Edgerunners Season 1 A fantastic neon-filled anime

Edgerunners is a cyberpunk novel that has nothing to do with being as good as it is. Edgerunners expands upon the concepts and ideas of Night City and fleshes them out in high-octane, pounding 10-episode animation. The show takes cues from Cyberpunk 2077, which served as the primary source of inspiration. Edgerunners is a lot of fun from start to finish thanks to its extensive character development, copious bloodshed and graphic violence.

The first few episodes do a good job of setting the stage for the rest of the show by introducing us to a homeless youth named David. His mother, Gloria, worked excessive hours, ultimately leading to her untimely death in a car accident. Struggling with losses and a victim of bullying, David decides to get implants to improve his looks. However, these implants were taken from a schizophrenic man named James Norris, and there is a risk that David could take on some of James’ psychotic traits because he has them.

But before all of this happens, David is introduced to Lucy and the rest of her crew. They want David to have the implant put in himself, but David is willing to make a deal with them and has decided to work job at a time to pay them back. The television show transitions into a more episodic framework as the Maine monster watches over the gang and David learns the ropes, is coached by Lucy, and gets to know the rest of the group while taking out targets along the way. After that, during the final mission, which spans a couple of explosive, high-action episodes, it all comes together to bring the story to a satisfying conclusion.

Edgerunners’ visual presentation is truly stunning, drawing heavily on the video game’s inspirations while also incorporating shots from the year 2077 into the anime. In contrast to the game, which felt empty and hollow at times, everything in this setting feels painstakingly created from the ground up. Here, Night City is a beating, breathing cyberpunk metropolis. The streets also have a recognizable touch of neon and are occupied by a variety of characters. The dark underbelly of this area is presented in all its brutal, sexual and violent glory.

It doesn’t matter if you’ve played Cyberpunk 2077 or not; If you’ve ever spent time in Night City, you’ll find enough to enjoy in this episode. The characters in particular are beautifully defined and there is a glaring lack of narrative armor, all of which add to the heightened tension in the story. Characters are frequently eliminated, despite the fact that both David and Lucy have a significant amount of background and dimension that is well developed throughout the novel. If there’s a big problem with that, it’s that the show is too short. It might have benefited from three or four additional episodes to help things breathe and get to know the rest of the gang. If there’s a big problem with that, then there’s a big problem here.

Though we get more information about players like Becca, Falco, and Maine, among others, most of it still feels like it’s taking a backseat to David and Lucy, who take up most of the show’s runtime. Luckily, David’s path is emotionally charged and easily deceived, making it an exciting ride despite the fact that it doesn’t have enough depth for the other characters.

The soundtrack, on the other hand, will take some getting used to as it offers an intoxicating mix of pop and sci-fi soundscapes combined. While it works very well within the show’s setting, the final tune in Episode 10 has an odd vibe, especially considering the lyrics.

Despite everything, the anime adaptation of cyberpunk titled Edgerunners is well written and a lot of fun to watch. The remarkable success Netflix has had with its animated video game adaptations continues with this series, which is a home game for the streaming service.

production and publication

On June 25, 2020, the series was introduced to the audience during a live stream for the game titled “Night City Wire”. It is produced by Studio Trigger and directed by Hiroyuki Imaishi, with Masahiko Otsuka and Yoshiki Usa writing the scripts, Yoh Yoshinari designing the characters and serving as animation director, Yuto Kaneko and Yusuke Yoshigaki serving as assistant character designers, and Hiroyuki Kaneko serving as assistant director , Hiromi Wakabayashi is serving as creative director and Akira Yamaoka is composing the music. Also, the music was first made available on Netflix on September 13, 2022. The song “This Fire” by Franz Ferdinand serves as the show’s opening theme, and “Let You Down” by Dawid Podsiado serves as the show’s closing theme.