The wannabe punks are apart of what makes the genre what it is. Cyberpunk has never been about heroism. Part of it's DNA is the addiction...whether it's to cyberware, drugs or money. It's about finding hope even amidst all of that, against all odds.
Typically the characters don't have plot armor because the genre isn't predicated on fantasy. It's supposed feel like this could happen in the real world. That's why the technology used is never too futuristic because it needs to feel like the not too distant future and in the real world the power of "friendship" isn't plot armor.
I hate to even defend the series because I didn't particularly like it but if the criticism is David dying then that's just 1 protagonist out of hundreds in anime with infinite plot armor. They did the right thing. Him dying doesn't mean there's no hope. Even though I didn't finish the anime I'm going to guess he died so someone else could live. That, is the ultimate expression of love and hope.
The wannabe punks are wortheless. They eat the crumbs from the people who kill them. Work for them to kill each other. And cherry on top try to become like them for superficial reasons only to realize they became what they fought their entire lifes. That would only work a few generations before everyone from below would eat the few on the upside. You can't have it both ways. Either the wannabe punks follow real cyberpunks and their ideals. Or they stay wannabe punks for a time until the gig is up and the many eat the few.
Sure cyberpunk was never about heroism but so are alot of other genres that don't need to kill all hope off to establish a point about finding hope against all odds. Imagine you watch a Movie series called "Final Destination" in the first movie everyone dies cause you can't cheat death. In the second movie someone can cheat death. In the third movie the message is "Nope you can't" and the survivors from movie 2 die all in movie 3. How many more movies do you need to watch to know you are wasting your time cause you know exactly how it is going to end?
The point i try to make is this. Be it the game or the Edgerunner series. If the entire plot goes towards the "it is all hopeless" the writer or producer or whoever is responsible for it hasn't understood what the cyberpunk genre even is.
Blade Runner, Elysium, Dredd, Tron, Robocop, The Matrix, Total Recall fit the bill to be a dystopian future that could be reality in the foreseeable future. Yet none of them kill all hope for the audience that experience these movies. Yes technology plays a big part. So do drugs and most people have very low life standards while the rich and powerful have all the benefits in technology and healthcare they can get.
I didn't say David died nor did i specify any character dying. But if someone needs to die so others can live you can always go to RDR2 and show how this is supposed to work. If someone needs to die for others to live at least give the death or life meaning.
David is a top grade student and keeps making the dumbest decisions despite his intellect. Be it installing cyberware that literally drove someone insane a few days ago or never shedding a tear about his dead mother at all. I would really love to like the edgerunner series but to me together with the game they just kinda killed the entire franchise for me.
Thats not cyperpunk at all. Thats just kill hope, rational thought, emotions and become a machine that just functions. Awesome but even Robocop has more emotions and that is what 40 years ago?
