New Blade Runner: Black Lotus Key Art, Opening Sequence Revealed.

Having waited literally years for news on hotly anticipated anime Blade Runner: Black Lotus,  the producers have been gradually revealing more and more over the past few weeks. Based on the iconic Ridley Scott sci-fi noir Blade Runner and its sequel Blade Runner 2049, the series is a co-production of Crunchyroll and Adult Swim in association with Alcon. Due to hit Adult Swim in the US and stream on Crunchyroll internationally this autumn, the series is co-directed by Ghost In The Shell series veteran Kenji Kamiyama and Shinji Aramaki (Appleseed) and animated by Sola Digital Arts.

The series will focus on Elle, a young replicant woman voiced in English by Jessica Henwick (Game Of Thrones, Iron Fist). It will follow her as she seeks to get revenge on those who did her wrong, understand her identity and uncover the secrets of her past.

Our closest look yet at the series was in the recent panel at San Diego Comic Con's At Home virtual event last month. It has been followed up this week with a making-of panel at the Virtual Crunchyroll Expo. The panel featured Crunchyroll's head of development Sarah Victor in conversation with Kamiyama and Aramaki. 

The directorial duo spoke about the process of creation of the series and how exactly Black Lotus fits into the Blade Runner universe. They also spoke in detail about the themes that are contained within the series, and how they aimed to create a very human story that was focused on The Replicants.

During the panel, they also revealed some brand new key art. They discussed the process involved in designing the characters, and how they tried to balance realism with more stylised animation.

The panel concluded with the premiere of the show's opening sequence, which as was revealed at the SDCC, features a new original song Feel You Now by singer-songwriter Alessia Cara.

An exact air date has yet to be announced for Blade Runner: Black Lotus.