Cyberpunk: Edgerunners - Anime Review
Hello Gym N Japan Fam! Welcome to another siiiiick anime review! You may remember last month in the crunchyroll anime award winners that the anime called Cyberpunk: Edgerunners took out the title for anime of the year and as promised we thought that we would bring you a review of this anime and let you know if it is actually any good.
As always we will try to keep spoilers to a minimum but be warned we are bad at keeping things from people… Also note that this anime is definitely not one you should show your kids…
We also tend to be a little slow in watching anime in our older age, so it is honestly a great surprise that both of us managed to finish in time to write this anime review together. Jake finished the series in only 3 days, while Haydon took a little over a week to complete. It is definitely a show you could finish in a night though if you were truly invested and dedicated to the show.
Overview/synopsis
The show is a new anime and only 10 episodes long so would make it onto our list of binge worthy shows. The anime is not based on a manga, but is based on the newly released video called Cyberpunk 2077. The video game, for a bit of background context, is an open world game which on release, saw a lot of bugs and drawbacks. It released around the same time as the PS5 with a lot of promise to deliver something truly special into the gaming world. This did not happen however, but since then the game has become a lot better with an increasing gaming community.
Cyberpunk: Edgerunners, as the name suggests is set in a futuristic world where people basically implant cyberware into their bodies which can enhance them with many different characteristics, and basically endless combinations a person can get. The show is based on a character named David who is from the slums however is attending a prestigious academy called “Arasaka Academy” (a security company) with his mum doing everything she can to help David make it to the top of Arasaka.
As we learn throughout the show, having cyberware implanted into your body can have some seriously negative impacts on the body and some people basically go insane/out of control from it, essentially like metal poisoning. The story starts off relatively normal but snowballs into a massive climax at the end.
MAL Rating
This show was released in one hit (which is great for binge watchers) in September 2022 by Netflix.
The rating on MAL is super high! With a massive 8.61 and ranked 79th of greatest anime of all time. Also note that pretty much anything over 8 is usually guaranteed to be good soooooo.
Animation
Trigger.. No need to say anything more… Honestly they couldn't have picked a better animation company to create this because they honestly nailed it with the colours, crispy fight scenes and well animated gore. Trigger is known for their colourful work, so with cyberpunk being set in the future, full of lights and cyberware, they were the perfect company to launch into this series.
Usually I (Haydon) find that bright colours are a little overwhelming, however, I found that this animation was awesome and did not miss a beat. It showed everything it needed to, built the world perfectly and made us want to live there… kind of..
Character Development
As we have already mentioned, the show is only 10 episodes, with a clear beginning and ending. And as such, the pacing of the show is extremely fast. The character development however doesn’t miss a beat. With all the time skips and changing of pace super quickly in the first few episodes, we all still fall in love with the 2 main characters as their love draws us in, in a very weird way. I would however say, there is less emotional attachment to the characters with the show being so short and fast paced.
Within the short 10 episodes you begin to realise the real danger that is faced within this futuristic world. This world is absolutely brutal and the moral of this story is that if you become obsessed with modifications that it will likely consume you even if you think you are special...
Fights
Fights, it is what we all want to see right? Imagine a show with fight scenes in every episode. Yep, you have got that right here. The fight scenes ramp up to being more and more intense and insane as the show progresses. The fight scenes vary also, from fighting in small places, with fists, with guns, you name it. As you can imagine with all the sick tech involved with being based in the future - these fights get insane with some creative fights and deaths. Within each episode you honestly don't know what is going to happen next, will it be a fight scene out of nowhere or?
Anime Pacing
For me (Haydon) at times I found that it was a little hard to follow/ understand, but I did get there in the end. Sometimes I felt like they didn't explain some key things which I kinda had to just guess.. I can only assume that those that have played the game would completely understand everything that happens in this show.
Opening/Closing Themes
The opening theme was one of the nominees for best opening theme. It was actually in the top charts for a while believe it or not. I would love to know the budget they had for making this anime, because so many elements of it were incredible.
The ending theme…I (Jake) did not even listen to once.
Overall Enjoyment / our rating
Overall I (Jake) found the show to be very interesting and unique. Studio Trigger is always a studio I love to watch because of their unique colours and animation style. The story was very compelling and I liked the short episodes. I would say if they did explain a little more as Haydon said or maybe had slightly smaller time skips, flash backs, something to explain the story a little bit more, then I would be more attached to the main characters. But nonetheless I thoroughly enjoyed it and would recommend it to anyone over the age of 16.
RATING: 8/10
Until next week!! Byeeee
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