Hacker Cinema
BLAME!
ブラム
2017 · Film · 106 min
Directed by Hiroyuki Seshita
ActionDramaScience FictionAnimation
In the distant technological future, civilization has reached its ultimate Net-based form. An "infection" in the past caused the automated systems to spiral out of order, resulting in a multi-leveled city structure that replicates itself infinitely in all directions. Now humanity has lost access to the city's controls, and is hunted down and purged by the defense system known as the Safeguard. In a tiny corner of the city, a little enclave known as the Electro-Fishers is facing eventual extinction, trapped between the threat of the Safeguard and dwindling food supplies. A girl named Zuru goes on a journey to find food for her village, only to inadvertently cause doom when an observation tower senses her and summons a Safeguard pack to eliminate the threat. With her companions dead and all escape routes blocked, the only thing that can save her now is the sudden arrival of Killy the Wanderer, on his quest for the Net Terminal Genes, the key to restoring order to the world.
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7 comments on Hacker News
Your Name (2016, Makoto Shinkai) and Ping Pong the Animation (2014, Masaaki Yuasa) are both IMO top notch (and the creators are active and have extensive oeuvres). The Shape of Voice (2016, Kyoto Animation (RIP)) was also much acclaimed. Of these, I recommend Ping Pong the most (and Yuasa's other works as well).
I suppose for more sci-fi/fantasy, Rebuild of Evangelion (2007-2021) might be interesting, although to me, its popularity in Japan and why the retelling was made is actually more interesting to me than the works themselves. It didn't win any particular awards or acclaim, but I was a fan of the incredibly stylish manga series, and I personally enjoyed the Blame! (2017, Hiroyuki Shesita) CGI anime film for those into the Japanese post-cyber-apocalypse sci-fi aesthetic.
I think these days, the economics of anime has driven more interesting work into series rather than features. Recently some memorable ones I've enjoyed are Steins;Gate (2011-2015, White Fox), Devilman: Crybaby (2018, Studio SARU), Cyberpunk: Edgerunners (2022, Trigger), Pluto (2023, M2), and Frieren (2023, Madhouse).
I haven't seen this movie but will check it out. A little off-topic, but I wonder if any of you folks have some recommendations for newish anime/manga that is available to stream.
I'm a long-time fan of the classics (e.g. Ghost in the Shell) but until recently, haven't seen anything new that grabbed my attention, until I stumbled across "Blame!" on Netflix which I really enjoyed. So I spent some more time adding various titles to my playlist but they have all been rather unintelligent and uninspiring. I am especially interested in movies (as opposed to series) because I don't tend to want to spend dozens of hours watching anything, but I'm open to whatever. Any suggestions?
The anime is not as good as the manga, but "Blame!" is all about a city where humans have lost control. Multiple AI have become mad with lack of purpose, each in its own discrete way, sometimes linked to humanity (either to kill or to protect), sometimes completely oblivious of them (never stop building for instance).
The movie is easy to watch and hopefully will get you to read the manga which is the real gem.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blame!
https://m.imdb.com/title/tt6574146/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_5
>why you then say that a transactional/utilitarian process is like a natural process?
Because it's impersonal. There's no chooser, it's like the planets zooming around the sun. It is a clockwork that we can understand, but not affect. It doesn't know or care about us - we happen to live on one of the cogs, but the planetary machine would function smoothly with or without any life on the 3rd planet.
Capitalism is much like this. Institutions of a certain size can be like this. Being stuck in a machine is the context of "Howl" by Allen Ginsberg [0]. It is also the subtext of the remarkable "Blame!" anime, a drama that takes place among humans and robots that live as vermin in an automated city that takes little notice of them [1]. Or a more traditional treatment, with a very powerful Mech civilization dominating humans in Benford's Great Sky Rivier [2].
0 - https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/49303/howl
1 - https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6574146/
2 - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Sky_River_(novel)
There's a whole zoo of 3D styles. From the semi-realistic look complete with SSS-shaders for skin that more resembles videogame cutscenes than your average anime (kingsglaive movie[0]) over the plasticy half-way look that has realistic lighting on flat-colored materials and outlines (e.g. altered carbon or the blame movie[1]) to productions that more closely emulate the common manga/anime style, sometimes even mixing 2D and 3D the same scene[2]
[0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UblcNFVVHT8 [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hwy806RC2-Q [2] https://youtu.be/N-VNG8vW5RA?t=116
>>3. Robot takeover
This is an interesting take of what could happen if humans loose control of such AI system [1]. [spoiler alert] The interesting part is that it isn't that the machines have revolted, but rather that from their point of view their masters have disappeared.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blame!_(film)
All 3 are incredibly hard to parse (well actually I don't know about Appleseed but Blame! and the GiTS manga are difficult to follow).
As a huge fan of GiTs SAC / Arise and the original movie, I tried reading the manga but gave up as I felt it was too much work trying to unravel the intricate plot line. So if I were to start somebody off the series I'd recommend watching either the shows or movies first.