An animated version of NieR: Automata seems like a terrible idea: unless you’re in it for the characters, much of the brilliance of the 2017 action-RPG comes from how it exploits both the strengths and limitations of the medium of “games.” It forces choices and experiences on us—like watching Pascal’s robot village crumble, choosing to work with or kill his loyal android companion 9S—and those choices and experiences are made more impactful and meaningful because we personally participate in them.
Yet the production company behind the anime, A-1 Pictures, bravely stepped into this potential minefield, using the first quarter of NieR: Automata Ver1.1a (the first 12 episodes) to justify the existence of the anime, successfully incorporating the NieR series’ cool robot battles and philosophical reflections on self-awareness in a way that’s faithful to the original. With the second quarter starting this month, Ver1.1a begins to further develop the factors that made the first 12 episodes so fascinating.
Like the game, NieR: Automata Ver1.1a is set in the distant future, in an era where an army of “machine lifeforms” created by a mysterious alien race is locked in a long war with the android soldiers created by the last survivors of humanity (like protagonists 2B and 9S). In episode 12, the anime has already thrown in the best plot twist of the game: the aliens have long been wiped out by their own robots, and humanity has been completely exterminated.
But the “Ver1.1a” in the title means that the anime is not a copy of the game’s plot, and some curious changes suggest that there may be more interesting developments in the future. The second quarter also has some things that may eventually lead to major changes, and the first episode of the second quarter (the 13th episode in total), “Reckless Bra[V]ery”, sets the stage for this with an interesting and unexpected plot.
But it’s unclear how much of an impact characters who survived in the game but died in the anime will have, nor is it clear whether the fact that backstories that were only briefly mentioned or hinted at in supplementary materials outside the game (such as novels, readings, art collections, etc., and NieR: Automata has a lot of this) are now canon will cause a huge wave. Is there a deeper meaning behind this? Or is it just to distinguish “Ver1.1a” from the game?
Even if it’s just the latter, it’s a good way to attract skeptical “NieR” fans. Imagine if you read the original “A Song of Ice and Fire” and then you heard that the TV version didn’t kill Ned Stark, you would definitely want to see what happened, even if he died a little later in the end.
The first quarter did something similar, though less radical, revealing that the leader of the android resistance was Lily (originally a minor character in the canon) rather than Annie Moenning (who, according to a flashback in episode 6, “[L]one Wolf,” had died in a previous battle). It felt like a nice little change, but episode 13 went a step further, explicitly showing 2B executing 9S to prevent others from learning of humanity’s extinction, a plot that was touched on in the games but not so explicitly shown.
Presenting it this way makes 2B’s behavior seem like a shocking betrayal: it’s harder for us to accept the reasoning behind it because we’re not controlling 2B. We know her as she appears to 9S: a cold-blooded android soldier who won’t open up.
Plot aside, Ver1.1a still looks gorgeous, mostly because NieR: Automata’s character designs were great in 2017 and they’re still great now. But there’s a washed-out softness to the game that adds some life and charm to the apocalyptic world, and the anime doesn’t have that texture.
It’s not a huge problem, and the difference in medium means it’s hard to replicate the way the game looks in the anime, since one is an experience you can play and the other you can only watch. But it makes Ver1.1a feel more like a “scene” than a real place – which is somewhat ironic, since the world in the game isn’t exactly vibrant, after all, the flora and fauna on Earth are pretty much dead.
NieR: Automata Ver1.1a still has a lot of potential, and that’s likely to be true even in the final moments of the final episode (whenever that is). The game version is known for having dozens of endings, and the true ending requires multiple rounds to reach – but the statement that “you have to complete the game six times!” is still a bit exaggerated, because the content of each “round” is actually different, so it is not a replay of the same content.
The anime version is always likely to have some crazy and novel techniques, such as permanently killing one of the two protagonists, or advancing the plot from 9S’s perspective, making A2 (the unexpected third protagonist in the game, who has appeared several times in the anime) look more like an outright villain. Even if “Ver1.1a” does not have a surprising development, isn’t it another way to subvert the audience’s expectations?
Conclusion
The animated version of “NieR: Automata” is destined to be difficult to enjoy as the original game. But until the beginning of the second quarter, “NieR: Automata Ver1.1a” cleverly avoids many potential problems by faithfully retelling the original story, replacing supporting characters to subvert fans’ expectations, and never shying away from the dark side of “NieR: Automata”‘s plot. The anime still isn’t a complete replacement for the game, but it’s still a compelling alternative if you don’t want to take the time to unlock all 26 endings in the game, or if you’ve already sacrificed your save file to help another player (like the ending of Automata lets you do).