Art Style and Animation 9
Studio trigger always does top notch work when it comes to their art style and animation and I was pleasantly surprised to find out they were the ones involved in creating this anime as I honestly had no clue until I started to watch.
I don’t know if it is the 80’s steam punk style that inhabits the world of Edge Runner or just an artistic choice from the director, but this anime brings back so many memories of classics like bubble gum crisis. If you have ever viewed anime in the 90’s, I’m sure you are going to get that feeling when watching Edge Runner.
It’s almost scary how well it captures that period in time and this is probably the biggest joy I had personally when watching this anime. The only thing that was missing was speed lines and if they did that I would have been through the roof lol.
Another thing that bears mention was the astute attention to detail with the phone calls. While it was a bit hard on the eyes to read and sometimes follow, it was a really nice touch and another bravo is in order for going that far for the sake of keeping to the source material of the game.
Story 7.5
What I’ll say about the plot for Edge Runner is that it does not get in the way. There was nothing ground breaking and the finale could have been far more dramatic but the opportunity was missed in my opinion. It is a bit head scratching because I felt like the characters were all very memorable but something was just missing overall. It was almost as if there was a rush to come to a conclusion.
The story follows David, who is attending a prestigious institution despite very destitute circumstances that are leading him into desperate decisions to stay afloat. A random incident, something that can actually occur in the world based on the video game, changes his life abruptly and things go from there.
Music 7
Outside of the intro, I honestly can’t recall much of Edge Runner’s sound track it may have been the visual eye candy was just absorbing all of my other senses but nothing really stood out to me in this regard.
Overall, Edge Runner was a visually stunning watch and it certainly brought back those feelings of old that you rarely get from today’s anime. When it comes to animes that are based on video games, Edge Runner definitely stands at the top of the list. With a more captivating story line it could have been so much more but for the entire package, it does very little to disappoint and is certainly a worth it watch without question.
