RPG.
209	* TakeAThirdOption: [[spoiler: This may be Cibo's motivation when she double registers using Seu's Net-Terminal Genes, and Sana-kan's motivation for advising Cibo against trusting the [[TheGovernment The Authority]] after Cibo fuses with the Level 9 and transcribes the Genes into herself, and then going on to be her bodyguard. This makes sense once you realize that, in the prequel ([=NOiSE=]), The Authority and the Safeguard were planning to disefranchise all humans without Net-Terminal Genes and install a fascist government of some sort. This would also explain The Authority's "new plan" that involved a 1st Level Exterminator trying to eat the Sphere.]]
210	* TalkingIsAFreeAction: Averted constantly.
211	* TeleFrag: The AI controlling Toha Heavy Industries attempts to teleport the Toha "building" (actually a failed prototype starship) out of the City, but it doesn't realize how big the City is. Each of the building's thirteen caves materializes in a volume already occupied by City structures, wiping everything out.
212	* ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill: Graviton Beam Emitter. It apparently becomes too much overkill for Killy near the end, as he takes the first opportunity to invest in a more... [[BoringButPractical subtle weapon]].
213	* TimeAbyss: One caption reads off how many seconds later it's been since Killy entered and started walking across a huge, empty and dark spherical room...in the quadrillions. A quadrillion seconds is about 317,000 years.
214	** In the film, Cibo mentions she's been waiting 17 million hours for someone to come and find her. That's almost 2 thousand years.
215	* TinyGuyHugeGirl: Played with. Cibo comes from an area where humans are much taller than Killy is and she's at least as tall (if not a little taller) than him. When both of them get through to an area where humans are ''short,'' she looks like a beanstalk. When Cibo moves into her next body, she's half Killy's size.
216	* TokenHeroicOrc:
217	** [[spoiler:Killy]] and eventually Sana-Kan are the only Safeguards who want humans to reclaim the Net Terminal Gene, without it falling under the control of the Authority.
218	** Pcell VIII in ''Blame![[superscript:2]]'' is the [[LastOfHerKind sole survivor of her village]] after Silicon Creatures became victims of persecution from humans.
219	** In "Fort of Silicon Creatures", the red-suited female Silicon Creature is considered dangerous by her superiors for wanting to make peace with Killy.
220	* {{Transhuman}}: In its entirety, we do not see a single purely biological human. Everyone is heavily modified, be they cyborgs, human-descended androids, or gene-modded superhumans. The closest to "pure" human we get is Seu, and he's an eight-foot giant with enough enhancements to fight in hand-to-hand combat with advanced Silicon Life warriors, who has been reconstructed and had his personality restored from backup countless times. Most "normal" humans were exterminated by either the Silicon Creatures or the Safeguard, given the events of ''[=NOiSE=]'', ''Blame!'''s prequel.
221	* UnnecessarilyCreepyRobot: ''Every'' robot and Silicon Creature.
222	* UnnecessarilyLargeInterior: At least one a chapter. ''Blame!'' is ''set'' in an endless series of Unnecessarily Large Interiors. One of the rooms Killy walks through is roughly ''the size of Jupiter'', and judging from the ending of the prequel comic ''[=NOiSE=]'' [[spoiler:where the Earth and Moon are enveloped by the machines]], it's implied that this room is where Jupiter used to be.
223	** [[AllThereInTheManual The artbook explains]] that The City itself extends out from the Sun to roughly Jupiter's orbit (~5 AU; roughly 750 million km), while "the world" extends to the edges of the system. In this verse, the planets, along with the Sun, have been absorbed for energy, DysonSphere-style. This is what happens when you let mindless nanomachines go rampant.
224	* VisibleSilence: Take a shot every time someone shows the reader their best impression of [[DullSurprise Mt. Rushmore]] accompanied by ellipses. Enjoy your liver transplant.
225	* [[WalkTheEarth Walk The Solar System]]
226	* WaveMotionGun: This is Killy's ''handgun'' the Graviton Beam Emitter. A pistol so powerful it can carve a four meter diameter shaft through 55km of steel. It is so overpowered that there are actually a couple of situations where it's a bad idea for Killy to use it, but most of the time he just blasts away, heedless of how much damage to the artificial environment he's causing. Thankfully, most of the [=MegaStructure=] is uninhabited.
227	* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: So what ever became of that girl with the dog who Killy seemed to know? Verges on EarlyInstallmentWeirdness as the initial party was just sort of dropped.
228	* WhatMeasureIsANonHuman:
229	** Killy kills sentient silicon lifeforms on sight without even the slightest hint of hesitation or remose, even when they're completely non-hostile and harmless.
230	** Played to extreme measures by the Safeguard as a whole, who consider anyone without the Net Terminal Gene to be non-human and subject to immediate execution. Unfortunately for everyone involved, the Net Terminal Gene practically died out long ago, meaning ''nobody'' has it and effectively turning most of the Safeguard into {{Omnicidal Maniac}}s.
231	* WhatTheHellHero: Killy gets one of these when he kills a [[spoiler:Non-hostile Silicon Creature]] and his companion calls him out on it.
232	* WhenAllYouHaveIsAHammer: Killy's immediate answer to most situations is to shoot first and leave questions to those who talk more.
233	* WorldOfChaos: Some of the architecture is just bizarre or large; some of it clearly has more going on. Toha Heavy Industries also has one of these ''inside'' it.
234	* WordSaladTitle: The title is seemingly nonsensical, at least if you assume the title is supposed to be ''Blame!'' in the first place. It's believed it may be a misspelling of ''Blam!'', and there's certainly a lot of gunfire going on.
235	* ZergRush: Safeguard exterminator units.

Context Manga / Blame