So here is my weekly shout into the void on how good Blade Runner: Black Lotus is. It really is guys. I was right about how this this episode would be after the large chess piece set ups of the the last one. The LAPD Police Chief Grant and his police movements leading to J or Joseph’s arrest, Elle on the search for some people to kill, and lots of tension provided by the Blade Runner Marlowe. All of these forces collide in this episode in good effect.
A Look At The Story
Yeah, this show is obviously a commentary on the way the elite class sees the poor by literally making replicants that are human like and then killing them. That is the encounter that comes when Elle ties up Josephine Grant and then asks questions. Josephine is clearly the Karen here who lies and then tries to use the nature and lies of replicant memories against Elle too. I mean, obvious statement is obvious but literally seeing Josephine not even talking to Elle as a person was horrible.
Seeing that conversation increase when Chief Grant showed up and clearly didn’t see or talk to Elle as a human being was horrific as well. Man, I feel like this show has a larger understanding of racism then a lot of pieces of media it seems. Especially since Elle clearly has the strength and the power to do what she wants and the smarts to notice these things, but she is a softer person then she thinks. She killed the Chief because it was for her survival and the Chief Grant killing his wife was a wonderful piece of irony in all things. The one thing that showed up in this was the talk of Dr. M. Maybe a doctor affiliate with the Wallace Corporation?
Marlowe and Joseph did not get as much attention or thought on this episode. Marlowe does play a heavy part by being a Blade Runner who doesn’t know what is going on, but his encounter with J or Joseph was interesting. I wonder what that will lead to. Lots of intrigue in that. Davis herself almost played the same role as Marlowe except she witnessed the end of Elle’s fight with the Grants and automatically assumed the obvious except looking deeper. Something to think about as time goes on in this show. I think Black Lotus will have some interesting things to say.
Some Visual Talk
One again, I love this show’s attention to detail in the visuals. There is still that grounded-ness to Blade Runner: Black Lotus which makes it such a believable anime series. All of that went into some of the ground breaking fight that happened in this episode. For instance, Elle is strong but she isn’t flying through space or in the sky strong. Her fight with Marlowe in the Grant apartment was explosive, exceptionally thought together, and just full of some great tension. Especially that last moment when Elle saw the gas leak. We all knew what her escape route was. It was great.
The visuals themselves and how they are directed also put so much great character animation into our characters. For instance, we know that Elle is very smart in this episode. Or at least observant. Her seeing that Chief Grant or just a person was behind the door waiting to attack Elle during her questioning of Josephine was great. Her seeing Josephine eyes and then following it put her at a great advantage. Technically that was twice and I think that works. Such great visual direction in this show. I love all o it.
Overall Thoughts
This episode was great. It established plot details for the future while also resolving some from the Grant’s untimely death. Something that was and was not Elle’s fault because it is complicated. Who is Doctor M? What is the relationship between Marlowe and Joseph? How will Marlowe look into this future plot besides just hunting Elle? A lot of things just worthy of being checked out. I wonder what will happen in the future to set up some more chess pieces and movements because there are so many ideas still to look at and discover about this show. I’m very excited to get there. More please. *bangs cup on the floor*
Mechanical Anime Reviews 