Old-enough anime watchers will feel some sense of nostalgia stemming from the Ghost in the Shell series as they recognise Cyberpunk Edgerunners to be an anime that delves not just into the cyberpunk genre (of which one may include other titles such as Psycho-Pass), but also involves body augmentation with cybernetic enhancements. Truthfully I don’t recall watching many others (though in the middle of writing this I remembered No Guns Life), so it was a welcome dose of nostalgia but also exploration of the issues surrounding what it means for a body to be enhanced in this manner, atop a relatively typical storyline arc.
That said, I haven’t played Cyberpunk 2077, of which this anime is set in the same environment, and truthfully I haven’t explored much cyberpunk-themed media in recent years. It’s safe to say like most others this anime has made me reasonably curious about the game (no, Keanu Reeves being in it didn’t do much for me).
But before I ramble into more discussion.
Spoiler-free insights to help you decide whether you want to watch it or not
Reasons why you might enjoy watching it
Besides the usual ‘ooh cyberpunk and violent action!’
Ghost in the Shell Nostalgia
In my opinion this is the pretty obvious one for seasoned anime viewers like myself. The only caveat I’ll add here is that one of the reasons I enjoyed Ghost in the Shell was its exploration into some of the deeper issues on philosophy, identity and existence. There’s none of that in Cyberpunk Edgerunners.
Story & character writing ticks all the boxes
It’s worth pointing out that this anime is only 10 episodes long so one can understand if it feels like options were limited in terms of overall writing. However I can quite confidently say that there is a solid story arc and clear character archetypes that are adhere to.
Admittedly for some seasoned viewers who already recognise said story arcs and character archetypes might not be as enthused, but for casual and younger viewers I can undeniably say that because all the boxes are sufficiently ticked, it’ll be an enjoyable anime for them.
Excellent localisation
As someone who understands some beginner Japanese, and going by the assumption that the original dialogue was in Japanese, I found much delight in realising that the English subtitles were not a simple “one-to-one” translation, but also introduced new slang terms and character dialogue beyond what one might see in anime, and as an overall result that made every character much more expressive.
Reasons you might be put off it
Nudity
It’s rated R18+, has nudity and admittedly slaps you pretty heavily with something sexual in the first episode (of which is thankfully absent in the rest of the series). In my opinion the nudity isn’t so much in-your-face and is meant to be more reflective of the environment/habits/standards. While not explicitly pointed out, one can easily surmise why in some scenes it’s ‘normal’ for certain characters to be nude in those scenarios. However if you’re someone who’s put off by nudity for whatever reason, then consider this sufficient warning.
Gore and lack of censorship
If you’re sensitive to this kind of thing, definitely sit this one out or wait for a sufficiently censored version. It’s not just people being killed and blood spilling everywhere, imagine someone sitting in a chair, having their head burst open by a single bullet and you also get to see the remnants along with whatever cybernetic enhancements they’ve had.
Is it bingeable?
Yes. There’s no filler episodes, it’s a single story arc that goes from beginning to end with no/minimal diverging. There’s no recurring gags or tropes that might feel like one’s beating a dead horse.
Spoiler-heavy discussion ramblings
Oh god where do I begin.
Extreme body cybernetic augmentation and its implications
With the bionic ear (a la cochlear implants), people implanting RFID chips/tags under their skin, the latest bionic eye helping blind people perceive objects, and no doubt all manner of various prosthetics, it’s safe to say that there will be some point in the future (but will definitely happen waaaay past after I’ve died) where what is demonstrated in Cyberpunk Edgerunners will become some kind of reality.
Ghost in the Shell definitely gave us a taste of that, with the primary protagonist Motoko Kusanagi being completely cybernetic, Batou Buttetsu having (and being identified by) his cybernetic eyes, and so on.
Immune-Suppressants
I don’t recall it mentioned anywhere in Ghost in the Shell, but one thing that was highlighted in Cyberpunk Edgerunners was the usage of immune-suppressants. For those who don’t know, people who receive organ transplants are required to be on immune-suppressants afterwards to avoid their body rejecting the new organ. It makes sense that having and using cybernetic implants and augmentations would have similar requirements, as the body would no doubt treat these implants as foreign matter.
