Spoiler Warning: Nier: Automata Ver1.1aNier: Automata Ver1.1a has officially started airing, coming out the gate with what looks to be an authentic recreation of the game’s story down to the soundtrack, set-pieces, and key moments. Coinciding with the first episode’s release, the official episode count for the series was also dropped, revealing a whopping 24 episodes split across two parts. Fans of the Nier franchise are elated, and while some may critique the show’s animation quality, those that can look past some dubious-looking CGI will find an anime series that genuinely captures what made the original game so compelling to begin with.
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But as the show continues to air, developing the existential story that surrounds the combat androids 2B and 9S, there’s something we have to consider. Nier: Automata was a video game first and foremost, and it utilized the medium of video games beyond just letting the player control a character. It defied genres, utilizing a litany of them in ways that both accented the narrative and made the player’s connection to the world feel more intimate. You can’t really do that in a medium that lacks that direct engagement. Because of this, we have to ask: should the Nier: Automata anime deviate from the game?
What We Know So Far About Nier
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So far, Nier: Automata Ver1.1a has successfully recreated the initial events from the game, introducing the audience to the world and the characters of 2B and 9S, hinting at a potential relationship between the two that extends beyond their first appearances. One of the arguable advantages of the anime adaptation is how it can more freely show both perspectives of 2B and 9S simultaneously: in the game, the “tutorial” portion — or in this case, the events of the first episode — would take place entirely from 2B’s perspective, before being redone as 9S following the game’s first ending. It allows for a more natural sense of pacing that makes certain plot elements, such as the mysterious nature of the machine lifeforms 2B and 9S fight, develop in a more conventional way.
We also know that a new character has also been officially announced prior to the show airing: Lily, who originally appeared in a Japanese stage play that explored events prior to the start of Nier: Automata, is confirmed to appear in the series to some degree. Her relationship with another android character, A2, will likely be explored to give some more context for future events.
Interestingly enough, the anime has also found a way to possibly incorporate the many “joke” endings littered throughout Nier: Automata. With 26 total endings, a good number of them exist in the form of non-canonical jokes, lik running away from a certain boss fight, removing a certain piece of equipment, or even something as simple as eating a miscellaneous fish can cause these endings to occur. In the case of the first episode, a post-credit puppet show comprised of 2B and 9S explaining the context of the game with some lore tidbits ended with the duo accidentally self-destructing, followed by a fast-forwarded set of credits.
Should the Anime Deviate From the Game?
It’s more complicated than you’d think to turn a video game into something from another medium entirely. What works in games oftentimes simply doesn’t translate well to film, be it silent protagonists meant to represent the player, the game-like nature of certain scenes or mechanics, or there just not being anything to really adapt. There were two separate attempts at Doom movies that each took a different approach, and only one scene from the combined 200 minutes of the film really amounted to “Doom but as a movie.” With the confirmation of a new character and the expectation that their development will take place outside the game’s story, there’s strong evidence to suggest that the anime will branch off in a new direction entirely.
Fans of the Nier franchise likely raised some eyebrows at the anime’s title: Nier: Automata Ver1.1a implies that the show itself is a revision of the original game. Those who played the recently-released Nier Replicant ver1.5 can confirm that, along with remastering the game’s visuals and fixing issues that plagued its original incarnation, it also made significant additions to the game’s story by making more connections with both Nier: Automata and Drakengard, a separate series from the same creator, Yoko Taro. Mind you, these changes were completely unannounced, only ever vaguely alluded to at best with most discovering these changes as a complete surprise.
Given that we already have a character from a piece of the Nier expanded universe confirmed, would it really be so much to assume that the anime will, at some point, do something wholly original? The puppet show that concluded the first episode already threw fans and newcomers alike for a loop, with the closest thing from the game being repeat exchanges between 9S and 2B’s pods. It’s not like the franchise isn’t already known for actively messing with the audience’s expectations. Nier only exists because Nier itself is the result of a joke ending in one of the Drakengard games.
In all honesty, there’s really no telling if the Nier: Automata anime will follow the game down to every plot beat, or if it will split off into something completely new with the change in medium. Given that Yoko Taro has taken similar opportunities to do something different in the past, we can reasonably expect the latter. In the meantime, fans ought to keep a close eye on the series for what else it may do differently: an innocent puppet show may be an indication of more sweeping changes to come.
