This video kinda made me realize something (which makes the ending hurt so much more): at the end of the story, Lucy and David's positions are the opposite of where they started. David had claimed a dream of his own- sending Lucy to the moon. And when she does go at the end, after he dies saving her, she doesn't even want it. She does it because it became HIS dream, and he asked her to see it through with his dying breath. But because he's gone by that point, she's left with no dream of her own. All she wanted was to be with him, safe and happy, but that can never happen, so she's left just as purposeless as David was when they met. Just like David was given purpose by aiming to fulfill Lucy's dream, Lucy's only remaining purpose for herself is to see through David's new dream of sending her to the moon. It's all she can do to play the role he always did, and fulfill someone else's dream, which is quite a fitting tribute to him- while also being deeply, crushingly sad. God damn I love this show (and your analyses of it!)
The dream David leaves her with is easy to achieve though because he also leaves her with the money for the ticket to go to the moon. So it’s like someone leaving you with a dream to go on a paid vacation.
Something interesting, in the game you can find a grave for Kiwi, saying: "You taught me never to trust anyone in night city". Despite being Betrayed, she still cared enough to leave her a memorial.
The ending on the moon ties a nice bow on the idea that fame, fortune or getting to the moon never mattered to Lucy, after meeting David. When Lucy finally made it, she didn't envision David as the super-augmented merc he died as. She remembered the scrawny kid from Santo Domingo who simply listened to her when the world couldn't care whether or not she had a pulse. It was when she didn't have to worry David running the exact path of self destruction people like Maine paved due to blind ambition and ego. In a way, the moon became a 'prison' as David said when talkng about Lucy's moon poster. It would always be a mental prison which reminds her of mistakes she and David both made just to get there. Mistakes which left her with nothing other than the memory of embracing the sun's warmth on the moon and a pile of regrets. As bleak as it is.
It took me 5 times to finally get the cyberpunk story even replaying the game 4 times. My only complaint about Lucy is that she knows David lives for other’s dreams. When she took a chromed out David to the badlands I honestly feel if she told David she didn’t care about the moon only him bro would’ve left if he knew that was her dream. Regardless ain’t no happy endings in night city. They could’ve left and Arasaka still would’ve found them like Hanako said “Arasaka can find anyone”.
Not if they manage to forge their deaths and live under different identities. And are you really gonna believe the words of HANAKO ARASAKA? That's corpoganda coming straight from the source, choom!
Hindsight being 20/20 is one of the biggest ways Night City gets to you. There is always SOME WAY you could have done things better, SOMETHING you could have done to save yourself or someone else. But that's all the city ever really gives you, regrets and hindsight.
She did tell him, she opened up to him and told him straight that it was not what she wanted anymore. He still didn't listen. People really didn't seem to understand David's personality, specially after Maine's death.
@ She never told him exactly that Arasaka was after him because she knew he’d march in there and die anyway or get captured. David wasn’t V and wouldn’t solo his way to the top. So yeah, bro, I definitely understand all the characters
On the note about Lucy inadvertently bringing on her biggest fear, I couldn’t help but remember the quote from KFP: “One often meets his destiny on the path he takes to avoid it” And that’s… so fitting for this whole show. Everyone meets their fates on the road they take to try and avoid it.
I definitely see Lucy's end wildly different from so many of the rest of the world and I'm happier for it to be honest. Lucy had one desire which she latched on to as an escapist dream and she shared it with David early on. He made it his mission to deliver her that dream, even if it symbolically was escapism and ultimately would be a hollow dream, because he knew it meant something to her. In the end, even though she lost David and perhaps she didn't even want to go to the lunar experience, she did anyway. To me, her seeing David there helps her to recognize that this moon dream of hers was always just a symbol. She is free from her childhood self now, she has achieved her dreams, and free to choose how she wants to live life now. A lot of people interpret that as depressing and that she was sad at the end. But we see in the game Cyberpunk 2077 that she comes back to Night City, leaving tribute to David on the walls. She embraces her potential as an incredible netrunner to continue to do good for the city in the shadows. It may not be the hollywood ending people believe she deserves, but it is a human ending where she finds a reason to keep living.
@@FUTBALLZAK At the North Oak Columbarium there's cremated remains and notes for all of the crew of Edgerunners, the notes are written from Lucy's perspective and in particular David's note reads, "You didn't take me to the moon, but you were there with me" which does imply that she interned his ashes at the Columbarium AFTER her moon trip. Whether she remains in Night City or not after that is speculation, but I think after having catharsis on the moon, and laying the crew to rest, she'd find new purpose in life.
Even Adam smasher found his own demise at the hands of V after being the boogeyman of night city. After all he accomplished he was killed by a new edge runner who was a dead man walking. V who was running against his own clock. though i think in his back story, Smasher had another body where he looked like a blond elvis and dated HOnoko's sister. He used to be a man too and it seems like the man died long before V zerod him.
My interpretation of Smasher is that he is the happiest man in NC. If he wasn't he would never be able to have as many implants as he does. He is out there doing what he loves.
@@ivaniii9707what I understand in the lore it’s bc for awhile he had chrome but he was mostly human, but he was somewhat of a psychopath never having trouble killing whoever when told. But he was in love with (I forgot her name but I believe it’s honoko) and then when she breaks his heart, that’s when he chromes way out. She was the last thing he cared for and therefore his last shred of humanity. Honestly when we meet him in game- his outside looks like his inside.
@@braedenhaeck7030 Michiko Arasaka, Hanako's niece. At her 18th birthday she was barhopping, caused trouble, then a fling with Smasher (around his late 30s early 40s). Then again, Pondsmith did not consider this canon.
Great analaysis(s?) in these videos to be honest, my favorite out of all the ones I've seen. Heartbreaking how without knowing it, David did all Lucy never wanted
I wanted to thank you for making these types of videos on Edgerunners. TMI but not only is Edgerunners why I first got into anime, it was what made me happy in a pivotal and emotional part of my life. Fast forward a few years and I succumbed to anxiety, and an overwhelming urge to constantly overthink, so I was constantly unhappy. However, other things in life in tandem with your videos reminding me of my love for Edgerunners helped me remember the happiness and mindset I once forgot, and you saved me:) I found you at the right time and I’m thankful for you! Thank you for being everything :)!!
Awww thank you so much for watching! Hoping you're doing better, and that you're having a good day. It's amazing what good and meaningful stories can do for us. All the best.
Ima be keep it bloodraw I’m glad ur doing these analysis videos on cyberpunk edgerunners it’s been what almost 2 years since this anime came out, and obviously for the most part people had stopped making videos about it but I’m glad to a certain degree your keeping it alive bc there is so many depths to cyberpunk, and to this day this is my favorite short anime of all time. Only 10 episodes to cyberpunk edgerunners and it won anime of the year in 2023 that is seriously an achievement for the competition it had that year. That it’s why it my favorite anime of all time because for a anime that’s only 10 episodes long to do what it did, it single handily in my opinion revived the cyberpunk game (besides all the updates) and made people go back to try out the game again. It did so much in so little time, and in my opinion that what makes it so great, a short story with a BIG impact.
