The Fall 2026 Anime Preview Guide

Cyberpunk: Edgerunners 2

Weak, a washed-up cyberpunk legend, is now forced to live without chrome as he searches for a sense of purpose in a world that's passed him by. Meanwhile, the deadly nomad D sets out on a path to revenge that brings him close to corpo secrets never meant to be found.

Cyberpunk: Edgerunners 2 is based on the Cyberpunk 2077 media franchise by CD PROJEKT RED. The anime series is streaming on Netflix on Tuesdays.

Ambivalent as I was about Cyberpunk 2077, the original Edgerunners was an extremely pleasant surprise. Seeing the funky bunch at Trigger play around in a cyberpunk sandbox appropriate for old-school OVA sensibilities while weaving a shockingly affecting tragedy was a better time than I ever could have expected. At the center of that was seeing the studio's occasional guest star Kai Ikarashi's harrowing handling of the sixth episode, which was probably the high-water mark of the whole series. Having enthusiastically kept an eye on Ikarashi since being blown away by his turns on episodes of SSSS.Gridman and SSSS.Dynazenon, and with Edgerunners 2 smartly positioned as more of an anthology follow-up to the original with Ikarashi on full directorial duties to do whatever with it, I was pretty handily on board for another stay in Night City.

The delivery in the first episode is Ikarashi's direction firing on all cylinders, with Trigger continuing to realize this setting arguably better than the game ever did—held back only by the actual story within just barely feeling like it's really started. Being a binge-dropped Netflix batch of ten episodes, it tracks that this will likely feel more like a long movie stretched out over several installments. But even then, this premiere hardly even completes its thought before cutting off as it expects watchers to just immediately skip to the next episode. It's a jarring break that contrasts with so much of the intentionality on display otherwise.

Because that intentionality is what's defining Ikarashi's approach and pointedly tying into the theming of this story thus far. Roman's a cute kid at the center who's probably gonna be super messed up by the end of it—slotted as he is to record so many goings-on through his analog video camera. There's a pretty blunt metaphorical argument for the construction and artifice behind directorially filmed videos versus the brain-dances that make up entertainment in the Cyberpunk setting—being able to have someone communicate their vision through creation rather than flatly letting viewers relive it is quantifiably a stronger expression of art. It's easy to map this onto so many arguments about technological advancement in "content creation" these days, even if the shot of "D" getting teary at the sight of a Badlands film is itself blunt in making that point. But Cyberpunk: Edgerunners has never been about subtlety.

Just spending those moments, caught on film with these characters, is all this episode can muster in nudging them together for whatever the eventual full plot will be. Not that there isn't action—the whole thing opens with a knock-down drag-out shebang that sets up King's cyberpsychosis before he's bumped down to low gear, low tech, and low resources in a way that wouldn't be out of place in a game intro. But there again is the comparison, as this action, alongside smaller moments like Roman and D's interactions, have Ikarashi defiantly unafraid to shirk models or violently stretch perspectives for the sake of raw coolness. The style is the substance, and if that means regularly repeating the trick of showing slick Trigger animation and aesthetic through the grainy video camera footage, well, that's a pretty neat trick.

Is that enough? The ensemble opening marks a distinct approach from the first anime's tight focus on David, anyway, but it means viewers don't get much insight into these people—save for King's life kind of sucking and Roman's aforementioned video fetish. Even natural poster-girl Talia doesn't have enough for me to go on beyond her A+ design and that fact that I think her English dub VA isn't selling enough of the edge I would expect from this type of character. I like D simply because he can put away a lot of beers. But this isn't a show that's meant to only have one episode of it watched at a time, and even this one episode is more of a statement of intent from Ikarashi about how he feels in the Director's chair. From that perspective, I understand him showing off, and if I can already get what he's doing here just from that, I'm happy to let him bring on more.

I've praised Kai Ikarashi and Studio Trigger for their sense of style, the intentionality brought to everything about Edgerunners. So it's mildly amusing when that sense rubs up against other intents of the story itself. That is, it's hard for me to sympathize with Talia's mom Avida as she opines how all the chrome her daughter is installing is disfiguring and destroying her body while gesturing at a character design that, objectively, looks cool as hell. That's admittedly part of the tragic irony of so many tales in Night City, and a component of the plot shaping up is seeing if and how Talia can be saved from getting in too deep. That's a point of this format for a sequel, of course: David's story might have ended the only way it could, but there are plenty more runners still on the edge.

