‘Love, Death + Robots’ is an adult animated series spanning 18 episodes and each one of them is a stand-alone story by itself. It’s more like an anthology of short stories by different makers. And here’s fair warning – don’t judge it by the first one.
I think the first episode of this series was its weakest link. It’s about a cup of yogurt trying to take over the world. Whimsical, weird, but on the boring side. Despite being just 5-6 minutes long.
Things get a LOT better from the second story onward. My favorite one was about three robots exploring a museum that showed how the world was when Humans still existed. It was very witty and humorous. What can be nicer than a world without us?
The makers tried to include every fictional kink that comic and animation enthusiasts are into. You have dystopian futures, shape-shifters, space-drifters, sexy robots, Chinese folklore and death-matches. The episode called “Good Hunting” is a stunning blend of Chinese myth meets cyberpunk. It’s brutally beautiful.
Out of the 18 shorts, I just didn’t like two. There is one episode called “Alternate Histories” that was even shittier than the Yogurt one. While the concept is really interesting – a virtual reality platform let’s you see how things would have turned out if something was changed in the past. For example – how the world would have fared if Hitler died early. While the concept is intriguing, the story and execution was crap. Even the animation wasn’t impressive.
A lot of the other shorts have surreal animation work and are a treat to look at. Two-three of them have endings that are open to interpretation. I like such endings. The overall tone of the series is pretty dark and some of them are deeply philosophical, with not too subtle existential messages. Especially the one called “Zima Blue”.
If you are into animated shorts, stream this one. It made my food/tea breaks fun. And I need to thank fellow blogger Arvind Rao for suggesting me this one. I am looking forward to Season Two. Netflix has already approved it.
P.S – On a completely unrelated note – I published my second book – ‘Love, Loss, Lockdown’. It’s a fictional collection of short stories, so check it out if you are looking to read something new.