She didn't really fast-forward David's end, as much as she actually made it happen. I think your video denoted David's path in all of this, in that there was simply no way for him to have known everything that was going on behind Lucy's actions. To him, he was just doing the best he could to perform what the people around him needed from him. Including Lucy, because he thought she wanted to go to the Moon, which is something she actually *didn't* communicate to David. She left the crew after Maine and Dorio's death, without considering the kind of impact this would have on David, who was needed to take up the mantle and leadership for the rest of the crew. She also refused to confide in him what had been going on and what she had been doing. She was refusing to answer his questions and disallowing the amount of trust he had in her but couldn't have in him. David was confused, he was going mad for doing things he needed but didn't like to do, and Lucy wasn't there for him. All in all, I think this was a great analysis but some things I'd like to point out. 1. Lucy never communicated that she didn't want the Moon anymore, it was simply never said. 2. Lucy got caught, which was what led to David chipping the Cyber-skeleton. She was the trigger that made his decision to install it to happen. She didn't fast-forward his death, she made a mistake that ultimately made it happen. 3. The video doesn't go enough into Lucy's role in their relationship. Her absence in his professional life and unwilling to confide about her own secrets and intentions was one of the main reasons for his worsening cyberpsychosis. She refused to let him in and refused to get involved in a big part of his life, led to him having to deal with everything on his own, because he felt like he couldn't count on her. 4. She didn't believe that David would still stand by her if she told him the truth about Maine, Dorio and Arasaka. Which means ultimately, she didn't believe in him and that's what led to his downfall. 5. David's real dream was always to have a quiet life with the people he loved. Lucy's dream was always to escape in the beginning, but that changed after meeting and falling in love with him, she also wanted to have a quiet life then too. His delusion about being "special" was not born out of a dream of grandeur or excessive ego, it was necessitated because people around him needed to be protected, which meant he needed to get stronger, which meant more cyberware, so he had to actively convince himself he was special to keep going. Not because he had a massive ego. Great analysis, though. Good stuff. :)
David is a man of shortcuts, as well, and we are shown this, not told. Very early on. When David first starts working with the crew, and training with Lucy, they go for runs together to build his endurance. What's the first thing David does when he can't naturally keep up with Lucy's Stamina? Rather than train harder, he goes and buys his first (purchased) implants. The Lung upgrades. He then starts out performing Lucy, and rising to Fame. This is a direct cause/effect relationship. David Borgs up more, has more success, and continues to borg up more and more because any shortcut upgrade is vastly superior than actual hardwork. Rebecca comments on this in the Bar scene, where David leaves to go to Doc "You're going *again*?!" Implying David spends a great deal of his time with Doc. This is foreshadowing to him Chipping the Cyber-Skeleton. It was the Fastest way to his goal. Consequences of it be damned. It's just that it finally caught up with him.
@@bmo5852 I just finished a rewatch and Lucy tells david to leave the skeleton because that's all militech wants, she doesn't get a chance to tell him until after he's already started downloading the software though. It made me wonder though if they could have done that, snuck away and let Militech take the cyberskeleton and then planned a rescue attempt later for Lucy. Who knows though, thats not how things went.
Quality content choomba! My son and I love.to watch your channel. He's a little to young to really understand cyberpunk but he thinks you are super pretty and he likes to mimic you say "Lucy."
Started playing cyberpunk for the first time a week ago and you popped up out of no where, been watching your videos for awhile and their amazing keep up the good work I love cyberpunk lore.
Same man just finished the game the other day and now just finished the show. Starting to wonder if this game/ show will ever stop living rent free in my head.
@@coreyblitz2000 cyberpunk is the only thing I’ve been talking and thinking about for the past two weeks, got the secret ending on my first play through now I’m gonna get all the others, already got about 75hrs on one character
@roach2110 75? My playthrew took 90 hrs, not including phantom liberty, which im working through now.🤣 I spent a little too much time driving around and mindlessly wandering.
Cant even begin to imagine the survivers guilt Lucy must feel if we ever get to see her again. First being the only survivor of the kids that ran from Arrasaka then being one of the two that survived from Mains gang....
If David didn't basically have 0 Wisdom he would've understood what Lucy's dream stands for, getting away from it all, her worries so far away they can't weigh her down. What made him special is what also his greatest weakness, he was kinda sheltered from lots of shitty things in NC like having to be a gang member early in his live but that made him more susceptible to at least certain Trauma. He didn't have any real friends or seems to be very social so he doesn't really understand people well and the relationship he and his Mom shared was all about him. Dude was so dense he didn't realize his Mom was working herself literally into an early grave. Damn if David had a good Therapist and some real Frens earlier, him and Lucy would've had a chance to survive.
I'll be honest I really love your content and I'm watching every episode of your analysis but... its taking me a while cause I'm on the verge of tears the whole time. That can only be proof of your excellent insight, ideas and their presentation. Well done
Amazing channel! This video got me crying. Edgerunners is such a tragic show and always makes me a little depressed thinking about it but damn is it beautiful. I really hope your channel continues to grow and you go viral, you break down parts of the show I’ve never even thought of.
I love this series because I love that edgerunners is a current classic we needed with the amount of regurgitated slop we have had to deal with not everything else is bad mind u but edgerunners is truly a diamond in a mound of coals for sure
Lucy’s story is the perfect Greek tragedy. The fate she tried so hard to prevent happens, and the dream she tried to impose on David fails. And the dream David thought she wanted, the freedom that the moon signified for her in his mind, just ends up being nothing more than a Night City bus tour, a commercialized product under capitalism that turned that dream of freedom into nothing more than just another product that rings all the more empty as you see families that also went to the moon on vacation and hammers the point home that Lucy is all alone, the only family she had and the one person she loved more than herself is gone and not there with her.
I really liked your analysis, edgerunner really is a part of me since it's release. But i think there is a part that is not so much talked about, and is at the core of the theme of cyberpunk as a genre that edgerunner encapsulate really well. They are following the path of the outcast, like pirate and gangs way before them, thats not the side history will remember, it's arasaka, it's king george that are writing the story. And to me they nailed that part, memento mori, enjoy the short life you got kid, cause in that world there is no happy ending, only happy continium. Once you're gone people are gonna mess with your story, you only are in control while alive.
Its something that you point out Lucy's role in davids fall, while she might of had a small hand in his fall the fault ultimatly lays with him, when thinking about those two im always brought back to that one scene where david chose to continue down his destructive path over going away with lucy...lucys only crime was falling for someone who'd ultimately fail her
See, like, her part is just trying to stop the inevitable and accidentally fast forwarding it… when the core of the problem, being David’s arrogance and fear, is what leads him and so many others to their doom. Uggghhhhhhh. David you done fucked up 🤣
It's her fear of taking that David wouldn't understand, or even blame her for the loss of Maine and Dorio that prevents her from taking that leap of faith. On some level, she didn't believe that David would stand by her if he knew the truth. So to David, if she didn't believe in him, the only solution was to be better, and the only way he knew how was to be a better Edgerunner
Not with him, but with them both. David walked the path he did because he wanted to complete the dreams of the people he loved dearly, as a way to cope with the fact that he lost them so early and suddenly and to have a purpose, he had lie to himself to keep moving forward, because what else was he going to do? His crew and people needed him, so he had to get stronger. Lucy's fault in this scenario is that she failed to communicate. David was actively trying to reach out to her, asking her what was going on and why she doesn't tell him things, she assumed the best path was to keep him in the dark and do things herself, an intention with dire consequences. I disagree with the notion that David would have continued the destructive path if Lucy had communicated. Something about David is that he actually *does* listen to the people that he loves. Prime example being putting himself through Arasaka Academy despite being bullied and cast out as a leper, he would have stopped if only was Lucy honest. She didn't fall for the guy that failed him, she fell for the right person but they both did things wrong albeit with the best intentions.
Thank you for sharing nice video! I’m listening your show in Japan. And I’m studying English. I happened to find cyberpunk anime a month ago. And I’m totally into the world. Then, I found your channel too! I like your analysis and opinions! It’s so tragic story. When I watched this first time, I wish Lucy and David could be happy ending…. But I’ve watched this several times, I thought and felt there are no other way in night city. This is about story of Lucy and David. And they are also part of this dark night city. In total, this city hasn’t changed at all. No one can change the world itself. It’s tragic but no other way… I don’t know why but I can watch this many times! I like your analysis! I also like Kiwi’s analysis too. Thank you very much.
i think the date scene on the moon was lucy letting herself be completely vulnerable and open for the first real time, she had feelings for david yes but also had a job to do and knew david was gonna die when maine showed up. but after david gets himself out of the situation she imo realized what showing him that really meant to her and she loved him since then. if david died she woulda been able to keep the memory to hold onto something a little longer but david staying alive after meeting maine lit a spark in her that maybe her dreams were really possible bc she was never happy like that before until meeting him.
I know people can ship what they want, but I feel like people who say Rebecca would have been a better fit for David are missing the entire point of him and Lucy’s relationship. It’s because of their flaws as human beings and how those flaws interact with each other that Lucy and David were able to actually mean something in Night City instead of just being another forgotten and crushed dream.
Lucys fate really could be looked at as worse than death. It might just be the Harry Potter in me coming out but death is better than a life full of pain, guilt, grief, and sorrow. Imo edgerunners might of had a better ending if Lucy died right there along side David.
