Cyberpunk: Edgerunners (サイバーパンク エッジランナーズ) is a 2022 original net anime series based on CD Projekt Red’s video game Cyberpunk 2077 which in itself was also based on Mike Pondsmith’s tabletop game series Cyberpunk. The series was adapted by studio Trigger, and the staff credits include director Hiroyuki Imaishi, screenplay writers Masahiko Otsuka and Yoshiki Usa, character designer Yoh Yoshinari, and music composed by Akira Yamaoka. The series launched on Netflix worldwide on September 2022.
Note: This unboxing will contain visual spoilers to the anime series, especially for the latter half of the story.
Background:
“In the aftermath of a personal tragedy, streetkid David Martinez chooses to take control of his own life by becoming an edgerunner – a mercenary outlaw also known as a cyberpunk.
Across 10 heart-pounding episodes, follow David and his crew deep into the criminal underworld of the dark future as they take the fight to the corpos in control. But how far can David push his physical and emotional limits, and what price must he pay in order to be a true Night City legend?”
Plot Synopsis via Anime Limited, December 2025.
It feels rather surreal to be able to own what I consider to be one of the best anime shows released in the 2020s so far. Cyberpunk: Edgerunners is a great example of an anime adaptation that manages to successfully capture the vibe of the source material (a video game in this instance) but also bring a really strong cast of characters and a story that you wish didn’t end by the time you reach the final episode. It was thanks to the anime that I eventually went ahead of bought Cyberpunk 2077 digitally, though I held off on playing it because of the infamous technical issues the game experienced at launch and waited for the right moment to jump into it which eventually came when I bought the physical version for PlayStation 5 (which includes the Phantom Liberty expansion, though it’s a download code).
The anime is a rarity because a lot of anime adaptations of video games, whether they were traditional ones or visual novels, have a tendency to butcher what made the stories of those games great in the first place. Cyberpunk: Edgerunners is also a prequel to Cyberpunk 2077, so you don’t need to play it to jump right into the anime, with the only connection between the two is the setting, a few characters from the game that are referenced or make a cameo appearance, and the music from the game’s radio stations being played here and there including HEALTH’s Major Crimes and Rosa Walton’s I Really Want to Stay at Your House, the latter of which went viral thanks to its usage in specific scenes in the anime.
Studio Trigger to me is a love and hate relationship type, because as much as I enjoyed the crazy antics for Kill la Kill, PROMARE and SSSS.GRIDMAN, I do find the studio as a whole to be a bit overrated in general mainly because of the fandom always non-stop talking about them, which is due to the fact that the people involved in the various shows worked on Gurren Lagann back when they were with GAINAX. Though I won’t deny that their animation are really good and the effort and quality is shown throughout this anime, especially with the latter half of the series with some striking reaction faces that displayed various emotions, like the sense of dread and shock from our main lead David, curiosity with Lucy, and also amusement from Rebecca. Speaking of Rebecca, her smug face in one of the earlier episodes I kept as a reaction face and avatar image for discord and forums because it was rather entertaining.
I forgot to mention that Cyberpunk: Edgerunners is also an Netflix Original series, which again was a surprise of its own, because a lot of their original branded anime titles have been pretty mixed. Devilman Crybaby was no doubt an amazing series of its own, but a good number of others haven’t gained that much traction except for Baki and Knights of Sidonia (plus there were a good number of shows that aren’t technically “originals” but streaming exclusives like BEASTARS (except for the final season which is a proper Netflix Original series), JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Stone Ocean, Kakegurui, and Violet Evergarden).
The anime did very well in terms of reception and reviews which was great. Lucy, one of the main leads in the anime, also made a guest character appearance in Guilty Gear Strive from one of the season passes. To celebrate the release of the anime, CD Projekt Red also added new content to the video game. And the best news of all is that Cyberpunk: Edgerunners II is in the works with a new cast of characters to explore.
