Cyberpunk: Edgerunners 2 will be released October 20 on Netflix.
Cyberpunk: Edgerunners felt like a revelation. Like Castlevania and Arcane before it, the series delivered a stunning video game adaptation that told an original story with memorable characters rather than trying to forcefully redo the game’s storyline, all while still very much feeling like a part of its source material’s world. Add in a phenomenal soundtrack and Hiroyuki Imaishi’s striking visual flare, and you have one of the best sci-fi animé series of all time.
Now we’re back in Night City for a new standalone sequel in the larger Cyberpunk universe, though Edgerunners 2 does tie into the story of David Martinez from the first 10-episode series in key ways while also connecting to the main story of Cyberpunk 2077. No, you don’t need to have experienced either to enjoy this new story, but it does pay off to know more about the world of Night City.
From the get-go, Edgerunners 2 tries to do things differently than its predecessor. Rather than focusing on one character experiencing the horrors of Night City, we follow multiple characters and storylines. We mostly see the action through the eyes of two of them: The first is Weak Kingsley, an edgerunner who survives going cyberpsycho early on and has his chrome downgraded (again, this makes more sense if you know the world). Aimless and struggling to adjust to his new reality, Kingsley gets involved in the story when he’s asked by an old flame to rescue a young girl named Talia from the Maelstrom — a cult obsessed with body modifications and leaving their humanity behind. Then we have Roman Carax, a 12-year-old kid and amateur filmmaker with a disdain for the crudeness of braindances (watching someone’s memories from their point-of-view) and an obsession with old-school cinema and analog filmmaking. Roman gets involved when he takes a job making a video of the Maelstrom in exchange for a 35mm camera.
Roman spending the entire series documenting the action with his camera gives Edgerunners 2 a ’90s anime feel, often appearing moody and gritty to match the darkness and violence of the story. Director Kai Ikarashi keeps the expressionistic aesthetic, bright colors, and sharp angles of the first series while adding his own flair to this follow-up. Particularly striking is the constant change of art style, both to reflect the psyche of certain characters or to show how technology impacts how they view the world. There’s a penchant for minimalistic visuals, highlighting shadows and silhouettes, that makes this sequel stand out from the already dazzling first series and creates an aesthetic of its own.
Edgerunners 2 also trades the class warfare themes of the first series — with its indictment of Night City’s hyper-capitalism and its tragic underdog story of desperate people — for a story about corporations purposely messing with people’s lives for their own gain and even working with gangs to destroy communities. It’s a different approach for sure, with the sequel series favoring plotting and world-building over the more emotional and intimate story of the first series. Unfortunately, it means the big picture takes a while to become clear and the many storylines can feel convoluted and sprawling at first. The characters come across as less relatable and fleshed out, since a big part of their development is treated as a mystery to be slowly unraveled. That being said, we still meet a memorable group of poor, unfortunate souls trying to survive in the hell that is Night City.
Even if their individual character arcs aren’t out of this world, the way they play into the overall plot of the season is thrilling to see. This is especially true of the way the season works in the story of the Relic and Soulkiller from Cyberpunk 2077. It serves to greatly expand the world of Edgerunners, making it feel like the story we’re following in the episodes is but a small chapter in a much larger saga of the city. When the storylines finally merge, it’s quite satisfying to see the larger picture come alive as the action gets bigger and takes on a bit of an Akira inspiration, with full-on body horror on display. It’s no surprise that the violence is a highlight of Edgerunners 2, but it can still be surprising to see how Studio Trigger comes up with new ways to make bodies explode on screen without feeling repetitive.