Trama

In the distant future, humans are declared "illegal residents" and hunted to near extinction by murderous robots. One day, a group of human scavengers come across a strange man named Killy, who may be the key to humanity's survival.

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 Kiri the Wanderer, on his quest for the Net Terminal Genes, the key to restoring order to the world.

The film opens with a young woman in a small village narrating about the events that lead up to the beginning of Blame!

At an unspecified (and therefore, unknown) time, a massive city was created that eclipsed the entire world and then some. Humans controlled the robots, known as the safeguard, that worked in the city, until a mysterious contagion spread throughout. As a result, all humans were declared "illegal residents" by the safeguard, and therefore an extermination order was issued against everyone. Though some humans survived, they're all trapped in the city and still under threat from the safeguard.

According to the narrator, it happened "long before she was born".

The scene then cuts to a different time (once again, it's unspecified how long after the contagion), six people, known as "Electro-fishers", dressed in advanced gear called "helmettals" begin scavenging throughout the city, looking for food and other supplies for their village. They evade the gaze of a "watchtower", which would've otherwise alerted the entire safeguard to their location. The leader, Zuru, tries to find a new hunting ground when they've still come up with nothing.

However, her friends, Tae and Fusata, worry that they've gotten lost as the route was different on a map (even though the map was way outdated). They then find an exit out of the city block they are in. When they attempt to go to another block, Tae trips and nearly falls, dropping some supplies and a spare battery in order to avoid falling to her death.

While Zuru observes their surroundings, a massive "builder" suddenly appears, however, it doesn't attack them as builders are uninterested in humans. They then jump a massive gap to another city block and climb to the top of it. They go through a massive, open area that no one has yet explored before. However, security is still tight, with many watchtowers everywhere. The group regret their choice for going that far into the city as the grown-ups have told them not to, furthermore, they took their gear and left without permission from the village elder, "pops". Nonetheless, they decide to continue and search for some sludge (their food) for their starving village as well as Tae's sister, Ito.

They manage to successfully evade the watchtower and by luck, find a sludge pipe. However, the sludge pipe is completely drained and has nothing left in it. They accidentally go into the view of another watchtower which sounds and alarm and sends several robots, known as "exterminators" against them. One of the group members is attacked and decapitated by an exterminator. Realizing they're outnumbered and can't win in a fight, they decide to run. However, while Zuru just barely manages to evade some of them, two more members of the group are killed by exterminators. Tae trips and falls down a high slope and gets attacked by an exterminator, which she's unable to shoot in her panic. Zuru jumps over and manages to destroy the exterminator before it can kill Tae, but then falls and crashes into the ground. Several more exterminators continue to chase her, which she's unable to fight back against. Just then, she sees a man up ahead, clad in black, and with many scars on his face. He takes out a small gun and fires a massive laser close to Zuru. She evades the shot, which hits and destroys the exterminators behind her, before exploding against a wall. Zuru gets back up and two more exterminators, which survived the powerful laser, run at her before being destroyed by Tae and Fusata.

While being helped up by her friends, Zuru notices a device around the man's neck with a blinking blue light. Just then, the watchtower's siren suddenly stops, to their surprise. The mysterious man calmly demands they take off their headgear so that he can see their eyes. Tae and Fusata advise against this as it will make them more easily detectable by the watchtowers. Nonetheless, after a long pause, Zuru removes her helmettals. Even more to the friends surprise, this doesn't trigger the alarm, although it was supposed to. Tae and then Fusata then take of their helmettals too and show him their faces. He seems to scan their eyes with a built-in scanner in his own eyes.

The man then asks if there are any humans with the net terminal gene around, confusing the group. Though Zuru wants to thank him for saving them, they don't know what he's talking about. Knowing what he's looking for isn't there, the man starts to leave, but then Zuru states that one of the grown-ups at their village may know what he's talking about. The man stops and Zuru then asks what his name is.

The man responds that his name is Killy and he's a human.

