Set in the colorful and chaotic world of Night City, Cyberpunk: Edgerunners has earned praise for its striking graphics, engaging plot, and diverse cast of characters. Directed by Hiroyuki Imaishi, the series has captured the attention of viewers all over the world. However, despite the success, the series’ limited runtime has prevented the director to explore and develop the plot for many characters. Among them, the most notable is none other than Rebecca, who is also one of the most underrated characters in the series.
Based on the video game Cyberpunk 2077 by Polish studio CD Projekt Red, the anime series was animated by Japanese animation studio Trigger under the supervision of CD Projekt and premiered on Netflix in September 2022. With the highly detailed universe of Cyberpunk 2077 serving as the setting, limiting the storyline to a small number of episodes led to certain characters and subplots being underexplored.
Interview with Hiroyuki Imaishi
In a live Q&A session with Hiroyuki Imaishi on Reddit AMA hosted by EdgerunnersAMA in 2022, the director answered the fans’ queries regarding the series. The questions and answers were translated live to make the communication smoother by eliminating the language barrier.
In this session, Hiroyuki Imaishi answered and discussed various aspects of fan queries. He further elaborated on his inspiration behind the creation of this series as well as other elements such as creative decisions, character and plot development, and future directions for Cyberpunk: Edgerunners.
During the interview, the director admitted to leaving out many important aspects of the story due to limited runtime. He stated that some of the characters’ stories are left ambiguous such as Lucy, as he didn’t have enough time to think about it.
Upon asking about Rebecca’s age, Imaishi stated that her age remained undecided. Although, he expressed his desire to highlight Rebecca’s gun more in the series, in his words,
I would like to include more scenes with Rebecca’s guns.
Hiroyuki Imaishi also answers fan queries regarding Adam Smasher’s movement, omitted gang warfare scenes, music selection of “I really want to stay at your house” and many more. He revealed that series like Akira, Ghost in the Shell, Serial Experiments Lain, and Neon Genesis Evangelion were the inspirations behind his creation of Cyberpunk: Edgerunners after the success of the game Cyberpunk 2077.
Analysis and Impact of Rebecca’s Character in Cyberpunk: Edgerunners
A fan-favorite character from Cyberpunk: Edgerunners, Rebecca possesses a distinct personality and eye-catching design. She is a valuable addition to the Edgerunners gang, bringing a unique combination of loyalty, ferocity, and vulnerability that viewers find deeply relatable. However, because of the show’s short runtime, Rebecca’s character development was somewhat limited.
The fandom’s reaction to Rebecca’s portrayal has been passionate and vocal. Although a lot of viewers like her part and the impact she has in the series, there is also a great desire to see more of her narrative.
There was a lot of room to explore with Rebecca’s character. Her intense devotion to her friends and her personal weaknesses and hardships provide plenty of material that could have given the series more depth and complexity. With further screen time, the series could have explored her backstory, motivations, and the challenges she encountered.
Fans’ continuous interest in Rebecca’s unknown stories persists as they continue to enjoy the series and its accomplishments. This dedication emphasizes how important the character is even with her little screen time and shows how much more can be explored in related projects of Cyberpunk: Edgerunners in the future.
You can watch Cyberpunk: Edgerunners on Netflix.
