David's voice actor was currently one of the most popular male voice talents in the Federation's animation industry.
Beyond voice acting, he was also an internet subculture singer.
Thus, the David he voiced held a voice that was both youthful and gentle.
This closing dialogue triggered an immediate breakdown for Han Fumito and hordes of fans online.
"Good grief!"
Han Fumito recalled the ending of Edgerunners all over again, and his mood crashed.
The fan comments verified the sentiment, completely unable to handle the heartbreaking dialogue.
{I have zero grudges against you, sir. Why do this to me?}
{Is it not just a single manga? [Emoji_Sunglasses]}
{I said no sunglasses allowed! Take that thing off right now!}
{Unveil... the curtains!}
{😎➔👓👌🏼➔😭}
{Yuto's performance as David is phenomenal. I physically broke down the second I heard that tone.}
---
However, the video wasn't finished.
The screen lit up once more, revealing Lucy standing on the surface of the moon wearing her space suit.
Then...
"Wow! Amazing!"
David materialized right in front of her!
The younger, un-enhanced David turned back toward Lucy with an ecstatic grin, waving his arms in pure joy.
Inside the frame, Lucy looked at the David laughing radiantly beneath the sunlight, and she too broke into a happy, satisfied smile.
Then...
The final voiceover echoed softly:
"Edgerunners! Currently in top-tier production!"
In that single frame... it massacred the tear ducts of every fan watching.
Fans who read the manga didn't even need to see David dissipate into the void to start breaking down.
This scene was brutal. Akane watched the teaser and couldn't help but choke up with tears.
The closing segment was the heaviest gut-punch of the entire teaser.
Originally, Trigger Animation hadn't actually produced this segment.
But after Aoyama learned that a teaser trailer was going out ahead of schedule for marketing drive, he actively proposed they render the first half of the closing scene and insert it.
The ending framework where David disappears was omitted, keeping a sliver of suspense inside.
Could it be David didn't die and made it to the moon with Lucy?
Simultaneously... it functioned as optimal bait for newcomers who hadn't read the manga to dive in when the anime dropped.
As for whether fans who did read it would spoil the tragic reality...
That wasn't a concern. Baiting colleagues into trauma was a time-honored human tradition.
To witness it, one only needed to look at the comments:
{I heard Edgerunners deals heavy depression?}
A newcomer wandered into the stream and asked inside the chat.
Immediate responses crowded underneath:
{No way! Edgerunners is amazing and satisfying!}
{Yeah! Super satisfying! Believe me, the MC starts as a broke kid with nothing, rises in strength, and reaches the peak of success!}
{True, and he meets a beautiful, ride-or-die wife, a friendly and reliable big bro, a gentle big sister, and a cute loli girl standing infatuated with him!}
{Can't you tell from the teaser that it's high-energy? Go watch it! Guaranteed to blast your mind!}
---
The newcomer, triggered by curiosity, went straight into reading the Edgerunners manga.
After clearing the chapters, he sat staring at the wall in a state of existential dread. 'This is what they called satisfying?'
The kid had been bludgeoned into full cyberpsychosis, and they dared call this a feel-good serial?!
This mangaka named Aoyama... is trying to execute his audience's souls...
But turning around immediately, he left a comment for another clueless reader:
{Highly recommend Edgerunners! The most satisfying manga of the year!}
---
Alongside the teaser, the Edgerunners team released two different versions of the theme track.
One was the masterpiece of single-income sorrow,I Really Want To Stay At Your House.
Due to guidelines, it couldn't serve as the primary theme track inside the Federation, sitting as an insert track instead.
But there was no restriction on the international market formats.
Fans currently listened to it without heavy emotional weight.
Just like in Aoyama's past life when players heard it on early game radio,it felt normal, not even grading high on standard rating lists.
But the second you finish the anime...
Hearing this track inside the game triggers a mental waterfall!
{The track is... alright, I guess.}
{Why isn't it a domestic language track? More importantly, this English song doesn't even sound that great.}
{To above, it's the international theme. It's adequately fine.}
{I prefer the local theme track.}
{The local theme is GOAT! Go listen now!}
Soon, fans tossed I Really Want To Stay At Your House to the side and clicked on the domestic theme track,If the Voice Doesn't Remember.
The track was direct sung by David's voice actor, Yuto.
After all, beyond voice acting, he double-indexed as a singer, which was standard across most of the industry.
---
*"If my voice remembers everything...
The nervous joy and bitterness when whispering your name..."*
...
*"Day after day, year after year...
Every turn feels like the first meet..."*
...
*"Lights urging me to leave the stage...
Heart fire igniting this parting sorrow...
Leaving a window open in my heart...
The moonlight stretching shadows long, long, long..."*
...
*"The garden of my heart is desolate and bare,
Counting down the remaining warmth,
Vows are always greedy, grasping tightly to single straws,
The moonlight blows tears cold,
Love and hate drifting to opposite ends, leaving us broken,
Yet dreams remain unscathed,unspoken, unforgettable..."*
...
*"The departed youth...
Weary from the road, may my words reach you..."*
---
Listening to If the Voice Doesn't Remember, and mapping the lyrics to the narrative beats of Edgerunners...
Fans broke down on the spot.
The lyrics were tailored for David and Lucy's dynamic. The moonlight, the unforgettable un-thinking sorrow, the departed youth returning weary...
It was mapping to the bitter ache of separation, where life and death sever a path.
And wasn't that exactly the story of David and Lucy?
The track matched the core frequency accurately.
Aoyama had originally heard this song in a David and Lucy AMV edit back in his past life, and given how genuinely beautiful it sounded, he incorporated it.
Looking at the current drive, it was gut-wrenching, fueling a massive viral surge for the anime hype!
If the Voice Doesn't Remember breached the trending lists on the net yet again!
Some fans, direct after clearing the track, dove blind into reading the Edgerunners manga out of curiosity...
[Translated and Rewritten by Shika_Kagura]