13:25 No, its david's fault He knows that he has to inject tanaka but he decided to stop to talk and not realizing that tanaka is manipulating him even though david is on maine's team and bonds were just established
It wouldn't have matter if he had injected Tanaka. She still would have found the file, still would have fried Tanaka in an attempt to kill him and trigger MaxTac and Trauma Team to come, leading to the deaths of Dorio and Maine. The biggest fault falls onto Lucy. She wiped out David's information and then attempted to corrupt the files to make it look like the data was lost due to corruption. Yet, David's information was the only one wiped. Had she wiped out several other files in addition to David's, the netrunner who found David's file missing wouldn't have tipped off Faraday that Lucy was covering for David, thus leading him to use Lucy as a bargaining chip and forcing David to use the cyberskeleton, thus leading to everyone else's death except her own. Hell, everyone is to blame in some form or another. Had Faraday gave Maine information about why he wanted the data from the limo, it could have provided another means of trying to get it (thus leading to Faraday getting what he needed to get Tanaka and providing an earlier and maybe an easier method on securing Tanaka to get his info long before Maine started to be affected by cyberpsychosis). Had Maine slowed down on getting implants, he wouldn't have gone cyberpsycho and knocked out Kiwi when she was trying to access Tanaka's files, thus avoiding his and Dorio's deaths. Had Pilar not mess around with the cyberpsycho that killed him, not only would the group have not been one person less during Tanaka's kidnapping, it might have kept Rebecca from joining David's crew, thus avoiding her death in the progress of all things. Had Kiwi not tried to partner with Faraday for a free chance to escape Night City, it could have avoided her death and everyone elses. Hell, the only person you can't blame is Falco.
Not gonna lie, I discovered the show on 8/23/24. I had heard about it, but nothing about plot. I had little interest in it, mostly because I had always been a more fantasy-oriented person. So I thought, it’s got a 95 rating on Rotten Tomatoes so maybe it’s gonna be good. Boy. Was I wrong. This show exceeded my expectations on every measure. I won’t lie, Lucy’s concept and demeanor is something I find immensely appealing. So when she was paired up with ‘just another guy’ I was hooked. The moon BD had completely set this up to be a show to be something it wasn’t (for me) and I took the bait hook line and sinker. The show completely annihilated me and I loved it. Nothing I’ve ever consumed has made me feel like this, and I wonder if it’s just because I choose to consume comfortable pieces of media, or if it was just that good. I choose the latter. One week in and two full watches through, the show still has me reeling, but has me inspired in a funny way. It’s a time I won’t readily forget.
Great video and I've been a fan of your Edgerunners character analysis video series thus far. 17:06 While I respects your view that David is the one most at fault. In my opinion Lucy carries more fault. It's easy to forget that David is just 17-18, and he had spent his whole life as Gloria's boy, sheltered by mommy against the harsh realities of Night City. He is barely legal in our world's standards. Lucy meanwhile is 20+ (presumably 22), and she had lived off the streets ever since escaping from Arasaka from her youth (presumably 12). As the older and more matured/experienced person in their pairing, Lucy should have taken the initiative and acted more assertively. In the year they lived together after Maine's death, Lucy had seen David getting more and more chromed up and she seemingly did nothing to stop him despite knowing the dangers of cyberpsychosis. David also seemed lost track of his promise to take Lucy to the moon and choose to waste eddies into unnecessary luxuries like their fancy penthouse, and Lucy never stopped him doing so. In the end, while David does have his own share of fault, but most of them stems from his own immaturity, a result of his sheltered upbringing by her mother. Lucy meanwhile just stood by and let David make more and more bad life choices, not intervening before it all becomes too late. If Lucy puts the foot down after Maine's death, told David her true feelings (before his hubris got too big after all his chromes in Episode 7) and insisted him to leave the edgerunner life behind for her sake, there is a good chance David would have listened, and things would be so different for both of them.
I think Lucy didn't say anything because she was spending so much time protecting David that she basically was checked out of their relationship for a lot of that time and David had no idea why. I'm surprised things didn't come to a head sooner in their relationship. I think it shows how desperate David was to keep their relationship, he didn't push it too hard because if he did I think he thought she would leave him. That might be another reason why Lucy didn't push too hard about his chrome addiction, she thought he might leave her and also it was probably hard for her to admit that he had a problem.
I really wish I had better words to describe how much Cyberpunk, both 2077 and Edgerunners has fucked with my head. My only regret is not getting into it sooner. Honestly, Lucy's story is just as heartbreaking and tragic as David's to me. I made rhe relaization right at the end of the show was the hallucination of David she had, being the scrawny, innocent kid from Santo, to the point where he didnt even cuss. It gutted me to say the least And then I finished Phantom Liberty, and that was another ride! You would appreciate Songbird's story, I think
I don't think David has hubris, I think he's got the opposite. At the point where him and Lucy have their argument I think he feels absolutely worthless. Lucy has been spending a lot of time away from him for months or however long the time skip is and she won't tell him what she's doing, during their argument he says that he thinks she's trying to find a way out of their life. So I think he's feeling kind of the opposite of hubris, he thinks she's been trying to leave him for months and no matter what he does he's not good enough to get her to stay. We know he's wrong but he never gets to find out that she wasn't trying to get away from him, that she was protecting him.
8:05 she sticks up for herself, and the reason none of them do, is because he's as loved in the crew as her and the rest. In this world, we don't worship women, pilar doesn't deserve to be demonized because lucy gets her body felt, it's no big deal, literally, it's nothing compared to the real trauma she's been through, she literally just doesn't care, this is why she doesn't fry him the first time, because he doesn't deserve to be fried for just putting his arm around her shoulder and shooting his shot, She, and the rest of the crew, believe in his and their own freedom, they don't judge each other, they're outlaws, they do far worse than this on a daily basis to make a living, so how can they, any of them? Judge him. Sorry but don't bring your modern day values into this, they aren't correct, even if everyone says so, it's ironically a more enlightened age when it comes to this, sorry but I won't stand for this demonization of male sexuality, I don't care how entitled it is, or how much you worship your own gender, people shouldn't avert their eyes from you like you're a chinese empress. To end this little tangent, I've had 478 people out of 526 when I asked what was worse, hiroshima, or the rpe a woman, say the rpe of a woman, that's insanity, and an evil in and of itself, and a truly great evil at that, far worse than pilar coping a feel, and you are demonstrating it at this moment.
Survival is only success if you're alone, you can't settle for "survival" when you've got relationships and people who can be taken and it effects you just as much if not worse than any physical wounds.
evangelion is crazy and i would love to hear what you think of it, because there are definitely deeper themes im missing, despite multiple rewatches of the series and the rebuilds
Ahhh I have to watch it again because I’m literally the same boat. I feel like there’s so many layers of it BUT I DONT KNOW WHAT THEY ARE YET. I’ve only seen it fully once so I’m way behind you there!
Just came across this video of yours, and even though I'm less than 10 minutes in, you are fucking NAILING this shit. There's an interesting aspect that I've noticed in Cyberpunk that it's the men who are kind of dreamless and shackled to the cyclical martyrism of edgrunning, and to NC. The women of Cyberpunk are constantly trying to escape the meat grinder that is NC, and you see this come up as well in 2077 with Panam and Judy. I think there is definitely some room for discussion of archetypal male and female characters that tie back to this and probably the David video. You should play 2077 if you haven't already, there is a lot of good stuff there that just adds to the discussion you've started I've found that people lately haven't really understood the genre of cyberpunk, but you really do get it, and I'm glad to have come across your videos. I'll check out the rest
Thank you so much for the kind words! There’s such an interesting collection of themes in this series. I gotta replay the game ASAP, it’s been too long. Definitely want to review the characters there. Lots of good story to explore.
David failed Lucy hard. He made it, he got the girl. He broke through her emotional and trust barriers and got her to fall in love with him. He showed her that she can trust and love again to the point that all she wanted was a happy life with him. And then he threw it all away, blinded by his own ambition. Lucy would have been better off never meeting him. She didn't deserve to go through all that.
I think Lucy played the most important role in Davids death, and she should be the one to talk to David after the timeskip. David is just dumb and we know that from the beginning. She should've blatantly stated that the moon was no longer her dream but staying at his side. Instead, she left david in the dark not answering any of his questions which made David feel that she still isn't trust him. In the end, her protecting the data made Arasaka more eager to get it. Also in her last mission, before she got captured, she coudve made David go with her, since she was planing to kill in the real world, and she wouldn't have been abducted nor lead david to that tragic end. Note: I just think that Lucy was selfish in not communicating with David especially how much she loved him.
