Some Important Context:
The entirety of my experience with the Cyberpunk franchise consists of my time with Cyberpunk 2077 and, now, Edgerunners. I haven’t played the tabletop RPG but have heard it’s great; I’ve got a lot of respect for Mike Pondsmith for crafting such an engaging setting. Now, on to our regularly scheduled programming…
Our Regularly Scheduled Programming
The Cyberpunk franchise has had quite a fuckin’ ride over the past decade. Between CD Projekt Red’s announcement of Cyberpunk 2077 in 2012 (!!) and the game’s actual release in 2020, the studio’s – let’s call it ambitious – marketing strategy pumped everyone’s expectations through the goddamn stratosphere. When the game came out, it was less of a genre-reforming masterpiece and more of a sad, fascinating joke: a pile-up of clown cars instead of the Roman Triumph that we’d convinced ourselves was coming.
The discrepancy between eight years’ worth of hype and the disappointing product itself went over about as well as a tungsten dirigible, and CD Projekt’s stock did its best impression of Amelia Earhart’s last landing in the weeks following the game’s release. Since then, the studio has been at work improving the game with chunky updates that – while still not elevating the title to the lofty heights of what was promised in its marketing – have brought it to a more-than-playable state. It’s not a full-on No Man’s Sky-style redemption tale, but you’ll get your money’s worth if you pick it up on sale.[1]
Enter the Cyberpunk anime, Edgerunners, which bursts onto our screens from the grim, neon-slicked, not-so-distant future with a confidence that speaks to a real passion for the material. The show takes off after an uninspired first episode and spends the rest of its runtime on a story that, while not particularly original, is made incredibly watchable by virtue of its compelling characters and detailed setting. Let’s get into it.
“Jesus Christ,” asks the audience, “Is he finally starting the fucking review?”
I can’t have been the only one to watch Edgerunners and come away with the sense that its story treads much of the same ground that 2077’s does. Maybe the term “story” isn’t entirely accurate. I feel like Edgerunners covers more of an arc, following the streetwise David’s life as he chases his dream of becoming a “legend.” Either way, 2077’s main character V has an almost identical goal and faces similar struggles with the deleterious effects of technology on their body. Edgerunners’ protagonist just doesn’t have a digital version of Keanu Reeves shit-talking him from inside his own brain.
What he does have is a delightful crew of friends, a group of mercenaries and misfits who come to be his adoptive family as the series progresses. From enigmatic hacker Lucy to the massively-augmented Maine and the pint-sized murderer Becca, each member of David’s found family is distinct and likeable; there wasn’t a single character who made me want to fast-forward when they entered a scene. David’s relationship with Lucy is particularly well-handled; I don’t want to spoil much, so I’ll just say that the two feel like believable people you want to root for. I haven’t had the ol’ heartstrings tugged this hard since my last cardiac event.
Edgerunners’ references to the video game are frequent and easily spotted; that said, they aren’t particularly distracting. For example, you’ll see characters using the game’s hacking interface, or sending text messages that have the same font as those V received in 2077. The show also makes good use of selections from 2077’s soundtrack (particularly when it drops Rosa Walton & Hallie Coggins’ I Really Want to Stay at Your House, already a favorite of mine from 2077).
I watched Edgerunners’ English dub and thought the voice acting was great – although I should note that the subtitles were amusingly hit-or-miss. Characters will be talking about visiting a “ripperdoc” and the subtitles will say they’re going to the “reaper duck” or some shit. Although the image of the cast paying a visit to a winged, quacking avatar of death is funny, it’s also mildly immersion-breaking.
Visually, it’s a stunner – but you could probably tell that from the trailer. Studio Trigger does a bangup job of bringing Night City to life; the setting’s inherent contrasts – grime and crisp neon, flesh and chrome – are well-suited to the medium of anime, and Night City often looks better in Edgerunners than it ever did in 2077.
Sure, the show’s plot might be a bit predictable, and it does strike a number of the same notes as 2077’s, but there are still surprising moments from episode to episode; on top of that, Edgerunners’ other elements – the cast, visuals, setting, soundtrack, etc. – are all executed well enough to make the show worth a watch. It gets better after the first episode, I promise!
Score: 8.75/10 (+.25/-1)
[1] With the major caveat that I’d only recommend doing so on current-gen consoles or a solid gaming PC.