Check Out A New Trailer For Adult Swim And Crunchyroll's Blade Runner: Black Lotus
Cartoon Network's late night animation block Adult Swim and anime streaming service Crunchyroll first announced that they were collaborating on a canonical "Blade Runner" anime back in November of 2018. The first trailer for the series, titled "Blade Runner: Black Lotus," was then released a full two-and-a-half years later in July 2021. It gave audiences their first look at protagonist Elle, a replicant. She appears both unsure of her surroundings and the extent of her capabilities in combat, implying that some degree mystery around her very conception will be important to its plot. All the while, as must happen with all replicants, Elle is hunted by a team of Blade Runners — assassins that expressly kills replicants, for those unfamiliar with the source material.
Also announced in conjunction with that trailer was the series' staff, which includes directors Shinji Aramaki and Kenji Kamiyama, who previously co-directed the anime series "Ghost in the Shell: SAC_2045" (via IMDb). Shinichiro Watanabe, who directed the original "Cowboy Bebop" anime, is also involved as a creative producer.
On October 7, Adult Swim and Crunchyroll premiered a second trailer for "Blade Runner: Black Lotus," giving audiences a closer look at Elle and the future version of Los Angeles she inhabits.
Blade Runner: Black Lotus introduces new characters to a familiar world
The second trailer for "Blade Runner: Black Lotus" opens on a few atmospheric shots of its futuristic setting. A flying car passing by an animated billboard of a geisha and a mass of neon signs alternately in English, Japanese, Chinese confirm that "Black Lotus" does indeed take place in a world designed to closely resemble that with which existing series fans are already well familiar.
The trailer's first line of dialogue is spoken by a character that appears to be a younger version of "Blade Runner: 2049" villain Niander Wallace, voiced by Takehito Koyasu in Japanese and Wes Bentley in English. He sits in a suite with his father, Wallace Corporation CEO Niander Wallace Sr., voiced by Takaya Hashi in Japanese and "Succession" CEO actor Brian Cox in English. Moments later, a bearded man administers a familiar test to Elle to determine whether or not she's human.
Essentially all of what follows are disparate scenes of Elle, the bearded man, the Wallace Corporation, and futuristic LAPD officers. These give away little about its plot but rather preview how the series will look in action. As detailed by Adult Swim producer Jason DeMarco on Twitter, the trailer is underscored by tracks from Com Truise and original "Blade Runner" composer (via IMDb) Vangelis.
As detailed near the trailer's end, "Blade Runner: Black Lotus" will premiere on November 13.