Thank you so much! Oh yes AoT is on my list for sure! And I LOVED JJK. I actually have one video I did on Kugisaki 🤣 on her chair analogy specifically.
Although Falco may have been the most together and irrelevant, i would still consider him a second edgerunner who figured out what mattered, mostly based on his words when V texts him a year later. Shame we didn't hear anything of Lucy though
@@lydiscott Yeah, it was kind of strange the lack of Falco, no doubt mostly left on the cutting room floor with the other finished end arcs of the show
She came back to Night City after a while. She set up tributes to David, his Mom and the Edgerunners at the North Oak Columbarium (it was added to the game post release along with other Edgerunner related stuff, such as David's jacket and Rebecca's shotgun).
@@DanielS2001 That's right! I forgot about the memorials. David's Jacket is great, one of my prirority grabs in both cosmetics and practicality. I didn't yet find Rebecca's shotgun, was it also part of the Edgerunner dlc? Or was it added in Phantom Liberty/2.0 update?
@@roryrousseau111I think it was the Edgerunners update. You can find Rebecca's shotgun, Guts, at Arasaka Center. Go during the day time and walk around until you find three monks. Go around behind them and look in the bushes. Guts will be there. I've got David's jacket and Guts already. I'm still on my first playthrough. I plan on wearing David's jacket, using Guts and rocking Johnny's shades and handgun when I go to fight Adam Smasher. I made a promise to Johnny to get Smasher, and plan on keeping it (or die in-game trying).
So Lucy's cannonical backstory has been revealed and it completely recontextualises everything... and not in a good way. ruclips.net/video/RB8iN6u5cgU/видео.htmlsi=5jk-oUgVIwuQrcW0 Lucy is an Arasaka Nepo Baby. Her father served during the 4th Corporate war as Spec Ops who did some real shady shit. Her Mom was a Netrunner who quit when she met Lucy's Dad. Lucy lived a lovely childhood in the lap of luxury, wanting for nothing, attending all the best schools, having 2 loving and devoted parents, and living in an idyllic spacious Villa in a gated Arasaka community near Warsaw. She got into netrunning as early as age, and at some point, she hacked into her Dad's computer and learned of all the shady shit he'd done. When she was around 11 or 12, her Dad noticed her talent at Netrunning and informed Arasaka. They tested her and when her skill was confirmed whisked her off to the facility we see in Ep7. There's nothing different about her time in the facility but after escaping she found her Mom again but soon fled due to paranoia surrounding her Father eventually ending up in NC. Before we assumed Lucy acted the way she did due to a life that was messed up and traumatising from start to finish. Now though? She's just an asshole. The ending theme is let you down because Lucy let David down by making him think that his sacrifice is necessary and meaningful when it’s anything but. Edgerunners is now just Lucy’s teenage rebellion, like how Steel Dragon is Yorinobu’s. She is now canonically a spoiled rich kid with Daddy issues
...no? It doesn't really change anything or turns her into an asshole. If anything makes her situation even worse and more relatable than what the show managed to portray. To begin with the show never depicts Lucy as being cold and distant due to having a traumatic life, cus we literally never learn about Lucy's life outside of her experience in the facility, which was traumatic enough to being with. The breaking point in the show was always her experience with Arasaka in the facility, which made her understand that as long as she was in Arasaka's territory she was just a bird in a cage waiting to mess up and get killed. Living a "luxury" life, then being robbed of it just to be treated as a disposable servant for Arasaka WHILE knowing about all their shady business WHILE knowing that your own """loving""" father probably used you as a sacrificial lamb to climb through Arasaka's ranks WHILE knowing that Arasaka is on your ass in real time unless you get lost and getting overwhelmed by all of that ... that's far, FAR, than being just in a "rebellious phase". Cus you gonna tell me her dad, the shady spec ops that lived in an Arasaka-controlled community, didn't know or AT LEAST suspected he was sending his own daughter to literal digital hell? Don't be a fool. I genuinely fail to see how her expanded backstory turns her into a worse character or person. If anything makes her resonate a lot more with David's own journey
I have a darker interpretation about the ending, finding the graves in the cemetery for a moment made me rule out this interpretation but Lucy may have buried them before going to the moon... I don't think Lucy survived, I think she stayed on the moon (forever), I think that when she lets David see her dream in the BD, when she warns him about what would happen if he takes off his space suit there, it foreshadows her final decision... The rays of light from the sun are not hope, it is the liberation of all the pain, there is nothing left on earth for her... David cursed her when she told him she had to go to the moon, they condemned their relationship by not trusting each other the truth about what was happening to them. For me, one of the messages of Edgerunners is that love not only needs the people involved in that relationship, but a world where they can build something together, the Cyberpunk world is the dystopia where no one really has a future, only when you dare to have one you see how close you are to the edge of the abyss. Its a warning about what the world is becoming... love goes against survival.
Edge Runners didn’t make me cry at all. I knew David Martinez was doomed the moment he put on the new cyberware. So even if he had somehow beated Adam Smasher, he’s still fucked. And not to be rude in any way, but “I Really Didn’t Want To Stay At Your House” wasn’t sad or touching in any way. That song sounded too cheerful & upbeat for my taste, & honestly I have gotten sick of it. It became the new “My Heart Will Go On.” Now if anyone really wants to know a story with true pain, read “I Have No Mouth And I Must Scream.” That story makes Edge Runners look like a G rated Disney movie. And that’s story’s ending makes David & Lucy’s first being look like a happily ever after ending.
![BLACK BAG - Official Trailer [HD] - Only in Theaters March 14](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/Du0Xp8WX_7I/mqdefault.jpg)
This video kinda made me realize something (which makes the ending hurt so much more): at the end of the story, Lucy and David's positions are the opposite of where they started.
David had claimed a dream of his own- sending Lucy to the moon. And when she does go at the end, after he dies saving her, she doesn't even want it. She does it because it became HIS dream, and he asked her to see it through with his dying breath. But because he's gone by that point, she's left with no dream of her own. All she wanted was to be with him, safe and happy, but that can never happen, so she's left just as purposeless as David was when they met.
Just like David was given purpose by aiming to fulfill Lucy's dream, Lucy's only remaining purpose for herself is to see through David's new dream of sending her to the moon. It's all she can do to play the role he always did, and fulfill someone else's dream, which is quite a fitting tribute to him- while also being deeply, crushingly sad.
God damn I love this show (and your analyses of it!)
THATS SMART I DIDNT EVEN THINK OF IT THAT WAY. that makes their whole story so much sadder ughhh 🤣🤣🤣
Couldn’t have put it better myself ❤😭😭😭😭
The dream David leaves her with is easy to achieve though because he also leaves her with the money for the ticket to go to the moon. So it’s like someone leaving you with a dream to go on a paid vacation.
Something interesting, in the game you can find a grave for Kiwi, saying: "You taught me never to trust anyone in night city". Despite being Betrayed, she still cared enough to leave her a memorial.
Who says that was Lucy ?
@@terry.1428 Falco was the only other member to live. But the specific wording wouldn't make sense if he was the one who wrote it.
The ending on the moon ties a nice bow on the idea that fame, fortune or getting to the moon never mattered to Lucy, after meeting David. When Lucy finally made it, she didn't envision David as the super-augmented merc he died as. She remembered the scrawny kid from Santo Domingo who simply listened to her when the world couldn't care whether or not she had a pulse. It was when she didn't have to worry David running the exact path of self destruction people like Maine paved due to blind ambition and ego.
In a way, the moon became a 'prison' as David said when talkng about Lucy's moon poster. It would always be a mental prison which reminds her of mistakes she and David both made just to get there. Mistakes which left her with nothing other than the memory of embracing the sun's warmth on the moon and a pile of regrets. As bleak as it is.
Thank you for watching and for the thoughtful comment. Hits right in the feels.
Off topic but its actually inspiring seeing you recording using a headphone mic and finding success
LOL AW THANK YOU 🤣 been trying to use my yeti more but can’t travel as easy with that.
Now that you mention it, that is a good quality headphone mic.
My husband uses the same thing and he loves it
tbh im usually pedantic about audio quality, but until i saw this comment i didn't notice, so yeah good job
Im just glad she has a decent headphone mic lol
It took me 5 times to finally get the cyberpunk story even replaying the game 4 times. My only complaint about Lucy is that she knows David lives for other’s dreams. When she took a chromed out David to the badlands I honestly feel if she told David she didn’t care about the moon only him bro would’ve left if he knew that was her dream. Regardless ain’t no happy endings in night city. They could’ve left and Arasaka still would’ve found them like Hanako said “Arasaka can find anyone”.
