An anime from the Kill la Kill crew, based on the video game from CD Projekt Red, adapted from Mike Pondsmith’s ‘80s tabletop game. 2022’s Cyberpunk: Edgerunners was designed to be a one-off prequel for the blockbuster role-playing game, but as the popularity of the animated series began to nip at that of the source material’s, demands for a follow-up mounted. Now fans won’t need to wait much longer, as they’ll be reentering Night City on Netflix this Fall.
Handled by fan favorites Studio Trigger, Edgerunners was a hyperviolent, overstimulating love story between David and Lucy, the latter of which’s insane mercenary friends spark a heap of trouble. Envisioned as a stand-alone miniseries, a sequel was announced last year at Anime Expo, Edgerunners 2. The upcoming 10-episode series follows a new roster of cybernetic outcasts. It is also described as having a darker, grimier tone than the bubblegum original, which may stem from an older, more downtrodden hero aptly named ‘Weak,’ who looks like Batou took Columbo’s jacket by mistake. Information about the anticipated show was divulged at this year’s Annecy animation festival in France.
Netflix has saturated itself with video game adaptations of Devil May Cry and Castlevania, and after Cyberpunk 2077’s hype cycle nearly consumed itself the immense popularity of this particular animated one-off caught all parties off guard. It became one of the crown jewels of Netflix’s video game campaign alongside CD Projekt’s other darling The Witcher and League of Legend’s Arcane. Edgerunners’ story also outgrew the mini-series, branching into a spin-off manga of its own, as well as crossovers with Guilty Gear -Strive- and Wuthering Waves.
A full trailer for Cyberpunk: Edgerunners 2 will drop this week, with the full series arrive this Fall on the big streamer. Meanwhile back at CD Projekt Red, development at Cyberpunk 2 has started, though it’ll be a ways out before we see cyber head or robot hide of that one.
Zack Kotzer
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