@Deckard Check out the first trailer for Blade Runner: Black Lotus, an upcoming anime series co-produced by Adult Swim and Crunchyroll, that follows a mysterious replicant seemingly designed for a special purpose. Adult Swim and Crunchyroll have debuted the first trailer for Blade Runner: Black Lotus, an upcoming anime series inspired by the Blade Runner movie franchise. Black Lotus takes place in Los Angeles in 2032, putting it in between the events of Ridley Scott's original Blade Runner, set in 2019, and Denis Villeneuve's sequel Blade Runner 2049, which is set in 2049. The series follows a character named Elle, a replicant with special powers who appears to have been created for a specific purpose. We don't know what that purpose is — and neither does she — but the mystery will unfold over the course of 13 episodes. In the trailer, we see her being hunted and constantly on the run. At the same time, she's piecing together her past and discovering her powers and capabilities. And we also discover that she's referred to as "Black Lotus." The trailer is a little more action-packed than what we're used to seeing in the slower-paced films. Hopefully the series is more than just action and explores some of the deeper thematic elements of the movies. That said, it looks entertaining so check out the trailer below. In addition to the trailer, the cast and characters were also announced. Elle is voiced by Jessica Henwick in English and Arisa Shida in Japanese. Here are some of the other characters: Joseph: a mysterious figure who owns a spare parts junkyard in Los Angeles (Will Yun Lee/Shinshu Fuji) Alani Davis: a fresh LAPD recruit (Samira Wiley/Takako Honda) Niander Wallace Sr: founder and CEO of the Wallace Corporation (Brian Cox/Takaya Hashi) Niander Wallace Jr: a brilliant scientist working for his father (Wes Bentley/Takehito Koyasu) Marlowe: a deadly Blade Runner (Josh Duhamel/Taiten Kusunoki) Josephine Grant: the wife of the police chief (Peyton List/Yoshiko Sakakibara) Earl Grant: Police Chief of the LAPD (Stephen Root/Hochu Otsuka) Doc Badger: a black market dealer (Barkhad Abdi/Takayuki Kinba) Senator Bannister: a politician with strong feelings on replicant production (Gregg Henry/Masane Tsukayama) Doctor M: a brilliant doctor and professor of medicine (Henry Czerny/Akio Nojima) Hooper: a journalist in the pocket of the Wallace Corporation (Jason Spisak/Kazuki Yao) Blade Runner: Black Lotus will run for 13 episodes — all directed by Shinji Aramaki and Kenji Kamiyama. It's produced by Alcon Entertainment and animation studio Sola Digital Arts, with Shinichiro Watanabe serving as a creative producer. No premiere date has been announced, but it's expected to debut this fall on Adult Swim (in English) and Crunchyroll (in Japanese).
Neat. Never really been a fan of this animation style, but that's more a personal taste. Really enjoyed Blade Runner live action shorts.
Not impressed with the animation and found it distracting from the story. Like others say it feels like a video game and just seems cheap compared to other animation.
To each their own, but I've never thought this franchise was good and both movies were box office flops.
It certainly didn’t have that ethereal noir quality both movies had. Hope they do some more editing to add that.
This isn't a franchise that has begged, in any way, shape, or form, for an extended universe. The story just isn't built for that, and the trailer felt like some generic sci-fi show in Blade Runner skin. The animation feels cheap too.
When I saw the title, for about half a second, I was hoping for a mashup of Blade Runner and the new HBO show "The White Lotus".
Animated budget is likely many times cheaper than the live action one. The live action reboot got decent critical reception, but considered a mild flop box office wise. With current ticket sale conditions, studios be foolish to overspend right now. Since they do have the property licensed, a business decision. 1) Money - Make some cash, recoup some of the money on the franchise 2) Interest - Keep some interest on the property. So it's not forgotten in the public consciousness. Maybe even generate new fans. 3) Piloting - Gauge success/failure numbers on the animated feature; if it does well, it bodes well for another live action sequel. Hopefully Ryan Gosling isn't too old by then.
Ghost in the Shell anime series has been pretty good filling in the gap for the cyber punk genre. Stand Alone Complex and the second movie are pretty talky in terms of politics and exposition. So it might not be for people expecting matrix style action. If you like crime noir mysteries, the season usually starts with some murder mystery or international incident everyone has to piece together. I really enjoyed that second movie Innocence though. It put question into our meanings of existence as people become blood vessels of a greater super structure (10 million+ cities or 1 trillion+ corporations) vs our individualistic tendencies to seek permanence and immortality through our legacies, such an online ego, perfect mental copies inside metal husks, or plain basic children. It seemed like a masterpiece when I watched it in college, or mebe it was the drugs. It quoted classics like Dante so it's either a labor of love or over pretentious garbage... Anyways, I couldn't get into the Netflix series for GiTS. Animation was too jarring...or maybe I'm just getting too old and impatient to sit through tons of political talking about a future that doesn't exist. It seemed more action packed without the sci fi nods about humanity keeping it's head above the rising tide of the upcoming Singularity. Hopefully this one's animation won't get in the way of enjoying a good story ::shrugs::
The Black Lotus is a mockery of the Blade Runner milieu. A farcical attempt to profit from the 1982 film that became a science fiction masterpiece and a cult classic that has been incredibly influential, Blade Runner, directed by Ridley Scott, based on Philip K. Dick's 1968 novel, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? We should also include Blade Runner 2049, an often beautiful film directed by Denis Villeneuve, as a victim of theft. I am disgusted by this "Black Lotus" cartoon travesty. That's me below, feeling disgusted.
I highly disagree with that. That story is definitely built for an extended Universe, would love an origin story of the Replicants and the beginnings of the rebellion.
I agree with all of this but I did enjoy the plot of the Netflix GITS but I hate that animation style.
I couldn't get past ep 3. I trust the creators but i didn't even sit through all of Arise. Too many character references to a show i saw over a decade ago. O-L-D