Not if they manage to forge their deaths and live under different identities. And are you really gonna believe the words of HANAKO ARASAKA? That's corpoganda coming straight from the source, choom!
Hindsight being 20/20 is one of the biggest ways Night City gets to you. There is always SOME WAY you could have done things better, SOMETHING you could have done to save yourself or someone else. But that's all the city ever really gives you, regrets and hindsight.
She did tell him, she opened up to him and told him straight that it was not what she wanted anymore. He still didn't listen. People really didn't seem to understand David's personality, specially after Maine's death.
@ She never told him exactly that Arasaka was after him because she knew he’d march in there and die anyway or get captured. David wasn’t V and wouldn’t solo his way to the top. So yeah, bro, I definitely understand all the characters
On the note about Lucy inadvertently bringing on her biggest fear, I couldn’t help but remember the quote from KFP: “One often meets his destiny on the path he takes to avoid it”
And that’s… so fitting for this whole show. Everyone meets their fates on the road they take to try and avoid it.
I definitely see Lucy's end wildly different from so many of the rest of the world and I'm happier for it to be honest. Lucy had one desire which she latched on to as an escapist dream and she shared it with David early on. He made it his mission to deliver her that dream, even if it symbolically was escapism and ultimately would be a hollow dream, because he knew it meant something to her. In the end, even though she lost David and perhaps she didn't even want to go to the lunar experience, she did anyway. To me, her seeing David there helps her to recognize that this moon dream of hers was always just a symbol. She is free from her childhood self now, she has achieved her dreams, and free to choose how she wants to live life now. A lot of people interpret that as depressing and that she was sad at the end. But we see in the game Cyberpunk 2077 that she comes back to Night City, leaving tribute to David on the walls. She embraces her potential as an incredible netrunner to continue to do good for the city in the shadows. It may not be the hollywood ending people believe she deserves, but it is a human ending where she finds a reason to keep living.
This! I like the interpretation that Lucy is honoring David's memory by continuing to fight against the system that hurt their whole crew ❤
I don't recall any evidence Lucy is back in Night City in the game, when's that?
@@FUTBALLZAK At the North Oak Columbarium there's cremated remains and notes for all of the crew of Edgerunners, the notes are written from Lucy's perspective and in particular David's note reads, "You didn't take me to the moon, but you were there with me" which does imply that she interned his ashes at the Columbarium AFTER her moon trip. Whether she remains in Night City or not after that is speculation, but I think after having catharsis on the moon, and laying the crew to rest, she'd find new purpose in life.
Even Adam smasher found his own demise at the hands of V after being the boogeyman of night city. After all he accomplished he was killed by a new edge runner who was a dead man walking. V who was running against his own clock. though i think in his back story, Smasher had another body where he looked like a blond elvis and dated HOnoko's sister. He used to be a man too and it seems like the man died long before V zerod him.
My interpretation of Smasher is that he is the happiest man in NC. If he wasn't he would never be able to have as many implants as he does. He is out there doing what he loves.
This is actually an awesome point! XD
@@ivaniii9707what I understand in the lore it’s bc for awhile he had chrome but he was mostly human, but he was somewhat of a psychopath never having trouble killing whoever when told. But he was in love with (I forgot her name but I believe it’s honoko) and then when she breaks his heart, that’s when he chromes way out. She was the last thing he cared for and therefore his last shred of humanity. Honestly when we meet him in game- his outside looks like his inside.
@@braedenhaeck7030He got chromed out because he got exploded and it was the only way he could survive
@@braedenhaeck7030 Michiko Arasaka, Hanako's niece. At her 18th birthday she was barhopping, caused trouble, then a fling with Smasher (around his late 30s early 40s).
Then again, Pondsmith did not consider this canon.
Great analaysis(s?) in these videos to be honest, my favorite out of all the ones I've seen. Heartbreaking how without knowing it, David did all Lucy never wanted
Ahhhh thank you!!! Ugh yeah it hurts more and more with each rewatch. Ahhhh.
I wanted to thank you for making these types of videos on Edgerunners. TMI but not only is Edgerunners why I first got into anime, it was what made me happy in a pivotal and emotional part of my life. Fast forward a few years and I succumbed to anxiety, and an overwhelming urge to constantly overthink, so I was constantly unhappy. However, other things in life in tandem with your videos reminding me of my love for Edgerunners helped me remember the happiness and mindset I once forgot, and you saved me:) I found you at the right time and I’m thankful for you! Thank you for being everything :)!!
Awww thank you so much for watching! Hoping you're doing better, and that you're having a good day. It's amazing what good and meaningful stories can do for us. All the best.
It just hits right in the feels every time.
Ima be keep it bloodraw I’m glad ur doing these analysis videos on cyberpunk edgerunners it’s been what almost 2 years since this anime came out, and obviously for the most part people had stopped making videos about it but I’m glad to a certain degree your keeping it alive bc there is so many depths to cyberpunk, and to this day this is my favorite short anime of all time. Only 10 episodes to cyberpunk edgerunners and it won anime of the year in 2023 that is seriously an achievement for the competition it had that year. That it’s why it my favorite anime of all time because for a anime that’s only 10 episodes long to do what it did, it single handily in my opinion revived the cyberpunk game (besides all the updates) and made people go back to try out the game again. It did so much in so little time, and in my opinion that what makes it so great, a short story with a BIG impact.
Wow, what a great analysis of a really compelling and complex character. Great job on this one, you said it all so eloquently.
Thank you so much, Patchwork! 😄 glad you enjoyed.
She didn't really fast-forward David's end, as much as she actually made it happen.
I think your video denoted David's path in all of this, in that there was simply no way for him to have known everything that was going on behind Lucy's actions. To him, he was just doing the best he could to perform what the people around him needed from him. Including Lucy, because he thought she wanted to go to the Moon, which is something she actually *didn't* communicate to David.
She left the crew after Maine and Dorio's death, without considering the kind of impact this would have on David, who was needed to take up the mantle and leadership for the rest of the crew. She also refused to confide in him what had been going on and what she had been doing. She was refusing to answer his questions and disallowing the amount of trust he had in her but couldn't have in him.
David was confused, he was going mad for doing things he needed but didn't like to do, and Lucy wasn't there for him.
All in all, I think this was a great analysis but some things I'd like to point out.
1. Lucy never communicated that she didn't want the Moon anymore, it was simply never said.
2. Lucy got caught, which was what led to David chipping the Cyber-skeleton. She was the trigger that made his decision to install it to happen. She didn't fast-forward his death, she made a mistake that ultimately made it happen.
3. The video doesn't go enough into Lucy's role in their relationship. Her absence in his professional life and unwilling to confide about her own secrets and intentions was one of the main reasons for his worsening cyberpsychosis. She refused to let him in and refused to get involved in a big part of his life, led to him having to deal with everything on his own, because he felt like he couldn't count on her.
4. She didn't believe that David would still stand by her if she told him the truth about Maine, Dorio and Arasaka. Which means ultimately, she didn't believe in him and that's what led to his downfall.
5. David's real dream was always to have a quiet life with the people he loved. Lucy's dream was always to escape in the beginning, but that changed after meeting and falling in love with him, she also wanted to have a quiet life then too. His delusion about being "special" was not born out of a dream of grandeur or excessive ego, it was necessitated because people around him needed to be protected, which meant he needed to get stronger, which meant more cyberware, so he had to actively convince himself he was special to keep going. Not because he had a massive ego.
Great analysis, though. Good stuff. :)
Thank you so much for watching, and for this WONDERFUL COMMENT! I enjoyed reading it!😄 Very thoughtful and well said!
David is a man of shortcuts, as well, and we are shown this, not told. Very early on.
When David first starts working with the crew, and training with Lucy, they go for runs together to build his endurance. What's the first thing David does when he can't naturally keep up with Lucy's Stamina? Rather than train harder, he goes and buys his first (purchased) implants. The Lung upgrades. He then starts out performing Lucy, and rising to Fame.
This is a direct cause/effect relationship. David Borgs up more, has more success, and continues to borg up more and more because any shortcut upgrade is vastly superior than actual hardwork. Rebecca comments on this in the Bar scene, where David leaves to go to Doc "You're going *again*?!" Implying David spends a great deal of his time with Doc.
