Hacker Cinema
Cyberpunk: Edgerunners
2022 · TV series · 2 seasons
Created by Rafał Jaki, Bartosz Sztybor
AnimationActionAdventureScience FictionFantasyCrime
In a dystopia riddled with corruption and cybernetic implants, a talented but reckless street kid strives to become a mercenary outlaw — an edgerunner.
8 positive1 neutralfrom 9 commenters
Where to watch
No streaming data for this title.
10 comments on Hacker News
You mention Arcane, and that reminds me that Netflix's support of animation is really undervalued. LD&R has been mentioned, but they also helped bankroll a ton of marquee projects from Science Saru (Devilman Crybaby, DanDaDan), Orange (Beastars, Trigun Stampede), and Trigger (Cyberpunk: Edgerunners, Delicious in Dungeon). They picked up Pantheon and Scavenger's Reign. They've got another season of Blue Eye Samurai coming. Oh, and K-Pop Demon Hunters.
If you care about animation as either a visual or storytelling medium, Netflix has made a lot of the best movies and series of the past few years possible or accessible. (Having to pirate Pantheon S2 because it was initially only released in Australia was not fun.)
As something of an Alien fangirl 3 and 4 are more failures from a production standpoint than from a creative one. If you look at all the rejected pitches for Alien 3 there's a lot of interesting ideas which were never explored and a lot of studio fuckery in the final cut. I don't think the Fincher cut is amazing but I think it proves that there could be another excellent Alien movie.
Alien: Resurrection is plotted terribly and has all the shitty Joss Whedonisms you expect, but there's something undeniable about Winona, Sigourney and Ron Perlman in the grungy space aesthetic. The idea of Ripley as an Alien hybrid who is simultaneously attached to and repulsed by the Xenomorphs is interesting. Unfortunately they saddled the movie with a French director who couldn't speak English (and Joss Whedon, who arguably shouldn't speak at all).
The Terminator franchise is definitely more boxed-in: there's a core narrative about an important person who changes the world. Everyone else lives in contemporary LA, and the post-apocalyptic future is pretty boring.
The Animatrix anthology shows you can do lots in the Matrix world without needing the core characters. The themes and world-building could support a show like Cyberpunk: Edgerunners which is only tangentially related to the movies.
Nobody Wants This; Bridgerton; Wednesday; Man on the Inside; 3 Body Problem; Emily in Paris; the live-action Avatar: The Last Airbender; Love, Death, and Robots; How to Sell Drugs Online (Fast); Is It Cake?; Everybody’s Live with John Mulaney; and some others I’ve definitely had conversations about outside my own household.
Arcane was a pretty big deal and it was released on Netflix and TenCent.
They also have continued series that originated on other networks, including Unsolved Mysteries and Black Mirror.
I know several people who watched Cyberpunk: Edgerunners on Netflix and are excited about the upcoming CDPR and Netflix project set in the Cyberpunk universe.
I’ve had recommended to me and have recommended to others quite a few of their original movies. You might like 6 Undergound if you’re looking for an action movie.
Ghost in the Shell, definitely, both manga and anime (but avoid the live action movie and the weird recent CGI show set in the US). 'The Diamond Age', perhaps, if you still count that as cyberpunk. 'Snowcrash', though I have some reservations about some parts of it. 'Cyberpunk: Edgerunners' is pretty good, too. There's some good cyber-punk-ish games like 'System Shock' and others.
Don't see this as a comprehensive list. It's just what I had at the top of my head, so no guarantees it's even what _I_ think is best, just what I could remember quickly.
I'll give two series and a movie, since everyone has mentioned Kon. I think these are also going to appeal more to someone who hasn't been intimately involved in anime fandom.
-Cyberpunk: Edgerunners
It single-handedly revived interest in the game for a reason; it's excellent, particularly as a foil to GITS and a spiritual successor to FLCL (which I'm sure you've heard of). The animation style is VERY different from GITS, but no less technically impressive, and while the story is not quite as philosophical, it's still no less complete and satisfying.
-Sonny Boy
Tinges of Nolan, Kurosawa, Carroll, Cheever's The Swimmer. May seem like a slog at some points, but hang on for the sequence during the last episode. You'll know it when you see it. I don't want to give too much away.
-Mind Game
Again, don't want to spoil. I recommend watching late at night, Adult Swim-style. A prime example of anime that can't exist in any other medium.
