The Blade Runner franchise has truly found a second life on the printed page, with Titan Comics greatly expanding the scope of this cyberpunk universe through various spinoffs and prequels. Currently, Titan is in the midst of publishing Blade Runner: Tokyo Nexus, a series which has the distinction of being the first Blade Runner story set in Japan.
As part of IGN Fan Fest 2025, we had the opportunity to chat with writers Kianna Shore and Mellow Brown to delve deeper into the new series and discover how they brought the Blade Runner aesthetic to a new corner of the globe. Check out the slideshow gallery below to see exclusive artwork showing how the series went from script to fully realized artwork, and then read on to learn more:
Blade Runner: Tokyo Nexus Behind-the-Scenes Art Gallery
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Again, this is the first Blade Runner story we’ve seen set in Japan, despite Tokyo being the backdrop of seminal cyberpunk stories like Akira and Ghost in the Shell. We were curious how the writers envisioned the Tokyo of this alternate universe version of 2015, and how it compares to the rainy, neon-soaked Los Angeles most Blade Runner fans are familiar with.
“Brainstorming Tokyo in the Blade Runner universe was such a fun process!” Shore tells IGN. “I was lucky enough to have lived in Japan (coincidentally in 2015) and more recently I was able to visit some interesting exhibits in Tokyo on ‘envisioning the future.’ I wanted Tokyo to look and feel different from Los Angeles since their histories, experiences, and socioeconomics are completely different. My goal was to make a hopepunk Tokyo.”
“I've always appreciated how Los Angeles (in *Blade Runner*) is a pretty broken, decrepit and fracturing place on its last legs and that the neon is sort of hiding all of that. But, if you ever turned it off, everyone would quickly see they're in a hellscape,” Brown says. “So, our Tokyo works in parallel. It is this beautiful utopia where people feel like they're on a short leash. And if you disobey the laws of this ‘paradise,’ it will eat you alive. It is just as scary, just in a different way.”
Interestingly, both writers made a point of not homaging the aforementioned Akira and Ghost in the Shell, but instead looking to other media and to contemporary Japanese life for inspiration in crafting their version of Tokyo.
Shore says, “Although I watched the greats for inspiration, it was important for me to understand how Japanese media depicts the future after the 3.11 Tohoku Disaster, so I watched anime such as Your Name, Japan Sinks 2020, and Bubble.”
“I actually had a personal goal to not iterate on the anime that have already been inspired by Blade Runner. Like Bubblegum Crisis or Psycho-Pass” Brown says. “When you write cyberpunk, you often are reflecting how you think your own environment will go into the future (which is why LA has an ‘80s theme and fear of Japan becoming a superpower from the original series). So, I wanted to reflect on the fears and hopes of Japan's society today. And what would go wrong or right if dangerous people had their way with it.”
The Blade Runner timeline spans the 21st Century, but this particular series is set in 2015, a few years before the events of the original film. We were curious how much Tokyo Nexus connects to the larger franchise. Will fans find certain similarities to the movie to latch onto, or is this really a whole new ballgame given the Japanese setting?
“*Tokyo Nexus* is a standalone in setting, time, and story,” Shore says. “Of course, it wouldn’t be Blade Runner without the seemingly omnipresent Tyrell Corporation influencing the characters’ actions or a mystery to solve. There are some fun nods and easter eggs alluding to the Blade Runner films, but someone without BR knowledge can also enjoy the comics.”
Mellow adds, “We are continuing to build our story that has been advancing since *Blade Runner: Origins* and just a short time before *Blade Runner: 2019*. We've been excited to answer some complex questions in the universe, like ‘What was the Kalanthia War?’ and ‘Why is Tyrell the only company that makes Replicants?’ All of these are building towards a massive, secret, civil war with Blade Runners of different organizations fighting for dominance. And it's exciting to see how this book, *Tokyo Nexus*, has the origins of one of those organizations we'll see ascend to a global superpower in that war.”
*Tokyo Nexus* is unique in that it revolves around a partnership between a human named Mead and a Replicant named Stix. As you might expect, their close-knit dynamic is at the core of the series, which paints them as two battle-scarred veterans who only have each other to rely on in this hellish landscape.
“Mead and Stix are best friends and platonic life-partners,” Shore says. “They have been through hell and back, bled together, wept together. They only want to protect one another, and sometimes that means from themselves. Their goal is to survive, but in order to do that they must be willing to trust again.”
“It is beautiful in how unhealthy it is. Haha,” Brown says. “We wanted to play with the ‘We're More Human Than Human’ quote of the franchise. And how that happens. While Stix is a Replicant with a constant thirst for life, Mead is a human who has been grinded down by systems and is very mechanical and economic in her reasonings. They need each other to make it through life. And they've survived a scenario so horrible together, this partnership has become a codependency that could shatter them both.”
As the series unfolds, Stix and Mead end up getting swept up in a conflict between Tyrell Corp, the Yakuza, and a Japanese group called Cheshire. The writers tease that Cheshire holds a very interesting place in the Blade Runner universe, as they’re a company trying to muscle their way in on Tyrell’s monopoly of the Replicant market.
“Cheshire is trying to compete in the business of Replicant manufacturing,” Shore teases. “Their newest Replicant is a military model, made for war. Supposedly stronger and faster, built on the bones that Tyrell fashioned.”
Mellow adds, “Cheshire is a crime organization with ambitions beyond shaking down Mom & Pop shops. When they get a hold of refugee Tyrell Scientists who have escaped to Tokyo, they suddenly discover that the stars are the limit for what they're now capable of in this universe…”
Blade Runner: Tokyo Nexus Vol. 1 - Die in Peace is now available in comic shops and bookstores. You can also order the book on Amazon.
Also as part of IGN Fan Fest 2025, we got an early look at IDW's new Godzilla shared universe and a sneak peak of an upcoming Sonic the Hedgehog storyline.
