Cyberpunk Edgerunners Ran Through My Soul 

"look mom, I'm on top of the arasaka tower" Hits harder than a truck

Lucy is not the only one who survived, Falco lived to tell their tale to V.

Lucy was also acting cold after ep 2 because she felt herself really starting to have feelings for him and didn’t want to get attached and have him die on her. It’s very clear that she was VERY attracted to him even early on in the show

This had only 10 episodes and had better character and world building than a whole lot of multiple season series.

"So I sat down with my dinner and decided to go for it, and I DIDN'T MOVE FROM MY SPOT FOR 3 HOURS!" Can totally relate, I binged the whole series in the course of an afternoon, GREAT ANIME!

Holy shit. David's obssession with others' dreams for himself is a byproduct of his extreme level of empathy. Which is also the thing that determines your resistance to cyberpsychosis.

I think the true tragedy is that in the end, David could not escape the mentality he inherited from his mother. His mother died right after having made him aware of the sacrifice she was making to keep him in school, but this ended up having him idealize self sacrifice, and fulfilling other peoples dreams. The trauma made him unable to have ambitions of his own, and when he fell in love with Lucy, he projected this ideal and attempted to fulfill her dream, regardless of the consequences to himself. Meanwhile, Lucy had the trauma of running away and letting her friends die, so she was attempting to save David from the source of her trauma, namely Arasaka. The cruel irony is that the biggest threat to David was not actually arasaka, but rather himself and his crumbling psyche, and Lucy was no longer dreaming of going to the Moon, but rather going anywhere with David. So in the end David sacrificed himself to fullfill a dream Lucy no longer cared about, while Lucy was to busy trying to secretly save him from arakawa that she could not be there for him when he needed emotional support. David then turned to "chroming up" as a way to combat the stress he was feeling, since this had been the way he had coped with his mothers death. Its like a greek tragedy on steroids.

If Made in abyss is punch in the guts, Cyberpunk edgerunners was a telegraph punch, I knew it was coming, but it still hit hard.

In my opinion, the saddest thing about the ending (sadder than all the deaths) is the fact that Lucy is alone and probably feels guilty as hell. She was trying so hard to save David that she ironically ended up being the biggest factor in arasaka being able to lure him out. She distanced herself, got captured, got David wrapped up in a whole mess without ever being able to talk to him and clear her name. Imagine having to live with that guilt. I really felt for her in that ending scene on the moon, where she realizes that David is no longer there. You can tell she blames herself for everything. In the end, David failed to realize that her dream wasn't the moon anymore, it was a life of peace with him. Be it on the moon, or wherever. She just wanted him to be there. Imagine how she felt when falco said "if I turn around now David will have died for nothing" and when falco told her David apologized for not being able to go to the moon with her. Her entire being probably broke in that moment and the guilt probably started to kick in as she was fully taking in what was being said to her. I feel like if she communicated with David, and talked to him sooner, she could've gotten him off the cyberware that ultimately ended up giving him cyberpsychosis and they could've laid low, got enough money and potentially left. Truly one of the most tragic stories.

Edgerunner is another example of how important communication is in an relationship. The sacrifices made between David and Lucy for each other; yet, were ironically doing something the other didn't believe in anymore

My fav moment of the show was when David killed Adam Smacher, joined Lucy on the moon and Rebecca before that confessed her feelings not expecting anything, just to put it finally out, and later we saw both of them being happy on the moon and calling Rebecca how are stuff going for her and rest of the crew in Night City Yes, that was best moment

I think there's an unspoken rule, in certain worlds of fiction that can't have a happy endings. Night City feels like one of them.

The crazy part about THE song is I would skip it all the time, but now when I hear it on the car radio I let it play to pay my respects to David and Lucy. Crazy how a show could make me love a song that I didn’t care for before.

I swear someone else pointed it out but the emotional gut punch of the show was so telegraphed we knew it was coming from minute 1 but stayed there and watched it hit us like doc did with the meta in red vs blue.....

