Sequels to anything successful are often more volatile, pushing the envelope in ways their predecessors did not and endeavoring to branch beyond the confines of what came before, as if they were hell-bent on taking more risks. As such, the best-case scenario is for a sequel with a polarizing, rebellious, rough-around-the-edges vibe compared to its progenitor. Worst-case, they’re a shameless cash grab of weaponized nostalgia. Anime Expo, where the first episode of Cyberpunk: Edgerunners 2 premiered to a modest 6,000 people at the Crypto Arena ahead of its fall release on Netflix, was a secret third thing compared to how we expect sequels to typically wind up. Cyberpunk: Edgerunners 2’s premiere was hedonistically paradoxical: it’s both a sequel that expands itself outward, weaving a bigger, bolder, ambitious tale, while also feeling viscerally intimate and small-scale. What’s left is the start of a beloved anime series that’s far and away the most grounded we’ve ever seen Night City, while being the most consequential and bombastic. Translation: It was absolutely preem, choomba. One thing that makes Cyberpunk: Edgerunners 2, animated by TRIGGER and returning writers Bartosz Sztybor and Masahiko Ōtsuka, stand out from its predecessor is that it doesn’t deign to resign itself to being a second part to previous protagonist David Martinez’s tale. It’s no follow-up, but an entirely different beast unto itself.