So, I've finally finished watching Cyberpunk Edgerunners (english version) and I both loved and hated every second of it.
Ok, I should probably mention that I CANNOT STAND ANIME... calm down, put the pitchforks and torches down - I hate the animations, lipsincing(or lack thereof) and just general art style, I hate how an animated show made in 2022 looks the same or worse than one that came out in the 90's and many other things. I don't hate the concept of anime, don't take it personally, I'm not here to judge anyone who does enjoy anime, this is just my opinion.
Of course though, anime means different things to different people. For me, I’ve never quite appreciated the style, but I can appreciate that other people find something very interesting about it.
But why do mainstream westerners don't like anime? I think I have some ideas about why that might be.
Anime’s kawaii aesthetic gives it a reputation as childish and for kids - in the West this is not respected. It is associated with otaku culture. Generally, obsessiveness is correlated with geekiness or nerdiness, both generally looked down-upon in Western culture. East Asian culture is generally very foreign to most Westerners, so some may have suspicion of those who want to get involved with it - its foreign and therefore carries a connotation of danger because young people are getting interested in something they don’t understand. As an extension of kawaii, there are certain things represented in anime that may be seen as a strange, disturbing fetish, things such as LOLI girls for example, but not only.
THAT BEING SAID, if you're like me and don't like anime I encourage you to watch Edgerunners anyway because if you enjoyed the game even a little bit, you're gonna find common ground with this anime.
Alright, enough about my dislike of anime. Is the show any good? or is all the hype just the cummulative gushing of all weebs around the world. As stated above I watched the english version and I see some people online insisting the japanese one is better, but I don't speak japanese and I cannot stand focusing on reading subtitles when I could instead be focused on the action happening on screen, absorbing every little detail, every passing easter egg that might only appear for a moment on screen and its just more relaxing not having to read subtitles.
The english voice acting ranges from comically bad to acceptable and I don't know whats up with David's voice actor, but the guy sounds constipated and permanently on the verge of taking a shit, initially its funny but eventually it becomes quite distracting. Voice acting aside most sound effects are spot on and those who come from playing the game will instantly recognise certain sound effect such as holo calls ringtone, crosswalk prompts and many more. The soundtrack, although not my cup of tea, is Cyberpunk to the core and I can appreciate the effort made by Studio Trigger to bring original soundtracks to the series with one notable exception, the intro track sounds like something out of a 90's sitcom and to me seemed out of place.
As for the story, there's not much I can say without delving into spoiler territory. The main protagonist David's story is a familiar one, a street kid down on his luck and forced into a life of crime by time and circumstance. Where in Cyberpunk 2077 V's ascent into the criminal underworld is explored in a 5 minute montage, it takes David about 5-6 episodes to fully break bad. Tonally it is very mature, gory, graphic and its nice to see Trigger not holding back on the mature themes. There are comical moments but they never outshine the fact this is Night City a brutal, unforgiving and hyper capitalist hell hole. Edgerunners introduces alot of characters, gangs and locations in Night City and for someone who hasn't played the game could become tough to keep track of everything going on screen, but I think the story of David and Lucy is the backbone that holds the rest of the show upright.
Visually the show was stunning to look at, and by show I mean the static backdrop that is NIGHT CITY itself, it reminds me more of something out of Arcane. The characters themselves look really cartoony and one of the reasons I can't stand anime. It is what it is. And yes I am gonna simp a bit for Arcane, because its the closest animation in art style to Edgerunners I've watched in the past 20 years.
Why do I love Arcane? The characters, the story, the animation and art style and the music. It is difficult to have a diverse set of characters and still allow each one of them to shine. Arcane impressively allows all their characters to have their moments. Arcane’s opening theme song is "Enemy" by Imagine Dragons. It is glorious, to say the least. Imagine Dragons are well-known for their album Origins, which topped the charts in 2018. Arcane’s animation design is unique and stunning. It’s actually one of the things about the show that blew me away. The attention to detail on the characters as well as the environment around them is unlike any I’ve seen before. . That, coupled with the voice acting, makes the scenes feel undeniably real. This is all made possible through the remarkable effort by Fortiche, a creative production company situated in Paris and Montpellier. The environment as well as the characters are meticulously hand-painted and animated digitally thus the paint look. Watching Arcane feels like watching a masterpiece painting in motion and for that, the Studio deserves all the praise it has been getting. What makes a good story? In my opinion, it’s the ability to evoke emotions from the audience as while keeping the story as interesting as possible. Arcane does this exceptionally well.
Last animated "anything" I watched prior to Arcane was about 20 years ago. I don't play League of Legends, I knew nothing about its lore or characters and I honestly couldn't unglue myself from the screen, It was THAT good. If you make an animated series that can enthrall a jaded man like myself who doesn't watch animated content at all, you know you've got something good. And something good it is, evidenced by the fact that it took SIX YEARS to make. If you want to see just how much time, effort and skill went into making it, I recomend watching Arcane: Bridging the Rift, a sorft of "making of" series on LoL Youtube channel.
Anyway enough of me simping for Arcane. Honestly when I finished Cyberpunk 2077 I though to myself "God, imagine an animted series with Arcane's arty style and animation quality" and before I even finished having the thought, CDPR comes out of nowhere with Cyberpunk Edgerunners announcement, almost out of nowhere and my next thought was "anime? really... #sadface". I would of prefered live action, although with woke Hollywood being what it is if I had to choose between watching a butchered live action take and Studio Triggers Edgerunners, I'll take the anime.
In conclusion, if you're like me and you don't like anime watch it anyway, don't let the fact that its anime stop you from enjoying a good Cyberpunk standalone story. And if you agree with me leave a RED Point and if you disagree, oh well.