"I'm a good guy, maybe I'll spare Adam Smasher" Watches Edgerunners* *"MERCY WAS NEVER AN OPTION"*

Lucy smiling at the end mixed with "I really want to stay at your house" hits so hard. That is the point where i just broke and started crying.

The best part about this show is that no matter how much i want a season 2 it wouldn't even make sense, everything just ended, it was a good and sad experience.

I’m glad there’s other people so emotionally attached to this show. RIP my guy Maine

I'm a grown man in my 40s, and I fucking sobbed like a baby on the final episode. As a musician, I am awed how the director picked the songs for the anime. It doesn't 'work' when you think about it (say, like using a retro song from the 90s for a futuristic anime), but it came out fantastic. This anime to me is a project full of courage, being different, edgy.

I interpreted the theme very differently, I interpreted it as being unable to escape the cycles that led to your upbringing and perpetuating that cycle onto others. You see that in how David literally sees himself and others as other people in his past. Even Lucy ends up repeating her past, running away from her past and letting her friends die, unable to stop it. It's also about the inevitability of this cycle; once you've put the pieces together around episode 6, you know what's going to happen and there's nothing that can halt the sheer momentum that is the self perpetuating misery of night city. If you know the lore of the city, you know David's fate was sealed far before he had a choice in the matter. David's path may have looked like a string of bad luck, but in truth the game was rigged from the start.

This show was truly something no one could have ever predicted it to be.

everytime i drive my car and the song comes on i start to tear up god damn this anime hit me hard

Loved it Best possible ending is one which leaves you wanting more, worst possible ending is one so dragged out the audience is indifferent.

I think the length was intentionally kept short because in retrospect the little time we had with the characters really just emphasized the emotional attachment to the anime and in turn really makes us want to explore what more these characters could have had for us to witness

I don't have guts to rewatch cyberpunk 2077 edgerunners again, it just hit different man.

I like how the first time we see them all walking around together is the last time we seem them together as in the literal next damn scene someone dies.

You forgot Falco Lived and will message you in the game and told V that you were looking for David Martinez but they went dark and stayed away from the limelight of night city. But also say that both V and David have something in common a nice little touch from the game.

I was watching with my girl. At the end she was basically crying it was so tough not to join her. We went for a walk looking at the moon. When I got back I got in the shower curled up and let it all out.

One small detail that I like about this show is how the dialogue between David and Lucy becomes more “robotic” towards the end before Lucy gets captured. It feels like those one-word “ok” text messages you get from your soon-to-be ex-girlfriend/boyfriend.

David's downfall, IMHO, was he clung unto the past in a very unhealthy way. Trying to live up to Maine's and his mother's dreams and also Lucy's old dream set his path. He never formed his own and failed to realize that Lucy changed her dream from going to the Moon to living out her life with him. There is more to it than that but I feel that it is the greater part.

I really appreciate you explaining the bits that Mike Pondsmith talked about - those details that originate from the TTRPG are often missed by the fans entirely because, well, most folks aren't going to read thru books of a niche hobby made back in the 80s, nor do folks realize that Mike Pondsmith is still around to comment on the anime. Makes me wonder if he had a hand in the writing some...

The feelings I have on this man. It feels like everyone died for nothing but the ache that everyone did what made them happy until the end makes me feel so conflicted and the final seen with Lucy imaging David had me in tears seeing him happily accepting death a few minuets earlier

I just finished the show, and I have never cried this much over one show. The show sucked me in, I was hooked and I casually expected ep 10 to be a cliffhanger as usual, and instead, I witnessed the most perfect ending to a story I have ever seen.

How could you forget about our boy Falco, he also made it out.

