Cyberpunk: Edgerunners

Cyberpunk: Edgerunners is a ten-episode anime made by Studio Trigger together with CD Projekt Red, the Polish company behind the video game Cyberpunk 2077. Hiroyuki Imaishi directed it, and Netflix released all of the episodes on September 13, 2022. You do not need to play the game to follow it. The show tells its own complete story, set in the same world.

The story takes place in Night City, a huge city in California, in the years 2075 and 2076. Giant companies, called megacorporations, run almost everything here. The two biggest are Arasaka and Militech. Most people are poor, crime is everywhere, and many people put machine parts into their bodies. These parts are called cyberware. They can make you faster, stronger, or smarter, but they cost a lot of money. Too much cyberware can also break your mind. People call this danger cyberpsychosis.

The hero is David Martinez, a teenage boy who studies at the expensive Arasaka Academy. His mother Gloria, a paramedic, works very hard to pay for his school, and the two of them never have enough money. After a terrible event changes his life, David ends up with a powerful military implant. He soon learns something rare about himself: his body can handle much more cyberware than a normal person. With nowhere else to go, he joins a crew of edgerunners. An edgerunner is a hired outlaw who takes risky, illegal jobs for money, often against the big companies.

The crew becomes David's new family. Its leader is Maine, a big, tough man who takes David under his wing. Dorio is Maine's partner and second-in-command. Kiwi is a calm, quiet hacker. Rebecca is a small but wild fighter who loves guns, and her brother Pilar is the team's tech expert. Falco drives the getaway car. The most important person in David's new life is Lucy, a young netrunner, which means a hacker who moves through computer networks with her mind. Lucy has a secret past, and she dreams of one day leaving Earth and living on the Moon. The bond between David and Lucy is at the heart of the show.

The series is fast, loud, and very colorful, in the bold style Trigger is famous for. It also has a strong sad side. It asks how far a person should push their body to protect the people they love, and what that choice costs. The show has a lot of violence and blood, so it is meant for older viewers. The music adds to the mood. Akira Yamaoka wrote the score, Franz Ferdinand sings the opening song, "This Fffire," and Dawid Podsiadlo sings the ending song, "Let You Down."

Edgerunners was a big hit. It entered Netflix's top ten in its first week and got very strong reviews from critics. It won Anime of the Year at the Crunchyroll Anime Awards, and it also helped bring many new players to the Cyberpunk 2077 game. A separate sequel with a new story and new characters, Cyberpunk: Edgerunners 2, has also been announced for Netflix.