'Cyberpunk: Edgerunners' by Studio Trigger Review: Cyberpunk done right for once

At first I was completely uninterested in the Cyberpunk anime upon its announcement, for me all expectations were completely lowered and I had little interest in even following the production let alone watching the show due to the sheer disappointment that was met with the Cyberpunk 2077 video game release. Not to forget the video game industry's strange attempts to enter the world of cinema throughout the decades only to produce these weird films and television shows which just do not translate well at all for multiple reasons: they try to maintain the attention of the video game's existing fanbase. They utilise stories and events and character traits that fit into the video games but are shoehorned in again to attempt to please existing fans. There is often this disconnect between filmmakers and video game developers, though the two would forever attempt to cross lines without much experience.

Though recently it appears that some studios are starting to learn from their prior mistakes, and are perhaps starting to provide a bit more creative control to the studios that handle their property, and thus the characters and stories that may be told within those worlds. Though as expected, in Cyberpunk: Edgerunners' case, CD Projekt Red still attempted to control things they probably should have left alone, and thankfully to the understanding talent that resides within Studio Trigger, their decisions remained final and CD Projekt Red told to, well, kindly look elsewhere and let them get things done. Behind closed doors it is certainly clear that this anime based within CD Projekt Red's Cyberpunk 2077 game world could have been a completely different story, and highly likely would have been a flop.

It brings me some joy to say that Cyberpunk: Edgerunners was a great, but very short ride. Where my expectations were nonexistent and my surprise grew at an exponential rate with each episode, as the expected errors never really came. Especially in regards to the Netflix branding that came with the production. I am familiar with Studio Trigger's prior anime works, and I know roughly what to expect from the way they tell stories and the animation quality that comes with it; I just did not expect them to get the creative control they clearly insisted on having. Though while Studio Trigger has made shows in the past that detail certain cyberpunk genre elements, I was not sure if they could pull of some hard cyberpunk, something more true to that of Gibson's writings that I thoroughly enjoy.

Cyberpunk: Edgerunners

In typical Studio Trigger fashion, the Cyberpunk: Edgerunners show follows a relatively young set of characters that are caught up in a much greater scheme of things. A world, a city in this case, that is full of corruption that eats away at the core of every person within it. Where greed is found in every corner as everyone fights to get a piece of fame and cash; perhaps just for a better life, or for drugs and better technological advancements on their own bodies. Night City is a ruthless, seemingly lawless land that does not care for you one bit, and this jungle is one in which the characters roam throughout on their own, even if they do stick relatively tightly to groups that offer some community and protection. Though in the case of greed, megacorporations, drugs, high technology and military grade software, nobody really has your back.

Studio Trigger places us in the view of a teenage protagonist named David Martinez. Usually I would say that an adult group of characters would have been preferable, but Studio Trigger looks at Night City and sees how using a young cast can display the hardships that are faced from within the city as even the youth roam its streets and verticality as lost souls. How people of any background and age are found trying to scale the ladder to profit and success and how regardless of those things, somebody will try to stop you if you poke around in certain areas a little too much. These are some solid cyberpunk genre themes in which it does not take much for someone oblivious to end up in a spiral of mayhem from simple actions. I had memories of reading William Gibson's Count Zero in which the story follows a young wannabe hacker that finds himself in a world of chaos and far out of his own depth, discovering how a few actions that aren't even his fault can have catastrophic outcomes and lead to a much bigger picture.

There is certainly a lot of influence from Gibson's writings within Studio Trigger's own character design and narrative pursuit. Though some of this is even reflected in the video game, much of the anime takes influence from more traditional cyberpunk creations when it comes to narrative primarily. With just ten short episodes, Cyberpunk: Edgerunners shows the corruption of this society as it corrupts even the youthful and the innocent. David gets his call to action and the result is him joining a gang, and with each episode him slowy losing his own mind piece by piece, as his own physical body is also replaced. The flesh becomes chrome, the mechanical and the metallic. The pursuit of strength corrupts and overwhelms our protagonist in his struggles to avenge the loss of his mother, only to fall into the same awful lifestyle as those he detests.

In just these ten short episodes the writing allows us to quickly love these characters. We are given many reasons to enjoy their presence, more so due to their youthful appearances and struggles established prior. They seek community within each other despite knowing that their trust is never fully mutual. It shows us how the city corrodes people's trust and turns them against each other. Utilising many cyberpunk themes throughout to detail it and give it all a bit of extra padding. Of which are incredibly well thought. The animation really provides beautiful cyberpunk visuals throughout the show, particularly in its final episode where the colours and the drawing style shifts a little; the show surprised me the most there, though I will not go into what precisely happens to avoid spoilers in this post.

Studio Triggers animation quality is usually pretty good, but Cyberpunk: Edgerunners was faithful enough to the idea of a cyberpunk world that I found myself in awe at parts. Some frames, environments with their lighting, and close-up gritty sketch-like features were stunning. Focusing heavily on the transhumanist aspects that the story heavily surrounds itself with. Though in some parts I do feel it could have been a bit better. But these were often the lazier moments in which such attention to detail was not really necessary or the main focus within the narrative. Though parts with vehicles lost me slightly, particularly in one episode which featured cars crashing. It was almost like a joke directed at the video game's terrible quality and poor car mechanics, where vehicles had little weight and just bounced around with no real damage taken.

At first I didn't enjoy the music within the show, I felt it often didn't feel like it was fitting, but it soon grew on me. I found it quite interesting that two of the songs are created by people that are actually incredibly close to me, one of which went to the same college as I did. Perhaps knowing this great production on a global scale utilised music made by some people in the East of England was a surprise enough to make me appreciate it, or perhaps the ways in which this recycled set of songs were used were done in a meaningful and orchestrated manner that they appealed to me more alongside the events that unfolded.

Studio Trigger Creativity

I genuinely do not believe that the show would have had the same success it has without Studio Trigger. Their animation and attention to detail through creative styles and directing are what propelled Cyberpunk: Edgerunners into a higher level. The use of creative perspectives and refusal to accept mediocrity when it comes to moments of nudity and gore only amplified the harsh reality of Night City where technology is placed higher than flesh. And the result is a meat grinder during moments of high action. I read that one character was requested to be removed in early production by CD Projekt Red, which just shows how much talent went into creating this show that wasn't at the hands of CD Projekt Red themselves. It shows that these video game companies that want to get into the world of cinema and streaming services should understand that they need to step back sometimes and let someone else take the reigns. Because Studio Trigger did in this case, and they came through.

Though of course that will never always be the case. But Cyberpunk: Edgerunners' success is entirely due to their part. Understanding the world of animation but also the themes to present. Far exceeding anything that CD Projekt Red did with their sad excuse of a video game. The anime handled a wonderful balance of style and substance by utilising this shorter number of episodes. It never felt like any episode was out of place or not needed, each one provided depth into characters and contributed to the world and series of events that were to come. Nothing was where it should not be, and I love it for that. Some may think it was too short, but in my case, I think it knew how long to stick around for, what to do with the time it had, and how to give it all a great ending.

Cyberpunk: Edgerunners was a cyberpunk show done right for once. Which is something I feel is rare to say these days as few entries come around and the few that do rarely manage to understand and present its themes with much significance or lasting impression. Thankfully Netflix had pretty much no creative control here too, otherwise again this would have likely been a disaster.

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