'Love, Death and Robots': What makes this dark, violent, NSFW anime stand out in Netflix's library
If 'Black Mirror' offered a chilling view into the perils of addiction to technology, 'Love, Death + Robots' seemed to carry forward the theme with a mix of animation and mechanization. That wasn't all. There was more to season one of the first short-form adult animated anthology on Netflix. With a stroke of neon colors and artistic backdrops, every scene added a pinch of realism to the dark, distorted world of animation. The 18 shorts ranging from seven to 17 minutes presented a whole new theme each time—science fiction and fantastical realm to alternate history.
But the surprise package was how show creators David Fincher and Tim Miller didn't shy away from adding nudity or adultery to the narratives. A refreshing change, it certainly opened new doors for the craft in the global market.
"Terrifying creatures, wicked surprises, and dark comedy converge in this NSFW anthology of animated stories presented by Tim Miller and David Fincher," read the official summary of the series on Netflix.
That itself says it all, doesn't it? Seems like the show makers intended to get NSFW anime their due acceptance in the fiction department.
The first three episodes—'Sonnie's Edge', 'Three Robots' and 'The Witness'—stuck to the theme with their climaxes open to imagination and interpretation. While the open-ended interpretation did get slightly taxing on the mind, there were many other shorts interlaced with underlying messages that brought a definitive flavor to the series.
Two bold examples were 'Zima Blue' and 'Beyond the Aquila Rift', which broke away from the action genre and brought an imaginative and poetic essence to the storytelling.
'Fish Night' was another brilliant piece of graphical art that illuminated a new dynamic to the world of anime. Moreover, the mind-bending design and exhilarating colors made even the predictable plots stand out and built an illusion around whether the episodes were shot live or created using comic strips and caricatures.
Several other Netflix shows like 'Rick and Morty' and 'Disenchantment' push the envelope of the animated way of storytelling, but none of the shows do it like 'Love, Death + Robots'.
The major reason that comes into play is that it doesn't use the same old dose of comedy that has been going on since ages but adds a creative facet to it. As season two hits the streaming service in 2020, the show paves way for more animation, eclecticism, sexuality and evil cyborgs.