April 16, 2025 • 114 mins
Welcome to Mona Lisa Overpod, the show that asks the question "What is cyberpunk?" On each episode, hosts Ka1iban and author Lyda Morehouse dive into the genre that helped define sci-fi fiction in the '80s and break down the themes which remain relevant to our lives in the 21st century. Pull on your mirrorshades, jack into the matrix, and start your run with us today!
Does cyberpunk storytelling require dialogue and exposition? Even more than mainstream sci-fi, the cyberpunk genre has complicated concepts and themes it needs to communicate to the reader. But Tsutomu Nihei's BLAME! defies convention with a taciturn protagonist and a silent world. An architect by training and a mangaka by trade, Nihei lets his intricate and somber illustrations drive the story of a lone wanderer in an impossibly gargantuan and hostile space.
In this episode, we discuss how the influences that shaped Nihei's work, the somber mood created by his detailed landscapes, the manga's liminal spaces, the story's unconscious criticism of conspicuous consumption, what defines a neo-cyberpunk tale, and the permeable boundaries of transhumanism. We also talk about gettin' Biblical, "worm-infected birds", the horse snack gap, Making BLAME! Great Again, adding more shoe leather, nemotopia, OMG poststructuralism, projected negativity, original flavor DNA, Wesley and the Drug Planet, coelacanths, treks and silence, and taking a trippy-trip through a strange land!
YOU GOT BLAMED!
The new edition of Lyda's book, Ressurection Code, is out now!
https://wizardstowerpress.com/books-2/books-by-lyda-morehouse/resurrection-code/
Join Kaliban on Twitch weekdays at 12pm for the Cyber Lunch Hour!
http://twitch.tv/justenoughtrope
Put Just Enough Trope merch on your body!
http://justenoughtrope.threadless.com
MLOP is a part of the Just Enough Trope podcast network. Check out our other shows about your favorite pop culture topics and join our Discord!
http://www.twitter.com/monalisaoverpod
http://www.justenoughtrope.com
http://www.instagram.com/monalisaoverpod
https://discord.gg/7E6wUayq
Buy us a coffee on Ko-Fi!
https://ko-fi.com/justenoughtrope
Does cyberpunk storytelling require dialogue and exposition? Even more than mainstream sci-fi, the cyberpunk genre has complicated concepts and themes it needs to communicate to the reader. But Tsutomu Nihei's BLAME! defies convention with a taciturn protagonist and a silent world. An architect by training and a mangaka by trade, Nihei lets his intricate and somber illustrations drive the story of a lone wanderer in an impossibly gargantuan and hostile space.
In this episode, we discuss how the influences that shaped Nihei's work, the somber mood created by his detailed landscapes, the manga's liminal spaces, the story's unconscious criticism of conspicuous consumption, what defines a neo-cyberpunk tale, and the permeable boundaries of transhumanism. We also talk about gettin' Biblical, "worm-infected birds", the horse snack gap, Making BLAME! Great Again, adding more shoe leather, nemotopia, OMG poststructuralism, projected negativity, original flavor DNA, Wesley and the Drug Planet, coelacanths, treks and silence, and taking a trippy-trip through a strange land!
YOU GOT BLAMED!
The new edition of Lyda's book, Ressurection Code, is out now!
https://wizardstowerpress.com/books-2/books-by-lyda-morehouse/resurrection-code/
Join Kaliban on Twitch weekdays at 12pm for the Cyber Lunch Hour!
http://twitch.tv/justenoughtrope
Put Just Enough Trope merch on your body!
http://justenoughtrope.threadless.com
MLOP is a part of the Just Enough Trope podcast network. Check out our other shows about your favorite pop culture topics and join our Discord!
http://www.twitter.com/monalisaoverpod
http://www.justenoughtrope.com
http://www.instagram.com/monalisaoverpod
https://discord.gg/7E6wUayq
Buy us a coffee on Ko-Fi!
https://ko-fi.com/justenoughtrope
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