What to Watch After Cyberpunk: Edgerunners (and Edgerunners 2)
Five picks for after Edgerunners or Edgerunners 2 on Netflix, from the same director's film to two cyberpunk classics, the Cyberpunk 2077 game and its score.
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Start with Promare, the 2019 film from the director of the first Edgerunners, then go back to the cyberpunk anime that came before it: Ghost in the Shell and Akira. After that, play Cyberpunk 2077 and put on its score. Edgerunners 2 is a standalone story, so these picks work whether you have finished one season or both.
Edgerunners is three things: loud, hand-drawn-looking Trigger animation, a body you can upgrade until nothing human is left, and a city that grinds up the people in it. Each pick below matches one of those.
Why This List Crosses Media
Edgerunners lives in an anime, a game and a pair of albums, so the follow-up does too. AniList and MyAnimeList are strong if all you track is anime and manga, and the anime on this list will show up there.
If you want the series, the game and the score together, Achriom tracks books, films, shows, albums, anime, podcasts and games in the same library, free with no item limit. Its Cyberpunk: Edgerunners page lists the studio, genres and themes and has an Add to library button, and Cyberpunk 2077 and its original score have pages of their own. If your anime history lives on AniList, you can import it by username. Once they are on your shelf you can ask your library in plain words, something like “what do I own that feels like Edgerunners,” and the librarian answers from your own shelf.
For picking an anime-only tracker, see Best Apps to Track Anime in 2026 and Best Anime Tracking Apps in 2026. Now the five.
What Edgerunners 2 Is, and Is Not
The first series (2022, ten episodes of 23 to 28 minutes, from Studio Trigger and CD Projekt Red) follows David Martinez, a street kid who becomes a mercenary in Night City, and ends with his death. Edgerunners 2 is not a continuation of that story. CD Projekt Red announced it as a new standalone series with a brand-new cast, directed by Kai Ikarashi, with Bartosz Sztybor returning as showrunner.
Game Informer reports ten episodes arriving on Netflix on October 20, 2026, and describes Weak as a washed-up cyberpunk legend living without implants. That changes what “more of it” means. If you were hoping for David and Lucy, nothing here brings them back, so the picks below go for the feeling rather than the plot.
Same Director
Promare
Hiroyuki Imaishi directed the first Edgerunners and, before it, Promare (2019, 112 minutes, Trigger). If the part of Edgerunners you loved was how it looks and moves, this is the same director at feature length.
The story is different. After a catastrophe, some survivors gain fire powers and are hunted as the Burnish. Galo, a firefighter, ends up opposite Lio, the leader of the Mad Burnish, while the city’s governor plans something worse than either of them. It is a film and not a series, so it fits an evening.
Two Cyberpunk Classics
Ghost in the Shell
Mamoru Oshii’s 1995 film (82 minutes, Production I.G, from Masamune Shirow’s manga) follows Major Motoko Kusanagi, a cyborg security agent in 2029 who hunts a hacker called the Puppet Master. The film asks what is left of a person who has swapped most of herself for hardware, and it ends with her merging with the program she was hunting.
In Edgerunners the cost of chrome is a cliff: David’s implants carry him until they cannot. Ghost in the Shell treats the same cost as a question. It is slower and quieter than Edgerunners, so watch it for the idea and not the pace.
Akira
Katsuhiro Otomo’s 1988 film (124 minutes, adapted from his own manga) comes down to two friends. Kaneda leads a biker gang in a corrupt Neo-Tokyo, and his childhood friend Tetsuo gains telekinetic power after a crash. As the power grows out of Tetsuo’s control, the military moves in and the city is at risk.
Edgerunners has the same shape at the center: a young man from the bottom of a city gains power that is also killing him, and the person who loves him cannot stop it. Akira is bigger and louder in its destruction. Watch it for the friendship at its center.
