Cyberpunk Edgerunners 2 Review: Great Anime, Impossible Expectations

CYBERPUNK EDGERUNNERS 2 dropped all 10 episodes on October 20, introducing a new cast for another look at the tragic Night City. Studio TRIGGER delivered another beautiful depiction of action, and I found myself enjoying plenty of the songs. However, I personally found myself comparing the sequel too much to Season 1, which turned out to be impossible to live up to. The second thing I think was a major factor was the runtime, which didn’t allow for all the main characters to get fleshed out properly.

In this review, I will explain what I thought about the series and why I titled it the way I did. An important thing to note is that I barely played the Cyberpunk 2077 game, which means all the references to it eluded me and that my experience was definitely much different from a devoted player’s.

Beware of major CYBERPUNK: EDGERUNNERS 2 plot spoilers below.

The Four Main Characters

The anime begins with the introduction of the first of four main characters, the young cinephile Roman. The boy loves cinema, and we could already tell his camera would have plenty of screentime before the anime even premiered. Right from the get-go we see some of the 90s-vibe shots, which I enjoyed all throughout the season. Roman turned out to be my favorite character in the show, and I thought he was the most reasonable one despite him being a 12-year-old boy. He was always trying to help Talia and D despite barely knowing them, risking his life throughout pretty much the entire process.

I also liked how Roman’s camera wasn’t just there to give us the cool-looking shots. His videos actually influenced the story, like when he started filming D’s revenge and helped turn him into a symbol. He was often praised for the talent he has, and I thought that made his role much more interesting than simply being the kid following everyone around. I was sad that he ended up helping D through his villain arc, but it was justified considering his age and that he was thinking D would snap out of it.

After the initial short teaser of Roman, we are introduced to Weak Kingsley. This is a veteran edgerunner who was once a legend, and his nickname ‘King’ shows the reputation he’s built up.

However, the very first raid already shows that his glory days are well past him. He shows severe symptoms of cyberpsychosis, quickly losing his mind and nearly dying. As always, the depiction of characters losing their minds is shown in creatively brutal ways, and at this point it seemed like only the beginning of another tragic story. Roman records the scenes, and the camera lens shots were again a very pleasing watch.

Weak Kingsley was definitely my least favorite character of the four. We never really got to learn much about his past and downfall, and I didn’t think we got enough to actually justify his dedication to Avida and consequently Talia. I understand that his past with Avida and believing Talia might be his daughter were supposed to explain why he cared so much. However, I wish we actually got to see more of that relationship instead of just being told about it. I think it would’ve made his dedication much more convincing.

Considering he had gone from hero to zero in terms of gear and abilities, I thought it was a miracle that he managed to keep up with the story for so long and somehow remain actively involved. I wish we saw more of his former experience actually helping him deal with things as the underdog.

The third character we meet is Talia. She gets a really cool-looking introduction, and she already had my favorite character design from the main cast. However, the character herself is introduced as a heartless chrome-addicted girl who has no qualms about letting Roman get sliced by the Maelstrom guys. I expected her to be teasing him and that she would somehow just let him go herself, so I was surprised that she just took his camera and let him get taken away to die for all she knew.

Later down the line, we learn about her illness and motivation, explaining why she acts edgy and has a complicated relationship with her parents. She was written as a rebellious teen so in that sense I think she was a good character, but I could not find myself attached to her due to the way she was introduced (let my favorite character to die) and how little time there was before we learned that she might not have much longer to live anyway.

And finally, Talia letting Roman get carried away led to the introduction of the final main character, D. He happened to have snuck into the same place, and we immediately are shown that he’s a kind character as he has zero hesitation to prioritize saving a random boy over his search for Helio. My favorite dynamic in the entire anime was the one between D and Roman. It felt like D could be himself around him right from their meeting.

As for D, I personally liked the Sasuke-like revenge story. Him seeing his friends in dreams and wanting to avenge them felt believable. However, I thought that we’d see some glimpses of the actual friends and their happy lives together. That never happened besides one shot of him driving around with Omi, which made it more difficult for me to feel attached to that story. In fact, I thought he was too kind to really go through with it, expecting it to cost him.

I also thought his relationship with Capri was interesting. I wish we got more moments showing that relationship develop, since it eventually becomes a crucial part of his story.

That’s why I thought his resolution was rushed. Considering how he ignored everyone telling him revenge is meaningless for the first 8 episodes and stubbornly proceeding to keep going, I thought the realization part wasn’t justified. Omi even spends most of Episode 9 trying to get him back to normal, but he seems to still completely ignore her until he sees Talia with Capri. For some reason, that makes him realize that he can’t do things alone and invites Omi to help, which leads to the ending later where he decides to take Capri back and go up against everyone.

