In the animation, there were two absolutely crucial emotional moments.
One of them was the death of the mercenary leader.
This took place in the middle of the story.
The plot began with the mercenary crew led by the protagonist accepting a new job. Their mission was to extract data from the brain of a high-ranking executive within the Arasaka Corporation.
Naturally, the client behind the job was Arasaka's rival—Militech.
They had learned that Arasaka seemed to be developing some kind of powerful weapon and wanted to uncover exactly what it was through this operation.
The mercenary crew accepted the mission and successfully captured the Arasaka executive.
However, at this moment, the mercenary leader's mental state was clearly unstable.
The perceptive veteran player immediately realized what this meant.
This was a sign of cyberpsychosis.
Damn it—this animation is about to stab us in the heart!
The moment he saw this, the veteran player instinctively wanted to turn the animation off.
But…
He really wanted to keep watching.
Because the animation was just too good.
The visuals were polished, the action effects were top-notch—this was a rare example of a high-quality animated work in recent years.
Missing such a good animation just because he didn't want to face a painful plot point would be a real shame.
Fine. He'd keep watching.
As expected, the mercenary leader eventually succumbed to cyberpsychosis.
In his madness, he personally witnessed the death of the woman he loved most.
That became the final straw.
When the protagonist arrived at the scene, all he could do was watch helplessly as the mercenary leader lost his mind.
Yet before fully descending into madness, the leader used his last shred of sanity to tell the protagonist to leave.
"David, you have to live."
"Now… run."
The moment those words were spoken, MaxTac stormed into the building from outside.
The mercenary leader immediately detonated explosives he had prepared in advance, killing everyone inside the structure.
David escaped using his special cyberware, clutching one of the mercenary leader's mechanical arms.
His eyes were hollow.
No matter how desperately Lucy called out to him, he didn't respond.
The story then moved into its next phase, and the protagonist completed his second major emotional transformation.
"Asami Shinji is really incredible… this story is so well made."
This animation was practically a textbook example of how to adapt a game into anime.
That single sequence alone elevated the entire story to a higher level.
Normally, animation is considered to have a slightly lower artistic status than live-action films or TV dramas—this is something most people reluctantly acknowledge.
But the tone and thematic depth of this animation were in no way inferior to many famous live-action works.
Reaching this level in animation was already an extraordinary achievement.
The emotional aftershock of that mid-story turning point was immense—comparable to Jack's death in Cyberpunk 2077.
Both moments were carefully built up, nurturing the audience's emotional attachment, only to deliver a brutal blow by killing off beloved characters.
The story was tragic—but it made you want to keep watching.
That feeling of being emotionally shredded was strangely addictive.
After that, the animation entered a brief transitional phase.
The mercenary leader was gone, but some of the crew survived.
David seemed determined to inherit the leader's will, becoming the new head of the mercenary group.
He even installed the late leader's mechanical arm, choosing to fight for the future of the crew.
At the same time, David truly moved in with Lucy.
The two were clearly an intimate couple now, which gave the audience a small sense of comfort.
At least the person he loved most was still alive—so it wasn't completely unbearable.
However, the pace of the story noticeably accelerated in the latter half.
Before viewers could fully recover from the previous emotional blow, David began showing signs of mental collapse during another mission.
Any player who had played Cyberpunk 2077 already knew what was coming.
David was likely heading toward the same fate as the mercenary leader.
Cyberpsychosis.
Madness.
Death.
But the protagonist still had the halo of being the protagonist.
Even if the ending was doomed, David would burn brighter than the mercenary leader ever did.
This was where the story's peak—its ultimate emotional payoff—arrived.
Or perhaps its final act of cruelty.
Arasaka Corporation took notice of David.
They discovered that his physical condition—or rather, his mental resistance—was extraordinary.
Normally, a person using military-grade cyberware without specialized training would quickly suffer a mental breakdown.
Yet David had survived this long.
Clearly, he was exceptionally gifted.
And someone with such talent was worth serious attention from a megacorporation.
So Arasaka laid a trap, working with an underground fixer from Night City to lure David into testing a powerful cybernetic weapon.
The test was a success.
Arasaka obtained the data they wanted.
David escaped from Arasaka Tower with his beloved girlfriend, flying into the sky in a state of madness—yet the last remnants of his consciousness were still protecting the woman he loved.
At this point, the veteran player realized that tears were quietly streaming down his face.
Accompanied by the lingering music, David and Lucy traced a beautiful arc across the sky.
"David! David, wake up!"
Against the backdrop of the moon, Lucy and David appeared together in the frame.
With the moon behind them, Lucy pressed a deep kiss onto David's lips.
That final kiss seemed to awaken the last spark of his consciousness, allowing him a brief moment of clarity.
Then David spoke what the veteran player considered the most iconic line in the entire animation:
"I couldn't protect my mother… but I want to protect you. I live for you. As long as I can help you achieve your dream, I'll do anything—no matter the cost."
With the voice acting and delivery, the emotional intensity was maxed out.
The veteran player could only stare at the screen, eyes red.
And then—
Another deeply lovable character suddenly died, without any warning.
Adam Smasher descended from the sky and instantly killed Rebecca—the cute yet violently unhinged girl—leaving no room for reversal.
When this happened, the veteran player shouted instinctively:
"No! Don't!"
But no matter how he shouted, Rebecca was gone.
At that moment, David completely broke.
With his final willpower, he sent Lucy away and faced his ultimate enemy—Adam Smasher.
But players already knew the outcome.
David could never win.
If he did, there would be no place for the game's protagonist, V.
As David was shot in the head, the scene shifted to the moon.
A spacecraft streaked across the sky.
No one knew how much time had passed.
Lucy sat aboard the ship, her face lifeless.
She had finally reached the moon she had always dreamed of.
But she felt no joy.
Because she had lost the person she loved most.
Standing on the desolate lunar surface, she seemed to faintly hear David's voice from when he was still young.
"Wow! This is amazing! The sun is so hot!"
The music swelled.
And just like that, the story ended.
The veteran player stared blankly at the screen.
Only when it faded completely to black did he slowly come back to himself.
If he had to rate this animation right now, he would give it a perfect score without hesitation.
What kind of god-tier animation is this?!
This level of quality—for a game adaptation?!
If every anime or live-action adaptation of games were this good, then gamers would truly be the happiest people in the world.