Cyberpunk Edgerunners is a Masterpiece

The newest anime to hit Netflix comes from Studio Trigger and is a return to the world of Night City and CD Project Reds latest video game, Cyberpunk 2077. The show starts you off in 2076, just one year before the events of the video game with David Martinez and his everyday life with attending Arasaka Academy and his struggles with trying to scrounge up enough eddies (the world’s currency) so he and his mother can survive. David eventually encounters some Edgerunners, which is the Night City equivalent of mercenaries and joins up with them in hopes of getting rich and becoming a Night City legend.

Studio Trigger NAILS the aesthetic of Night City and Cyberpunk 2077. Their traditional hyper-aggressive, violent, fast pace animation style feels like it was made for the world of Night City. The story’s pace and the animation go together as the action takes up 80% of the series runtime. The world feels lived in, it feels alive, and you can feel the danger that’s around every corner. Edgerunners produces the most thematically and emotionally provoking story of any video game adaptation while providing some very intense and intriguing social commentary. Night City is as violent, cruel, bleak, and sexy as ever, and while it’s all those things, Night City is a reflection of America and an America that doesn’t seem too far off.

Edgerunners sits at ten episodes at about 25 minutes per episode, coming in at just over four hours for a full series run time. While that seems short at first, the show effectively fleshes out David and all of his friends to the point that you have an emotional attachment to every single one and feel invested in every decision they make and every mission they go on. You feel stressed when you see these characters in stressful situations, and you feel the joy of watching them make it home from these jobs with huge paydays.

I don’t want to go into too many details about the show and its characters cause I feel Edgerunners is best digested if you go in as blind as possible. There isn’t a single thing I can say that isn’t incredibly positive about this series. Cyberpunk Edgerunners is a must-watch for anyone, especially if you’re a fan of anime and even more so if you’re a fan of Cyberpunk 2077. Edgerunners isn’t just one of my favorite video game adaptations, it isn’t just one of my favorite animes, but truly one of my favorites shows ever. I can not recommend it enough, 10/10.