Re: 1000toys - TOA Heavy Industries Synthetic Human
I'd say not, you can read any of his series in any order. I think the art is the highlight, especially the architecture as I understand Tsutomu Nihei has an architectural background.
The series aren't connected. They just have similar things. Like a cyborg bear will usually show up. Or the main characters all sort of look similar. I think it's just his drawing style. Toa Heavy Industries, this mega corporation, will pop up from time to time, along with the very familiar logo. They'll mention synthetic human here and there.
Blame! came out first, it's really cool. The art is really dark and gritty. Biomega starts off awesome, then it sort of meanders halfway through, but still lots of neat stuff. The art style sort of changes midway through as well - it's not as detailed or gritty feeling, but still very nice. There are some weird 'cutesy' characters that pop in Biomega later as well that I didn't feel fit the tone with the first volume. You'll see what I mean. There's no denying that he knows how to draw awesome bad ass villains that leave body counts in the hundreds. I didn't enjoy Biomega as a whole series as I did with Blame!
Knights of Sidonia is probably his most accessible work story-wise. It's a pretty cool mecha story and the art is nice too, though his art develops even more to an even cleaner style of art - the art style reminds me of Hayao Miyazaki's masterpiece "Nausicaa."
If you're going to buy anything, buy the Darkhorse versions of Blame! which have just come out. They're paperback editions, huge, and showcase the art beautifully.
