Sci-Fi Bulletin: Exploring the Universes of SF, Fantasy, Horror and Spy-fi!

Crunchyroll and Adult Swim have revealed more about the new animated series from Alcon Entertainment, Blade Runner: Black Lotus.

The series, premiering later this year, is set in 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.

During the panel, “The Making of Blade Runner: Black Lotus,” Crunchyroll’s head of development Sarah Victor spoke with directors Shinji Aramaki and Kenji Kamiyama about their process for creating the series and how it fits into the legendary Blade Runner universe. Aramaki and Kamiyama also spoke at length about themes within this new series and how they worked hard to create a human story focused primarily on the replicants

When unveiling the new key art, the directors discussed their process for character design and the stylistic balance they found between animation and photo realism. They also shared that the international production and creative staff for the series helped them capture an atmosphere closer to a Hollywood production and allowed them to create more diverse characters, much like you’d see in Los Angeles now.

Finally, the directors presented the opening sequence from Blade Runner: Black Lotus, which features the original song “Feel You Now” from Grammy Award-winning singer-songwriter Alessia Cara.

Blade Runner: Black Lotus, a Crunchyroll and Adult Swim Original, will premiere later this year on Crunchyroll and Adult Swim. Crunchyroll will stream the series in Japanese with subtitles to its global audience of more than 120 million registered users and more than 5 million subscribers while Adult Swim will air the English language version on Toonami, the network’s anime programming block.