You are never too young or too old to watch an animated show. After all, not everything that looks cartoony is meant for kids.
Some animations include graphic violence, mature content, supernatural/cyberpunk elements, and nudity, which, by all means, are not suitable for children. These are some of the elements you will find in Netflix’s new web television series, “Love, Death and Robots.”
“Love, Death and Robots” is an 18-episode collection of adult animated shorts with terrifying creatures, dark comedy and twisted endings that explores the darkest corners of animation. In this NSFW animated series, we encounter a diverse list of fiction stories, from farmers battling aliens to Adolf Hitler dying in various ways through a simulation.
Though each short adds an exceptional element to the series, it would take a lot to write a review of an 18-episode collection of shorts. Instead, here’s an insight into some episodes viewers should check out.
‘Zima Blue’ has to be the most popular among fans of the collection. This short has a heartbreaking story that starts with a world-renowned cyborg and ends with a pool vacuum.
‘Zima Blue’ excels almost in everything: story, characters, animation and plot twists. With its unique style of animation and transcendent plot, ‘Zima Blue’ explores the concept of beauty, inspiration, human ambition and how a human creation can reflect or even surpass the creator itself. There is no order in which you should watch the collection of shorts, so if you do decide to give it a try, ‘Zima Blue’ should definitely be the first one on your list.
In ‘Beyond the Aquila Rift,’ we follow the captain of The Crew of the Blue Goose who awakens months later after finishing a job only to find himself light years off course, struggling to come to terms with his surroundings. The plot itself is terrifying. There is no doubt that after you finish watching this short, you will start questioning your own self-existence and free will (If we didn’t have enough with Matrix or Inception, huh?).
The visuals in ‘Beyond the Aquila Rift’ are maginificent, so life-like that you will start questioning whether you are watching a real movie or if you are still watching an animation.
The short was directed by Léon Bérelle, Dominique Boidin, Rémi Kozyra and Maxime Luère of Unit Image, a high-end animation studio that specializes in computer generation and visual effects. Though the short has great visuals and a colossal existential question that disturbs your mind, it was the repetitive nudity and unnecessary love scene, that turned the short into a deal breaker. However, I rapidly became sucked in once again by those insane visuals that dragged me back to appreciate the short.
‘Good Hunting’ is an outstanding love story between a shape-shifting creature and an inventor happening within a cruel world consumed by greed and hate in the era of colonialism set in China.
Though ‘Good Hunting’ is done in a very common style of animation, there are certain visual moments that enchant the eyes of the viewer and beautifully compliment what is already an enchanting story. While some Netflix viewers may be hypnotized by the figure of a topless cyborg who can turn into a mecha-fox that goes on a vengeance rampage, animation aficionados like me may be bound to pay closer attention to the subtle lines of animation defining each one of the character’s human and robot-like characteristics and qualities.
Each short in this collection has its unique essence that offers every viewer something to talk about after the credits rolls, either it is the style of animation, goofy lines, or far too graphic content. “Love, Death and Robots’” is an NSFW masterpiece with magnificent visuals and superb storylines that will either cause the most inexplicable feelings inside you or make you question the most simple concepts of life.
