After a less than flawless audition, David has been
accepted as a member of Maines crew of Edgerunners. Now training with the best and most totally
insane crew on the street, David learns what it means to be a true
Cyberpunk. As he hones his skills and
grows closer to Lucy, David also learns that there’s a price to be paid for
pushing the limits of what advanced tech can offer. And when jobs go bad, it’s the Edgerunners
that pay the price. In the end, is this
the life David wants and if it isn’t can he get out of it alive?
Cyberpunk: Edgerunners continues at full speed ahead and
forget the concept of brakes because there really aren’t any.
Over the span of three episodes we watched
David reach new heights with Maine and the crew before sending him straight
back to rock bottom by the time we got to the emotional climax.
I have not clue how theyre going to wrap
everything up on Friday but I think I should prepare my heart for more
aching.
It just goes to show that a lot
of thought has gone into the creation of this series and the characters
populating it.
I’m still not enticed to
play Cyberpunk 2077 but I’m fully invested in the fate of the Edgerunners…or
what’s left of them now.
David got a nice little Rocky-esque training montage once
he gained full membership to the crew.
We got to see him learn how to fight, shoot, drive, hack and continue to
master is Sandevistan and he got to do so by spending time with every member of
the team.
Of course Lucy and Maine had
prominent positions in this montage with Maine trying to push David towards
Lucy and Lucy herself slowly coming around to actually liking David.
The other members had their time with our
hero with the brother/sister duo of Pilar and Rebecca stealing the show with
their foul mouthed and hyperactive mentoring.
Rebecca in particular stood out with her proficiency with firearms and
her cute and unique character design.
If
nothing else, it already makes me wish Edgerunners was longer than 10 episodes
because a lot of what we saw in these training bits looked like they could be
fun stand alone episodes themselves as we saw David and the crew pull more
heists and duke it out with rival gangs in more spectacular shootouts.
It made me want to spend more time with this
team, especially considering what came next.
I’m surprised they decided to start offing members of
Maine’s crew so fast but cudos to the writers, each death had both shock value
and a sense of heaviness.
It helps that
each demise tied into the theme of this set which was looking at the dark side
of being an Edgerunner, or just being a citizen in general in Night City.
It’s something we’ve seen in other cyberpunk
Anime like Ghost in the Shell, the cost of utilizing too much tech to make
yourself stronger, faster and more than human.
For Edgerunners, it’s Cyberpsychosis, when you reach a point where your
tech overruns your brain and turns you into a homicidal rage monster.
We saw this in the very first episode with
the previous owner of David’s Sadevistan unit but here we got to see it affect
members of the crew directly and put David on notice about the tech he’s got
lodged into his spine.
Pilar being the
first to get bumped off set the tone nicely as it was sudden, brutal and, like
I said, completely unexpected, especially so soon.
But it was the demise of Maine that hit even
harder.
The strong and fun mentor to
David finally had all of the tech he’d pumped into his body catch up and his
inability to slow down and back off on his advancements cost him two members of
his crew, including his own girlfriend.
Not sure if Kiwi is totally off the board but Dorio sure is, as is Maine
himself.
Let’s just say that the end of
this set in Episode 6 has left me needing to take a mini break before going
into the last stretch of this show because it was an emotional hammer.
While David got to see the dark side of Edgerunning, he
did come into his own a bit more being around this crew that has become the
family he thought he’d never find again.
Of course, the strongest bond he has amongst his teammates is with Lucy
and Maine but let’s just focus on Lucy.
The sexy and alluring hacker finally opened up more to David and
professed her feelings for him and how much she wanted to see him survive this
hellscape of a city.
Again, the
animation and music selection perfectly complimented their big scenes together,
man this soundtrack rocks.
But things
got more emotional and messy once they finally hooked up, with both going to
great extremes to help one another when things got really rough.
There’s also the slight elephant in the room
that is “secrets”.
The Arasaka Exec the
crew took captive planted the seed in David’s head that the Edgerunners might
not be the family he thinks they are while Lucy is hinting she might know more
than she’s telling David about a tight lipped topic.
These revelations did come about at a bad
time during Maine and Dorio’s last stand so its not like anyone was going to
reveal full truths right there and then.
It does, however, add an extra layer of tragedy to the proceedings and
puts David and Lucy square in the Doomed Lovers trope for the final four
episodes.
For all of the flashy and beyond gorey action and the fun
characters, I am still a little lost on what the Edgerunenrs are trying to do
for Faraday.
Is he looking to pull off a
coup at Arasaka and take power for his own?
He’s made one Exec the exclusive target of the team, Tanaka, who’s also
the one who admitted to David that he rescinded David’s expulsion from school
so he could continue there…did I also mention he’s the father of the kid David rightfully
decked, hence his expulsion?
While the
fear of David going Cyberpsycho is a real possibility, Arasaka knows he’s been
using the Standevistan without doing so and believe he is a viable candidate
for…something and thus they have a vested interest in David.
Point is, 6/10 episodes in and a lot of
questions are still around, but mostly about where this show is heading in the
long run.
I know this is a stand alone
project but I cant help but feel like 10 episodes might not be enough to answer
everything.
Then again, I’ve been so
entertained by the animation and action and enthralled with the characters I
haven’t considered holding this against Edgerunners at all.
This is a great series so far and I cant wait
to see what final challenges await David and Lucy and what’s left of their
dwindling crew.
Also is Rebecca coming
back?
I know I said Kiwi’s fate is kind
of up in the air but she is very much alive and could still help the duo
somehow.
This set saw David’s new family reduced in horrible fashions
and he gained plenty of insight as to the fate that awaits him if he takes
things too far, too fast.
We’ve gone
from all out crazy action to dramatic cautionary tale in a span of three
episodes and Edgerunners hasn’t lost its edge as a result.
It’s still thrilling, still haunting, still
living up to the hype as one of the best Video Game adaptations out there.
Only one challenge remains: sticking the
landing.
I’m just gonna take a second to
recover emotionally before diving into the final four episodes.
The Series Finale of Cyberpunk: Edgerunners
drops Friday right here at the Gundam Anime Corner.
See ya then.
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