Let You Down

This is absolutely a must watch. You'll probably like it even if you weren't a huge fan of Cyberpunk: Edgerunners. It could maybe be seen as a prequel to the show, but it's mostly telling it's own story (and it's first and foremost a showcase of the music anyway). The visual style is seriously impressive, especially for a music video. The story, though obviously simple due to the time constraint, is surprisingly touching and takes a much more serious tone than most of the mainline show. Highly recommend to any fans of the genre or to anyone who simply likes some sweet eye candy.

Well, time for another quickie review. As I've only just started the series, I figured I'd get this out of the way too, since it's allegedly a prequel piece to the main show (which makes sense given it was released a day before the full series dropped on Netflix).) With that out of the way, weapons up, let's go!:

The Story & Characters:

While a short music video, it does establish the Maine and his gang, and also gives us insight into what happened in their group that led them to where they are now (namely, having Kiwi around instead of Sasha).

It's a quick, short story of ... how a mission to get some confidential files from Biotechnica on the drug Securicine files uploaded ended up tragically costing a girl her life, being bittersweet, with the mission accomplished, Sasha, in a way, reuniting with her mother in the afterlife, but dying and leaving her friends in the end. For being only five minutes, it has a surprising amount of weight to it, and I'm not surprised people want to see more of her before the events of this music video.

There's no dialogue, minus the on-screen dialogue with Maine and Sasha, and the subtle details like Maine's proper typing and Sasha's simple typing are a neat touch, though.

Maine's other crew members are there, but they're just part of the background for a scene, so I can't comment much on the characterization here.

It's quite well-put together for its short length.

The Visuals & Sound Design:

Much like the anime itself, this music video is GORGEOUS! The usage of pink to theme the whole video around Sasha, the fight choreography, and some of the shots are just...incredible! It all has this serene vibe that complements the tone of Dawid Podsiadło's song PERFECTLY! It's a finely put-together music video that you can tell was made with love by everyone involved, and also shows they had the same level of care here for this music video, just like they did with the anime. It's certainly one way to get people excited to watch it, that's for sure.

Honestly, while I was watching it, it reminded me of Blade Runner 2049's short prequel shorts, albeit only one instead of three larger shorts, but both are of amazing quality and make you want to watch their respective source materials.

Probably my favorite aspect about it, honestly.

The Verdict:

While only a five-minute music video, 'Let You Down' gives some extra lore for a character that we sadly never get to see in the main series, but, combined with its stellar visuals, storytelling, and music. It works to make this one heck of a layered music video as a result.

If you're a fan of Cyberpunk, you're getting into the anime, and or just want to watch a banger music video, absolutely go for it. Pay some respects to the people who put together such an amazing music video for such an amazing series.