Cyberpunk 2077 is one of the most long-suffering video games in the history of the entertainment industry. CD Projekt RED with its release was supposed to become almost the best studio in the world, but instead got bogged down in scandals and endless streams of criticism due to numerous gameplay problems. At the same time, Cyberpunk 2077 still has an interesting world, catchy characters and a quality story. The anime series Cyberpunk: Edgerunners focuses on these elements while recreating the world of Night City in Japanese animation. How successful it turned out – read the reviews below.
“Cyberpunk: Edge Runners” / Cyberpunk: Edgerunners
Genre action
Directed by Hiroyuki Imaishi
Netflix Premiere
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Release year 2022
IMDb site
The story of Cyberpunk: Edgerunners takes place in the city of Night City, which is familiar to all fans of the original game. The protagonist of the story is David. He lives with his mother Gloria, the family does not differ in wealth. But David still entered the prestigious Arasaka Company Academy for a chance at a better life. However, with the death of his mother, David’s former life ends. Instead, he plunges into the underworld of Night City, full of his intrigues, conflicts and desires.
The anime was produced by Trigger Studio, which became famous for Kill la Kill, Promare and Little Witch Academia. Moreover, this is not the first collaboration of the studio with a Western company. Previously, the authors of Trigger have already made at least an animated short film for the Star Wars: Visions anthology. So they know how to work with Western materials in the studio.
Each anime from Trigger is always the maximum pathos and intensity of passions, an almost unstoppable flow of over the top moments, diluted with absurd Japanese humor. You can’t expect anything else from Hiroyuki Imaishi. After all, it was with this style that he proved himself back in the days of Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann.
But in the case of Cyberpunk: Edgerunners, the anime studio worked closely with CD Projekt. “Western people” are here among the producers and among the screenwriters. That is, in the series, an interesting combination of Western and Eastern views on animation happened.
Cyberpunk: Edgerunners has both grotesque, exaggerated characters, and insane, somewhat ragged action, and numerous stereotypes of Japanese animation. From a stylistic point of view, this is a typical Trigger anime – and in the case of the studio’s work, this is an extremely high compliment.
Each frame of the series looks as powerful and colorful as possible. Night City in Cyberpunk: Edgerunners attracts even more than in the original game. And the creators of the anime treated the latter with respect. A lot of the nuances of the setting in Trigger were correctly recreated and woven into their story.
However, the plot itself is rather simple. Partly – due to the lack of those very moments of critically off-scale pathos. But besides, the plot plot itself is relatively mundane here. Gang wars, implant frenzy, corporate intrigues – anime plays with themes that cyberpunk works have considered from different angles hundreds of times. And don’t say it makes it bad. It just doesn’t offer anything new at the level of meanings.
You can see the influence of CD Projekt in this. After all, the original game was also based not on scenario revelations, but rather on the general atmosphere and charming characters. The latter are also in Cyberpunk: Edgerunner. If the main character here is somewhat stereotypical for an anime, then, for example, Rebecca and Lucy are always pleasant to look at, and their storylines are curious. The love of the Internet for these two heroines is confirmed by the numerous arts that fans have already managed to draw based on the anime.
With the music in the anime, everything is also excellent and even somewhat non-standard. The opening theme of Cyberpunk: Edgerunner was performed by the rock band Franz Ferdinand, and the soundtrack was composed by Akira Yamaoka. The latter managed to find his own approach to the cyberpunk sound. Therefore, listening to anime is a real pleasure.
Do not take away from the anime series and rapid dynamics. Events here develop with great speed, peaceful moments abruptly flow into outright tin. Cyberpunk: Edgerunner turned out to be a very adult and serious work, in which there are enough NSFW moments. Moreover, some here are only savoring for the sake of provoking the audience, while others are already emphasizing dramatic moments.
If you have played the game, you can immediately understand how Cyberpunk: Edgerunner will end approximately. But in the case of this story, such a move only increases the overall tension, which increases exponentially from series to series.
And Cyberpunk: Edgerunner also manages to be self-ironic and, more interestingly, ironic in relation to the original game. The joke about the police who “appear out of nowhere” will definitely be remembered by you.
