In the dystopian world of Night City, advanced
cybernetics can make you become whoever you’ve longed to be or make any twisted
fantasy come to life. For David
Martinez, it’s a life beyond the cushy confines of his pricey prep school. When tragedy strikes, David finds himself
broke and without a family. All he has
is an experimental piece of tech that few can identify. Striking out on his own, David crosses paths
with a beautiful theif, Lucy, who introduces him to the underground world of
violence, desire and chaos, a place where David can find his own dream and make
it reality. It’s here David can join the
ranks of his idols, the Edgerunners, better known as Cyberpunks.
No matter it’s current game state, Cyberpunk 2077 will
forever be mostly associated with its disastrous launch back in 2020.
After years of hype and build up, the
dystopian scifi shooter arrived to a massive amount of technical performance
issues, game breaking and meme spawning bugs and a general feeling of being
unfinished…which it was for past gen consoles (apparently it’s much better on
current gen though).
It’s not the first
time a game’s been released like this but it’s one of the more high profile
cases.
As such, I haven’t even bothered
to touch it, even if it’s a game right up my alley.
Just as well, when I heard there was a
Cyberpunk Anime coming, I wasn’t interested.
But then I saw some of the initial ads and noticed the animation.
This didn’t look like just another half assed
Netflix CG Anime project.
No, the studio
working with Netflix on this one is none other than Studio Trigger.
THAT alone got me interested, enough to do a
first impression.
And you know
what?
It’s not half bad, maybe Cyberpunk
2077 would work better as an Anime than a game after all.
Trigger is a perfect fit for a world as crazy and over
the top as Cyberpunk 2077 because they’ve made their mark on the Anime world by
being just that.
Kill La Kill, Promare,
and yes (for better or worse) Darling in the Franxx, Trigger is all about
vibrant spectacle and mind bending action sequences.
The first few minutes of Edgerunners
exemplifies this with David watching a murderous cyborgs one man army slaughter
of a police squad (kind of reminds me of the tech from the 90s Cyberpunk film
Strange Days, good movie btw).
Slow
motion, blades and guns, blood and dismemberments, Trigger’s going for broke on
this one and I dare say Cyberpunk: Edgerunners might be their most violent and
mature offering to date. All of the stuff you’ve heard about Cyberpunk’s world
is on display from the various cybernetic appendages to the weaponry, the sexy
girls and the graphic sex scenes…yeah Little Witch Academia this Anime is not.
The sad story of David reminds me a bit of Terry McGinnes
from Batman Beyond, the two even sharing their own futuristic story
setting.
He doesn’t fit in and isn’t
sure what he wants to be but he doesn’t want to be a corporate big wig.
Both characters also share the tragic loss of
their parents and I’m curious when exactly David will devote his time to tracking
down whoever senselessly slaughtered his mother and unleash his new found super
speed, super strength enhancing might on them.
Of course, it wouldn’t be a Trigger Anime without a resident Hot Girl to
join in the fun and that hot girl is Lucy.
Stylish, sexy and crazy as heck, Lucy is a thrill seeker with big dreams
who could either be the best thing to happen to David or the bombshell that
leads to a short life as an Edgerunner.
Either way, Lucy is gorgeous and grabs your attention from her very
first appearance…while admittedly, David’s design is kind of a Trigger default,
looking like another cousin of Promare’s Galo or Gurren Laggan’s Kamina.
I’ll be honest, I wasn’t expecting to give this Anime a
shot but I might have to keep watching.
The first two episodes are well paced, expertly animated and make me
genuinely interested in a world I’d written off due to the video games bad
reputation, and having Trigger be part of that equation helps a lot too.
So yeah, I’m gonna do something I never
thought I’d do…I’m gonna actually continue on with Cyberpunk: Edgerunners.
It’s only 10 episodes so it should go by
pretty quickly and who knows, one way or another this might find its way into
my review queue in the future (maybe even later in the year but that’s always
TBD).
Does this make me want to give the
game a try?
No, even if I eventually get
a next gen console there’s tons of other games I want to play first.
But if more Cyberpunk Anime looks as cool as
the first couple episodes of Edgerunners, I’ll look forward to an extended stay
in Night City.
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