‘Love, Death and Robots’ Smashes Expectations

Ryan Stewart, Co-Editor-In-Chief

More so than ever, there has been a recent flood of Netflix Original content onto the streaming platform and with it many animated series have cropped up. But only one genuinely unique anthology, which can only be described as eclectic, has been released.

“Love, Death and Robots,” has been on Netflix since March of this year, but it hadn’t done more than seem intriguing to me in all this time.

With a lack of entertaining and refreshing shows, however, I set out to look for something to sate my desire for content that is meaningful in its messages and engaging in every sense of the word.

And “Love, Death and Robots” hits both of those marks, exceeding them easily, setting new goal posts for future animated (and live action for that matter) Netflix Originals in the process.

The art style is, of course, an integral part of any animated project, and never have I been more impressed with a team of animators than with those of this work.

Each new entry into the anthology, totaling 18 stunning short stories ranging from four to 15 minutes, adopts a new style of animation and from hyper-realistic to adorably cartoony, each mini-tale builds upon the last.

While not technically connected, each story is careful not to step on the toes of another, forging a loosely-connected but ingenious take on how the future may develop from a technological perspective, while exploring innate human experiences like love and death, as the name would suggest.

And what I love most of all about this anthology is the fact that each story on its own provides a great snack-sized bite of animated enjoyment, but taken together in one large viewing (or binging) session, the story fleshes out a complex spider web of sci-fi goodness.

The characters are indescribably believable, the plots not only make sense, (with the exception of one entry into the volume titled “WHEN THE YOGURT TOOK OVER”) they give off the impression that any other direction would have been a mistake.

I’m normally not an “easy-peasy” viewer when it comes to media, but “Love, Death and Robots” strikes this perfect balance of world-building and immersion induction that I find myself rewatching some of the episodes in order to gleam everything from them that I can.

And I’ll also go back to watch “SUITS” from time to time. Not because of its deeply resounding message but just because it’s freaking awesome. And for the entirety of the anthology, as a matter of fact, you can quote me on that.