Ok, I should probably mention that I CANNOT STAND ANIME... calm down, put the pitchforks and torches down - I hate the animations, lipsincing(or lack thereof) and just general art style, I hate how an animated show made in 2022 looks the same or worse than one that came out in the 90's and many other things. I don't hate the concept of anime, don't take it personally, I'm not here to judge anyone who does enjoy anime, this is just my opinion.
Of course though, anime means different things to different people. For me, I’ve never quite appreciated the style, but I can appreciate that other people find something very interesting about it.
But why do mainstream westerners don't like anime? I think I have some ideas about why that might be.
Anime’s kawaii aesthetic gives it a reputation as childish and for kids - in the West this is not respected. It is associated with otaku culture. Generally, obsessiveness is correlated with geekiness or nerdiness, both generally looked down-upon in Western culture. East Asian culture is generally very foreign to most Westerners, so some may have suspicion of those who want to get involved with it - its foreign and therefore carries a connotation of danger because young people are getting interested in something they don’t understand. As an extension of kawaii, there are certain things represented in anime that may be seen as a strange, disturbing fetish, things such as LOLI girls for example, but not only.
THAT BEING SAID, if you're like me and don't like anime I encourage you to watch Edgerunners anyway because if you enjoyed the game even a little bit, you're gonna find common ground with this anime.
Alright, enough about my dislike of anime. Is the show any good? or is all the hype just the cummulative gushing of all weebs around the world. As stated above I watched the english version and I see some people online insisting the japanese one is better, but I don't speak japanese and I cannot stand focusing on reading subtitles when I could instead be focused on the action happening on screen, absorbing every little detail, every passing easter egg that might only appear for a moment on screen and its just more relaxing not having to read subtitles.
The english voice acting ranges from comically bad to acceptable and I don't know whats up with David's voice actor, but the guy sounds constipated and permanently on the verge of taking a shit, initially its funny but eventually it becomes quite distracting. Voice acting aside most sound effects are spot on and those who come from playing the game will instantly recognise certain sound effect such as holo calls ringtone, crosswalk prompts and many more. The soundtrack, although not my cup of tea, is Cyberpunk to the core and I can appreciate the effort made by Studio Trigger to bring original soundtracks to the series with one notable exception, the intro track sounds like something out of a 90's sitcom and to me seemed out of place.
As for the story, there's not much I can say without delving into spoiler territory. The main protagonist David's story is a familiar one, a street kid down on his luck and forced into a life of crime by time and circumstance. Where in Cyberpunk 2077 V's ascent into the criminal underworld is explored in a 5 minute montage, it takes David about 5-6 episodes to fully break bad. Tonally it is very mature, gory, graphic and its nice to see Trigger not holding back on the mature themes. There are comical moments but they never outshine the fact this is Night City a brutal, unforgiving and hyper capitalist hell hole. Edgerunners introduces alot of characters, gangs and locations in Night City and for someone who hasn't played the game could become tough to keep track of everything going on screen, but I think the story of David and Lucy is the backbone that holds the rest of the show upright.
Visually the show was stunning to look at, and by show I mean the static backdrop that is NIGHT CITY itself, it reminds me more of something out of Arcane. The characters themselves look really cartoony and one of the reasons I can't stand anime. It is what it is. And yes I am gonna simp a bit for Arcane, because its the closest animation in art style to Edgerunners I've watched in the past 20 years.
Why do I love Arcane? The characters, the story, the animation and art style and the music. It is difficult to have a diverse set of characters and still allow each one of them to shine. Arcane impressively allows all their characters to have their moments. Arcane’s opening theme song is "Enemy" by Imagine Dragons. It is glorious, to say the least. Imagine Dragons are well-known for their album Origins, which topped the charts in 2018. Arcane’s animation design is unique and stunning. It’s actually one of the things about the show that blew me away. The attention to detail on the characters as well as the environment around them is unlike any I’ve seen before. . That, coupled with the voice acting, makes the scenes feel undeniably real. This is all made possible through the remarkable effort by Fortiche, a creative production company situated in Paris and Montpellier. The environment as well as the characters are meticulously hand-painted and animated digitally thus the paint look. Watching Arcane feels like watching a masterpiece painting in motion and for that, the Studio deserves all the praise it has been getting. What makes a good story? In my opinion, it’s the ability to evoke emotions from the audience as while keeping the story as interesting as possible. Arcane does this exceptionally well.
Last animated "anything" I watched prior to Arcane was about 20 years ago. I don't play League of Legends, I knew nothing about its lore or characters and I honestly couldn't unglue myself from the screen, It was THAT good. If you make an animated series that can enthrall a jaded man like myself who doesn't watch animated content at all, you know you've got something good. And something good it is, evidenced by the fact that it took SIX YEARS to make. If you want to see just how much time, effort and skill went into making it, I recomend watching Arcane: Bridging the Rift, a sorft of "making of" series on LoL Youtube channel.
Anyway enough of me simping for Arcane. Honestly when I finished Cyberpunk 2077 I though to myself "God, imagine an animted series with Arcane's arty style and animation quality" and before I even finished having the thought, CDPR comes out of nowhere with Cyberpunk Edgerunners announcement, almost out of nowhere and my next thought was "anime? really... #sadface". I would of prefered live action, although with woke Hollywood being what it is if I had to choose between watching a butchered live action take and Studio Triggers Edgerunners, I'll take the anime.
In conclusion, if you're like me and you don't like anime watch it anyway, don't let the fact that its anime stop you from enjoying a good Cyberpunk standalone story. And if you agree with me leave a RED Point and if you disagree, oh well.