Running a little ahead, coming straight off the first episode, is how this episode of Edgerunners 2 progresses plots now that all the players are on stage. They're starting to come together in their connections. Roman and D form a simple dynamic duo, while Roman's also in contact with Talia who's being tailed by King. Some of the goals and stakes are clarified, but it's still very much in service of keeping the characters on-rails to wind up where the ultimate plot is going to go. In King's case, the job framing of his task following his introduction last episode only reinforces the video-game mission structure of his part.

Not that Edgerunners 2's status as a story is kept from it fleshing things out a little more narratively. With a theme about perspective and framing in filmmaking, those aspects are also applied to the fleshing-out of D's backstory. The way his Badlands tragedy is eventually blurted out is less than graceful, a necessary infodump needed at this moment.

Except only when his classic quest for revenge is clarified, does the framing pull back and reveal that D… kind of sucks at this whole revenge-seeking, antihero thing. He can't think to pursue the most clear plot breadcrumbs until an actual child points them out to him. He tries to power through an obvious trap with sheer moxy and gets knocked out for an entire day. He stumbles around in a daze and said child reassures him that he can get revenge just as well tomorrow. See, that basic beer-can binge in the previous episode was cute, but codifying this doofus in defiance of typical characterization truly endears me to him. He's almost like an anti-David—a comedic take-down of the stupidity of the drive that so did in Edgerunners' previous protag.

Maybe that sort of moment will come for all the leads eventually, but until then it's still inch-by-inch. Mystery-box motivations for Talia are teased, as is a potential parental connection with King. I can hope it'll be interesting payoff when all the episodes are watched back-to-back, but in a vacuum it undercuts Talia's appeal as a character versus her as a plot device for characters to interact with. That's frustrating, on account of the aforementioned objective cool-as-hell-ness of her on her face. It could even inform her odd sweet swerves around Roman and eyebrow-raising pursuit of him. Does she care for kids a lot for some reason? The audience can't tell, and neither can Roman. No wonder he gives her a rain check, he's already got one weirdo he's uncertain about hanging around.

It's a lot of shuffling that doesn't leave this episode of Edgerunners with as much space to show off as that premiere. Not to worry, as Trigger is still naturally punching above the weight of like 90% of TV anime. The flashbacks to D's backstory in particular seemingly lets this episode's storyboarder and director Naoto Uchida really cut loose with some genuine jaggedness to the presentation. Even the simplistic, offhand act of character hacking each other is given the slightest of intentional flourishes to make the otherwise invisibility of the act all the more appreciable. Insofar as any entry in a ten-episode limited series is a "necessary" one, this feels like a strictly necessary episode. But they have fun doing it and make sure it still looks objectively cool as hell.

At this point, I would classify myself as someone who's into Cyberpunk 2077 more than most people who casually played the game or watched the first season of Edgerunners. I'm the kind of person who, to this day, still binges lore and theory crafting videos on YouTube. You want to talk about Mr. Blue Eyes' true plan or Queen Lilith beyond the Blackwall? I am 100% down. So color me impressed that the people making this anime are as obsessed as I am—or even more so.

For the uninitiated, this first episode does a fine job of laying out the basic cast of characters. King is a guy who's gone too cybernetic for too long and will go insane should he ever use anything beyond basic implants again. Roman is a kid who idolizes the film making of old in a world where the main form of entertainment is downloading copies of other people's real life memories directly into your brain. D is a cybernetic hacker—and one with far more of a conscience than most people in Night City. And, lastly, Talia is a transhumanist gang member who believes the technological is far better than the biological.

While that's all well and good as far as setup goes—and makes for an excellent motley crew of antiheroes—it was the details that kept grabbing my attention. When Roman tries to sell his footage, his buyer suggests he could get a bit more cash selling it to N54. N54—i.e., Network 54—is supposed to be a NUSA news channel but it is actually a propaganda mouthpiece for the megacorp Militech—and they would absolutely want to buy an embarrassing video of a group of mercenaries stealing from their biggest rival, Arasaka.

Likewise, I legitimately laughed out loud when it was mentioned that King was a Platinum Trauma Team client—because it meant that, completely off screen, a heavily armed and soldier-filled flying ambulance came in, killed some cops, and rescued the criminal. And, to be clear, this is a perfectly normal thing to happen and there will likely be no repercussions for anyone involved (because megacorps, even Trauma Team International, have more political power than the police).

I am in love with this kind of background flavor that adds to the story for those in the know but doesn't detract from the main story for those who aren't. As a fan this episode was a joy to watch and I can't wait to see how and why our crazy cast of characters become involved with one another as the story unfolds.

