Finished "Edgerunners" just now and... To be honest, it's not as good, as all the hype around it. At least for a person, who has not played a game (it's still in my "to play" list, though).
Don't get me wrong, visually and stylistically it's great. I mean, it's "Trigger" and they do know how to make some crazy animations. Soundtrack is also quite good, even though comprised of mostly older tracks. But story wise... I'll admit it's not like "Kill La Kill" or "Gurren Laggan" had such amazing stories, that they would blow you out of your boots, but I do not remember them being as "patchy". Probably because it was super-rushed. For the sake of the roughly the same pacing across all the series? Maybe, but it was not worth it, IMHO.
It jumps around quite often. It seems to start talking about something serious and then it moves back to action (good action, not gonna diminish this accomplishment) or some general craziness or gore. It's too abrupt. Too edgy (yes, I know that it's literally in the name). It reminds me of the very first version of my own book, which I did when I was like 15 maybe. And I decided to rewrite it quite soon after finishing, because it felt... Too childish. There also was gore and sex there, and while I did feel a meaning behind those scenes, I did not deliver that meaning. Those scenes felt to be there just for the sake of being there, and I wanted more.
"Edgerunners" is kind of the same. It feels like it's done for the teenagers by teenagers. But it has so much more potential. One of the main themes is cyber-psychosis, which could be a very interesting and deep subject, but as everything else - it's rushed, and it is there to only show people going on crazy killing spree and zoning out afterwards, while literally glitching in their mind. I won't argue, our minds can switch rapidly from 1 thing to another, especially with conditions such as ADHD, but... I've seen these "symptoms" be presented far better in some other media. Far more... Subtle? Deep?
Of course, it does not make the show "bad", you can just take it for what it is - a fast-food show. Late night snack to turn off your brain. But it could have been oh so much more.