Why I like such things being mentioned is that fundamentally it’s more realistic to real life, in the sense that a lot of decisions we make can be interpreted as tradeoffs: Affording a dishwashing machine means exchanging money for future time saved that would be otherwise spent washing the dishes. Acquiring cybernetic enhancements should not be without its consequences (otherwise it would seem like the perfect solution!).
Class Division
This wasn’t heavily explored in Cyberpunk Edgerunners, moreso a nod. In light of social awareness and classism, one thing that should’ve been obvious to me earlier was that the introduction of cybernetic augmentations also introduces distinction between groups of people depending on how heavily they choose to modify themselves. In Cyberpunk Edgerunners there’s a distinction between those who are “organic” and those who go “full chrome”.
This stands out pretty easily to me as someone who’s hard-of-hearing, where I’m in a weird space where I don’t fully fit into either the hearing world, nor the Deaf world. Similar with being a second-generation immigrant, where I don’t quite fully fit into Australian culture, but nor do I easily gel with traditional Asian culture.
Rebecca and small cute sassy female kid-like characters
An observation made across the VTuber fandom is that if you’re a small/short, cute, sassy and female (and blue, if both Gawr Gura and Kobo Kanaeru are anything to go by), you’ll garner a large majority of the internet popularity and attention.
From my end after Cyberpunk Edgerunners was released there was a lot of attention surrounding Rebecca simply because she fits that exact same character archetype. And I guess I’ve been wondering why this archetype is so popular. Maybe it’s just the cuteness and I’m simply overthinking it.
In addition, age is not something explicitly mentioned in this series and as such it was hard to feasibly pin down how old Rebecca might be. No doubt this was complicated by her bigger-hands cybernetic enhancements later in the series.
Observation on internet commentary: Did Rebecca develop feelings for David?
Yet another indicator that I’m getting old. One frustration I saw expressed on the internet was the protagonist’s one-track focus on Lucy and somehow ignoring that Rebecca was paying more attention to him than usual and noticing the smaller details. The interpretation that seemed to stem from these interactions was that Rebecca was developing feelings for David, of which I understand how/why the interpretation comes by (especially when you consider those on the internet making these kinds of commentary tending to be not-as-socially-developed), but have to somewhat disagree with moreso due to lack of display/evidence. It was certainly a useful story and character building point, though.
Oh god I’m getting old and I recognise generic storylines
It’s not new, young-enough kid grows up with a single hardworking mother who wants a better future for their child. They try to ‘fit in’ the next tier/level/class up but are and/or feel extremely out of place. The protagonist finally finds some purpose in their existence and goes balls-to-the-wall in attempting to achieve it.
I mean, off the top of my head I can’t really think of another story arc in any other media that has this exact same scenario, but many of these pieces are very familiar to me either from personal experience or from other media.
Various feelings
Admittedly I do feel a bit sad for the protagonist but it’s one of those things where because one has seen enough of their life story, it’s enough to understand that they may seem juvenile and simple minded on such a simple goal. So it’s like, I understand, and do somewhat wish that interventing bodies (in this case, Rebecca) had a much larger influence in hoping that the protagonist would snap to reality.
Self-sacrifice is one of those things I feel a bit icky about these days because I’ve personally definitely been fairly burnt out when trying to do too much for others. Obviously I’m in a much better position now but there’s no doubt a bit of a twinge when I see others try to do similar.
Ending thoughts
Overall, a fun watch, and I enjoyed watching it one episode at a time while eating lunch/dinner. However to me it’s not particularly memorable, not that it’s a bad thing. It just takes much more to leave a deep impression on me these days. Given that the whole thing is ten just-under-30 minute episodes it’s very approachable to watch daily for two weeks or so, but no doubt keen viewers could easily binge the entire series in a few days.
Be First to Comment