Blame! Is an anime based on a 10 volume manga by Tsutomu Nihei. The story centers around Kirry and a small group of humans in a place simply referred to as “The City”. Kirry’s main mission is to find humans with “Net terminal genes”. These genes are said to be able to allow humans to access the The City controls. Without them The City keeps getting built by robotic beings called “Builders”. Humans without this gene are considered to be trespassers and are to be eliminated on site by beings called the “Safeguard”.

Blame! takes place in a far flung distant future at least 300,000 years from now. The last known surviving humans’ number is the low hundreds and food is scarce. At this point even kids are suiting up in ever increasingly rare power armor to search food sources out. One such expedition goes awry as 6 set out but only three return along with a mysterious stranger named Kirry. Outsiders are very rare and Kirry though welcomed cause some nervous tension until he is able to pass through the “perimeter”; a special barrier that keeps enemies from entering the village.

Meeting the humans Kirry sees the desperate state they are in and shares his food bar with them, this bar when added to water is capable of feeding the whole village. After Kirry gains their trust he learns of a forbidden place in the village, upon going there with an escort he discovers “Cibo” an android or perhaps cyborg that had been emitting a distress call for over 70,000,000 hours. After Kirry does some lite coaxing she begins to talk. They also learn that she was the reason the barrier existed.

After their talk Kirry and Cibo along with a small army head off to a place called a factory, this place was capable of creating anything they needed including food and gear. Unfortunately, while they got the food the City catches them and sends in its attack squads and Cibo is thought dead. Kirry and the humans fight the hoards taking injury and loss. During the retreat a young girl is injured suffering from a broken arm, after retrieving her they make haste to their village. The attack however is relentless when suddenly a shield appears to protect them.

Cibo returns after apparently building herself a new body, thanks to Cibo’s distraction they make it home to the village. Kirry is spent after the battle and from carrying a strange device Cibo made at the factory. Kirry is taken care of and Cibo moves the device to its intended area in the village. The young girl who got her arm broken however seems to be in a bit of a daze as she picks up a rifle and heads towards the edge of a landing. She aims the rifle and ends up shooting the barrier generator disabling the device.

She was taken over by a Safeguard. Meanwhile Kirry and Cibo were getting ready to carry out her plan. Kirry was meant to guard Cibo as she would be defenseless while using the device gets distracted by the new goings on. Kirry decides to help the villagers instead and Cibo goes to try and enter the City’s programming to try to stop it. Kirry ends up fighting the Safeguard only for a big reveal about Kirry to be made.

Cibo manages to make it to the source but is denied full access, but is allowed to access a map that leads to a safe area. The fight between Kirry and the Safeguard goes poorly for Kirry as he gets thrown around a bit. Unfortunately for Cibo it’s enough to get her new body destroyed. Kirry however still had an ace up his sleeve and is able to stop the Safeguard. In the end, the village is no longer safe and they have no choice but to leave.

Blame! was one of the best animated movies I’ve seen in a while. It was well paced and not overly bogged down by unneeded drama. The animation never let up and didn’t fall into Anime style tropes like speed lines and over the top graphical expressions. The animators created a bleak world that actually looked the part and the writers did a great job with character development though I do have to say the humans looked too similar and caused brief moments of confusion as a result. Overall despite a few minor issues I can safely give this film a 9/10 and recommend it to anyone who has Netflix.