Introduction

Cyberpunk: Edgerunners took the world by storm when it released back in 2022 and for good reason. A troubled cast, a mature love story, and an ending that even today still has my heart in a vice grip and refuses to let me forget about it. With studio Trigger’s anime story of the popular Cyberpunk series, everyone knew we’d get a sequel someday and that day has arrived. Cyberpunk: Edgerunners 2 returns us a year later after the David Martinez incident and throws us into a new cast dealing with some rather bizarre connections. Is this return to Night City the glorious reentry we needed, or has this series hit some serious cyberpsychosis? We find out in our review of Cyberpunk: Edgerunners 2! The entire 10 episode series is available to watch now thanks to Netflix!

Story

Rather than be focused on one character’s specific story, Cyberpunk: Edgerunners 2 explores several who live in the dog eat dog city that is Night City. Roman Carax, a young boy who loves film despite how outdated the medium is. Talia Yang, a young girl trying to rid herself of her human form with the help of cyberware. Weak Kingsley, a former edgerunner who let his tech take control and lead to a bad mission. And D, a netrunner looking for answers. The story in Cyberpunk: Edgerunners 2 mostly examines each character at the start, but quite quickly you discover these characters might have more to do with one another than they believe.

Right off the gate, Cyberpunk: Edgerunners 2 is a more detail oriented story than I feel its predecessor. There’s a larger tale being told here than simple revenge and the desire to enhance one’s body, but like the game, Cyberpunk: Edgerunners 2 relies heavily on showing its gigantic world by throwing in references and world building themes. I don’t believe one needs to have played the game to understand Cyberpunk: Edgerunners 2, but when certain terminology comes into play, it would help if you at least understood a little about the game’s universe. Even just going off season 1 of Cyberpunk: Edgerunners won’t be enough if you need to know various terms and world relationships.

In the beginning, I was on the fence if I liked Cyberpunk: Edgerunners 2’s story and that’s because it hopped around quite a bit. However, by episode 3 I was hooked and really began to enjoy seeing these characters explore their inner conflicts and learning more about their individual dramas. There are a few dark stories to be seen in Cyberpunk: Edgerunners 2 and when they get examined…you’ll feel your emotions hit hard. The story progresses quickly when it gets going and the ending is where I felt things really change from Cyberpunk: Edgerunners. Don’t get me wrong, the ending is not a super happy one, those who know the world of Cyberpunk will realize the world isn’t one for sunshine and rainbows. However, I didn’t shed tears as hard as I did when Lucy and David had their final moments. Cyberpunk: Edgerunners 2 ends well enough and obviously leaves room for a sequel.

Animation

I love how studio Trigger isn’t afraid to animate their works in some rather psychotic and bizarre ways. From art style changes to explosive scenes, Cyberpunk: Edgerunners 2 looks incredible almost all the way through. There are some weaker CGI scenes here and there, most noticeably during a car sequence early on and some minor moments later, but Cyberpunk: Edgerunners 2 more often than not looks fantastic. I also love the occasional switching when Roman is filming. It just looks cool and is a big transition effect compared to most of the animation. I do feel season 1 of Cyberpunk: Edgerunners looked a tad better in some of the action moments, but they both look great nonetheless. Though the final battle showed studio Trigger’s usual high levels of animation at their best.

Sound

Let me not beat around the bush, I didn’t care for the opening for Cyberpunk: Edgerunners 2, which is a shame because I love the group it comes from. The Cure’s 10:15 Saturday Night isn’t a horrible song, but compared to the first season’s OP, which was This Fffire by Franz Ferdinand, it didn’t stick with me. Luckily though, everything else is solid. The OST is stellar with a nice mix of different themes for different segments. The same can be said of the voice acting, which really blew me away if you watch the English dub.

As per usual with shows like this, I watched mostly in English dub but did hear the Japanese dub as well. Both are stellar but I leaned towards the English dub since it fits more with the concept of the game being in English. Most of the voice talent are pretty unknown, like Roman Carax being voiced by Valeria Rodriguez or Talia Yang by Kimoy Lee, but Weak is voiced by the legendary Clancy Brown, who is well known for his acting career starring in movies like The Shawshank Redemption, Starship Troopers, Pet Sematary Two, and so on. Likewise, even Hideo Kojima, yes the Metal Gear Solid creator himself, has a cameo voice as a character. Needless to say, the voice talent is excellent.

Characters

Cyberpunk: Edgerunners relied heavily on two main protagonists to kind of push the story forward. David Martinez and Lucy were joined by several others like Rebecca, Maine, and so on, but the story was very focused on those two to take control, their relationship, and drama. In Cyberpunk: Edgerunners 2, Roman, D, Weak, Talia, and the crazy AI and digital construct Capri are the central nervous system of this anime and they all work together, not literally, to bring the story to a cohesion. In many ways I prefer this for a more grand story, but it does mitigate some of the levels of care I had for the cast in season 1. Weak being Talia’s true father but trying to take care of her without her knowing, and Roman aiming to film everything and find out what’s happening to those he’s begun to care about. D’s story is probably the darkest of the main stories, seeing as how you learn his past was steeped in death and revenge. Overall, the characters in Cyberpunk: Edgerunners 2 aren’t as hard hitting as the main two in Cyberpunk: Edgerunners, but they still are great and keep the entire series working well together.

Conclusion

I don’t think Cyberpunk: Edgerunners 2 can ever match the incredible first season, that was an honestly high bar that I doubt it was going to clear regardless, but that doesn’t mean season 2 is by any means bad. I think fans of the first season or the game will love Cyberpunk: Edgerunners 2 and how it explores more of the universe and gives us a new cast to want to follow. I highly recommend giving Cyberpunk: Edgerunners 2 a chance and you can always let us know in the comments what you thought about this second season and how it compares to the first. Now who thinks we are going to get a season 3?!