This is foreshadowing to him Chipping the Cyber-Skeleton. It was the Fastest way to his goal. Consequences of it be damned. It's just that it finally caught up with him.
@@HauntingSpectrehim chipping the Cyberskeleton is the result of him being checkmated by Faraday. To save Lucy, there was no other option
@@bmo5852 I just finished a rewatch and Lucy tells david to leave the skeleton because that's all militech wants, she doesn't get a chance to tell him until after he's already started downloading the software though. It made me wonder though if they could have done that, snuck away and let Militech take the cyberskeleton and then planned a rescue attempt later for Lucy. Who knows though, thats not how things went.
Quality content choomba! My son and I love.to watch your channel. He's a little to young to really understand cyberpunk but he thinks you are super pretty and he likes to mimic you say "Lucy."
Started playing cyberpunk for the first time a week ago and you popped up out of no where, been watching your videos for awhile and their amazing keep up the good work I love cyberpunk lore.
Thank you so so much! :D
Same man just finished the game the other day and now just finished the show. Starting to wonder if this game/ show will ever stop living rent free in my head.
@@coreyblitz2000 cyberpunk is the only thing I’ve been talking and thinking about for the past two weeks, got the secret ending on my first play through now I’m gonna get all the others, already got about 75hrs on one character
@roach2110 75? My playthrew took 90 hrs, not including phantom liberty, which im working through now.🤣 I spent a little too much time driving around and mindlessly wandering.
Your videos are amazing. Please keep up the content. Best stuff on here.
deep analysis #1
Cant even begin to imagine the survivers guilt Lucy must feel if we ever get to see her again. First being the only survivor of the kids that ran from Arrasaka then being one of the two that survived from Mains gang....
If David didn't basically have 0 Wisdom he would've understood what Lucy's dream stands for, getting away from it all, her worries so far away they can't weigh her down.
What made him special is what also his greatest weakness, he was kinda sheltered from lots of shitty things in NC like having to be a gang member early in his live but that made him more susceptible to at least certain Trauma. He didn't have any real friends or seems to be very social so he doesn't really understand people well and the relationship he and his Mom shared was all about him. Dude was so dense he didn't realize his Mom was working herself literally into an early grave.
Damn if David had a good Therapist and some real Frens earlier, him and Lucy would've had a chance to survive.
And that’s why we love David. He’s too innocent for Night City
David is pretty dumb for a smart kid lol. In a realistic way though, the lack of wisdom.
I'll be honest I really love your content and I'm watching every episode of your analysis but... its taking me a while cause I'm on the verge of tears the whole time. That can only be proof of your excellent insight, ideas and their presentation. Well done
Amazing channel! This video got me crying. Edgerunners is such a tragic show and always makes me a little depressed thinking about it but damn is it beautiful. I really hope your channel continues to grow and you go viral, you break down parts of the show I’ve never even thought of.
Ahhhhh thank you so so much!
I like listening to break downs of characters, regardless of where they come from. Keep it up.
I love these videos! Would love to see you analyze other series too, Edgerunners is a masterpiece but it puts me in a mood 😢
AWW THANKS! And absolutely! I’m excited to get into more stuff once I get my series review out. 😄
I love this series because I love that edgerunners is a current classic we needed with the amount of regurgitated slop we have had to deal with not everything else is bad mind u but edgerunners is truly a diamond in a mound of coals for sure
As always GREAT Edgefunners content! Love it! I watched 5 of your videos in the last couple weeks. :)
Ahhh thank you so much! :D
Lucy’s story is the perfect Greek tragedy. The fate she tried so hard to prevent happens, and the dream she tried to impose on David fails. And the dream David thought she wanted, the freedom that the moon signified for her in his mind, just ends up being nothing more than a Night City bus tour, a commercialized product under capitalism that turned that dream of freedom into nothing more than just another product that rings all the more empty as you see families that also went to the moon on vacation and hammers the point home that Lucy is all alone, the only family she had and the one person she loved more than herself is gone and not there with her.
All these videos are an amazing analysis of each major character
So glad you enjoyed them. Thank you.
Top tier storytelling and analysis, should have way more views tbh
aww thank you so much!
All your breakdowns are well done. This one is my favorite though
Aww thank you! 😊
Idk why I keep watching these, they make me sad every time.
I really liked your analysis, edgerunner really is a part of me since it's release.
But i think there is a part that is not so much talked about, and is at the core of the theme of cyberpunk as a genre that edgerunner encapsulate really well.
They are following the path of the outcast, like pirate and gangs way before them, thats not the side history will remember, it's arasaka, it's king george that are writing the story.
And to me they nailed that part, memento mori, enjoy the short life you got kid, cause in that world there is no happy ending, only happy continium. Once you're gone people are gonna mess with your story, you only are in control while alive.
Can't wait for the next one! Thank youuuuuuu! xoxox
LOVE YOU MIEKA THANK YOU
You are sooooo good at this type of video
Its something that you point out Lucy's role in davids fall, while she might of had a small hand in his fall the fault ultimatly lays with him, when thinking about those two im always brought back to that one scene where david chose to continue down his destructive path over going away with lucy...lucys only crime was falling for someone who'd ultimately fail her
Which scene are you referring to?
See, like, her part is just trying to stop the inevitable and accidentally fast forwarding it… when the core of the problem, being David’s arrogance and fear, is what leads him and so many others to their doom. Uggghhhhhhh. David you done fucked up 🤣
It's her fear of taking that David wouldn't understand, or even blame her for the loss of Maine and Dorio that prevents her from taking that leap of faith.
On some level, she didn't believe that David would stand by her if he knew the truth.
So to David, if she didn't believe in him, the only solution was to be better, and the only way he knew how was to be a better Edgerunner
Not with him, but with them both.
David walked the path he did because he wanted to complete the dreams of the people he loved dearly, as a way to cope with the fact that he lost them so early and suddenly and to have a purpose, he had lie to himself to keep moving forward, because what else was he going to do? His crew and people needed him, so he had to get stronger.
Lucy's fault in this scenario is that she failed to communicate. David was actively trying to reach out to her, asking her what was going on and why she doesn't tell him things, she assumed the best path was to keep him in the dark and do things herself, an intention with dire consequences.
I disagree with the notion that David would have continued the destructive path if Lucy had communicated. Something about David is that he actually *does* listen to the people that he loves. Prime example being putting himself through Arasaka Academy despite being bullied and cast out as a leper, he would have stopped if only was Lucy honest.
She didn't fall for the guy that failed him, she fell for the right person but they both did things wrong albeit with the best intentions.
@@kushio214 definitely agree
Thank you for sharing nice video! I’m listening your show in Japan. And I’m studying English.
I happened to find cyberpunk anime a month ago. And I’m totally into the world. Then, I found your channel too! I like your analysis and opinions!
It’s so tragic story. When I watched this first time, I wish Lucy and David could be happy ending….
But I’ve watched this several times, I thought and felt there are no other way in night city.
This is about story of Lucy and David. And they are also part of this dark night city.
In total, this city hasn’t changed at all. No one can change the world itself. It’s tragic but no other way…
I don’t know why but I can watch this many times!
I like your analysis! I also like Kiwi’s analysis too. Thank you very much.
Ahhh that’s awesome! Thank you so so much for watching, I really appreciate the kind words. 😄
Absolutely love your breakdowns! Keep it up! ❤
Aww thank you so much! :D
i think the date scene on the moon was lucy letting herself be completely vulnerable and open for the first real time, she had feelings for david yes but also had a job to do and knew david was gonna die when maine showed up. but after david gets himself out of the situation she imo realized what showing him that really meant to her and she loved him since then. if david died she woulda been able to keep the memory to hold onto something a little longer but david staying alive after meeting maine lit a spark in her that maybe her dreams were really possible bc she was never happy like that before until meeting him.
I know people can ship what they want, but I feel like people who say Rebecca would have been a better fit for David are missing the entire point of him and Lucy’s relationship. It’s because of their flaws as human beings and how those flaws interact with each other that Lucy and David were able to actually mean something in Night City instead of just being another forgotten and crushed dream.
There is so much to the whole Edgerunners crew but I can't help but feel Lucy is the most tragic and layered. Amazing analysis.
She is such an awesomely written character. Thank you so much for watching, I’m thrilled you enjoyed the video!
