Captain Laserhawk Creator Adi Shankar Talks How Its Visuals Homage Video Games

Captain Laserhawk: A Blood Dragon Remix creator Adi Shankar broke down how its visual pay homage to video games.

By Nick Valdez

Captain Laserhawk: A Blood Dragon Remix has introduced fans to brand new takes on Ubisoft's various video game franchises, and the creator and producer behind it all opened up about how the visuals and aesthetics of the series paid homage to those various video game styles! Captain Laserhawk was a pretty big surprise as when it was first announced to be in the works from Adi Shankar (the same mind behind Netflix's Castlevania and now in the works Devil May Cry anime series), it initially seemed like it would be an anime taking on the Far Cry 3 spin-off, Blood Dragon. 

It soon turned out that Captain Laserhawk: A Blood Dragon Remix would have a much larger scope than expected as it's an adaptation (and remix) of Ubisoft's entire library as many of the franchise's various characters pop up throughout the anime's run. This is all tied together with the synthwave aesthetics chosen to wrap all of it up into a single package, and creator and producer Adi Shankar opened up with ComicBook.com through email correspondence about how the visuals paid homage to their video game origins.

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(Photo: Netflix)

Captain Laserhawk's Visuals Explained

"The visual style of Laserhawk was conceived as a heartfelt homage to the world and history of video games, intertwining various stylistic elements like pixel art and other gamer-recognized visuals," Shankar began. "Our first exploration into this vibrant, mixed media style was pioneered in GUARDIANS OF JUSTICE, serving as a research and development phase for what was to come. Mehdi Leffad, the director behind every single episode, along with his ninja team at Bobby Pills, brilliantly refined and perfected this mixed media art style."

"Their innovation and expertise facilitated a smoother integration of various media styles into the series, resulting in a product that, I believe, is a polished and professional rendition of my initial vision," Shankar continued. "While our original script drafts contained detailed descriptions of the various styles and medium transitions, I chose to step back and grant Mehdi and his team the creative liberty to steer the aesthetic direction. The outcome was beyond my expectations, superseding anything our writing team initially put to paper and seamlessly blending various visual styles into a coherent and captivating visual journey. Bobby Pills was an amazing creative partner in this process." 

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Finally, Shankar revealed his goal for the visuals of Captain Laserhawk overall, "Cinema has had a century to develop its language, but video games are still in the process of evolving their own unique language. With this project, my goal was to harness the language of gaming to bring innovation to the language of cinema."

Captain Laserhawk: A Blood Dragon Remix is now streaming on Netflix. Let us know your thoughts about it in the comments! 

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