So the next question many had was when would it receive a home video release? Well in December 2024, about two years and a few months after the anime’s streaming launch, Studio Trigger announced it would be releasing Cyberpunk: Edgerunners on home video and would also be available across different territories including the United Kingdom, Europe and North America. Aniplex handled the distribution for Japan and in North America, the latter under Aniplex of America, which meant these would be pretty expensive releases. Fortunately Anime Limited and Plaion Pictures were able to secure the rights to the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Poland and more.
Collector’s Edition Contents:
Cyberpunk: Edgerunners got the lucky treatment in which we managed to receive an somewhat identical product to the Japanese and North American versions, with the main difference being a couple added extras to the packaging presentation from Anime Limited. It is unfortunate that the main cover is also a spoiler but taken out of context.
The collector’s edition release is presented with a rigid box with an o-card slipcase, an digipack case housing the discs, a 48-page illustration booklet, a 112-page storyboard book focusing on the final episode of the series, a 67.2 x 35.6cm 2nd year anniversary artwork poster, 3 reproduction cells and a special metallic Lucy art card. The illustration booklet includes character designs, episode guide, key animation images and an interview with the series director Hiroyuki Imaishi.
The rigid box artwork is free of any information or BBFC content and the o-card slipcase covers the information and specification like previous Anime Limited releases. The collector’s edition Blu-ray has an unspecified number of units printed (but is expected to be the usual 1000 run) for an SRP of £79.99. Also available on the same day of this is a steelbook edition and a standard edition.
I pre-ordered the series alongside Call of the Night Season 1 during Anime Limited’s early bird offer last early October for £49.99 (£44.99 with the 10% off Anime Unlimited discount) plus free postage since the other title brought the total cost above the free shipping threshold.
Physical Contents:
- Rigid Box with clean artwork and o-card slipcase for specification and BBFC description
- Digipack packaging
- 48-page Illustration Booklet
- 112-page Storyboard Book
- 67.2 x 35.6cm 2nd Year Anniversary Artwork Poster
- 3 Reproduction Cells
- Special Metallic Lucy Art Card
On-Disc Contents:
Distributor: Anime Limited
Released: 8th December 2025
The collector’s edition Blu-ray release for Cyberpunk: Edgerunners contains all 10 episodes across two Blu-ray discs, with the encode and authoring done I believe to be done by VDMS (Plaion’s logo is on the discs as they have the rights to Europe but the menu, audio and subs are more in line with VDMS’ format compared to the previous Plaion title The Colors Within).
At the start of each disc, you’re given the option to select either English, French or German (Deutsch), and whichever option you pick you’ll be able to return back and pick the other without having to restart all over. On the English menu, you can choose between the original Japanese audio with English subtitles and the Salami Studios English dub commissioned by CD Projekt Red & Netflix. On the French menu, you can choose between the original Japanese audio with French subtitles and the Audi’Art French dub. On the German menu, you can choose between the original Japanese audio with German subtitles, the English dub and and the German dub.
The white subtitles are locked during playback, and the Blu-ray discs are region restricted to players set to B. The English subtitle translation is the same used for the Netflix stream. The song “This Fffire” by Frank Ferdinand is also kept in.
Blu-ray Specs:
| Languages | Japanese, English, French, German |
| Audio | Japanese DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 French DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 German DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 |
| Video | 1080p High Definition Native format 16:9 aspect ratio |
| Region | B |
| Subtitles | English, French, German |
| Locked Subtitles | Yes |
| Discs | 2 BD-50s |
Blu-ray On-Disc Extra Features:
No extras included on these discs.
Unboxing Photos:
Final Notes:
Cyberpunk: Edgerunners is available to purchase on Blu-ray by Anime Limited in the UK & Ireland, as well as various European territories under Plaion Pictures.
The collector’s edition Blu-ray is available exclusively through AllTheAnime Store, whilst the steelbook edition appears to have sold out across different retailers but stock may be available via AllTheAnime Store.
The standard edition Blu-ray is available across different retailers including AllTheAnime Store, Amazon UK, Anime-on-Line, HMV and Zavvi.
(Disclaimer: Amazon links are also included when available. They are affiliated so if you decide to order them, I’ll earn a small percentage if they ship which will help me with any hauls or small bills.)
The Normanic Vault 
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