Love, Death + Robots: A Remarkable Animated Anthology
**This is a spoiler-free review**
Brief Summary
Love, Death + Robots is a Sci-Fi anthology animated series created by Tim Miller and David Fincher, where each episode is a quirky stand-alone tale. The anthology covers a broad spectrum of subgenres such as horror and fantasy for all types of adult audiences. Each story captures the essence of the themes in the series’ title, while at the same time each story approaches them in a unique way.
Why Should You Watch it?
Themes:
The three volumes released so far are filled with eccentric animated tales covering a variety of themes. Some of them delve deeper into the human psyche and enrapture the viewer in philosophical musings, while others are downright outlandish in nature. There’s even tongue-in-cheek humour seasoned throughout the volumes, and a healthy dose of satire to appease all audiences. But, all of the episodes are poignant in some remarkable way, illuminating the finer aspects of human nature against the backdrop of science fiction.
In my opinion, the story concept and execution are on point within each episode. Even the scenes sprinkled with explicit violence and sexual references (although arguably gratuitous at times) evoked a sense of being rightly placed within the stories. I liked that those moments served a purpose, rather than being thrown in there for sensationalism like other films and TV shows I’ve seen.
To highlight these illustrious themes further, each animated tale takes on its own form: the stunning visual art embellishes more depth to the storytelling.
Style:
There are clear distinctions in animation styles between episodes, as attested by the multitude of several international animation studios involved in creating the series. The stories are stylised in a multitude of ways, where each of them has particular merit due to their creativity.
Hyperrealistic 3D computer graphics (CG) in episodes like Beyond The Aquila Rift, Snow in the Desert, Swarm, Pop Squad and many more, take on a grittier edge. They are darker, mature stories grounded in realism using motion capture; especially performance capture to emphasise facial animation and giving a photorealistic aesthetic to their CG characters. This in turn serves as an uncanny life-like quality, which can be both unsettling and mesmerising to behold. Conversely, in The Witness, director Alberto Mielgo didn’t use motion capture techniques. Instead, he insisted on “real hand animation” and a niche fabric model simulator to create the realistic movement of clothing on the character’s naked bodies. When you first view this particular story, the hyperrealism surpasses expectations… and you’re left conflicted, wondering if you just watched a 3D rendering or live-action (or a bit of both).
This is in stark contrast to the traditional 2D animation styles in certain episodes, although they provide their own edgy quality to their stories. From the TVPaint art style in Zima Blue that conjured a depth of vibrancy with its colour palette, to the cel animation style in Good Hunting that is reminiscent of popular cartoons like Samurai Jack, there is a sheer sense of creative freedom in every story. There are even the occasional stop-motion and Anime-influenced styles thrown in there for good measure. In short, there is something for every taste.
Bite-Sized Storytelling:
Needless to say, the show’s hallmark quality lies in its splendid variety.
While this is already evident in the drastic shift between animation styles and themes for each episode, this renowned variety is highlighted further in its storytelling. Within each bite-sized episode (ranging from six minutes to almost twenty minutes), the audience is thrust into a mesmerising ambience. In one moment, you're visiting alien worlds or travelling through space, and in the next instance you’re transported to alternate timelines, futuristic dystopias, contemporary fantasies, and even the odd seafaring and mediaeval setting.
This is taken even further as the audience explores fascinating character perspectives, gleaming some insight into their compelling lives. Some episodes conjure fantastical imagination, while others have a mind-bending story that often ends on an ambiguous note. There’s no sense of pandering to an audience niche here, as the creative freedom of each story soars high. What’s more, there is a nod to cultural idiosyncrasies that highlight the global endeavour and commitment to sheer diversity and splendour in each tale.
It is innovative storytelling like this that inspires the imaginations of like-minded writers such as myself. While I resonated with some stories more than others (who wouldn’t have favourites out of this collection?) I feel that each quirky animated tale felt refreshing and fulfilling to view. The creative work fuelled into each member of these three volumes is admirable from a storyteller’s perspective, and I often felt drawn into the sci-fi mayhem onscreen. You know you’re enthralled with a story when you find yourself thinking: “What happens next?”, the most notable question every writer wishes to hear.
Conclusion
As with most Netflix shows, the audience is guaranteed to be left wanting more - the desire to binge all episodes in one sitting is a tempting offer. Animation has become a phenomenal medium for storytelling lately, where shows like this bestow us with unconventional delights of visual entertainment.
For me, I found the final episodes in each volume the most compelling stories: where each of them explored philosophical themes on the human condition, leaving me to ponder on its fallible nature. But there’ll be other fan favourites for anyone who takes a chance to see this anthology series. For there certainly is a plethora of diverse tales to appeal to any and all viewers’ taste.
Much like the Netflix animated series Arcane, Love, Death + Robots is yet another beautiful endeavour in visual storytelling. I’ll leave it to you to decide whether you’ll binge the entire three volumes in one sitting, or view them whenever you take a break to pop the kettle on.
My Rating:
Rating: 4.5/5 Bookmarks
My favourite episodes: Jibaro, Bad Travelling, Zima Blue, The Drowned Giant, Pop Squad, Three Robots
Similar shows for recommendation
Black Mirror
Final Space
Westworld
Undone
Altered Carbon