News

Interview Video With Blade Runner: Black Lotus Directors Shinji Aramaki, Kenji Kamiyama Reveals Anime Will Debut in 2021

Adult Swim began streaming a 16-minute interview video on Sunday with Blade Runner: Black Lotus anime directors Shinji Aramaki and Kenji Kamiyama. The end of the video reveals that the anime will debut in 2021.

In the interview, the directors discuss the anime's setting, how the show came to be, why the show is animated in CG, what Blade Runner means to them, and working on the anime during the new coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic. The interview also aired on Toonami as part of the Toonami "panel" at the Adult Swim Con digital event.

Crunchyroll and Adult Swim are partnering with Alcon Entertainment to produce the 13-episode television anime series. The anime is based on Blade Runner 2049, the sequel to the 1982 Blade Runner film.

Aramaki (Ultraman, Appleseed) and Kamiyama (Ultraman, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex) are directing all the episodes at Sola Digital Arts. Both directors previously worked together on Ultraman and Ghost in the Shell: SAC_2045. Shinichiro Watanabe (Cowboy Bebop, Samurai Champloo) is a creative producer on the series.

The series' story will take place in 2032, between the two films, and will include some familiar characters.

Adult Swim will have worldwide distribution rights to an English-dubbed version of the show outside of Asia, and will air the anime in the United States on its Toonami block. Crunchyroll will stream the anime worldwide.

Andrew Kosove, Broderick Johnson, Laura Lancaster, and Al-Francis Cuenca of Alcon Entertainment are executive producers on the project along with Sola Digital Arts' Joseph Chou. Alcon executive Ben Roberts is serving as co-executive producer, and Production I.G's Mitsuhisa Ishikawa is a production adviser.

Crunchyroll previously streamed the "Blade Runner: Black Out 2022" anime short in September 2017, shortly before the debut of Blade Runner 2049. Watanabe directed the anime short at Cygames Pictures, Shukou Murase (Halo Legends, Mobile Suit Gundam Wing) served as character designer and animation director, and Flying Lotus composed the music.

The original film from director Ridley Scott and starring Harrison Ford is based on Philip K. Dick's Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? novel. The Blade Runner 2049 sequel debuted in October 2017.

Source: Adult Swim Con's Toonami website