📰'Cyberpunk: Edgerunners' Episode 3 drops to third place in ratings—has Su Yan's miracle finally come to an end?
đź“°In Episode 3, David joins Maine's crew. Is this drama gradually degenerating into an ordinary mercenary action series?
đź“°Su Yan has completely misunderstood what his fans want to watch. If 'Cyberpunk: Edgerunners' turns into nothing but a gunfight action drama, his fans definitely won't pay for it.
đź“°Spring season, Week 3: pacing slows in 'Cyberpunk: Edgerunners', ratings fall to third place.
đź“°Su Yan became famous because of the romance in 'Your Lie in April'. Why, starting from 'Life Is Strange', have the romance elements in his works become fewer and fewer? Is a genius screenwriter really lacking this basic judgment?
đź“°Episode 3 of 'Cyberpunk: Edgerunners' goes all-in on effects, but the story becomes mediocre. David joining Maine's crew and carrying out cyberpunk missions clearly doesn't meet Su Yan fans' expectations!
When ratings were high, the media praised everything—great effects, fresh storytelling, god-tier quality.
Once the rankings slipped, the media instantly found "flaws" from every possible angle.
Every work has its god-tier episodes and its transitional ones. Episode 3 of 'Cyberpunk: Edgerunners' was exactly such a turning point.
David meets Maine, joins his crew, and officially becomes a cyberpunk.
Maine's team: the tech expert Pilar; Shen Liqian's foul-mouthed, sharp-tongued gunner Rebecca; Maine's girlfriend and frontline fighter Dorio; the driver Falco; the netrunner Kiwi; and the female lead Lucy.
The introduction and setup of all these characters inevitably took up a large portion of Episode 3, slowing the advancement of the main plot.
Although Rebecca's sharp-tongued gunner persona easily reminded viewers of Miyazono Kaori and drew in a wave of fans, the overall slower, more expository nature of Episode 3 made it harder to retain as many viewers as the first two episodes.
But 'Cyberpunk: Edgerunners' was, at its core, a story about the destruction of Maine's crew.
Watching these once like-minded, laughing companions die one by one while carrying out dangerous cyberpunk jobs—until they ultimately collapse and fall apart—was the true highlight of the series.
In other words, Episode 3 was merely the real entry point into the main storyline.
Slower ratings growth was fully within Su Yan's expectations.
The media, however, couldn't wait, rushing out articles dripping with mockery.
Sakura TV.
Akasaka Yoshitoki's mood today was half joy, half irritation.
The joy came from 'Cyberpunk: Edgerunners' falling to third place in ratings.
The irritation came from the fact that the show in first place wasn't Sakura TV's 'The Black Gate'.
"Forget it. Starting next week, 'The Black Gate' will begin its counterattack," Akasaka Yoshitoki said with a faint smile.
He was extremely confident in 'The Black Gate'. Although filming had taken only half a year, the script had been polished for more than two years. From Episode 4 onward, the plot would truly enter a white-hot phase, with a major leap in excitement.
If its early episodes could consistently maintain second place, then by the final broadcast stage, 'The Black Gate' topping the ratings would be a sure thing.
Akasaka Yoshitoki's expectations were clear: a peak single-episode rating above 5.5%, breaking the record set five years ago by Hudu TV's S-tier drama 'Blazing Dawn', taking both the seasonal and annual crowns, and then sweeping major awards at next year's Xiayan Awards.
That would not only defeat Su Yan head-on and prove Sakura TV's strength, but also become Akasaka Yoshitoki's greatest achievement since becoming head of the production department—solidifying his standing both in the market and within the station.
Dimensional Pictures.
As May approached, Su Yan had to split his focus—handling the broadcast of 'Cyberpunk: Edgerunners' while also preparing the production and promotion of 'The Garden of Words'.
In television, Su Yan was already a celebrity.
In film, however, he was still a newcomer.
In his previous life, many popular TV stars had crossed into film only to achieve mediocre results. The situation was no different in the Xia Nation.
'The Garden of Words' had an excellent reputation in Su Yan's previous life. But as an early work of Makoto Shinkai, it suffered from limited publicity and funding, resulting in average box office performance.
But now—
Su Yan had both fame and money.
Even if only part of his fame translated into moviegoers, the pre-release buzz would definitely be massive.
As for funding—
The advertisers placing ads during 'Cyberpunk: Edgerunners' broadcast had been a huge help.
The film distributor, Su Yan, was only willing to handle basic distribution. Promotion budgets and channels were fairly limited.
Of course, if Su Yan were willing to invest more in marketing himself, they could increase their efforts and even help negotiate screening slots with theater chains nationwide.
Having seen too many TV stars flop when entering film, the distributor wasn't especially enthusiastic about 'The Garden of Words'.
Naturally, that also meant they wouldn't demand a high share of the box office. If Su Yan covered most of the marketing costs himself, his eventual box office share would be much higher.
"So that's the situation," Shinozaki Ikumi explained. "The filming difficulty for 'The Garden of Words' isn't great. Shooting will finish soon, then some post-production and editing. By June, we'll have the final cut."
"It's just the promotional budget for 'The Garden of Words'…"
"The distributor is called Tianxing Pictures, right?" Su Yan said, smiling as he looked at the documents.
"Yes. They're fairly well-known among the Xia Nation's film distributors. The summer release window lasts over a month, with more than twenty films premiering. They don't think 'The Garden of Words' will stand out, so their attitude is…" Shinozaki Ikumi said awkwardly.
