Russian model Alexandra Waterloo Yesenina has brought Lucy from the anime Cyberpunk: Edgerunners to life – not in full combat gear, but in the character’s everyday netrunner outfit, showing her as she might really appear while navigating the streets of Night City.
Cyberpunk: Edgerunners is an anime series by Studio Trigger that premiered on Netflix in September 2022. Serving as a prequel to CD Projekt Red’s Cyberpunk 2077, the show is set approximately one year before the game’s events. It exploded in popularity, reaching Netflix’s top 10 in its first week with 14.88 million hours watched. The anime’s success also boosted Cyberpunk 2077 sales, pushing total copies sold past 20 million.
Lucy, whose full name is Lucyna Kushinada, is the second main character in the series. She’s cold, quiet, and enigmatic – equally dangerous both offline and in the digital net. As a professional netrunner, Lucy excels at hacking security systems and taking down enemy hackers. Despite her deadly skills, her life in Night City is a reluctant pause on her way to a single goal: escape. She views the city as a prison and dreams of fleeing to the Moon.
Born to a Japanese veteran of the Fourth Corporate War and a Polish netrunner mother, Lucy’s past is steeped in conflict. At seven, she hacked her father’s computer and uncovered his secrets, setting off a chain of events that saw her trained as a netrunner at a secret Arasaka facility. She eventually escaped and ended up in Night City – a place that rarely lets anyone leave.
Visually, Lucy’s style merges kitsch and neo-militarism:
- Cropped white jacket over a black netrunner suit with red accents
- White shorts
- Gray thigh-high socks
- Black knee boots
- Asymmetric bob haircut with pastel rainbow gradient
Character designer Yō Yoshinari has said Lucy’s look draws inspiration from Motoko Kusanagi of Ghost in the Shell, another iconic cyberpunk hacker known for her detached cool.
Alexandra Yesenina’s cosplay captures Lucy’s everyday look – the version viewers see between missions. This isn’t battle-ready gear, but simply a woman living in Night City who knows how to kill when necessary. This kind of cosplay is the most compelling, conveying a character’s personality rather than just a superficial visual match.
In July 2025, a standalone sequel, Cyberpunk: Edgerunners 2, was announced, reigniting interest in the series’ universe and characters. Lucy remains one of the franchise’s most popular cosplay subjects – her design is instantly recognizable, richly detailed, and versatile enough to inspire different interpretations.
Compared to mainstream Western cosplay scenes dominated by characters from Fortnite, Marvel, and Overwatch, Lucy represents a niche but growing interest in cyberpunk aesthetics fueled by anime and gaming crossovers. As the cyberpunk genre climbs back in cultural relevance, expect more detailed, story-driven cosplays like this that emphasize character depth over flashy armor.
With Cyberpunk: Edgerunners 2 on the horizon, the next wave of cosplay will likely push Lucy’s look into new creative directions. Will the sequel dive deeper into her backstory or evolve her style? Fans and cosplayers alike are watching-and ready to follow wherever Night City’s shadows lead her next.