Final episode was hard to watch. But somehow I managed to not cry until that damn final scene on the moon happened. Even thinking about it makes me wanna cry

Regarding Lucy and Rebecca as love interests, it's clear that the internet has a favorite. But in reality, they're two completely different viewpoints, but both with unending love for David. I think most people become attached to the love interest that they see themselves in, not necessarily the one they would want to be with. Most people see Rebecca as "best girl" not because they would choose the girl that is constantly trying to win their love, but because they see themselves in her. Feeling a deep love for someone that is unwavering, but you'll never feel it reciprocated. Rebecca spent every chance she had to try to get closer to David, she tried to spend more time with him and understand how he was feeling. But no matter what, he just doesn't show her that same love. That's why people like Rebecca; they want to take the girl like that and love her back to let her know it's all going to be okay, because that's the feeling they also want for themselves. Lucy is a completely different person. She's not constantly trying to win David's heart. She's instead doing everything she can, sacrificing herself in the process just to save David. She learned what Tanaka wanted David for, which was a person to test the full cyberskeleton on. Lucy knew this would make David become a cyberpsycho, ultimately leading to his death all for Arasaka's gain. So Lucy is the path of self-sacrifice; distancing herself from her friends and even from the person she loves just to save him. She didn't care if Arasaka would eventually catch up to her, as long as David would be safe. The people who think Lucy is "best girl" relate to her on the level of self-sacrifice. The willingness to do whatever it takes to make sure nothing bad happens to the one you love, even if it means putting your life on the line every single day. (This is why I'm on Team Lucy. Haters gonna hate.) Then there's the matter of where each character ended up which adds to each character imo. Rebecca died, but it truly was a sacrifice that just made sense. She could see that David was going cyberpsycho and that he was going to sacrifice himself. She didn't want to be in a world without him, so she went out with a bang with him. What better way to show someone you love them? Lucy also didn't want to be in a world without David, but David sacrificed himself so that Lucy could realize her dream. Lucy didn't go to the moon because it was her dream, she went to the moon because it was David's dream for her to go. If she didn't go, it would mean David's sacrifice was in vain and her living would have been for nothing. But on the flip side, her existence on the moon is tragic because she shared her dream with David. In doing so, her dream would only be complete if David was there with her. So she has to live every day on the moon without the person she loves just so that David's sacrifice meant something. She smiles at the end, but it's a smile that feels sad. It's as if her life will no longer be complete but she has to keep going for him.

The twist that really got me was right at the start in Lucy's brain dance on the moon when it suddenly stops with YOU FELL OVER THE EDGE, PUNK.

Edgerunners hit especially hard for me, not only because of the tragic love story between David & Lucy, but even more because of David's messed up relationship with women he cares about or loves. I went through more or less identical shit considering my upbringing with a sole mum who projected her life goals onto me and manipulated me to make those dreams come true. For me, being a highly emotional and empathetic guy, I was genuinely concerned about the needs of others while not caring about myself. When my mum disappeared from my life, I projected this kind of behaviour on other people (mainly girls I was friends or in love with) while fading into severe depression. This changed in late '21 while in therapy when I finally realized that not caring about my own dreams, future and most importantly my mental health will be a future death sentence, if not changed for the better. But watching this show also made me realize how far I've come from ending like David. Always remember, before you care about helping others, you should take care of yourself first.

The writing team at CDPR was always good. And whatever they are paid, its probably less than they deserve. That their blunt realism should merge so well with Triggers vivid colours and over-the-top wacky style, I don't think anyone could imagine. But I don't think I have ever seen two opposites compliment each other so well before. Everything just clicked. Also, Becca best girl.

This show hit everyone directly where it hurts, I finished it 2 days ago and still feel empty from the emotions that this throws at you. There was no bad characters and everyone’s story was written amazingly just our little Loli Rebecca coulda made it to the end. It’s just a shame David never realised that Lucy’s dream changed, her dream became him, he was her moon, and all she wanted was him to survive the city with her

This show had me bawling into my pillows. Today I heard "I Really Wanna Be At Your House" in a music livestream that my professor was playing, its hard to explain your topic when you're crying

Damn, shouldn't have watched this during my lunch break. Cried and ruined my makeup and all😭 What a great interpretation of this amazing, amazing show...