Zuru, Tae, and Fusata guide Killy back to their village, the one place that the safeguard doesn't enter, though they don't know why. Once they get there, the guards, Sutezo and Pops, fire upon Killy, being that he's an unknown outsider. They are also surprised that they're not wearing their helmettals despite the danger that poses, though Fusata explains that they're okay around Killy, who rescued them. However, Sutezo is skeptical and believes that Killy isn't really human, hearing that there are safeguard members who disguise themselves as humans. But Pops believes that Killy is human and allows them all into the village. Killy walks through the perimeter, proving that he's not a safeguard. Pops asks him where he came from, to which he responds "6,000 levels below".

In the village, it used to house around 400 people at one point, but now only has 150, possibly due to exterminator attacks. Their custom is to welcome any outside human travelers due to them being undermanned, though Killy is the first human that generation to actually come. It's said that Electro-Fishers, descended from a line of humans called "planters", founded the village 300 years ago, and the remnants of humanity have lived there since then. However, Pops claims that they don't know anything about the outside world (including whether or not there are other human survivors), and any stories from an outsider (hence, Killy) would be valuable information.

Killy is taken into the village where the people are shocked that only 3 of the kids have survived and the victim's equipment has been lost as well (since they don't have the technology to make any more helmettals), even more so that they've still returned empty-handed. The village is suffering a severe food problem and worry that they'll starve in just a month. The villagers look at Killy with confusion and curiosity (again, he's the first outsider they've ever seen) while he scans many of their eyes with his own eyes.

A curious and excited little girl runs up to Killy to meet him. He then reaches in his back pocket and gives the little girl a small, yellow, brick-like object. A boy takes the brick and examines it briefly, it's hard as a rock, but a small drawing on the side of it says to drop it in water. He then drops it into a pool of water, where it suddenly morphs and grows to a gigantic size, some of the villagers eat it, finding it soft, good-tasting, and highly nutritious, therefore nourishing the entire village. Although he looks menacing with his many scars, permanent scowl, and softspoken attitude, Killy proves himself to be kind. One of the leaders of the village, Fuku tells the kids that she's glad they made it back, but asks them to not do it again.

Pops then asks to talk with Killy in private, thanking him for feeding their village and asking Killy where he obtained that food. Killy responds that it's from 200 levels below, meaning that it's impossible to get anymore (since not human has ever gone through ONE level). He once again asks for any humans with the Net Terminal Gene, to which Sutezo responds he's never heard of it. However, Pops then states that he has heard something about it, and that a "rotting shrine" beneath their village may provide some information. However, they've been told through generations to avoid it (Sutezo even believes that there's a ghost that possesses and trespassers, and caused his grandfather to fall to his death on the way down). Nonetheless, Killy immediately starts walking away towards the rotting shrine without any word, to which Zuru, Pops, and Sutezo (reluctantly) follow him.

Upon going to the bottom of the perimeter, far below the village, Killy and the group find a strange, glitchy, red hologram of a woman that speaks very distorted and seems to be saying nonsense. Killy walks through the hologram, which immediately disappears, then lifts a massive piece of rubble, finding a decayed head of a woman underneath it. He picks up the head and slams it against the wall a couple of times, to which it then suddenly sparks to life and begins talking with a speaker implanted in it's throat.

The woman identifies herself as Cibo, a scientist who existed since before the contagion began. She's been waiting for 17,526,000 hours (over 2,000 years) for someone to come, attempting to call for help all that time, to no avail until now. Killy scans her and finds traces of the contagion in her irises, meaning she doesn't have the Net Terminal Gene. Cibo states that she and her scientists have been attempting to work on a synthetic terminal since the extermination began in an attempt to communicate with the Safeguard's A.I, the Authority, and end the robots extermination. She even created a barrier device to keep the Safeguard out while they did their experiments (hence, the reason why the villagers have been able to live there), however, they all died before their project could yield results. She then states that there is a factory to the north of the village that may still be in use, and that can produce literally anything, including a synthetic terminal. Killy at first meets this statement with skepticism, but Cibo insists that such a thing is, in fact, possible. Pops then asks her if she can create more of the "food bricks" that Killy brought back for the village. Cibo responds that she can, but only when they get to the factory.

