It's not often one comes across an anime with a total run time of half an hour. "BLAME!" fits this description quite nicely. At six episodes, each running for five minutes, it should be interesting and pretty weird, right?
Well, that was right on the money.
Story: Can I explain the story of "BLAME!"? Not really; there is no story. According to Anime-Planet's plot summary, Kirii (you spell that however you want) is a human who is surrounded by androids and clones. He is supposed to collect "net-genes" and try to find remaining humans. Whoever wrote this summary must be A.) the director of the anime, B.) the mangaka of the original manga, C.) Kirii himself, or D.) L Lawliet. Seriously. I have no clue what the plot of this thing is; one tag is "Abstract," but I think "Mindf*ck" might be more appropriate. So I can't really rate the story very high... but since it sounds interesting enough from the summary, I'll give it an average score (yes, three is low, but what did you expect me to give it?!).
Animation: Very monochrome color palate, but the artwork is fitting and, honestly? practically gorgeous. It looks like sci-fi artwork at it's finest, and the animation is fluid, if it's there at all (it often isn't). Character designs are fine for both characters. Not much else to say, though.
Sound: The characters' voice actors do fitting work, but neither character talks much. No English voice acting. (I want to say, "DUH!," but that might be rude.) The ending song... or opening song... or song which is played in most of the episodes... sounds effing awesome, so props to the series for that! Insert music fits.
Characters: Oh dear... this isn't going to go very well...
Characters: Boy in top picture: Kirii; girl in bottom picture: Shibo.
It was difficult to find a picture (I ended up just using two different pictures T.T)--most of them were motivational posters, stupid cartoony things, or Jamie Foxx.
Kirii: I can't really explain him as a character because he's, for the most part, silent and emotionless. He's not unlikable or anything, just... well, maybe if the series was longer he would develop/or get a backstory.
Shibo: She shows up later in the series, which is saying a lot, and she is emotionless, too. Read Kirii's overview to understand my views on her.
Overall: It is a difficult story to rate. The manga runs for ten volumes, apparently, so maybe that is more extensive than the anime. (Edit: I have now read the manga, and I can safely say that while it did have more characters, better art and a more developed plot... it was still quite confusing, and that plot wasn't much.) Did I enjoy "BLAME!?" I think so. Even if it is ridiculously underdeveloped, it has great art and music, so sure. Would I recommend it? If you want weird sci-fi, by all means, watch this show. If you really just want a short anime, I'd direct you to the ten minute "Comedy," instead.