Cowboy Bebop creator working on Blade Runner anime

Cowboy Bebop has been celebrated as one of the best animes to have released for a long while and it's time that the director and creator behind the celebrated anime gets to work on the material that influenced him the most. Cowboy Bebop's director/creator, Shinicihro Watanabe, is going to be working on a Blade Runner anime.

Ridley Scott's upcoming addition to the Blade Runner franchise, Blade Runner 2049, is set 30 years after the original film which took place in 2019. Watanabe's Blade Runner anime will detail what happened in the 30 years between both films.

Watanabe cites Blade Runner as a film that had the greatest influence on him and when he was approached with the request to create an anime to bridge the gap between the two films, he knew is was something he 'definitely' wanted to do.

“As an anime professional, the film that’s had the greatest influence on me has to be Blade Runner. When I was presented with the opportunity to work on this, I knew it was something I definitely wanted to do.”

The Blade Runner anime, titled Blade Runner Black Out 2022, will bring new elements to the franchise in its search to be something fresh instead of an imitation.

“There are two things I want to make sure of when making this anime,” he explains. “One is to treat the original Blade Runner with the utmost respect. The other is to make something that isn’t an imitation.”

Check out the teaser (in Japanese) below:

Blade RUnner 2049 is set to release on October 6th, the anime has no release date.