Cried for 3 days after this show. Could see myself in it just relationship’s ive had or the sudo father figure so much emotion in 10 episodes. Great vid man.

Loved how you explain the root cause of cyberphychosis, basically it's the fear and stress of living on the edge in a broken society, cyberwares just accelerate the process. What makes it even more tragic and depressing is, David's cyberphychosis is pretty much inevitable even if he made different choices, as long as he is the leader of the team and he wants to make better life for his team and himself, he has to be strong to survive, he has to install more powerful implants and kill more people on the street, that's also the reason both David and Maine refuse to downgrade their gears. Cyberphycosis is avoidable or even reversible for the rich and cold blood killing machines like Adam Smasher, but for normal people like David and Maine, their fate is decided the moment they get on the path of being Edgerunners.

Rebecca: "Were having a moment here you asshole!" This shit made me tear up.

Lucy wasn't the only one surviving. The driver survived as well. He helped Lucy escape.

just finished the show today, binge all 10 episodes in 1 sitting, the way i tell if a show is good is how empty it makes u feel when ur done, how big of a hole it leaves in my heart after i completely finish it, and so far this show has left one of the biggest holes in my heart in a long time, its easily in my top 5 out of 600+ animes ive watched and also broke into my list of animes thats made me actually cry, i also played the game and 100% it the day before i binged edgerunners, i wanted to get fully immersed into the world of cyberpunk before i tackled the anime, this is prob the most ive done to hype myself up for an anime and it paid off tremendously

Wow this made me appreciate David's character more and realize how deep this story really was.

Funniest part of the whole thing is that her actual dream was to protect him.

So glad this series hit such wonderful acclaim.... Proof that stories with a bleak endings deserve more attention.

it's so sad. And what makes it worse is that after thinking about it endlessly, you realize just how badly everything was set on destruction from the start. How every mistake any of the characters made just doubled down on their misfortune. This fate was avoidable at so many different instances, they may not have gotten rich or achieved any dreams, but the characters would've survived instead of running into the Arasaka death traps along the way. I was most disappointed by the fact that Kiwi not only fulfilled her own prophecy of "never trust anyone" but also fell victim to it herself, and by simply doing that she ultimately doomed the others. If she hadn't done that, it might still have ended okay. What also hit you in the face was how direly Lucy wanted to shield David from Arasaka and their netrunners after the data extraction job, so much that David lost himself to a Cyberware addiction and his mental decline lead to small episodes of cyberpsychosis and him even believing she just doesn't want to be with him anymore because she spent all her time netdiving and hunting Netrunners.

Thank you for this video , really struck a cord with me. Fully explained the emotions I felt

This show convinced me to play through 2077. I finished it in like 3 days. And every time I Really Want to Stay at Your House came on, I just stopped whatever I was doing, and just listened.

I cried I cried for a day straight as a grown man who never cries and now it’s stuck in my head

Im just really easy to make cry, rebecca dying due to david’s crazy plan as well as david not going to the moon with lucy got me bawling my eyes out.

I just want to hear people talk about and praise the show, you coulda said anything, but good job. If you played the game enough, you recognize a near-ceaseless showcase of locations from it. Some of them are super mundane, like a particular stretch near a corner in a random district. An incredibly special show. 10 out of 10.

OMG! This will help me get through this empty feeling after watching Cyberpunk Edgerunners. man, I am so depressed right now! great video! Thank you so much for this therapeutic video!

Basically the premise of David's character, the more human you are, the more machine you can handle.

This show put me into a mental abyss. It also gave me an unavoidable love for, “I really wanna stay at your house”, And “Let you down” So now I have them on repeat, Further imprisoning me in this void with constant reminders of this very tragic story I love so much.

