Stream It or Skip It?

Cyberpunk 2077: Edgerunners is a story based in the world of Night City, straight out of CD Projekt RED’s game, Cyberpunk 2077. That universe itself is based on a world created by cyberpunk legend Mike Pondsmith. This anime adaptation is the brainchild of CD Projekt RED and Studio Trigger, the anime outfit that brought us classics like Kill la Kill and Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann. This anime series features original characters not seen in the game, but the world is just as richly detailed as it would be if you were hopping back into it yourself — as well as a few surprising cameos. It’s a high-octane, neon-soaked thrill ride that has a bit of a traumatizing first episode for its protagonist that ultimately escalates into a nonstop parade of giddy violence, adolescent rage, and – you guessed it – true cyberpunk realness.

Opening Shot: The camera pulls back on a multihued city at night, eventually focusing on a man with cybernetic ocular enhancements. A series of police cars with cops talking about their shifts (and their wives) can be seen. Suddenly, someone opens fire on the men in the cars. It’s a bloodbath, and it’s ugly.

The Gist: David Martinez (Zach Aguilar) is a student at Arasaka Academy in the flashy yet corrupt Night City who lives with his mother Gloria (Gloria Garayua). David doesn’t care much for school and prefers to spend most of his time braindancing (essentially viewing interactive footage akin to VR) with discs containing “experiences” from those with cyberpsychosis — a mental illness derived from the constant replacement of body parts with cybernetics.

While David clashes with his fellow classmates, his mother works as a first responder with the medical Trauma Team division. When tragedy strikes, David comes into possession of a military-grade piece of cybernetic tech known as a Sandesvistan. He plans to use it to teach a set of bullies a lesson. But in the meantime, he’s jobless, broke, and without any future prospects. Life seems like it has no purpose for him in Night City…but he’s going to take revenge on those who wronged him on the way to get to this lowly state, that’s for sure.

What Shows Will It Remind You Of? As this is a Studio Trigger anime, the parallels between shows like Gurren Lagann and Kill la Kill can’t be ignored, from top to bottom. Visually, it also resembles the more recent Trigger film, Promare. If you enjoy the studio’s other productions, there’s no doubt you’ll be on board with this one as well.

Our Take: David’s tale is one that will be familiar to stories with a down-and-out protagonist, but that just makes it easier to root for him. Seeing Night City through his eyes really illustrates just how dismal life can truly be there, even if it’s painted as the ultimate utopia by some of those who live there. It’s even easier to get into his head and root for him as the underdog than it was for protagonist V in the video game, because you know how worn down David is by everything from the very beginning. In fact, this is the story that should have been told from the start in the Cyberpunk video game.

It’s relatable, easy to digest, and you can feel for David as he’s filled with anger, hurt, and confusion – where to go next? Who’s responsible? Who will pay for the hurt he’s endured? That’s more powerful than any heist gone wrong, and a story that would have made the perfect playable set of missions. It’s also what makes this series so watchable right off the bat. That, and its impossibly cool vibes. It might be the coolest series Trigger has done yet.

Sex and Skin: There’s full-frontal nudity a few minutes into the episode with a glimpse of a woman having sex. It’s pretty quick, but it’s detailed – you can’t mistake what’s going on. It happens again later in the episode with additional nude women, who are revealed to be part of a braindance program a ripperdoc is — ahem –– enjoying alone. Also, the character Lucy (seen briefly) is wearing what looks like a thong akin to Ghost in the Shell’s Major Motoko Kusanagi.

Parting Shot: An enraged David, now fed up with the cards life has dealt him, is sick of being bullied. He takes the military-grade Sandevistan cybernetic implant to the ripperdoc he saw at the beginning of the episode and, instead of trying to sell it, demands that the doc install it so he can defend himself. He’s not going to let anyone step on him any longer.

Sleeper Star: Gloria Garayua brings warmth and understanding to Gloria Martinez, whose role is shorter than it should have been. She’s a believable concerned mother to David and wants what’s best for her son. Still, the first episode reveals she may have had some secrets as well. Garayua’s tone fits the character perfectly — and here’s hoping we see more of her again at some point for a repeat performance.

Most Pilot-y Line: “‘Bout time I chrome the f**k up,” David seethes when he bursts into his ripperdoc’s office and asks that his newfound equipment be fused to his spine. From this point forward, we know he’s never going to take being abused and mistreated by his peers lying down again. And that means plenty of action is to follow, so you’d better stay in your seat and see how it all goes down.

Our Call: STREAM IT. Cyberpunk 2077: Edgerunners is a fantastic addition to the Cyberpunk universe. Its narrative is even more engaging than the original game in certain respects, with a protagonist it’s easy to get behind and root for. It’s rife with stylistic decisions that keep it 1:1 with its source material, from the language to the in-game call system, colors and fonts included. The animation is gorgeous, dynamic, and colorful, just as in-your-face as Night City should be. And it’s a shame it wasn’t a playable story in-game, because this is the epitome of what Cyberpunk in-universe storytelling could be.

(Note: If you do watch, unless subtitles are required for your viewing, you’re best left keeping them off, as Netflix’s subs are completely inaccurate, with a good 90% of the lines incorrect in ways that completely change the meaning of a sentence. Hopefully this is a problem that’s resolved going forward, but this may be the worst case of Netflix subtitling issues seen in an anime series on the platform and that’s not an exaggeration.)

Brittany Vincent has been covering video games and tech for over a decade for publications like G4, Popular Science, Playboy, Variety, IGN, GamesRadar, Polygon, Kotaku, Maxim, GameSpot, and more. When she’s not writing or gaming, she’s collecting retro consoles and tech. Follow her on Twitter: @MolotovCupcake.