Cyberpunk Edgerunners Cosplay Resurrects Kiwi

Cyberpunk Edgerunners was the shot in the arm that the world of Cyberpunk 2077 needed. When the game by CD Projekt Red landed, it was met with quite some controversy thanks to glitches in the game itself. The original anime by Studio TRIGGER introduced a young Edgerunner known as David, attempting to navigate his way in the seedy underbelly of Night City. Joining a band of mercenaries, most of the crew was killed in the series with one cosplayer resurrecting the complicated character known as Kiwi.

Cyberpunk Edgerunners dug into the concept of what makes an “Edgerunner”, aka a member of the next generation who is willing to build their power and reputation at the cost of their lifespan. What CD Projekt Red’s universe did with its futurist technology was introduce the idea that the more technologically advanced you made your body, the more likely you were to suffer from a sort of cyber-psychosis. Toward the end of the first season, David starts feeling these effects in spades as he becomes one of the most powerful beings in Night City, while barely able to hold onto his sanity at the same time. The Cyberpunk game, Cyberpunk 2077, recently injected elements from the anime into its universe, bringing far more gamers into the fold.

Cyberpunk: Kiwi Runner

Kiwi was first introduced as a part of Maine’s mercenary crew, with the female cyborg managing to survive the events of the earlier part of the anime adaptation and going on to assist David, Lucy, and Rebecca in subsequent missions. Unfortunately for David and company, Kiwi wasn’t scared to sell out her comrades when it came to making sure that she was financially secure. Like so many other stories in Night City, Kiwi’s ends in tragedy, though she was far from the only member of David’s crew that didn’t make it out of the series alive.

Based on the ending of Cyberpunk Edgerunners, it’s doubtful that we’ll see a second season come out of Studio TRIGGER, though that certainly wouldn’t stop Night City from returning in a different way down the line. The Netflix original anime has become a fan-favorite, with the Crunchyroll Anime Awards awarding it with the “Anime of the Year Award” for 2022. With new DLC for Cyberpunk 2077 set to arrive later this year, anime fans are left wondering if additional Easter Eggs from the Edgerunners story will land in the game once again.