Black Blood Review: Cyborgs, Soft Boys, and Feelings You Didn’t See Coming

Brett H.
5 days ago
3 min read

If you want a BL sci-fi manga that smacks you with chrome, loneliness, and that slow-burn heat that makes you kick your feet, Black Blood is it. This thing grabbed me by the throat in the first chapter and didn’t even apologize. My type of book.

Let’s get into this masterpiece of metal, yearning, and emotional disaster.

A person gazes at a humanoid robot in close proximity. The background features geometric patterns. "BLACK BLOOD" text is visible below.

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Welcome to Peridot: the Planet That Does Not Want You Alive

The story kicks off with Ethan dropping onto Planet F-1024, this toxic-green alien world with air that would end me in seconds. He steps off the ship like he owns the place. Heavy boots. Coat flying. Full “I haven’t slept since the last century but I still look good” mood.

You can practically hear the deep sigh he gives every time he takes a step. A man built for battle, exhausted by life, but still fine enough to ruin your week. That’s the setup.

Black Blood Cyborgs Are the Premium Grade Thirst Trap

The locals take one look and know exactly what he is: a Black Blood cyborg. High-end. High danger. High everything.

Built to fight. Built to kill. Built to avoid feelings at all costs. And of course, that means this man is about to be emotionally wrecked the moment someone kind looks at him too long.

The art zooms in on the armor, the helmet, the cold stares. It knows what it’s doing.

Comic page with two figures discussing supplies and security. Background shows a futuristic settlement. Speech bubbles convey dialogue, mood is friendly.

Then Mikhail Shows Up and Ethan Starts Falling Apart

Mikhail is the botanist on base, and he is pure warmth. Soft voice. Gentle eyes. Looks like the type of man who would hand you tea and make you rethink every bad decision you’ve ever made.

The second Ethan meets him? The man’s internal systems practically blue-screen. You can feel the glitch. He’s restless near him, restless away from him, restless thinking about him. Classic “emotionally constipated meets sunshine boy” dynamic.

Their conversations are simple, but the tension is loud. Ethan tries to play it cool, but you can tell he’s thinking, “Why does my chest feel weird?” Poor guy never stood a chance.

Life on the Base Feels Too Normal for a Man Built for War

The Peridot facility is this weird mix of scientists, guards, and boredom. The guards openly admit nothing happens. They play cards. They gossip. Meanwhile Ethan looks like a malfunctioning tank trying to understand peace for the first time.

And you can tell what he really wants isn’t action, it’s softness. Calm. Someone to come home to. Someone who doesn’t treat him like a weapon.

Someone like Mikhail.

Watching Ethan Catch Feelings Is Honestly the Best Part of Black Blood

Ethan’s arc is one long emotional spiral. He doesn’t understand why he wants to reach out, why he wants closeness, why this botanist makes him feel more human than years of upgrades ever did.

There’s a moment where he looks at his own hand like he’s shocked by the urge to touch someone. If you’ve read BL before, you know exactly what that means. The armor is cracking, and the slow burn is heating up.

Why Black Blood Hit Me Harder Than Expected

I’ve read my fair share of bara, BL, sci-fi, and big-dude romances. I like muscle, I like drama, I like men who could bench-press a truck and still blush at a compliment. That’s my wheelhouse.

But Black Blood got me because it’s about a man literally engineered to be heartless discovering he still has a heart, and that heart is waking up for the gentlest person around.

You spend your whole life being told to be tough, quiet, collected. Then someone shows you softness, and suddenly you’re leaking emotions like a cracked oxygen tank.

Stories like this remind you it’s okay to want tenderness. It’s okay to let someone in. It’s okay to stop pretending you’re made of steel.