Killy, now convinced, then once again starts walking away without any thought or words, therefore Pops decides to gather a group to go to the factory with him. However, Cibo states that the factory is 15 blocks away, a journey that would take a few days and require plenty of their limited food for the trip. They hastily assemble a group with as many Electro-Fishers as there are helmettals remaining including Pops, Sutezo, Zuru, Tae (who's sister is doing better), and Fusata, and follow outside the perimeter.

Along the way, they see a watchtower that has a clear view through a crack in the ceiling above them. There's no way around, but they then see Killy walk by it with no problem and without setting off the alarm. They follow him closely and find that they too have the ability to walk by the watchtower in full view without setting off the alarm, as long as they're behind him, naturally.

That night, they stop to rest in an abandoned apartment building, preparing gruel made out of sludge to eat. Fuku offers some to Killy who simply remains silent. Cibo states that his metabolism levels are different from a regular human, and that he rarely needs to eat at all. Not to mention that Cibo is still only an exoskeleton and doesn't need to eat either. The rest of the group talk about a strange, stinging smell that the safeguard emits, apparently smelling of ions, though Zuru doesn't remember the smell very well. As Killy sits awake and motionless, Cibo recounts the events before and during the contagion, wherein the Safeguard suddenly lost control and declared all humans to be "illegal residents". She and her scientist friends tried to do what they could, but she's the only survivor, as the rest of them have died.

Along the trip, the group then come to a dark corridor, apparently, no on who ever went in there has ever returned back (due to exterminators). The group are fearful and reluctant to move ahead, until Killy then nonchalantly walks by, giving them more confidence as Killy and anyone who's close to him seem immune to the sensors of the Safeguard. They come to the door of the factory, which Cibo then opens up with a code, allowing the group to go in.

They find the inside of the factory to be a massive corridor with many empty experiment nodes and no exterminators in sight. Killy then puts Cibo on the main console in front of them, at her request. She gains access into the factory and then activates a node which produces a massive amount of "food bricks" as promised to the electro-fishers, who are overjoyed at the sight and start stuffing their backpacks with them. Cibo then begins to activate another node for the synthetic terminal which she wants Killy to get. However, she warns him that the last time she got that far into the system, things ended badly.

Suddenly, while Killy walks to the terminal, Cibo seems to be having trouble before the entire system shuts down, to the worry of the group. The system then turns back on, and several nodes further away activate without Cibo doing anything, revealing that it has spawned several exterminators. The group hastily finish packing their packs and start firing at the exterminators, though Tae is forced to leave her pack behind to start running, and Cibo is knocked off and crushed by one of them. The group splits up and retreats towards the entrance to the factory while Killy stays behind to get the terminal. He fires his Gravitational Beam Emitter at several exterminators before destroying a surviving one with a knife he carries, to the surprise of the retreating group.

As the group attempts to regroup, Zuru worries when she doesn't hear back from Tae. A group member then shows up, but is immediately killed by an exterminator, and another member, Atsuji, is wounded in the leg after destroying it. Zuru then hastily asks the other member where Tae is, to which he responds that she was crushed by an exterminator. She hurries back to find Tae having survived the attack despite a broken arm. The exterminator then jumps up at them before Fusata and Sutezo destroy it in the nick of time. Fusata being as overjoyed as Zuru that Tae has survived.

Back inside the factory, another node suddenly activates, and a humanoid-looking robot emerges.

The group is then cornered in the outside of the factory by the safeguard, and are unable to destroy them all, whereas Killy is unable to fire his weapon (presumably because it needs to charge). Suddenly, when all seems lost, a laser beam shoots between the group and the exterminators, who seem to stop behind it. The savior is revealed to be the humanoid robot, who is in fact Cibo who uploaded herself into the robot. She guides them to a train car that'll lead back to their village. However, the temporary barrier that she fired will soon wear off, and Atsuji asks to be left behind so as not to slow down the group, though Zuru refuses to do so. They all make it to the train car which Cibo powers up. However, the barrier wears off, and some exterminators grab onto the train car as it moves, the group doesn't have enough spears to fight them all off. Cibo states her regret to Killy, as they have managed to get the terminal and food, but won't make it back. To this, as the group runs out of spears, Killy injects himself with something in the neck which seems to boost but also weaken him, and fires a shot which destroys the rest of the exterminators, before then passing out.

