Cowboy Bebop Director is Making an Official Blade Runner Anime Short

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We’ve learned that Shinichiro Watanabe of Cowboy Bebop and Samurai Champloo fame is set to direct a new anime short based on the iconic cyberpunk movie, Blade Runner.

The anime is being produced under Sony Pictures Japan, and its titled Blade Runner Black Out 2022. The spinoff story takes place a couple years after the first movie, and as the name implies – occurs during a power outage in one of the sprawling mega-cities seen in the dystopian future. The above teaser has some snippets of concept art, test animations, and more.


Watanabe noted that in his anime career, the body of work that influenced him the most is, of course, Blade Runner. He also said that his goal with this short is having complete respect for the original Blade Runner while also trying to not simply create an cheap imitation.

Finally, the anime is set to premiere on the Sony Pictures Japan YouTube Channel, on September 26th.

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