Spoilers Blade Runner: Black Lotus

I've been looking forward to this show since it was first announced nearly three years ago and now it's finally coming out this autumn! The director of Blade Runner: Black Out 22, Shinichirō Watanabe, is one of the producers and the English cast is stacked: Jessica Henwick, Will Yun Lee, Samira Wiley, Brian Cox, Wes Bentley, Josh Duhamel, Peyton List, Stephen Root, Barkhad Abdi, Gregg Henry, Henry Czerny, and Jason Spisak.

The Comic-Con at Home panel aired an hour ago:



And here's the trailer:



More about the show and its first poster can be seen in io9's write-up on the panel.

I'm not completely sold on the animation but I'm curious about the premise and I love the cast. Besides, as a huge Blade Runner fan, I'm always interested in seeing more stories from that universe.

 

Damn the last few days have been like Christmas.

 

I'd either forgotten about this or not heard of it, but it looks interesting so I'm in

 

This isn't a video game?

 

Looks pretty good. And that is one hell of a cast.

 

Wasn't impressed with the animation, but I'm liking the cast. I love the world of Blade Runner so I want to give this a chance.

 

I’ll give it a chance because I love Blade Runner, but I’m not a fan of animation in general, so it’s already at a disadvantage with me unfortunately.

 

The opening titles have been released:



As well as the official synopsis:

“Los Angeles 2032. A young woman wakes up with no memories, and possessing deadly skills. The only clues to her mystery are a locked data device and a tattoo of a black lotus. Putting together the pieces, she must hunt down the people responsible for her brutal and bloody past to find the truth of her lost identity.”
​

And a new poster.

I'm meh on the poster (99% of most television and film posters these days are pretty boring, unfortunately) but I love the opening titles. For a cable show, I'm relieved to see that it's a lengthy one. Most shows these days don't even bother with anything more than five seconds (even some shows on streaming services).

 

A new trailer came out a few days ago, along with the release date (November 13):

 

It's here! A couple too many visual references to the first movie, possibly, but so far it's got me interested, and it's drawing on elements of the original and BR2049. The animation worked a lot better for me than the CGI animation in Ghost in the Shell: SAC_2045, which helps.

 

I really hate this animation, but I'll probably check it out. I liked all the shorts on the BR2049 Blu-ray.

 

The first two episodes are pretty good, well more than good enough to get me hooked and to keep watching. I think that the first one edged out the second, but the second was arguably the more important one, in terms of story narrative.

My largest criticism is that security in-universe is pathetic, at least where the story is taking place. Generally speaking, sometimes you have to roll with it to get to the interesting part, so overlooking that sort of thing appears to be what one has to do here. I suppose it could be argued, that perhaps if the thing that people are there for is illegal, then security won't include all possible countermeasures, like surveillance.

By the way, @The Nth Doctor, could we make this thread a spoiler thread, to make it easier to discuss the show as it unfolds?

 

I gave up half-way through the first episode because it looks like a PS2-era cutscene. If they don't care about the quality of what they're making, why should I?

 

It might have been a little heavy on the visual references but I loved them nonetheless because the show does an excellent job of reestablishing the atmosphere of the two films (albeit more of the original than the sequel).

I'm pretty hooked, too. I don't know what the larger plot will be but I'm very curious about Elle's story and how she handles her trauma.

Honestly, I didn't even notice the security gaps. Pretty much par for the course in shows and films these days.

Done and done. Meant to do it prior to the premiere but it snuck up on me. Been busy moving to a new city for a new job.

I'll admit the animation movements of the characters are not very good, but otherwise I love the animation for the environments. I'm sure it'll grow on me much in the same way it did for me with Tron: Uprising where I had a similar relation with the animation.

 

Yeah, I didn't even make it to the end of the first episode. It's a shame because I love the source material, but the low quality of the animation, and character design in particular was just too distracting for me and I couldn't get into it. Admittedly part of this may be because I'm being spoiled by the masterful work of art that is Arcane, but that's just where the bar is right now.

 

The animation looks terrible. I can't bring myself to watch this.

 

I watched the first three episodes. I thought it was ok. I’m surprised to hear criticism about the animation…because I thought the show looked great. I do wish the soundtrack and ambient noise was more reflective of that in the theatrical film, though.

The story and characters are a little more disappointing though. I find the Elle character to be, at least at first glance, pretty derivative and cliché, as is the whole “I have amnesia and need to go on a quest to find myself” story.

I’ll keep watching, because it’s Blade Runner, but so far I’d say 5/10

 

Not a lot of discussion, but I understand that, because I'm not completely sure what I think. I guess I'm waiting to see how it ends. But I was fully hooked by Blade Runner 2049 well before it ended, so...

I may end up having the same reaction to this that I had to The Mandalorian: it could have been a movie. Maybe there'll be enough big developments (and maybe even a little character development) in the coming Black Lotus episodes to justify the time. But it hasn't made the most of the time it's had so far.

 

I keep meaning to bump this up.

I'm still watching and I'm constantly conflicted. I'm really enjoying the story and Elle's journey, but while I love environmental animation, I cannot find myself liking the animation of character movements especially when fighting. I had been pushing against the criticism of it being too like old video game animation, but it's pretty apt unfortunately. It doesn't help that there's very little facial expressions and we're relaying entirely on the actors' deliveries which don't always align with the animation. I can't help but think this show could be pretty good if only it had better animation because I don't see myself growing to appreciate the artwork like I did with Tron: Uprising.

 

I had a harder time getting used to the animation in Ghost in the Shell: SAC_2045. I don't generally mind the animation in Black Lotus, with the exception of a character or two. The police chief doesn't have a neutral facial expression, for example. He's got a constant weird scowl, regardless of what he's saying, thinking, or doing, so he looks more cartoonish, less real, than most of the other characters.