CYBERPUNK: EDGERUNNERS| A Passionate & Alluring Ride | Series Review
Cyberpunk: Edgerunners was released in September 2022. It is an anime based on the video game ‘Cyberpunk 2077’, released in December 2020. The game was one of the most anticipated projects of that year but did not do well among the fans.
About me, I’m not an anime fan. It’s not that I don’t like it, it’s just that I never got a chance to watch it. To be honest I started to watch edgerunners for its visuals. I knew that it was going to ace that department. But now I gotta say that it has a lot more to offer than just astonishing animation.
Story and Execution
Elements of Our Society
Edgerunner is set in 2077 in the ‘Night City’. A city like a deep abyss, full of misery, where it feels like everyone’s playing the ‘Survival of the Fittest’. The more dazzling the City looks from the outside, the uglier it is from the inside.
A city where the rich is getting richer and the poor’s situation is getting worse day by day. A city where the rich is the God and the poor is the slave. A city full of so much filth and crime and lack of mercy and emotions.
A city in which what people only care about is making more eddies (cyberpunk money) no matter what they have to do for that.
Sounds familiar?
Exactly. The Night City shows us the reality of the world. There is nothing exaggerated here. That’s how the world has become… or I guess that’s how the world has always been.
That’s what I meant when I said, “ It has a lot more to offer than just astonishing animation”. Other than all that, it also shows how different elements that are not taken seriously now are going to cost us in near future e.g. Excessive Population, Unchecked governments bullying people, and limitless use of tech by naives. And these are just some of the things that I understood which weren’t acknowledged clearly by the show.
Plot
The story revolves around ‘David Martinez’, a teenager who lives in the Night City with his mom. It shows how after his mom’s death he survives in the mudhole they call Night City and during that makes new friends, falls in love, gets cheated and deceived, and learns about life and sacrifice for the greater good.
The story teaches you about love and takes you to the edge of your emotions. Especially the last episode. And that’s the best thing about the series, it connects you to the characters in such a manner that you can truly feel their emotions.
That’s it about the plot because if I tell you anything more about the plot then it is going to be a spoiler and you do not want that right?
Characters’ Execution
No character in the series is overused or underused, and the execution and writing of the characters are fairly done. David’s madness and heartbreak, Lucy’s Distant and Cold personality, and Maine as a father figure for David were very well written. The supporting characters such as Rebecca, Pilar, Kiwi, and Dorio, were not just dangling around the plot for nothing.
Though Rebecca’s character, I think had a lot more potential but due to the story arc, they couldn’t show much of it. This is the only negative point of the series that I felt.
Animation
There’s one thing about anime that I love so much, it’s that the cinematography can never be bad. Below are some of my favorite shots from Edgerunners.
Music
The music of edgerunners was like a guilty pleasure for me. There were many scenes that I watched again and again just because of the music. Whether it’s the action sequences or dramatic scenes, I couldn’t help but appreciate their music choices for the scenes every time I watched them.
Even during the conversations, there was music playing in the background that gave the scenes a strange (in a good way) vibe. Some of my favorite songs were:
- Niewazne.
- Let You Down.
- I Really Want to Stay at Your House
Why You Should Watch it?
- Stunning and Splashy visuals.
- Great dulcet music.
- A story that takes you on a passionate & emotional ride.