The group returns to their village with the unconscious Killy and the terminal, as well as Cibo in tow, though Tae seems to be acting a little strangely.

Fusata walks Tae back to her home while the villagers treat Atsuji and any other wounded, while also being surprised at the tall and strong appearance of Cibo. Sutezo doesn't know whether or not Killy's alive, but Cibo insists that he's just sleeping. They take him inside and let him rest.

That night, the Villagers celebrate the amount of food they've gotten and gather together for a party. Pops brings down the lights and leads a moment of silence for all the people they've lost, before allowing the people to continue eating, they now can become more nourished thanks to all the "food bricks" the group brought back. However, it's impossible to go back to the factory due to the vast presence of exterminators in it, though they've at least bought more time for the village and prevented them from starving for a while.

Zuru goes to Killy, who's still sleeping, and talks to him. She states that Cibo's experiment may be successful and stop the safeguard once and for all, and asks if he will still continue his mission even if it does. She then pauses for a moment, and asks him if he could stay, having grown fond of him during their short time together. However, Cibo walks in and wakes Killy up, asking him to help her while she connects the synthetic terminal, as she cannot move and needs protection. As they leave, Zuru worries that her words fell on deaf ears with Killy.

Though Pops hopes that Cibo's experiment will work, Sutezo meets it with skepticism, worrying that it will lead to another catastrophe as it did 2,000 years ago. Fusata decides to take some food to the injured Tae.

Meanwhile, someone suddenly walks into the armory and takes one of the spearguns with them secretly.

Sutezo goes to Zuru, asking her if she talked to Killy, but Zuru simply states that she didn't and walks away, wanting to be left alone. Pops helps Fuku carry supplies to storage. They all then meet up on top of the common area and see Fusata walking by. Zuru praises him for being considerate and kind to Tae, but he states that Tae wasn't in her room. Suddenly, they hear a noise and see that it's Tae walking around and dragging a speargun beside her. She aims off the side of the village while Fusata attempts to stop her, however, she fires the speargun, which destroys the barrier generator protecting the village. Suddenly, the watchtower outside detects the village and sounds the alarm, and a powerful vortex generates around Tae, which cuts off Pops' arm when he prevents a shocked Fusata from touching it.

The truth is then revealed, Tae did not survive the factory. Instead, a humanoid-looking robot scanned her before killing her, then disguised itself as Tae to infiltrate the village.

The intruder reveals itself as an advanced safeguard named Sanakan who was to infiltrate the village and terminate all humans. Fusata then reels further into shock and disbelief at this, therefore Sanakan aims it's much more powerful Gravitational Beam Emitter at him. Fuku manages to push him out of the way, but is killed by the beam herself. Sanakan then turns it's attention to the village members in the common area, firing through the roof and killing many of them.

Killy and Cibo then notice Sanakan's destruction of the area, surprised that it got through the barrier. Cibo states that they should hurry, but Killy immediately starts running back to the village to protect them, leaving Cibo defenseless.

Pops, Sutezo, Zuru, and Fusata, who snaps out of his shock, manage to escape from Sanakan, who then turns it's attention to the upper levels, contacting the watchtower for exterminators to kill the remaining humans, before then firing at the upper village, causing chaos up there as well.

The electro-fishers gear up and get ready to fight the exterminators, though they run out of helmettals and Sutezo goes without one so that Zuru can have her's

Killy, still out of effective range of Sanakan, notices the electro-fishers struggling to fight the seemingly endless horde of exterminators. He detects the watchtower just outside the wall, then fires a shot at it, destroying the watchtower and the bridge to prevent anymore exterminators from coming in.

Cibo then reaches the rotting shrine and activates the synthetic terminal and connects herself to the network.

Zuru runs out to help with defending the village, but is then stopped by Fusata who's still in shock and denial over Tae's death. Zuru snaps him out of it, then runs ahead, giving him the last helmettal to protect himself, leaving without one herself.

