First Impressions on 'Cyberpunk: Edgerunners: Solid cyberpunk themes thus far

I have been slowly getting back into anime as of late due to a huge hiatus from it over the years. Though recently I have been really craving animation, and with such a long break, I am realising how many great creations I have missed out on by ignoring the entire industry as a whole. Well, with good timing, Cyberpunk: Edgerunners was also just released on Netflix; I did not play the game, and was incredibly disappointed with how the game ended up being released given I am a massive fan of the cyberpunk genre itself. When I heard of an anime being released a while back, I gave it no attention, especially when the Netflix branding was also attached. This is usually a bad omen for any animation because truthfully, Netflix sucks when it comes to anime. Good productions are quite rare, and many of the existing franchises Netflix attaches its name to end up being incredibly low quality and uses ugly, modern approaches to animation. That is to say that most that I have seen are either reliant on 3D effects, or have no soul to them in the style, due to cheap budgets.

I sat down and gave Cyberpunk: Edgerunners a chance having not seen what the Internet was saying about it. Going in completely blind and expecting to shut it off within the first few minutes due to either terrible animation quality or just awful 3D designs -- did anyone watch that Ghost in the Shell show? -- though I admittedly was hooked very early. The show so far definitely has some weaknesses in my view, but I have been interested enough to stick with the show and see what happens. I feel the show is pretty good, though this is most likely a result of CD Projekt Red itself handling most of the production with very specific decisions made that overthrew Netflix's own agendas that usually plague productions. I have to say: I am impressed. I am happy that the anime has not suffered in the same way the video game has. And I am also incredibly surprised it didn't. I expected far worse.

The first thing I noticed about Cyberpunk: Edgerunners was how it actually pays attention to multiple themes within the cyberpunk genre, something I notice many cyberpunk attempts often fail to display. The idea of transhumanism and how it changes society and our way of life. The heavy reliance on megaocorporations which control everything and everyone as the city belongs to the richest of the rich, everyone else merely being subject to various sub-cultures to find a reason to live within a community. The cyberpunk genre displays life without meaning, and how people come together with various skillsets and backgrounds to form a reliable community to survive, each pulling their own weight to try to get a piece of the pie. The transhumanism playing into the idea that our flesh and blood no longer means anything to anyone, as we become more machine and software, upgrading ourselves and removing our biggest weaknesses.

Cyberpunk: Edgerunners thus far has addressed each of these to some degree, even if done in a rather subtle manner. I quite enjoy this, given not everything needs to be explained to us in annoying aspects of exposition. The anime is made for people that know the cyberpunk genre, and perhaps are already fans of the video game or may very well be now that they have seen the anime. But it doesn't treat the show like a strong connection to the video game itself, it stands on its own quite well. And the animation style is a great sign of this. It utilises aspects of worldbuilding present already from the video game, but takes it to new heights as it displays the many parts of the world the video game fails to. Particularly evident in the anime's set of characters, of which are young and already facing the harsh capitalist ways of the city; the struggle to survive between corporate strength and the law.

I have enjoyed how the anime shows this world from the perspective of the youth, where we see their introduction to this maze of a city and its struggles for survival as they do. Discovering the hardships of getting by alone, finding ways to make money in the city through crime, diving into the complex world of upgrades to the human body, witnessing first-hand the strength and suffering it can bring to reject the flesh and thrive on silicon. It is nice to see this, especially since many attempts at the cyberpunk genre in recent years rarely dive into the important themes it holds and instead tries to appeal with the shallow idea that neon lights are the full extent of what the cyberpunk genre can offer. Anyone that has read William Gibson's short stories or Neuromancer Trilogy will know that the genre is rich in ideas that rarely get considered in other media.

Truthfully I can't say much regarding how connected the narrative and its characters are to the video game, but I would like to think that there is very little connection and we are seeing a totally unique viewpoint from characters that are totally fresh. Where their view of the world is unique to that of the characters in the video game. Whether that is the case or not, again, I cannot say. But either way: these characters do feel fresh, they are unique in their designs and thus far what they offer to the world. Which is not that surprising given the ability of the cyberpunk genre to create various characters with their own set of traits in regards to personality and performance through the upgrades received. Though we have definitely seen some of these abilities present from the video game, which is no surprise nor a weakpoint.

That said, a genuine weakpoint for me is some of the music. I have noticed it can be a bit jarring and does not quite fit the world and genre. But this is just a normal part of the modern genre now where often enough the music is more aimed at the audience rather than building the world and contributing to atmosphere and depth. But at the same time I am quite happy that they did not go the generic route of applying synthwave or something similar; I definitely dislike when cyberpunk attempts do this and fall flat by just copying the greats rather than standing out, so this weakpoint regarding music can easily be dismissed. I see the importance of it doing something different.

The cyberpunk genre allows for a wide range of colours and style as it portrays a gritty world full of artificial colours and ideas that propel the idea of personality and customisation in regards to the body. Where hair colours and styles go the extreme, as does the architecture of megaocorporations and low quality lifestyles of the poor and less fortunate. The anime so far does a great job at showing all of this, and ensures it does not rely too much on style over substance. Fortunately, so far, there is plenty of substance in the show, through its addressing of various themes that fortunately don't overstay their welcome, as well as the styles and animation of its characters and action sequences. The colourful and the beautiful are still met with the dark and the dull. We see the clear contrast in high-tech living as well as low-quality living in alleyways and dingy apartment complexes. There's a good combination of the bright and the dark.

The narrative so far that I have seen is slow, and engaging as it introduces these themes to us as well as the characters that are present from within these different backgrounds of the city. I quite like how it is taking its time so far and is not trying to do too many things at once. The good animation quality and its style are reflective of attention to detail, and there's no reduction in quality when it comes to the most intense and engaging scenes with lost of movement and colour. Though you will notice the typical anime trait of faceless characters when it comes to showing a broader picture regarding the world and its surroundings, where the faces are not really the focus and thus ignored entirely. But this again is just an aspect of the anime industry that is present in most productions these days and not specific or reflective of Cyberpunk: Edgerunners' quality.

I really like how things are going at the moment, and I definitely intend to stick around and see where this goes. I am incredibly impressed and surprised at the quality of this anime, given I absolutely expected the worst. Particularly as mentioned above that the video game was a massive failure in regards to quality; perhaps not to sales somehow. Though perhaps the great reception and quality of Cyberpunk: Edgerunners now might just result in some ripple effect where momentum is gained and the game too sees some interest and funds in fixing it a bit faster. Though in my case: CD Projekt Red's Cyberpunk is just Cyberpunk: Edgerunners. I'm happy to watch this and move on from that franchise with the way this show is going.