New favorite RUclipsr🙏🏾🙏🏾
Lucys fate really could be looked at as worse than death. It might just be the Harry Potter in me coming out but death is better than a life full of pain, guilt, grief, and sorrow. Imo edgerunners might of had a better ending if Lucy died right there along side David.
She deserves better…
Your an absolute Gem 💎 really appreciate these videos keep up the great work much love from country north queensland 🤙🏻🇦🇺
Thank you so much for the kind words, Martin!
Lucy is no 1 waifu material 💯%
13:25
No, its david's fault
He knows that he has to inject tanaka but he decided to stop to talk and not realizing that tanaka is manipulating him even though david is on maine's team and bonds were just established
It wouldn't have matter if he had injected Tanaka. She still would have found the file, still would have fried Tanaka in an attempt to kill him and trigger MaxTac and Trauma Team to come, leading to the deaths of Dorio and Maine. The biggest fault falls onto Lucy. She wiped out David's information and then attempted to corrupt the files to make it look like the data was lost due to corruption. Yet, David's information was the only one wiped. Had she wiped out several other files in addition to David's, the netrunner who found David's file missing wouldn't have tipped off Faraday that Lucy was covering for David, thus leading him to use Lucy as a bargaining chip and forcing David to use the cyberskeleton, thus leading to everyone else's death except her own.
Hell, everyone is to blame in some form or another. Had Faraday gave Maine information about why he wanted the data from the limo, it could have provided another means of trying to get it (thus leading to Faraday getting what he needed to get Tanaka and providing an earlier and maybe an easier method on securing Tanaka to get his info long before Maine started to be affected by cyberpsychosis). Had Maine slowed down on getting implants, he wouldn't have gone cyberpsycho and knocked out Kiwi when she was trying to access Tanaka's files, thus avoiding his and Dorio's deaths. Had Pilar not mess around with the cyberpsycho that killed him, not only would the group have not been one person less during Tanaka's kidnapping, it might have kept Rebecca from joining David's crew, thus avoiding her death in the progress of all things. Had Kiwi not tried to partner with Faraday for a free chance to escape Night City, it could have avoided her death and everyone elses. Hell, the only person you can't blame is Falco.
i really enjoy your videos on this series :)
Aw thank you! 😄
Not gonna lie, I discovered the show on 8/23/24. I had heard about it, but nothing about plot. I had little interest in it, mostly because I had always been a more fantasy-oriented person. So I thought, it’s got a 95 rating on Rotten Tomatoes so maybe it’s gonna be good.
Boy.
Was I wrong.
This show exceeded my expectations on every measure. I won’t lie, Lucy’s concept and demeanor is something I find immensely appealing. So when she was paired up with ‘just another guy’ I was hooked. The moon BD had completely set this up to be a show to be something it wasn’t (for me) and I took the bait hook line and sinker.
The show completely annihilated me and I loved it. Nothing I’ve ever consumed has made me feel like this, and I wonder if it’s just because I choose to consume comfortable pieces of media, or if it was just that good. I choose the latter.
One week in and two full watches through, the show still has me reeling, but has me inspired in a funny way. It’s a time I won’t readily forget.
She was already frying Pilar before David even entered the picture, lol.
Great analysis.
Bro, how can you say that after the Pilar portion and the “David imposing her will” part.
Based on how good this was, would love to hear you break down Evangelion haha. I'll stick around for it 👌🏾
Ahhh thank you! :D
Great video and I've been a fan of your Edgerunners character analysis video series thus far.
17:06
While I respects your view that David is the one most at fault. In my opinion Lucy carries more fault. It's easy to forget that David is just 17-18, and he had spent his whole life as Gloria's boy, sheltered by mommy against the harsh realities of Night City. He is barely legal in our world's standards. Lucy meanwhile is 20+ (presumably 22), and she had lived off the streets ever since escaping from Arasaka from her youth (presumably 12).
As the older and more matured/experienced person in their pairing, Lucy should have taken the initiative and acted more assertively. In the year they lived together after Maine's death, Lucy had seen David getting more and more chromed up and she seemingly did nothing to stop him despite knowing the dangers of cyberpsychosis. David also seemed lost track of his promise to take Lucy to the moon and choose to waste eddies into unnecessary luxuries like their fancy penthouse, and Lucy never stopped him doing so. In the end, while David does have his own share of fault, but most of them stems from his own immaturity, a result of his sheltered upbringing by her mother. Lucy meanwhile just stood by and let David make more and more bad life choices, not intervening before it all becomes too late.
If Lucy puts the foot down after Maine's death, told David her true feelings (before his hubris got too big after all his chromes in Episode 7) and insisted him to leave the edgerunner life behind for her sake, there is a good chance David would have listened, and things would be so different for both of them.
Thank you for watching! And for your comment, totally see what you mean. Very well said! 😄
I think Lucy didn't say anything because she was spending so much time protecting David that she basically was checked out of their relationship for a lot of that time and David had no idea why. I'm surprised things didn't come to a head sooner in their relationship. I think it shows how desperate David was to keep their relationship, he didn't push it too hard because if he did I think he thought she would leave him. That might be another reason why Lucy didn't push too hard about his chrome addiction, she thought he might leave her and also it was probably hard for her to admit that he had a problem.
she only trusts him enough to tell him her dream cause she knows mane is about to kill him.
I really wish I had better words to describe how much Cyberpunk, both 2077 and Edgerunners has fucked with my head. My only regret is not getting into it sooner.
Honestly, Lucy's story is just as heartbreaking and tragic as David's to me. I made rhe relaization right at the end of the show was the hallucination of David she had, being the scrawny, innocent kid from Santo, to the point where he didnt even cuss.
It gutted me to say the least
And then I finished Phantom Liberty, and that was another ride! You would appreciate Songbird's story, I think
I don't think David has hubris, I think he's got the opposite. At the point where him and Lucy have their argument I think he feels absolutely worthless. Lucy has been spending a lot of time away from him for months or however long the time skip is and she won't tell him what she's doing, during their argument he says that he thinks she's trying to find a way out of their life. So I think he's feeling kind of the opposite of hubris, he thinks she's been trying to leave him for months and no matter what he does he's not good enough to get her to stay. We know he's wrong but he never gets to find out that she wasn't trying to get away from him, that she was protecting him.
8:05 she sticks up for herself, and the reason none of them do, is because he's as loved in the crew as her and the rest.
In this world, we don't worship women, pilar doesn't deserve to be demonized because lucy gets her body felt, it's no big deal, literally, it's nothing compared to the real trauma she's been through, she literally just doesn't care, this is why she doesn't fry him the first time, because he doesn't deserve to be fried for just putting his arm around her shoulder and shooting his shot,
She, and the rest of the crew, believe in his and their own freedom, they don't judge each other, they're outlaws, they do far worse than this on a daily basis to make a living, so how can they, any of them? Judge him.
Sorry but don't bring your modern day values into this, they aren't correct, even if everyone says so, it's ironically a more enlightened age when it comes to this, sorry but I won't stand for this demonization of male sexuality, I don't care how entitled it is, or how much you worship your own gender, people shouldn't avert their eyes from you like you're a chinese empress.
To end this little tangent, I've had 478 people out of 526 when I asked what was worse, hiroshima, or the rpe a woman, say the rpe of a woman, that's insanity, and an evil in and of itself, and a truly great evil at that, far worse than pilar coping a feel, and you are demonstrating it at this moment.
Thank you. I was shocked by her calling Pilar a freak, too.
I absolutely looking forward to to see your Evangelion analysis videos
AHHH THANK YOU! I'm very excited!
Survival is only success if you're alone, you can't settle for "survival" when you've got relationships and people who can be taken and it effects you just as much if not worse than any physical wounds.
evangelion is crazy and i would love to hear what you think of it, because there are definitely deeper themes im missing, despite multiple rewatches of the series and the rebuilds
Ahhh I have to watch it again because I’m literally the same boat. I feel like there’s so many layers of it BUT I DONT KNOW WHAT THEY ARE YET. I’ve only seen it fully once so I’m way behind you there!
Just came across this video of yours, and even though I'm less than 10 minutes in, you are fucking NAILING this shit. There's an interesting aspect that I've noticed in Cyberpunk that it's the men who are kind of dreamless and shackled to the cyclical martyrism of edgrunning, and to NC. The women of Cyberpunk are constantly trying to escape the meat grinder that is NC, and you see this come up as well in 2077 with Panam and Judy. I think there is definitely some room for discussion of archetypal male and female characters that tie back to this and probably the David video.
