I like anime, but I possibly like anime intros even more. At their best they’re a rush of style and energy, they often feature better animation than the show that follows, and they are regularly scored by first rate Japanese jazz, rock or blues tracks.
Netflix just posted the intro to the upcoming Cyberpunk anime, Cyberpunk: Edgerunners, and it’s got a Franz Ferdinand track over the top – but hey, it’s still pretty good.
Edgerunners is a ten-part anime series set in Night City and written and produced in partnership with CD Projekt Red, but with a different cast of characters than Cyberpunk 2077. It’s being animated by Studio Trigger, the Japanese anime studio responsible for Kill La Kill, SSSS.Gridman and the Little Witch Academia movie. These aren’t projects I love, but I’m fairly confident at least that the intro won’t be the flashiest bit of animation in the show. A trailer released last month indicates decent production values.
Who knows what the quality of the series will be, but I enjoy the intro. The Franz Ferdinand track lacks the horn section I most crave, but it’s still good. If Speed Grapher can use Duran Duran, then Cyberpunk can use a Franz Ferdinand song from 2004. Plus, all the other elements I want from an intro are there: bold colours, big fonts, visual metaphors taken to ridiculous extremes…
Cyberpunk: Edgerunners is due sometime this September. In the meantime, go on, tell me your favourite anime intro. I can’t pick mine – but only because it’s Cowboy Bebop and that seems too obvious to write down.
