In your mind, what differentiates Edgerunners from a lower quality tragedy or film/novel with similar themes?
Withe reason Edge Runners works as a tragedy is because the characters dig their own graves without alienating themselves totally from the audience. That's hard to do. If you make your characters mistakes too obvious, the audience can't empathize anymore (lots of B slasher films fail this test.) If the consequences seem too arbitrary, the audience loses interest because it's just capricious fate.
Kiwi believes in being a heartless mercenary, but when the time comes to actually do it, she realizes it's not what she wanted after all, way too late. Tragedy. We don't really get much characterization of Dorio, but her attachment to Maine does her in.
Rebecca is mad for that scene, they kill the nutjob, great...then nobody ever mentions him again beyond Maine suggesting that David take his cybernetic hands? The loss of her brother seems utterly inconsequential to Rebecca
She spends the rest of the show being as reckless as possible until she finally pushes her luck too far. She also gets huge cybernetic hands, echoing her brother's style. She's loyal to David against all reason.
Or what changes could have been made to the plot that would make it better or worse?
One change that might have made it better? Make the mecha suit cooler? Remove 'Choom' from the script? Drop the school subplot, that felt kinda pointless? I can't think of any major flaws in the execution of the themes. They could have gotten away with not killing off Rebecca (go slightly lighter) or having Lucy remove her helmet on the moon (to go way darker.)
To make it worse is easy. David could have lived. They could have had the power of love conquer Cyberpsychosis. They could have failed to foreshadow everything so well. They could have added tons of gratuitous sexual peril. They could have shown the entire thing as some other kid watching a BD of David's life and ended it with a stupid comment. They could have done Lucy's arc without the moon thing.
having Lucy remove her helmet on the moon (to go way darker.)
Reading this made me tear up. Perhaps I've an overly sensitive emotional system which would explain my philosophical view of things is so bleak as to allow me to not feel anything most of the time.
I was waiting for it to happen. The way she gives a defeated little arm raise in the sun... I really thought that was going to be it. But they ended it on a hopeful note; David may have died for nothing, but Lucy still has her second chance.
I wasn't. Women aren't like that. They don't kill themselves on a whim.
She'd wanted to get out of Brazil, go to the Moon, and she got there.
I presume netrunners can easily find legitimate employment.
And a sad, very intelligent and attractive woman working in some tech company would have an easy time finding some solid partner and fulfilling her biological imperative.
We don't know what megacorp runs the moon, but she's not staying there anyway. The vehicle she's riding in clearly says 'tours' and iirc the ad David watches also mentions tours.
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Notes -
Withe reason Edge Runners works as a tragedy is because the characters dig their own graves without alienating themselves totally from the audience. That's hard to do. If you make your characters mistakes too obvious, the audience can't empathize anymore (lots of B slasher films fail this test.) If the consequences seem too arbitrary, the audience loses interest because it's just capricious fate.
Kiwi believes in being a heartless mercenary, but when the time comes to actually do it, she realizes it's not what she wanted after all, way too late. Tragedy. We don't really get much characterization of Dorio, but her attachment to Maine does her in.
She spends the rest of the show being as reckless as possible until she finally pushes her luck too far. She also gets huge cybernetic hands, echoing her brother's style. She's loyal to David against all reason.
One change that might have made it better? Make the mecha suit cooler? Remove 'Choom' from the script? Drop the school subplot, that felt kinda pointless? I can't think of any major flaws in the execution of the themes. They could have gotten away with not killing off Rebecca (go slightly lighter) or having Lucy remove her helmet on the moon (to go way darker.)
To make it worse is easy. David could have lived. They could have had the power of love conquer Cyberpsychosis. They could have failed to foreshadow everything so well. They could have added tons of gratuitous sexual peril. They could have shown the entire thing as some other kid watching a BD of David's life and ended it with a stupid comment. They could have done Lucy's arc without the moon thing.
Reading this made me tear up. Perhaps I've an overly sensitive emotional system which would explain my philosophical view of things is so bleak as to allow me to not feel anything most of the time.
I was waiting for it to happen. The way she gives a defeated little arm raise in the sun... I really thought that was going to be it. But they ended it on a hopeful note; David may have died for nothing, but Lucy still has her second chance.
I wasn't. Women aren't like that. They don't kill themselves on a whim.
She'd wanted to get out of Brazil, go to the Moon, and she got there.
I presume netrunners can easily find legitimate employment.
And a sad, very intelligent and attractive woman working in some tech company would have an easy time finding some solid partner and fulfilling her biological imperative.
Fictional character
It wasn't a whim; I assumed she went to the moon specifically for that purpose.
On a tour bus. It's not implied that she can stay and even if she could life on the moon is, in reality, bleak.
Not when Arasaka wants you dead.
I think that the authors of the show have a more nuanced view of what that means.
Is the Moon ran by Arasaka ?
We don't know what megacorp runs the moon, but she's not staying there anyway. The vehicle she's riding in clearly says 'tours' and iirc the ad David watches also mentions tours.
That doesn't mean she's not staying. E.g. if you've just moved to the Moon and have money, you'd take a tour to see things around.
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