Cyberpunk: Edgerunners (Season One)
David’s life spiralled out of control when his mother died. Desperate to exact revenge on his tormentors, he implants a cyberwar device that grants him superhuman speed, although he had no idea where it would take him!
Cyberpunk: Edgerunners (Season One)
What did you watch?
You would have had to have been living under a rock to not hear about Cyberpunk: Edgerunners since it has been getting quite a bit of recognition. Crunchyroll even awarded anime of the year for 2022. When I first started watching anime everything was cyberpunk. There was Ghost in the Shell, Genocyber, AD Police, and many more. As such, I have a lot of fond memories of these sorts of shows, so when Cyberpunk: Edgerunners was released, I knew I had to watch it. There will be spoilers so if you haven’t seen it, I would recommend doing that before reading any further. You have been warned!
What happened?
David’s mother had moved Heaven and Earth to get him into the Arasaka academy where he could make a name for himself and attain a higher social standing than she had been able to get them. However, he didn’t fit in with the other rich kids. His tech was out of date and keeping his uniform clean was a problem as they often ran out of credits. In an effort to keep up, David got some bootleg software from the guy he peddles Brain Dances for, Ripperdoc. Unfortunately, the bootleg software crashed the system and David’s mother was called in.
They recommended that David join another school, but she was determined he would stay. On the way home, she explained to David why she did what she did. He apologised and promised to try harder. Then, their car was caught in the crossfire as a gang attacked their target. David’s mother died as a result of her injuries and their lack of insurance, leaving him alone in the world. He found an implant that his mother had hidden away and asked Ripperdoc to install it. He was going to make sure those that had written him off would remember him…whatever it takes!
What did you think?
This series was excellent. I’m not sure it’s my anime of 2022, but it’s definitely up there. The first half of the season was incredible and did a great job of setting up the world and the problems that David faced. It left me coming up with all sorts of crazy theories and possibilities for how the series might end. Then, between the sixth and seventh episodes they had a time skip. That left me disconnected from the characters and made understanding their decisions that much harder. It didn’t ruin it, but it took a stunning series and knocked it down a couple of pegs. This could have been incredible, but I think the second half of the season didn’t maintain the energy the first half had built up.
What was your favourite moment?
I loved episode four. It showed David completing various roles for the gang and slowly becoming an integral and loved member. For a number of smaller scenes mashed together, it really pulled everything together and showed David getting happier and happier. He’d found his family. It was a place he was comfortable and could speak his mind. They appreciated him and the skills he brought to the table. Of course, it was all a precursor to things going horribly wrong, but then that just made that moment that much more intense.
It’s sad that this was how far he had to fall before he could find himself and the people that wanted and needed him. The scene where the guy with cyber-psychosis killed Pilar had been sign-posted throughout the episode but it was still incredible. We got to see the highs and the lows in this episode, painting a beautiful yet stark image of the reality of Night City.
What was your least favourite moment?
The time skip! This is a ten-episode season so while I can see that they wanted to get things to a certain point to end how they did, it did a massive disservice to the characters. As such their actions stopped being believable. Maybe, if we had seen how they got to the decisions that led them on, it would have made more sense. This was easily my biggest disappointment with the show.
Who was your favourite character?
Pre-time skip David was definitely my favourite character. After the time skip he became someone else who did what the plot wanted him to do and not what would have seemed natural for the character to do. I also loved Lucy and was gutted that she didn’t get the happily ever after that she deserved. Or at least the chance to see the moon with David. That final scene was very sad. I also had a soft spot for Rebecca. She was crazy and tonnes of fun.
Who was your least favourite character?
I really didn’t care for Pilar but then I don’t think he’s supposed to be that likeable. Other than him, I felt like Kurosaki was a wasted character. When he died, it made me wonder if the whole thing was just a Brain Dance and if we were being fooled into believing it was real. It wasn’t and Kurosaki just died chuckling to himself about something we’ll never understand.
Would you like some more?
I am always open to more cyberpunk and more stories in the same world would be fantastic. I love so many elements of this genre. Firstly, there are the visuals which are generally clean and bright with neon colours and glistening chrome. Of course, that’s all just a veneer that is masking the brutal and harsh reality of people augmenting their bodies. I love the philosophical implications that come with it too about what is life and what it means to be human. This genre can tackle almost any topic with style so, yes, give me much more cyberpunk. Feed it directly into my brain if possible!
What have you learnt?
I knew I hated time skips and this series really drove that point home. I am thankful that it helped me to see why I hate them, but maybe I would have rather not known. I’m a big believer that the character is king. If you get the characters right, the audience will care about them no matter what they do. If you make their motivations consistent and are able to show what might influence them to change, then the audience will follow them anywhere. Plot can’t do that. It doesn’t grow or change in the same way a character does. You can’t connect to the audience with the plot.
As soon as the plot starts making decisions for the characters, you will lose people. They might not walk away completely, but they won’t be as invested in the characters and that’s not a good thing. If they stop caring about the character you can bet the impact of anything that happens to them will be lessened. If pre-time skip David had died, I would have been gutted whereas the ending was well done, I just didn’t care as much. That just isn’t fair to the characters.
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