Love, Death + Robots: Anthology Review

Love, Death + Robots

Everyone has a favourite

Love, Death & Robots is the new Netflix series that everyone is talking about. It is an anthology of animated short stories from the partnership of ‘Deadpool’ director Tim Miller and David Fincher. I just finished watching the whole anthology in one go and I am absolutely blown. I had been delaying watching this for a couple of days, but once I started I just couldn’t stop.

The binge-worthy title features 18 short stories, each with their own signature animation. This anthology has either been absolutely hated or absolutely loved, no middle ground, but I for one loved it.

When you think about animation, the first thing that pops into people’s heads is Disney and fantasy and love and princesses, but that is so not true. This anthology stands strong to prove that wrong, targeted at an adult audience with beautifully written, intense storylines.

The animation is gorgeous, focusing on nearly every different kind you know; anime, traditional 2D to photo-real CGI. There are cyborg bounty hunters, space spiders, werewolves, Draculas, Hitler and even sentient dairy products! Fincher and Mille have definitely gone all out with this anthology. I mean, there were a few stories where I couldn’t even make out whether it was live action or animated. It took me about a good minute to figure this out stories like ‘Beyond the Aquila Rift,’ while “Good Hunting” is more of a gorgeous hand drawn, Japanese anime.

The story arcs are beautifully written, united under common themes such as the loss of innocence or the evil of men and so on, but each one guaranteeing you having a great time – whether it be for it making absolutely no sense or making you go “Holy shit!” For me, watching the anthology was almost like eating an 18-course meal, with starters, palate cleansers and main course, with an exceptionally beautiful desert. My favourite aspect about an anthology of short stories though, is the roller coaster of emotions you experience by simply watching episodes between 5-20 minutes in length rather than watching a full-length 2-hour movie. It is a brilliant combination of stories revolves around futuristic, mechanized settings not always conveying how the human spirit always rises out of the ashes. Many of the stories have heartbreaking ends, with much deeper inferences towards humanity portraying that in the end the human spirit can also be crushed.

Finch and Miller not only succeeded in provided some quality entertainment for their viewers but forced them to look at the world through a much broader perspective.

The 2 setbacks, for me, like most anthologies, was the uneven sequencing of the episodes. Yes, there were heavier stories followed by certain ‘palate cleansers’ but the overall feel of the anthology as a whole could probably have been much better if that was revised. The second one, though may not be as important to the content, was the title and the trailer. The reason why I didn’t want to watch this anthology in the beginning was cause who’d want to watch something called ‘Love, Death + Robots?’ Sounds like a movie for 10 year olds, not related to what the content is about. The trailer too, though did get me a little excited, being fast paced and full of action, however, could’ve been much better for the quality of content they had.

Overall, a brilliant piece of art that should be recognised and celebrated.

Overall, I really due hope that this series is renewed for another season and we get to see more art like this. I am so happy that this art form is becoming popular. I so wished it hadn’t ended with just 18 episode. Respect to all those who had some part in the production of this series.