You should play 2077 if you haven't already, there is a lot of good stuff there that just adds to the discussion you've started
I've found that people lately haven't really understood the genre of cyberpunk, but you really do get it, and I'm glad to have come across your videos. I'll check out the rest
Thank you so much for the kind words! There’s such an interesting collection of themes in this series. I gotta replay the game ASAP, it’s been too long. Definitely want to review the characters there. Lots of good story to explore.
How can you listen to the Pilar part and say that she’s “crushing” it?
Plz can you do a deep analysis on adam smasher I love the way how you go into detail
Ya know who didn't do any of that but still read the room with a PTSD background? Kiwi
David failed Lucy hard. He made it, he got the girl. He broke through her emotional and trust barriers and got her to fall in love with him. He showed her that she can trust and love again to the point that all she wanted was a happy life with him. And then he threw it all away, blinded by his own ambition. Lucy would have been better off never meeting him. She didn't deserve to go through all that.
These videos slaps I luv cyberpunk anime and game really wish they will make season 2
I think Lucy played the most important role in Davids death, and she should be the one to talk to David after the timeskip.
David is just dumb and we know that from the beginning. She should've blatantly stated that the moon was no longer her dream but staying at his side. Instead, she left david in the dark not answering any of his questions which made David feel that she still isn't trust him. In the end, her protecting the data made Arasaka more eager to get it. Also in her last mission, before she got captured, she coudve made David go with her, since she was planing to kill in the real world, and she wouldn't have been abducted nor lead david to that tragic end.
Note: I just think that Lucy was selfish in not communicating with David especially how much she loved him.
I love that I found your channel. I think you would also enjoy Attack on Titan and Jujutsu Kaisen
Thank you so much! Oh yes AoT is on my list for sure! And I LOVED JJK. I actually have one video I did on Kugisaki 🤣 on her chair analogy specifically.
@@lydiscott I will absolutely have to watch that next
Although Falco may have been the most together and irrelevant, i would still consider him a second edgerunner who figured out what mattered, mostly based on his words when V texts him a year later. Shame we didn't hear anything of Lucy though
Frig I wish he was in the show more. He seemed like a cool guy!
@@lydiscott Yeah, it was kind of strange the lack of Falco, no doubt mostly left on the cutting room floor with the other finished end arcs of the show
She came back to Night City after a while. She set up tributes to David, his Mom and the Edgerunners at the North Oak Columbarium (it was added to the game post release along with other Edgerunner related stuff, such as David's jacket and Rebecca's shotgun).
@@DanielS2001 That's right! I forgot about the memorials. David's Jacket is great, one of my prirority grabs in both cosmetics and practicality. I didn't yet find Rebecca's shotgun, was it also part of the Edgerunner dlc? Or was it added in Phantom Liberty/2.0 update?
@@roryrousseau111I think it was the Edgerunners update. You can find Rebecca's shotgun, Guts, at Arasaka Center. Go during the day time and walk around until you find three monks. Go around behind them and look in the bushes. Guts will be there. I've got David's jacket and Guts already. I'm still on my first playthrough. I plan on wearing David's jacket, using Guts and rocking Johnny's shades and handgun when I go to fight Adam Smasher. I made a promise to Johnny to get Smasher, and plan on keeping it (or die in-game trying).
Could you do some videos on worm or parahumans
You should do a video on the Ghost in the Shell movie.
So Lucy's cannonical backstory has been revealed and it completely recontextualises everything... and not in a good way.
ruclips.net/video/RB8iN6u5cgU/видео.htmlsi=5jk-oUgVIwuQrcW0
Lucy is an Arasaka Nepo Baby. Her father served during the 4th Corporate war as Spec Ops who did some real shady shit.
Her Mom was a Netrunner who quit when she met Lucy's Dad.
Lucy lived a lovely childhood in the lap of luxury, wanting for nothing, attending all the best schools, having 2 loving and devoted parents, and living in an idyllic spacious Villa in a gated Arasaka community near Warsaw.
She got into netrunning as early as age, and at some point, she hacked into her Dad's computer and learned of all the shady shit he'd done.
When she was around 11 or 12, her Dad noticed her talent at Netrunning and informed Arasaka. They tested her and when her skill was confirmed whisked her off to the facility we see in Ep7.
There's nothing different about her time in the facility but after escaping she found her Mom again but soon fled due to paranoia surrounding her Father eventually ending up in NC.
Before we assumed Lucy acted the way she did due to a life that was messed up and traumatising from start to finish. Now though? She's just an asshole.
The ending theme is let you down because Lucy let David down by making him think that his sacrifice is necessary and meaningful when it’s anything but.
Edgerunners is now just Lucy’s teenage rebellion, like how Steel Dragon is Yorinobu’s. She is now canonically a spoiled rich kid with Daddy issues
...no? It doesn't really change anything or turns her into an asshole. If anything makes her situation even worse and more relatable than what the show managed to portray.
To begin with the show never depicts Lucy as being cold and distant due to having a traumatic life, cus we literally never learn about Lucy's life outside of her experience in the facility, which was traumatic enough to being with. The breaking point in the show was always her experience with Arasaka in the facility, which made her understand that as long as she was in Arasaka's territory she was just a bird in a cage waiting to mess up and get killed.
Living a "luxury" life, then being robbed of it just to be treated as a disposable servant for Arasaka WHILE knowing about all their shady business WHILE knowing that your own """loving""" father probably used you as a sacrificial lamb to climb through Arasaka's ranks WHILE knowing that Arasaka is on your ass in real time unless you get lost and getting overwhelmed by all of that ... that's far, FAR, than being just in a "rebellious phase".
Cus you gonna tell me her dad, the shady spec ops that lived in an Arasaka-controlled community, didn't know or AT LEAST suspected he was sending his own daughter to literal digital hell? Don't be a fool.
I genuinely fail to see how her expanded backstory turns her into a worse character or person. If anything makes her resonate a lot more with David's own journey
I hope you get to do analysis of the 2077 characters
Girl, you should share your playlist of background songs! THEY. ARE. FIRE ❤❤
Song So Mi should take notes...
Surviving is just a part of life. Otherws will fall around you. No one can truely live forever.
I have a darker interpretation about the ending, finding the graves in the cemetery for a moment made me rule out this interpretation but Lucy may have buried them before going to the moon... I don't think Lucy survived, I think she stayed on the moon (forever), I think that when she lets David see her dream in the BD, when she warns him about what would happen if he takes off his space suit there, it foreshadows her final decision... The rays of light from the sun are not hope, it is the liberation of all the pain, there is nothing left on earth for her... David cursed her when she told him she had to go to the moon, they condemned their relationship by not trusting each other the truth about what was happening to them.
For me, one of the messages of Edgerunners is that love not only needs the people involved in that relationship, but a world where they can build something together, the Cyberpunk world is the dystopia where no one really has a future, only when you dare to have one you see how close you are to the edge of the abyss. Its a warning about what the world is becoming... love goes against survival.
Ooof this is really good! Depressingly wonderful!
She wrote about him being with her on the moon in the past tense though.
Edge Runners didn’t make me cry at all. I knew David Martinez was doomed the moment he put on the new cyberware. So even if he had somehow beated Adam Smasher, he’s still fucked.
And not to be rude in any way, but “I Really Didn’t Want To Stay At Your House” wasn’t sad or touching in any way. That song sounded too cheerful & upbeat for my taste, & honestly I have gotten sick of it. It became the new “My Heart Will Go On.”
Now if anyone really wants to know a story with true pain, read “I Have No Mouth And I Must Scream.” That story makes Edge Runners look like a G rated Disney movie. And that’s story’s ending makes David & Lucy’s first being look like a happily ever after ending.
Who's hete after she got announced for Guilty Gear Strive
I know I’m late to comment, but Evangelion will take a few watches to truly understand everything. Just saying.
This series wrilly makes me feel like waching akame ga kill
again i loved it but because of the ending it made the whole show feel pointles
It's not Lucy, it's Goosey ... oops, wait ... wrong Lucy!!!
lol women will never hold another woman accountable, even if she’s fictional
Promo>SM
She used him. She sucks.
No, but it is a prerequisite.
love it! wish my Birthday present didn't leave me heart broken 🥲