Sanakan continues to cause more chaos throughout the upper village. Sutezo sneaks around and shoots it in the head, but to no effect due to it's advanced armor. Sanakan shoots at him, but misses, then goes in for another shot, only for a sudden large explosion to disrupt it's detection system. Killy then appears through the explosion and punches it in the face, hard enough to throw it back. He then gets into a fight with it, destroying the floor beneath them, causing them both to fall a high height, yet still survive, much to the surprise of Sutezo. They get into another fight, wherein Killy's about to destroy Sanakan, however, it pushes him back and shoots off his right arm with it's Gravitation Beam Emitter, causing him to lose his own weapon, before they then fall from even higher.

Killy and Sanakan crash onto the ground near the bottom of the village, while rubble and debris fall around them. Killy attempt to fight it with his knife, but is knocked down and beaten by Sanakan, who scans him and reveals that he's not a human, but a body stolen from the Safeguard (possibly implying that he's a sentient safeguard, or a cybernetically advanced human). It then offers him an ultimatum, to return to the safeguard or be destroyed, to which Killy picks the latter option. However, right as it's about to destroy him, Cibo accesses the netsphere, which Sanakan detects and turns it's attention to destroying Cibo, right below them. Right as it's about to fire, Sutezo fires two spears into it's upgraded weapon, throwing off it's aim and causing it to miss Cibo. Sanakan then fires at Sutezo, killing him.

Zuru, shocked at this, and having retrieved Killy's Gravitational Beam Emitter, signals out to Killy and tosses it to him. He then breaks free from Sanakan and catches his weapon, firing at it, only for it to deflect the beam with it's hand, before then firing a small laser beam at Cibo, destroying her robotic body.

With no options left, Killy injects himself with three of the syringes he injected earlier, all at once. Sanakan prepares to block it, but this time, it's far too powerful and is completely destroyed once and for all.

The Electro-Fishers finally destroy the last of the exterminators, saving their village, including Fusata, who snapped out of his shock.

Meanwhile, Cibo, who's arm is still intact and still contains her memories, gains access to the Netsphere, and finds the Authority, which controls the safeguard. However, the Authority states that the synthetic terminal is ineffective and her connection will be cut off in a few nanoseconds (though her perception of time is faster, therefore she has plenty of time). Cibo asks the Authority to at least stop the attack on the village, but it states that they can't do so without an order from someone with the Net Terminal Gene. However, they offer to give her information and coordinates of abandoned levels that the safeguard isn't monitoring. They give her a map of the entire city, information that can't be given to the real world, but they are allowed to let Cibo access it.

Meanwhile, the Villagers take account of their losses and injuries, lead by Fusata. Killy returns, and asks a villager to tape his arm back on. Pops thanks him for saving the village from Sanakan. However, the villagers don't know what happened to Cibo and believe that they'll all die in just a few minutes. However, Cibo's arm then shows up, stating that the exterminators will show up again and the village is no longer safe, however, there is an abandoned level just below them with a descending lift nearby.

The Villagers decide to abandon their village and make for the descending track to the abandoned level. Along the way, Pops thanks Zuru for taking the kids out hunting, stating that her actions lead to the survival of their people. Once there, Cibo activates the lift, however, a watchtower detects them all and raises a silent alarm to the Safeguard. Suddenly, it starts spawning a massive exterminator close to the villagers who hurry and board the lift. However, Killy stays behind, despite Cibo's objections. Zuru asks Killy what he's doing, and after a long pause, he takes off his necklace and tosses it to her. Tearful, Zuru asks if they'll see him again. After another long pause, Killy responds that he's looking for the Net Terminal Gene. Cibo, realizing he won't come, descends the lift. The massive exterminator then spawns behind Killy and his fires at it with his Gravitational Beam Emitter, causing a massive explosion that engulfs and destroys it while the villagers watch.

The narrator then comes back again, stating that was the last they ever saw of him. The narrator reveals herself to be the granddaughter of Zuru, as the villagers had arrived at the abandoned level and were able to create a new village and live in safety. She had been told all about Killy by Zuru, the city hasn't yet changed, meaning that a net terminal gene hasn't been found yet. However, the narrator has faith that Killy is still out there, looking for it.

The final shot shows Killy going to the top of a city block, presumably continuing his search until he saves the human race.