Anime Short for ‘Blade Runner 2049’ Explains Pivotal Moment
The last Blade Runner 2049 short prequel film has finally been released, and it seems Blade Runner 2022: Lights Out plays a big role in explaining a vital element in Blade Runner history. The short, which appears as an anime from the director of Cowboy Bebop, Shinichirô Watanabe, can be viewed here:
[CAUTION: Spoilers for Blade Runner 2022: Lights Out and Blade Runner 2049 ahead.]
An official timeline of events from Warner Bros describes Blade Runner 2022: Lights Out as the tale of an “EMP detonation [which] caused a global black out that had massive, destructive implications all over the world.” Although the explosion seems to be the central point of the short, it isn’t the most important.
The short illuminates the struggles of a war between machine and man, beginning with the launch of the Nexus 8 models. While humans are busy hunting down replicants, we are introduced to a replicant angel named Trixie and her bodyguard Cygnus (or Iggy).
In the Doll House, we meet an unnamed human who wants to launch an EMP attack over Los Angeles, enabling the replicants to launch the city into a state of pure blackness, “a darkness that the humans have never known,” Iggy claims.
Trixie and Iggy are entrusted with the task of wiping out the archive center, allowing the freedom from the government they’ve been chasing. Their plan works, and the EMP is detonated.
What happens next is significant to the replicant prohibition that brings us right into the first Blade Runner 2049 short, Blade Runner 2036: Nexus Dawn. In Nexus, we meet Niander Wallace (Jared Leto), who creates the Nexus 9 in 2036.
The third short film, which takes place in 2048, focuses on one of the older replicants, Sapper (Dave Bautista), who gets a shout out in Blade Runner 2022: Lights Out. His appearance in his own short film reveals the world coming full circle, that replicants are in hiding and humans despise their very existence.
Blade Runner 2049 will be released on October 6, but make sure to pay attention to all the marketing surrounding the film in order to better understand the film upon its release.
Are you excited to see the new installment of the Blade Runner franchise? How do you feel the shorts are supplementing the film? Let us know!
Source: Polygon