Your Name (2016, Makoto Shinkai) and Ping Pong the Animation (2014, Masaaki Yuasa) are both IMO top notch (and the creators are active and have extensive oeuvres). The Shape of Voice (2016, Kyoto Animation (RIP)) was also much acclaimed. Of these, I recommend Ping Pong the most (and Yuasa's other works as well).
I suppose for more sci-fi/fantasy, Rebuild of Evangelion (2007-2021) might be interesting, although to me, its popularity in Japan and why the retelling was made is actually more interesting to me than the works themselves. It didn't win any particular awards or acclaim, but I was a fan of the incredibly stylish manga series, and I personally enjoyed the Blame! (2017, Hiroyuki Shesita) CGI anime film for those into the Japanese post-cyber-apocalypse sci-fi aesthetic.
I think these days, the economics of anime has driven more interesting work into series rather than features. Recently some memorable ones I've enjoyed are Steins;Gate (2011-2015, White Fox), Devilman: Crybaby (2018, Studio SARU), Cyberpunk: Edgerunners (2022, Trigger), Pluto (2023, M2), and Frieren (2023, Madhouse).
Cyberpunk Edgerunners was good, Made in Abyss was too but I have to say it got borderline too depressing for me by the end of the last season.
OPM I really can't stand - dropped it just after a few episodes. :)
Hai to Gensou no Grimgar had a lot of promise with a different take on the common theme, but pity it looks like it will not be continued. :(
That's definitely a "depends on your taste" thing. :)
[The below are mostly series rather than movies]
For something that's really interesting, and also family friendly, Den-noh Coil is really good:
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Den-noh_Coil
---
A similar "feel" kind of thing (family friendly) to the above is The Orbital Children:
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Orbital_Children
---
For stand out story, probably Made in Abyss:
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Made_in_Abyss
Due to the animation style, it looks like a kid/teen focused show at first. Don't be fooled, it's really not.
It has some incredibly complex (dark) themes. DON'T let young people watch that one (emotional trauma likely!).
---
If something "a bit different" is on the cards, then Cyberpunk Edgerunners is extremely good (I reckon):
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyberpunk:_Edgerunners
That's more of a Eastern+Western collaboration styling wise rather than pure Japanese anime. It's still a really good watch though. :)
---
Another western style one that's really good is Scavengers Reign:
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scavengers_Reign
---
Movies wise, probably Redline (2009) and Belle are the first to mind for me:
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Redline_(2009_film)
Very unique animation style, not everyone's cup of tea. ;)
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belle_(2021_film)
Also family friendly. :)
I personally prefer more meat-y plots and stay away from series with scenes that are cute (or stylish) for the sake of being cute (or cool).
That said, here are some of my favorites:
https://myanimelist.net/anime/13125/Shinsekai_yori (2012)
https://myanimelist.net/anime/42310/Cyberpunk__Edgerunners (2022)
https://myanimelist.net/anime/23283/Zankyou_no_Terror (2014)
https://myanimelist.net/anime/2581/Kidou_Senshi_Gundam_00 (2007)
https://myanimelist.net/anime/50709/Lycoris_Recoil (2022)
Also an honorable mention for Pantheon. It's a western animation but season 2's finale was basically one of greg egan's books come to life.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt11680642/
> It does seem that even though anime is more popular than ever, there is not so many modern anime classics.
Are you comparing to 1995-2005 or are you comparing to the lifetime of anime from about 1970 onwards?
1) I'm not sure anime is all that popular anymore. For example, I see FAR less anime merch than I did back in the early 2000s. Cyberpunk:Edgerunners is one of the few recently that seemed to spawn merch.
2) It doesn't help that a cour is now 13 episodes, at best, by default. It's pretty hard to make a "classic" anime in just 13 episodes on a super tight deadline. You can see the drop in quality around 2005 right about when things are switching to 13 episodes. By the time you reach 2010, practically nothing that isn't promoting toys is longer than 13 episodes.
3) Up through about the mid-90s, anime was mostly meant to promote buying toys and the quality reflects this (really--take a look at the anime released from about 1980-1990).
4) There were never that many "classic" anime after you remove Studio Ghibli.
5) 1995-2005 just had a remarkable run of producing some stupidly good anime along with all the standard dreck. It was a combination of decent enough funding, decent enough technology, and a sudden market opening (US demand).
6) The Japanese anime business leaders were complete and total dolts for a very long time. After about 2005, they sold increasingly expensive box sets to their whales and that completely warped things. Consquently, you get increasing amounts of junk hyper-tailored to the anime faithful (See: Zero no Tsukaima getting 48 episodes(!)--actually, please don't see it, it's total garbage).