Produced by CD Projekt Red and Studio Trigger, show about a street kid turned mercenary outlaw is set in same universe as upcoming Cyberpunk 2077 game.
Netflix has just signed a deal with CD Projekt Red and Studio Trigger for a 10-episode season of Cyberpunk: Edgerunners, an anime series set in the same universe as the upcoming game, Cyberpunk 2077. The new series adds to Netflix's growing anime slate, which includes the upcoming Japan Sinks series (premiering July 9th) and Transformers War for Cybertron: Siege (premiering July 30th). CD Projekt Red and Studio Trigger are also the studios behind two other Netflix anime series, Little Witch Academia and BNA.
Cyberpunk: Edgerunners tells the story of a street kid trying to survive in a technology and body modification-obsessed city of the future. Having everything to lose, he chooses to stay alive by becoming an edgerunner—a mercenary outlaw also known as a cyberpunk.
CD Projekt Red, the company behind the Cyberpunk 2077 video game, has been developing the series since 2018, and will produce with a creative team that includes talent from The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, and Cyberpunk 2077. The show is scheduled to premiere in 2022.
Studio Trigger will bring their signature style as the animation studio on the series. Hiroyuki Imaishi (Gurren Lagann, Kill la Kill, Promare) will direct, with assistant director Masahiko Otsuka (Gurren Lagann, Promare); creative director Hiromi Wakabayashi (Kill la Kill); character designer Yoh Yoshinari (Little Witch Academia, BNA: Brand New Animal); Yuto Kaneko (Little Witch Academia); and the adapted screenplay by Yoshiki Usa (SSSS.GRIDMAN, Promare) and Masahiko Otsuka (Gurren Lagann, Kill la Kill, Promare). The original score will be composed by Akira Yamaoka (Silent Hill series).
“We are so excited to finally reveal that we are working on an anime in the Cyberpunk world,” said Adam Badowski, Cyberpunk 2077 Game Director and CD Projekt Red Head of Studio. “We’ve devoured just about all the cyberpunk fiction there is to watch, read, and play; it’s a genre that leaves so much room for creativity, and has had such a strong influence on us. Cyberpunk: Edgerunners is our love letter to cyberpunk as a whole, and to stories told in animated form.”
Masahiko Otsuka, Studio Trigger CEO, noted, “We at Trigger are thrilled to work with CD Projekt Red to create a brand-new story set in the world of the highly anticipated Cyberpunk 2077. It’s a huge challenge to adapt this universe into an anime, but we are eager to face it head-on.”
Director Hiroyuki Imaishi added, “I’ve always loved cyberpunk as a genre, but always found it difficult to create as an original work. This is why I’m very excited to be working with CD Projekt Red on this project. It won’t be easy to please both game and anime fans, but I love a challenge, and I’m looking forward to the production. We’ll do our best to meet and exceed expectations.”
Source: Netflix
Dan Sarto is Publisher and Editor-in-Chief of Animation World Network.
