Cyberpunk: Edgerunners

In a neon-soaked metropolis where corporate corruption and cybernetic enhancement have reshaped society, David Martinez is a talented but reckless street kid hungry for more than life on the margins. After a pivotal encounter opens the door to illegal augmentations, he hooks up with a crew of edgerunners, mercenary outlaws who take dangerous jobs for cash and status. The series watches David adapt to increasingly extreme tech and wave after wave of violence, while friendships and loyalties complicate every decision. Episodes mix high-speed action with quieter character moments, showing how ambition and the promise of power can erase boundaries between survival and self-destruction, all without revealing how the story resolves.

Released in 2022, Cyberpunk: Edgerunners was created by Rafał Jaki, Yoshiki Usa, and Masahiko Otsuka, and features KENN as the voice of David Martinez. The show was presented as a limited anime series tied to the Cyberpunk 2077 universe, arriving on streaming platforms to reach a global audience.

The series received notable critical attention and showed up on several year-end lists within anime coverage. It sparked conversations across animation and gaming communities about storytelling, tone, and adaptation, prompting critics and fans to debate its risks and rewards without me listing specific award claims here.

Visually and sonically bold, the show left a clear imprint on pop culture, inspiring fan art, cosplay, and social media discussion. Its neon aesthetics, kinetic action scenes, and memorable soundtrack helped the Cyberpunk setting reach people who might not have played the video game, and its characters became frequent subjects of online reaction and creative reinterpretation.

Audiences responded strongly, reflected in a high average user score of 8.482/10 from over 1,600 votes. Critics highlighted the series for its fast pace, emotional intensity, and willingness to show the human cost of unchecked technology. Central themes include class disparity, the ethics of body modification, the hunger for status, and how friendship can be both a strength and a liability in violent, high-stakes environments.