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Architecture and Emptiness: The World of Blame!
The creator of the manga series Blame!, Tsutomu Nihei, received formal education in architecture at Parsons in New York. This background is evident in the story's emphasis on time and space rather than dialogue or character development. The protagonist spends multiple pages simply walking and searching for the "net terminal Gene" while evading the city's highly adapting and dominating defence system, which seeks to eliminate all humans.
Constructed on earth, 'The City' has grown so massive that it functions as an artificial world. The characters navigate a vast landscape of concrete and wires, constantly avoiding enemies and cyborgs, which are a unique amalgamation of organic and computer components. Despite their struggles, the characters are diminutive compared to the colossal structure that constantly surrounds them.
The lack of dialogue contrasts with the scale and vast distances represented in the imagery, this slows the pace and extends the timeline to a point that renders the very concept of time almost irrelevant.
Tsutomu Nihei drew inspiration from brutalist architecture, which prioritised communal spaces over individuals, often resulting in larger, dominant and foreboding structures that can make individuals feel small. Despite the absence of emotional expression through characters, readers still form a connection with them due to the shared sense of being lost, insignificant, and vulnerable.
The 1988 sci-fi horror manga offers a fascinating case study on architecture devoid of human intentionality. The protagonist navigates a dystopian world where humanity lost control of their automated AI builders resulting in the creation of a megastructure, a practically endless built environment constructed without consideration for the human scale.
The inhuman proportions seen in Blame! is different from what we might see in a grand cathedral, where the intention is to affect the viewer with a sense of awe of a higher power. Nihei's illustrations, on the other hand, have an aura of twisted indifference.
The surreal architecture in Blame! depict an environment that has lost all control and functionality, with thin gestures of familiar infrastructure that has lost its purpose, resulting in a growing sense of the protagonist feeling lost and inconsequential.
The concept of an environment created by humans but slipping out of their control isn't entirely a work of fiction. The increasing automation and resulting lack of human empathy and thoughtlessness in architecture, along with inadequate urban design and investment have resulted in a sense of placelessness in the design of our current buildings and cities. The isolation and sense of disconnection that this creates is a burden that we all carry as we navigate a massive environment of generic, eroding suburban structures.
The sensation of being adrift in an overwhelming expanse of a built environment that seems purposely designed, yet, without a place where one belongs.
