I must be honest, when I started this anime I did not have high expectations, I started it almost out of boredom.
I was never really interested in the Cyberpunk video game and my fear was that I wouldn't be able to understand anything about its 'world'. But I was wrong, and how wrong I was!
David Martinez is a street kid who lives together with his mother, who breaks her back daily to afford the tuition fees of the Arasaka Academy for her beloved son. David is a decent student, a rather intelligent young man, but also a free spirit, far from the sights of the corporations and always intent on staying on his own. Following a bad accident, his mother, Gloria, sadly loses her life and David is first harassed by his fellow students and then expelled from the Academy. Convinced to avenge Gloria and take a place in the world that he believes is rightfully his, he allows himself to be 'opened up' by his trusted Ripperdoc and modified with a military-grade Sandevistan implant: as powerful as it is dangerous to body and mind.
After making use of the implant a disproportionate number of times without suffering any consequences, it is clear that David has something more than the average person, and soon Lucy, a thief and netrunner by profession who belongs to the Cyberpunk group of the energetic Maine, realises this. In this way, David finally manages to join the group, thus beginning his life as a Cyberpunk model.
With the monstrous Maine watching over the group, the series shifts to a more episodic structure as David learns the ropes, is trained by Lucy and gets to know the rest of the group, eliminating targets along the way. It all comes together in one final mission, which spans a couple of bombastic, action-packed episodes to end the series in a beautiful tragedy.
The story could very well deserve a 10 out of 10 but, because there is always a but, you want to put too much on the line in too little time. 10 episodes are not enough to fully expose the plot; despite this, there is an attempt to keep the bar high throughout the whole series. The episodes follow each other seamlessly and with numerous timeskips, albeit with some really high moments, while the second half tends to pull a little on the handbrake, until a finale that is impactful, but less incisive than it would have been with more background.
What fuels the feeling that one shot is missing to enter the Olympus of Anime is the characterisation of the protagonists and the supporting characters. With three or four more episodes, perfection could have been achieved.
David Martinez is a successful character, who follows some classic hero stereotypes, but in whom many young boys who have the dream of being something more, of emerging, can basically mirror themselves. His psychology is not bad, subject to a stalemate that grips him from a certain moment onwards, before returning to the fore in the very last stages of the narrative.
Lucy is probably the most successful character. Her characterisation, the aesthetics, the prominence of certain forms are perfect and she really makes us smell Cyberpunk; her communicative and expressive power, the impact of a captivating female character, strong but equally fragile, are unfortunately fluctuating: she dissipates in the course of the episodes, leaving behind only the memory of herself, only to return with force in the last few episodes.
Next to them is the Maine gang. Characters are regularly killed off (in both senses) so it is impossible to really know them in depth. Dorio, Pilar, Rebecca, Falco and Kiwi are almost left to their own devices. A handful of lines are reserved for some of these, even though they later turn out to be key characters for certain plot twists (Kiwi indeed).
One need only say Studio Trigger to understand it all. Incredibly bright colours that perfectly represent what Night City is all about.
The streets are crowded with a myriad of different characters, full of detail and meticulous details reminiscent of videogames. Neon lights dominate and illuminate the violence, blood and sex that characterise the City.
Sandevistan's accelerated movements and cyberpsychosis have been brilliantly portrayed by the animation studio, using the usual bright and flamboyant colours. Splatter scenes dominate, with bright red blood painting walls, streets and people, but even these help to understand the cruelty and ferocity of the story.
It's all perfectly pitched, you couldn't get any better for this series.
Unbelievable levels are reached with music, and I am not exaggerating. At every moment you have the right soundtrack and it accompanies the feelings of the characters.
The opening is somewhat 'unusual' for typical anime (being a Netflix production, this was to be expected) but absolutely catchy and in line with the rest.
The ending.... Ahhh the ending... A masterpiece, listening to it I still get tears in my eyes.... Quiet, relaxing and incredibly dramatic. I don't know how many times I listened to it after watching the episodes, but I never get tired of it.
However, the one that stands out and absolute winner among all the OSTs and music is just one: I Really Want to Stay At Your House. This wonderful song will support us in all the critical situations that our characters will undertake. It is able to take on any expressive facet depending on the context in which it is inserted: from happy moments to the most tragic ones (above all). ~~OK, tears, stop coming down, please~~
How to conclude... One of the best anime of the season with spectacular graphics, incredible music, and a storyline that could have had a 10 if only there had been a couple more episodes to fully understand the characters and their personalities. For this very reason it is difficult to give it a perfect grade. Having said that, I recommend it to anyone who wants to go on an incredible journey, become attached to magnificent characters, and then suffer, a lot, for the tragic end that awaits them.
Well done Netflix.