Cyberpunk: Edgerunners Director Got a Special Advantage After Taking a Hit that Could Have Delayed the Anime Badly
Cyberpunk: Edgerunners was certainly one of the best anime to come out in 2022. Produced by Studio Trigger under the supervision of CD PROJEKT RED, the anime was a prequel spin-off of the Cyberpunk 2077 video game. They also won tons of awards, the most notable being IGN Awards’ Best Anime Series and Crunchyroll’s Anime of the Year.
However, there is one reason that the anime managed to capture all the important aspects of the anime. Saya Elder, the Project Manager of CD PROJEKT RED, would dive deeper into the entire process of getting all the details in the anime to near perfection. And it would seem like Director Hiroyuki Imaishi would get a chance that most gamers were incredibly impatient for.
How the delay of the game helped Cyberpunk: Edgerunners‘ Director understand the theme better
The release of Cyberpunk: Edgerunners helped fans get a true grasp of what Cyberpunk 2077 actually planned to give the fans. However, due to a lot of bugs, and glitches during the initial stages of release, the game didn’t have too much of a good rep to it. However, the release of Cyberpunk: Edgerunners helped revitalize the Cyberpunk 2077 game after its release as just a month after it was released, the game had 70k concurrent players on Steam, which was the highest ever since the release of the game.
According to Saya Elder, it took around 20 months of close and calculated discussion between CD PROJEKT RED and Studio Trigger to determine how the story would be portrayed to capture the world of Cyberpunk 2077 in the best way possible. This 20 months of carefully planned collaboration was what gave the fans the beloved Sci-Fi/ Mecha anime. And it only helped that Director Hiroyuki Imaishi got the chance to experience the pre-release version of the game to understand what the game meant to CD PROJEKT RED.
During an interview with Shacknews, Saya Elder revealed just how far into the development Studio Trigger was involved in. Elder during the interview stated;
“Cyberpunk: Edgerunners was initially slated to enter pre-production after the release of Cyberpunk 2077. However, with the game’s release being pushed back, Director Imaishi requested that he be able to play a pre-release build early to get an idea of what ‘cyberpunk’ meant to CD PROJEKT RED, and align Trigger’s vision for Edgerunners with the game world. Studio Trigger was one of the very few outside organizations that received access to an in-development version of Cyberpunk 2077.”
Cyberpunk: Edgerunners certainly was a breath of fresh air for a lot of anime fans around the world. It also covers and elaborates on every aspect that fans loved about Cyberpunk 2077, and even on some that the game missed out on.
How Cyberpunk: Edgerunners enhanced the experience of Cyberpunk 2077
A Gritty Night City: The game’s Night City was vast, but some felt it lacked a certain lived-in feel. Edgerunners dives deeper into the underside of this neon-drenched metropolis. We see the grime, the desperation, and the constant struggle for survival. The nightlife in Cyberpunk: Edgerunners was perfectly able to portray a more ruthless aspect of the Night City which the game didn’t completely achieve.
Cyberpunk’s Gruesome Reality: The game sometimes downplayed the harsh realities of cybernetic augmentation. Edgerunners doesn’t shy away from it. We see the physical and mental toll cyberware takes on David and other characters. This adds incredible layers of depth and realism to the entire cyberpunk experience.
The Relatable Struggle of Edgerunners: Cyberpunk 2077 focused on V, a pre-determined character. Edgerunners introduces David Martinez, a relatable protagonist clawing his way up from the bottom. His struggles to survive in the ruthless world of Night City, and his reliance on cyberware to compete, perfectly embody the core themes of the Cyberpunk universe.
You can stream Cyberpunk: Edgerunners on Netflix