“How did this show make me go into an extinential crisis? I have no Idea.” Had me dead from laughter 💀💀💀💀

So I actually really liked cyberpunk 2077 when it came out mainly because I had zero expectations I had never heard of the game until like a month before it came out. Never even really saw any trailers expect for 1 or 2. My game was playable and I just kind of ignored all the glitches and bugs. So this anime had me so happy after I decided to watch it. It stayed so accurate to source material which if you played the game just makes it so special. The story the characters were great. I didn’t understand the pacing initially and that was my biggest complaint cuz it went by too fast. Over all I loved it. Also Rebecca is the real wifu 😫. P.S. if your a Rebecca fan i already know you’d pick rem over Emilia.

I think you hit the nail on the head. Edgerunners is a love story at heart and that is why it hits different than most anime i've watched in recent years. The adult themes and the ever present death (from ep 1) just amplify the feeling. The most impressive thing to me is that i havent had the void in many years now and for a short show to trigger it again is just absolutely exceptional.

This show was so good but gut wrenching. Every character was perfectly written in their own way. When I feel sad thinking about the show I think of Rebecca's ride or die life and how she always fights for those she cares about. Such a great character.

Honestly, i think the reason i didnt cry at the end was because i took it peacemeal. I limited myself to one episode a day, and occasionally more than one day between episodes, because i knew it was short, and i wanted to enjoy it, and saviour it, not just go through it like im in a game of hungry hungry hippos. This had the added side effect of me being able to stabilize my thoughts and emotions between episodes, i think. I imagine that if one were to binge it, as the episodes go their mental stability would probably go down and be more and more prone to wilder and stronger emotions

14:45 this literally threw me into a fit of cry laughing- I looked insane probably to my poor cat xD

It is truly a rollercoaster show of emotions unlike many.

Late to the party and just finished it this morning. To paraphrase Keanu, “breathtaking”.

Watching this vid made me relive my depression of all the characters deaths

Ending was an absolute pain, but I also think if it was a complete happy ending: and don't get me wrong; I wanted a happy ending. But since the ending was pain.. I think it'll live in my brain rent-free longer than any other show I've watched recently. GGs for the anime producers.. I am just so empty and sad about David X Lucy...... 😭💀

15:00 correction, Falco was alive as well, you even come into contact with him in Cyberpunk 2077. Also Falco was the one who drove Lucy away from the scene so it'd make sense that he survived as well.

This show truly surprised me. Never thought they could capture night city and have good characters in 10 episodes but they delivered and I like many are thankful for this. Thank you

This and arcane are (and i will actually die on this hill) the 2 best anime ever created, they are both absolute masterwork, the characters and setting are vivid, real and relatable while also being unique and different. The emotions and eprsonality of the characters are deep and powerful. And the ending is beautifully written to use every ounce of emotion throughout the show to compound together and make the pain and depression you feel afterward so much more intense. I wish i could watch them both for the first time again

The song still hunts me down to this day and every time i hear it I recall all the sadness that i though i had left after months of healing.

This show really hit me so hard I couldn't even sleep the night I watched all 10 episodes. It made me feel terrible and sad but also joyfull for watching such a loving story

Yeah this is how you tell a good story with lots of emotions in it and all while remaining cyberpunk. I was so freaking attached to some of the characters. (Mainly Rebecca)

I am not an anime fan, but this show hits me hard. I feel you when you talked about an empty void after finishing the last episod... Also, the song "I really want to stay at your house" gets a total new melancolic vibe to me now.

I actually laughed when david said im built different

i cried like a fucking baby when it ended really shows how life can progress and hit like a train

I think what makes the show/universe so intriguing (to me at least) is that it’s almost a perfect parody to life. The show really hit me hard. I don’t know if it’s because I’ve lost people very close to me recently. But there were times when I really connected with some of the characters. Although it was a badass show, it was very sad at times.

