Cyberpunk: Edgerunners is a Work of Art

This year so far has been one that's shown a great number of impressive animes spread across the three seasons that's passed, and looking at the lineup of October, the Fall season looked to undoubtedly be the season that packs the most punch this year.

Well Christmas came early, and the earliest Fall 2022 new anime release, Cyberpunk: Edgerunners, the Netflix original anime adaptation of the hit video game "Cyberpunk 2077" animated by Studio Trigger, was nothing short of spectacular.

Given that this is an adaptation of a popular video game, animated by a beloved studio and streaming on the biggest network, expectations for this piece of work were considerably high, and room for curiosity was created from the fact that despite it's cyberpunk origins, this is an anime original story.

Set in a dystopian world filled with corruption and crime, facilitated with the existence of futuristic weaponry, primarily, lethal cybernetic implants, the story follows the life of David Martinez, a smart teenager who's eccentricies got him out of school and into a life of crime, joining a gang of advanced mercenaries known as Cyberpunks or Edgerunners.

The production quality is simply groundbreaking in every aspect.

At the helm of this amazing piece of work was director Hiroyuki Imaishi, who's blown our minds time and time again with his masterful touch in beloved series such as Neon Genesis Evangelion, Panty And Stocking, Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann, Kill La Kill, Promare and Star Wars: Visions, and he's proven just how talented he is once again with the extravagant execution of this story. Being another sci-fi anime with mechanically aided battles, it was a project well within the element of Studio Trigger and Hiroyuki, and to match the enormous budget, the amount of passion put into its animation is just incredible.

In a sci-fi show, the first thing that catches the eye of an impending viewer before the story itself is the visuals, particularly the effects, cinematography and how well the specific sci-fi world is presented as it's introduced. Every truly great sci-fi anime and TV show out there can boast of great visuals, and this is something to which Cyberpunk Edgerunners excels in literal flying colours.

From the character designs to the visual effects to the sound effects, cinematography and OSTs, all aspects of the production design just radiates perfection.

Every shot in this show is beautiful. The show fully allows you to get immersed into its world through more than just elaborate world building. At every point of the story, we're showered with these subtle displays of it's eloquent background design and luminescent imagery showcasing the technologies and concept explorations of this crazy world.

The action sequences of this show were also animated impeccably, with enough high quality backing in terms of choreography, camera manipulation and effects to get intense, brutal and extreme in a manner that's rarely seen in anime.

For an action-centric story, this is a great thing, and backed by stunning sound effects and the elegant OSTs from Akira Yamaoka, every sequence in this work hits really hard.

This is pretty much the most visually stunning new anime we've seen all year.

The characters are given authentic designs that match their widely varying roles and personalities in this show. 

The show introduces us to a body-modification obsessed world of crime and brings that world to life with a cast of colourful characters written to be as unhinged and eccentric as their roles required them to be.

Cyberpunk Edgerunners brings forth maximum visual appeal and aesthetic value to anime fans and fans of the video game, presenting itself as nothing short of a visual masterclass.

The narrative value of the show is astounding to say the least.

Telling the story of a kid who struggled with adapting to the normal life path of being educated in a prestigious academy to become a pioneer in the tech world, and after losing his mother, the one person who tied him to a normal life, he takes a dive into the dark criminal underworld in a new venture that seemed more like his calling. The journey of David Martinez from Arasaka Academy dropout to rookie outlaw to the hero of the streets is one that's as inspiring as it is entertaining. He faces a lot of character development as this quirky kid finally finds his place in this world with a new purpose, new allies and a completely different life than the one he had, finding love and crossing boundaries he never imagined he could cross in this bizzare world.

Despite it's setting primarily being an underdog story, the show masterfully separates itself from the Shounen theme through a more mature and refined application of this narrative formula. 

Aside it's Sci-fi worldbuilding, it also presents itself properly as a crime show. It emits a certain profoundness in it's storytelling that's similar to Hollywood and TV crime thrillers, not only by developing a proper criminal underworld and the shady characters in it but also being unapologetic with it's NSFW content. 

Many sequences of explicit nudity and gore that's characteristic of pop culture works of it's genre do exist a lot in this show in a manner that makes it even more different and genuine in it's tone than typical crime anime.

Another element of western crime TV which it fully embodies are the subtle moments of the story's development. Despite the plot being generally fast paced, it contains these slow scenes that allow you to feel the moment and get captivated, while also getting stunned by it's remarkable visuals, scenery and music. Amidst all the action and thrills come mature dialogues, humor and emotional character moments that make the story hit even harder. It's a show that's completely devoid of typical anime tropes and formulaic plot resolutions, and it prioritized fulfilling the aesthetics and creating a soothing ambiance for an adaptation of the sci-fi crime videogame- Cyberpunk.

While it is visually perfect, I'll refrain from giving it equal regard in terms of it's narrative given a few factors.

For one, I think David's life before the big turning point could've been given a bit more focus and the characters surrounding it as well. Particularly, his mom, Gloria was treated as nothing but a mere plot device and not a fully fleshed out character worthy of drawing empathic reaction from viewers when she passed or even as an emotional foundation to David's story.

I also think a prologue giving a brief but detailed explanation into the current state of the world would've been great. It would've served to provide clarity and guide us through the myriad of concepts early on in the show.

Finally, showing the backstories of the main side characters other than Lucy would've also contributed to make this a more character driven and perfect story.

These are just minor desires I had after finishing the show, and although the existence of these hinder Cyberpunk: Edgerunners from being 'perfect' or a 'masterpiece', the storytelling it did in it's short run was phenomenal, and these improvements would've been possible if it ran for longer than 10 episodes.

Cyberpunk: Edgerunners is an thrilling, captivating, visually breathtaking, aesthetically pleasing and immensely entertaining show that's bound to keep any and all viewers at the edge of their seat.

 I'm giving it a 9/10 as one of the best animes that's aired all year, and although it's not a masterpiece, it is a work of art.

Leave a comment of your thoughts on the anime as well as the article itself and share to your friends in need of a review.

Stay safe guys

See you in Fall.