One day Elle (Jessica Henwick, Arisa Shida) finds herself in the city of San Francisco, wandering, injured, and unable to remember her past or herself. More frightening, she finds, are her mysterious combat skills which she uses instinctively to defend herself against some local gangsters. After barely surviving her first hours on the streets of San Francisco, she runs into Doc Badger (Barkhad Abdi, Takayuki Kinba), a local junk collector and purveyor, who takes pity on her and offers her help and shelter.
Patched up, armed with a katana, and fueled by new information given by Doc Badger’s mysterious and stoic neighbor, Joseph (Will Yun Lee, Shinshû Fuji), Elle sets out to find revenge against those who hunted her. Their positions in politics and city high-life make her job harder: Among those Elle seeks to assassinate are a Senator, a Police Chief, and his wife, and a trillionaire tech magnate with a private army at his beck and call.
Taking place 17 years before the most recent major release in the Blade Runner series, Blade Runner: Black Lotus follows the replicant Elle in her quest to find herself and seek revenge. The plot itself is fantastic, but the way it’s delivered leaves a lot to be desired. Black Lotus’ major weakness is the way it repeats events over and over to assure that the viewer is picking up on some pretty obvious and occasionally ham-fisted plot points. Viewers who don’t like to be spoon-fed will be frustrated by this anime. The translation and dub are a bit lackluster as well.
Despite this, many of the voice actors provide excellent performances which makes this sci-fi neo-noir shine. The action sequences are this show’s biggest strength, making clear exactly why so many humans in the Blade Runner universe fear replicants. Some of the combat scenes are stunningly realistic while others play around with classic anime tropes like impossibly sharp swords and super-fast combat. Fans of Blade Runner 2049 will want to see Blade Runner: Black Lotus. This 3D anime is a solid, crowd-pleasing addition to any sci-fi animation collection in public libraries. Recommended.
What kind of film series would this show fit in?
A series celebrating Blade Runner should consider programming this title or preparing for the release of the upcoming game and movie would benefit from viewing an episode or two of Blade Runner: Black Lotus.