I understand that learning the truth about the massacre and his newfound feelings for Capri were supposed to change his priorities. However, I wish we got to see him actually process those feelings more. I didn’t have a problem with the direction his character took, but rather how quickly he seemed to get there after the failed riot.

The Story

As can probably be surmised by how I saw the characters, I did not think the story had enough time to develop. The idea of having multiple separate stories intertwining with each other is great, but I thought there was just not enough time for any of them to be built up fully and it ended up making me care much less about it overall. I think this bothered me even more because Season 1 managed to get me so attached to its characters in the same amount of time, and I couldn’t help expecting something similar here.

Individually, I think each one of the stories is interesting. Roman’s love for film and everything he films, Weak’s former life as an edgerunner, Talia’s transformation and life alongside the Maelstrom, and D’s past leading into his quest for revenge. These all feel like they could’ve been entire seasons on their own, which made me feel like some things were not fleshed out properly. This was most evident with Weak’s story, as I think he was a character we learned pretty much nothing about.

One thing I enjoyed about this approach was how different everyone’s motivations were. Roman wanted to capture interesting things happening around him, Weak was trying to hold on to his past, Talia was dealing with a future she couldn’t really control, and D was obsessed with revenge. I liked that their paths crossed without them all working toward the same goal from the start, and I think that made Night City feel like a place where completely different lives could collide at any moment.

I really liked the way they randomly interacted with each other when D goes crazy for the first time and almost accidentally kills Talia, but I wish we got more of that. I also wish the entire cast was together more, as we only got about 10 seconds of that and I loved their interaction before Capri decided to switch hosts.

Capri made the story more interesting by giving D something to care about outside of revenge. His relationship with her made me curious about whether he’d eventually abandon his original goal, and I liked how her involvement eventually connected his story with Talia’s. Even though I had problems with how some of it was explained, I thought the idea behind it was really interesting and made me want to see how everything would turn out.

I also liked the story leaning into the dangers of AI in general, and I thought it was an interesting angle. The green/red representation of Capri splitting itself was simple yet I found it really effective to immediately realize what had happened. However, I wish there was some more explanation behind why the remaining part of the program was not speaking to D, or even why it had a preference for Talia as a host. This felt central to the plot, yet I didn’t think it was explained clearly enough. Capri just saw her image, smirked, and then later did what she did.

I think even just two more episodes could’ve made a huge difference. We could’ve gotten a flashback showing Weak and Avida’s relationship, more time with D’s former crew, or simply some scenes of the main characters interacting without immediately being thrown into another crisis. I don’t think the story necessarily needed to change, but I wish we had more time to care about the people involved.

Another thing I personally liked was how the anime referenced Season 1 and David Martinez. We already knew that David wouldn’t be coming back, but I was still happy to see those callbacks. They genuinely made me more emotional than anything that happened in Season 2 and reminded me of how much I enjoyed the first one.

The Production

The production quality is something that I think only got better. The animation was what I expected and more from studio TRIGGER. From the camera lens shots through D’s trauma-inducing memories to the full-blown crazy action, they absolutely delivered on the already high expectations I’d come to have after Season 1.

I especially liked how the visual style changed depending on what was happening. Roman’s camera footage had a completely different feeling from the rest of the anime, while D’s memories used the animation to show just how much his past was affecting him, with some really cool yet sad PTSD-like sequences and awesome transitions back to reality. I thought those details made the animation feel like an important part of the storytelling rather than just something nice to look at.

The action itself was also a lot of fun to watch. I liked how over-the-top some of the fights got, with the exaggerated movements and the brutal way the characters’ abilities were shown. Even when I wasn’t as invested in the characters as I wanted to be, the animation was enough to keep me excited for what was coming next. I think TRIGGER once again did an incredible job making the chaos of Night City enjoyable to watch.

The same goes for the music and soundtracks. The music was present from the start and always fitting. I never felt like the music was out of place, and there were plenty of times when I found myself paying attention to the song playing in the background. I think the soundtrack was another part of the sequel that managed to live up to the expectations I had from Season 1. I also felt like the final song “In Love With Myself” by Kalman Chodakiewitz elevated D’s final scene to a much higher emotional peak.

Conclusion

Despite all my issues with the story and characters, I still enjoyed watching the anime from start to finish. The animation and soundtrack were consistently great, and I think the individual stories had a lot of interesting ideas even if I didn’t think they were all executed as well as they could’ve been.

Overall, I think CYBERPUNK: EDGERUNNERS 2 is a must-watch anime that delivers a fun story with incredible action. I think the biggest issue for me was that Season 1 left such a strong impression that I couldn’t help expecting the same emotional impact from the sequel.

That’s why I think the best way to go into the new season is by seeing it as another look at the Cyberpunk 2077 universe and not comparing it to the first season, which to me definitely left too high of a bar.