With this episode, more and more of the main cast begin circling around Roman. To D, he seems to be a little brother figure—someone in need of protecting. This, of course, ties into his own trauma where his Nomad clan was attack by a Maelstrom gang and left as one of the only survivors. Now his hunt comes to an end—only to discover that Maelstrom were just hired muscle. And while D may be a decent Netrunner and a passable hunter, he's not exactly an idea guy—which leaves Roman to fill that role.

As for Talia, she comes into Roman's orbit because of the video he took of her. Why this is so important to her is shown throughout the episode. Talia, despite her gang connections, is a corpo child. Her parents seem to be megacorp middle management. They are rather rich by Night City standards but are still just cogs in the machine. Through a bunch of show-don't-tell, it's obvious what her deal is.

Talia's rebelling against everything that they are. She joins a gang and chromes herself way past normal limits. It's a cry for attention—not just to her busy parents but to the world at large. This is why she is so drawn to Roman's video; he sees her as she longs to be seen. And through his future recordings of her, she hopes to see more.

Lastly we have King. At the moment his only connection to Roman is through Talia. Despite his diminished status his old flame, Talia's mother, is able to draw him back in for one last job by claiming that she is his daughter. While there are hints that this might be true—namely their similar heights and tolerance for cyberware—I have a feeling it's not. Rather, I suspect that a worried mother is simply willing to do anything—tell any lie—to try and save her wayward daughter.

However, even if it is a lie, through building a relationship with Talia, King may have a chance to leave a real lasting impression—because as we saw last episode, in the world of Edgerunners, he is already forgotten.

All in all, this is some fantastic character work from top to bottom. Every moment is meaningful and we're already getting some hints about the impending danger that will link the crew together—and maybe even lead directly into the game itself.

Once the much-needed 2.0 update and excellent Phantom Liberty expansion rescued Cyberpunk 2077 from its disastrous state at launch, it became one of the most vaunted games of this generation, and for good reason. It's incredible world-building and expansive, shamelessly unsubtle story captures the skeezy essence of the classic cyberpunk aesthetic in a way that is positively infectious. To this day, I still boot up the game from time to time just so I can cruise around and tear gonks to shreds with my Mantis-blade implants.

This second season of Studio Trigger's equally beloved Cyberpunk: Edgerunners anime understands that the appeal of the franchise is not so much rooted in any one story or cast of characters as it is in the bloody, crusty, chrome-blitzed appeal of Night City itself. We are just like Roman, one of the new stars of this standalone sequel, who obsessively captures the bustling streets and bloodstained back alleys of the city through the lens of his old analogue camcorder. This vision of the future is at once terminally dated to the tropes and styles of the late 1980s and early 90s while still managing to capture a fucked up cyber-dystopia that feels like it's only one more bad election cycle from coming true.

This is probably why Trigger's approach to the material is still just so utterly perfect, even when their approach to this second season is markedly different from the first. Their kinetic, gore-soaked vision of this universe is at once both evocative of the original tabletop game's tone, the visual spectacle of the CD Project Red video game, and the devil-may-care abandon of yesteryear's anime OVAs. I can't imagine a better match for studio and subject matter.

The main question concerning this season is whether or not the show will be able to replicate the first season's success when it comes to the story and cast of characters. From the get-go, Edgerunners II seems to be taking a much more fractured and manic approach to stitching this story together. Roman is a young bystander who happens to get footage of a cyberpsycho named King going on a rampage. This leads the kid into all sorts of trouble, including an encounter with a Maelstrom ganger with a body that has been modded out to roughly 90% razor-sharp blades. It is an interesting setup so far, especially when you have a veteran thespian like Clancy Brown voicing King, but the emotional hook isn't quite clear yet. It's a good thing that I have no qualms about diving back into Edgerunners II as soon as possible to see where the chaos takes us from here.

King's plans for self-annihilation are halted when he reconnects with his old flame, Avida. The estranged couple's daughter Talia is the same chromed-out Maelstrom girl that our young documentarian Roman crossed paths with in the premiere. Meanwhile, Roman is teaming up with the mysterious Nomad stranger who calls himself “D” and promises to get the kind of real-life carnage on camera that will put the virtual braindances of the competition to shame.

My main question about this second season of Cyberpunk: Edgerunners was whether or not this more fractured storytelling style and cast of characters would hold up compared to the original, and while it is too early to say for sure, things are already beginning to come together. Roman and D make for an interesting team as they work through the Nomad's path to revenge, and the family connection shared between King, Avida, and Talia immediately makes their side of the story more compelling. I can't say that I'm terribly compelled by the corpo conspiracy linking everything together via the typical meddlings of the suits at Arasaka, but that tracks with my experience in the Cyberpunk game, too. So long as the corporate goons give the characters excuses to hack, shoot, and slash their way through Night City, the finer points don't matter all that much.

