‘Cowboy Bebop’ Director Shinichiro Watanabe Made a ‘Blade Runner 2049’ Anime Prequel Short

In what is pretty much a sci-fi pop culture supernova, the director of anime touchstone Cowboy Bebop has teamed up with Sony Pictures to create a short film in the Blade Runner universe, a prequel of sorts to Blade Runner 2049 called Blade Runner Black Out 2022.

Sony Pictures Japan posted a cool behind-the-scenes look at the new short, complete with subtitles… but unless you speak and/or read Japanese, you’re out of luck. Still, what we can see of the animation looks, naturally, gorgeous. Blade Runner and Cowboy Bebop are beautiful complements to each other, with the latter heavily influenced by the sound, atmosphere, and story of the former.

Blade Runner Black Out 2022 takes place between the first Blade Runner (which is set in the 1982 version of 2019) and the upcoming Blade Runner 2049, during a citywide blackout. That’s all the information we have on it so far, but with all the snippets of test animation and character designs the video is a cool watch all the same. The full short will debut online September 26, ahead of Blade Runner 2049’s theatrical release October 6.