I think that these kind of shows will lead to more possible hight quality video game adaptation. As we seen before, Arcane really helped boost the League of Legends player-base after the show aired, and now you see the EXACT same thing with CyberPunk. People have started to call it the Arcane effect. Where a video game adaptation done well can revive a franchise. I am hoping we get more amazing animated adaptations like these 2! It also makes you excited to visit these games again and enjoy them to the fullest with all that extra world building.

small bit, pretty sure Falco survived

there is no living legdent in the night city certainly means alot. emotion hits more than a truck

I work 12 hours shifts and watched the whole show in one shift. Was fucking amazing.

I’m glad that since edgerunners came out, they finally fixed the bugs and it’s finally playable

Lmao I've never seen any bugs like that. At most, I had a crash when opening the map and photo mode at the same time but hitting M and N key at the same time accidentally. I also was hoping that David would boast to Katsuo after killing his father. Like "Condolences on your father's passing. Want to know what his last words were? He begged for his life and cried like the feeble and weak garbage that he was. I'm guessing the fruit doesn't fall far from the tree."

Edgerunners captures that feeling that 2077 also had. Nobody wins aside from Night City and the Corpos. You either die or you leave Night City forever.

glad to know i wasnt the only one who just sat down the entire time watching it

What a masterpiece show man. Having these poor souls go through hell in life to finally have a glimmer of hope, hope that things might not be bad forever and then seeing this hope snatched from them in this tragic ending is soul crushing.

This show has genuinely awakened something in me, like a drive to make a better life for myself. And that god damn song. Every time I hear it it brings me to tears.

Just realized they could have done a plot point with David's father. But he's never mentioned.

I RARELY rewatch animes but i've watched Edgerunners 3 or 4 times easily EDIT: I think it's a good thing how short the show is and it's also a big part of what makes it so gut wrenching

One year later and this show still gives me a rollercoaster of emotions. Beautiful show

Now that I've watched the whole, show, everything just seems like it was all a dream; that feeling of waking up from a deep state of dreaming, just to realize 10 seconds later that it wasn't real. I've had this happen to me. The dream felt like it was the highest point in my entire life, I was so happy, and I believe it was one of the happiest moments in my life (no joke). The world I was in felt so wicked and astonishing that when I woke, I have never ever in my life wanted to go back in a dream so bad, for a good 30 seconds I wish I could have abandoned this life and go back. I have never in my life wanted to go back to something so breathtaking. I was left on a cliffhanger; the dream was like a story of its own and I was the main character, falling in love with someone. It's like the dream created real memories, making me sad when I look back on those times. This entire show fits this exact description, gosh when can I have this feeling again? Thank you for all the people who put their time and lives into this show :)

Well, I heard this theory which is probably true, CyberPsychosis only happens when you loose humanity levels and that’s why the kiss from Lucy brought him back. The only reason David was going through it was because of him losing everyone and Lucy was becoming distant

I don't typically enjoy love stories but this one is truly the most bad ass one ever that will always stay inside my heart.

1 year in the Edgerunners hasn't aged a single day and it will never will.

Cyberpunk edgerunners is such a good show i still cry even 4 month after watching the show, its as if my body just know to produce tears whenever i see something related to the show. The song is on my '' listen while driving '' playlist , but every time the song starts playing i have to skip it so i don't start crying while driving my car. i never thought a show would turn me into a zombie , much like you said yourself , for a whole week , making it impossible for me to think about anything else but the show for a the week. its the greatest anime ive ever seen and i will never rewatch it, i honestly don't need to rewatch it. the memory of this anime has burned itself so deep into my head that i will never forget this show.

They should make a non Canon 2nd season and let Lucy and David have a happy ending

They should make more seasons based on other Legends in the universe. Or give prequel stories to the crew members

The lore and terminology used aren’t just from the game. It’s also from cyberpunk 2022 and the lore itself