Back in Night City
Cyberpunk 2077
Night City is the whole draw. Edgerunners is set in the world of Cyberpunk 2077, which CD Projekt Red released on December 10, 2020. The game lets you walk the streets the anime only crosses. It is built on Mike Pondsmith’s Cyberpunk tabletop game series, and in September 2022 its 1.6 update, called the Edgerunners Update, added free content inspired by the anime.
It is a role-playing game, so it asks for hours. Update 2.0 reworked core parts of the RPG, and the Phantom Liberty expansion followed in September 2023. The official site lists the game on PC, Mac, PlayStation, Xbox and Switch 2, so check the store for your platform’s price.
Cyberpunk 2077 on Achriom · Official site
The scores
Start with the credits. Akira Yamaoka, known for the Silent Hill games, and Marcin Przybylowicz are the main composers of the Edgerunners score, with CD Projekt Red composer P.T. Adamczyk also contributing. Przybylowicz and Adamczyk are two of the three names on the Cyberpunk 2077 original score as well, along with Paul Leonard-Morgan. The Edgerunners soundtrack came out on Milan Records with 14 tracks, including the opening theme by Franz Ferdinand and the ending theme by Dawid Podsiadlo.
If you want Night City without a screen, start with the Cyberpunk 2077 score. If Yamaoka’s sound is what you came for, his Silent Hill 2 soundtrack is on Achriom too.
Cyberpunk 2077 - Original Score on Achriom
Keeping All Five in One Library
These five picks share a feeling and not a medium, which is the part a single-medium tracker misses. Add the series, the film, the game and the album to your Achriom library as you go, then ask the librarian what they have in common. If you want to see how a library like this holds together, How to Find Patterns in Your Media Collection walks through it, and Best Video Game Tracking Apps in 2026 covers the game side if you track games elsewhere.
Want the show, the game and the score side by side? Achriom tracks anime next to games, films and albums, and lets you ask your own library questions in plain words.
Try Achriom free →How the Five Compare
| Pick | Medium | Length | Matches Edgerunners in |
|---|---|---|---|
| Promare | Film, 2019 | 112 minutes | Director and animation |
| Ghost in the Shell | Film, 1995 | 82 minutes | Cyberware and identity |
| Akira | Film, 1988 | 124 minutes | Power that destroys the person |
| Cyberpunk 2077 | Game, 2020 | Long | The world itself |
| The scores | Albums | 14 tracks (Edgerunners) | The sound of Night City |
Which to Start With
For the same look and energy: Promare. It is the closest in craft and the only one that shares a director.
For the same ideas about the body: Ghost in the Shell. Shorter than the others and slower, but it is the one that asks the question.
For the same heartbreak: Akira. Two friends, one of them on his way out.
For more of the city: Cyberpunk 2077, or its score if you just want the sound.
Common Questions
Is Cyberpunk: Edgerunners 2 a continuation of season 1?
No. CD Projekt Red calls it a new standalone anime series with a brand-new cast, set in the world of Cyberpunk 2077. Press coverage describes it as a 10-episode story. You can watch it without having seen the first series.
Who directed Cyberpunk: Edgerunners 2?
Kai Ikarashi, in his directorial debut. He succeeds Hiroyuki Imaishi, who directed the 2022 series. Bartosz Sztybor is showrunner and a story writer, and Studio Trigger animates it in collaboration with CD Projekt Red.
Do I need to play Cyberpunk 2077 to follow Edgerunners?
No. Edgerunners tells its own story and explains its world as it goes. The game adds context, but nothing in the show depends on it.
What anime is most like Cyberpunk: Edgerunners?
For the same makers, Promare, which Hiroyuki Imaishi directed at Trigger. For the same ideas, Ghost in the Shell (1995), about what being cybernetic does to a person, and Akira (1988), about a young man given power he cannot control.
Who made the music for Cyberpunk: Edgerunners?
Akira Yamaoka, best known for the Silent Hill games, and Marcin Przybylowicz are the main composers, with P.T. Adamczyk also contributing. The opening theme is This Fffire by Franz Ferdinand and the ending theme is Let You Down by Dawid Podsiadlo.