Cyberpunk 2077 Anime Edgerunners 2: Kojima Returns as Hideyoshi Oshima

Hideo Kojima is back in Night City. The Metal Gear Solid creator will reprise the role of braindance director Hideyoshi Oshima in Cyberpunk: Edgerunners season two, which lands on Netflix tomorrow, October 20.

Cyberpunk: Edgerunners is the anime adaptation of CD Projekt RED’s Cyberpunk 2077, produced with Netflix and Studio Trigger; the first season aired in 2022 and ran 10 episodes. The cameo was confirmed this morning by the official Cyberpunk: Edgerunners account on X with the line, “Spotting a familiar face, chooms? You may remember seeing him in Konpeki Plaza during The Heist in 2077.” Kojima Productions’ English-language account reposted with its own message, framing the reveal as Kojima “returning” rather than appearing for the first time. TheGamer confirmed the original post and shared a glimpse of what Kojima looks like in the show’s anime reimagining of Night City.

Kojima’s first Cyberpunk cameo came in Cyberpunk 2077 itself, where players could find the Oshima character inside the Konpeki Plaza megabuilding during The Heist, the game’s signature opening mission. Braindance is CD Projekt’s term for the in-universe VR-recording medium, and Oshima is a braindance producer who wants every new release of his to give people new personal connections, the same way the official Edgerunners X account says Kojima hoped Death Stranding would for video games. That overlap is also why the cameo lands so cleanly on a game industry audience: it pulls the same persona CD Projekt gave Kojima in 2077 into the anime’s continuation.

Edgerunners season two is built as a clean entry point. Showrunner Bartosz Sztybor has said since season one that any sequel would tell an entirely different story with an all-new cast, and season two sticks to that promise. The new leads are Roman, Talia, and D, with Oshima’s appearance framing one of the few through-lines to the first season and the game. The Kotaku review published this morning described the season as much more of an ensemble than the original, leaning harder into Night City’s hyper-capitalist backdrop than its predecessor’s emotional gut-punches.

For players waiting on Cyberpunk 2 in any form, the Edgerunners 2 release is the next official touchpoint with Night City. CD Projekt RED has not announced a Cyberpunk 2 release window; the studio’s update in our Cyberpunk 2077 movie and CDPR pipeline coverage was that the sequel’s original idea has shifted. Kojima’s appearance is the anime franchise’s most game-coded cameo yet, and this is exactly the cross-medium marketing that should give the streaming launch a long tail on gaming feeds.

The Kojima cameo is the first public Cyberpunk 2077 cross-promotion that ties the anime, the game, and an outside creator together. CD Projekt used The Witcher Netflix show to keep the game franchise warm between entries, and this is the first time Cyberpunk 2077 has run that same playbook. For example, the show’s official X account framing Kojima as “returning” rather than “appearing” mirrors how CDPR’s marketing team has historically positioned crossover talent for fans of the original source game. If Edgerunners season two’s opening-week viewership lifts on the strength of the cameo, expect more game-creator cameos in season three or in CD Projekt’s eventual anime of The Witcher 4: Sirens of the Deep. The flip side is that Oshima only existed in 2077 because CD Projekt wanted a real-world auteur in Night City. Reusing him in 2026 leaves fewer slots for fresh cameos the next time around.

Edited by Kerwin Stewart, Editor-in-Chief · How we report