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A Blade Runner anime series is being produced by Adult Swim and Crunchyroll

A Blade Runner anime series is being produced by Adult Swim and Crunchyroll

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From the creators of Cowboy Bebop and Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex

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Adult Swim, Crunchyroll, and Alcon Entertainment are partnering to produce a new anime series based on Blade Runner 2049 called Blade Runner — Black Lotus. The 13-episode series is being directed by Shinji Aramaki, who directed the Appleseed films, and Kenji Kamiyama, who directed the Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex series. Additionally, Cowboy Bebop director Shinichirō Watanabe is acting as Black Lotus’ creative producer.

The creative companies aren’t yet releasing information on what the series will be about, but a press release says it will include some existing Blade Runner characters, and that it takes place in 2032. This sets it 17 years before Blade Runner 2049, and 10 years after Blade Runner: Black Out 2022, the 15-minute prequel anime episode to Blade Runner 2049 that Watanabe directed. Aramaki also worked on 2022 as the mechanical designer, as did Sola Digital Arts, which did the computer graphics for the prequel episode. That company will be animating the new series.

There is no set release date for the series. Production will reportedly begin once Aramaki and Kamiyama are finished directing their reboot of the Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex series, which was announced in 2017. When Blade Runner — Black Lotus does air, it’ll be shown with an English dub during Adult Swim’s Toonami programming block, and it will be subtitled on Crunchyroll’s streaming service.