Aesthetically, this season is hitting all the right buttons for me. In spite of its name, my favorite time to go cruising around Night City was always that late afternoon window on the edge of the magic hour, where the outskirts of the metropolis were bathed in a hazy glow of dust and fiery sunlight. Edgerunners II is owning that particular shade of the city but good, which helps it stand apart from the more saturated and moody tones of the first season. I'm also more than happy to indulge in that extra veneer of low-definition fuzz that we get from the visual motif of VHS recordings.

This season of Edgerunners is clearly going for a very different flavor of Cyberpunk than its predecessor, and while the anthological approach always runs the risk of inviting disfavorable comparisons from returning fans, I think this was absolutely the right direction for Trigger and their collaborators to go. There are a million stories waiting to be told in Night City, after all. Even if Cyberpunk: Edgerunners II doesn't end up fully clearing the lofty expectations that fans are surely arriving with, all signs still point to this being one hell of a ride.

Oh my God, there is so much that happens in this first episode. I don't even know where to start, and I mean that in the best way possible. Despite the episode switching between multiple perspectives and still not giving away a lot of the histories of the main cast, this premiere managed to keep things engaging by having a consistent thematic throughline. On the surface, the world building is pretty traditional. This is a futuristic world where people swap out and modify their bodies with cybernetic implants. However, almost every character that the show switches between seems to have a different perspective or experience with how that technology is affecting them. There's Weak who seems to be going through cybernetic overload to the point where he's hallucinating things and getting people killed, and then there's that mysterious acrobatic girl who almost seemed bitter about finding a young boy that was mostly flesh.

Speaking of that young boy, I really like Roman's perspective on things. A part of me feels like he doesn't really act or talk like a kid his age, but considering the world he's growing up in, it's nice that he seems to be acting as the sense of rebellion against those cybernetic augmentations. The fact that he is obsessed with old style film recordings is fascinating because I could easily see people like this in a realistic, futuristic world. The conversations he has with others could also be substitutions for a lot of modern conversations that we have regarding the over alliance on technology or AI. Technology is both literally and figuratively, stripping away people's humanity.

All of this is wrapped up in a visual style that is absolutely breathtaking. This shows opening minutes feels like the proper spiritual successor to Cowboy Bebop that we've never truly gotten. The colors are bold, the close-ups are surprisingly detailed, the voice acting has loads of culture with the dub bringing different accents and despite a lot of the more animated sections feeling a bit flat, they are sharp and impactful just like a lot of other Studio Triggers works. I even like how Roman's camera is used to switch perspectives a couple of times. This is a really strong start and I really can't wait to see how it's followed up.

So this episode starts focusing on those various different perspectives by establishing how everyone is connected to each other. Talia is the daughter of Weak and there's a really good parallel character arc being set up with the both of them right from the offset. Talia seems to be augmenting herself with various different cybernetics in a way that is completely allegorical to substance abuse. The problem is that the more she augments herself, the more she seems to be at risk of suffering the same mental affliction that Weak did in the first episode. I'm very curious about their history and how that might all tie together.

Talia is also the character I'm the most interested in because her mood seems to shift a lot depending on the scene. Sometimes she's overly playful and innocent while other times she comes off as rather cold. The fact that she also seems to want to develop a genuine friendship with Roman means that there is probably going to be a point in the series where this group forms some kind of team and that will end up being the main party that we follow for the rest of the show.

However, if there was a character that was given the most focus in this episode, it would probably be D. While I do think that a lot of his flashbacks were a bit messy in terms of animation, the way the show has his trauma flash between the past and the present was very fun. This guy walks like a zombie and has PTSD that cybernetically manifests itself in the real world. I love the way that the camera keeps shooting back-and-forth between the trauma he has with that great fire and the horrific torturing that he's doing to people today. He is definitely twisted, but in a sort of lovable way. I'm very surprised that Roman's dad just lets this guy hang around when he clearly isn't all there, but it is fun how he seems to look after Roman.

Roman was even there joining in on the interrogation at the beginning of the episode and considering that he is filming everything, I wonder if this camera is going to be a major plot point that connects all of these different storylines together by the end of the show. While this definitely wasn't as stylistically intense or grand as the first episode, it definitely goes in the right direction by allowing me to get a better understanding of who these characters are.