Even knowing this was normal treatment from the film industry, it still felt frustrating.
"That's fine. We can invest more ourselves," Su Yan said after some thought.
"But if we invest more, we need to negotiate a better revenue split."
The theater's cut was fixed; the negotiable part was the split between producer and distributor.
"Let's just hope they don't regret it later," Su Yan added.
"And try not to read too many online comments lately," he continued. "Looking at you, you've been staying up all night reading reviews again, haven't you? Dark circles are already showing."
"Easy for you to say," Shinozaki Ikumi sighed. "I know 'Cyberpunk: Edgerunners' really shines after Maine's death, and ratings will probably rise then. But seeing it drop to third place still stings—especially losing to Sakura TV's 'The Black Gate'."
"And even though I trust 'Edgerunners', both 'The Black Gate' and 'South Dreams' are S-tier dramas. If our plot keeps improving, what about theirs? What if they also get better?" she asked, looking at Su Yan.
"That's a reasonable concern," Su Yan nodded.
"But no matter how 'The Black Gate' or 'South Dreams' perform later, I believe 'Cyberpunk: Edgerunners' will surpass them and take the seasonal crown."
"As the core creators, we have to believe that. We beat all three major networks in the season when 'Your Lie in April' aired. We can do it again."
Shinozaki Ikumi knew this was essentially motivational talk—but she still felt reassured.
After all, based on experience, Su Yan's words often came true.
Late April. Weekend.
The fourth week of the spring season began.
Episode 4 of 'The Black Gate' delivered a shocking twist. On the night it aired, new comments on SakuraNet surged compared to the previous week.
The score jumped overnight to 9.4.
The next day, Episode 4's ratings were released:
5.31%.
A massive increase over Episode 3.
Industry insiders immediately sensed something was off.
Had 'The Black Gate' only just begun to truly flex its strength?
Episode 4's plot, music, effects, and thematic depth were all maxed out—many fans were moved to tears.
In comparison, although Episode 4 of 'South Dreams' (aired Saturday) still received strong praise, its buzz clearly fell short of 'The Black Gate'.
'South Dreams' Episode 4 ended with 5.23%, a slight dip from Episode 3.
Sunday—
Episode 4 of 'Cyberpunk: Edgerunners' aired.
Before the broadcast, Su Yan's fans were already in position online.
[It's here!]
[No slacking this week. Even though it'll be on ZhongxiaNet in a few days, why pay when you can watch on TV? More importantly, we need to boost ratings!]
[Dropping to third last week was infuriating!]
[Charge! Let's get 'Edgerunners' back to number one tonight!]
[I like this show, but honestly, 'Rurouni Kenshin' is still way better. Edgerunners feels like gunfights plus romance.]
[That's true. Kenshin has close-combat fights, Edgerunners has gun battles. Pure spectacle favors Kenshin. Plus, Kenshin's ideals and his relationship with Yukishiro Tomoe add more depth. Edgerunners hasn't reached that level yet.]
[It's only Episode 3! Give it two more episodes. If Su Yan invested this much into making 'Cyberpunk: Edgerunners' an S-tier drama, it must be a personal masterpiece in his eyes.]
[Yeah, I trust Teacher Su Yan!]
Zhou Panpan scrolled through comments happily. Before she realized it, it was already 8 p.m.
Only when the familiar electronic theme of 'Cyberpunk: Edgerunners' played did she look up.
"It's starting again!"
She took a sip of milk.
"Less gunfights, more romance this week, please. Su Yan, I'm here for your love stories—stop obsessing over cyberpunk combat!"
The episode picked up directly from Episode 3.
There were fewer gunfights this time. Instead, the focus shifted to interactions within Maine's crew.
Pilar, with his long-arm cyberware, crude jokes, and bold personality.
Rebecca, quick to draw her gun, flipping people off—sharp-tongued yet adorable.
Holding her gun, she smiled sweetly at David and said:
"See you later, David!"
Zhou Panpan's heart leapt.
If Shen Liqian and Su Yan ended up as a couple in this show, too, that would be great!
To improve David's physical condition, Maine had Lucy train him daily.
Missions. Training with Lucy.
Here, Su Yan added a revelation: the hospital where David's mother died was run by the Scavengers, an organ-harvesting gang in Night City.
Meaning her death was likely far from clean—possibly harvested alive before being cremated.
During a mission, David even took revenge, shooting one corrupt doctor after another.
Zhou Panpan was fully engaged now.
Not her favorite romance—but still thrilling.
David gradually integrated into Maine's crew.
From rookie to someone increasingly at ease in dangerous gunfights, explosions, and assassinations.
His ghost-like use of Sandevistan made him invaluable.
The first half was gripping.
But what Zhou Panpan loved even more was the latter half—Maine teaching David how to pursue Lucy.
Starting conversations during training.
David thought Lucy wasn't interested.
Maine saw it clearly and encouraged him to be bolder.
Without realizing it, Zhou Panpan wore an aunt-like smile.
And then—
The massive twist.
Late-night streets after a mission.
A man stood atop a container, casually urinating.
Pants down. Hands on hips. Staring blankly.
Zhou Panpan's eyes widened.
Even with censorship, this show really dared to go there!
Night City already had no good people—why so many perverts too?
Pilar couldn't take it and went up to confront him.
Then—
Bang!!!
Zhou Panpan's heart pounded.
With the help of visual effects, Rebecca's brother Pilar was shot in the head—his eyeballs and jawbone flying straight toward David.
The scene was horrifyingly vivid. The milk in Zhou Panpan's stomach churned.