NieR:Automata Ver 1.1a

Episodes 9-12

To quote a famous diamond-concealing shipwreck survivor: “It's been 84 years…”

At least, in these modern days of instant-access streaming entertainment, a four-month-long break sure as hell feels like a century. That's especially the case in the anime industry when four months are enough time for many entire series to finish from beginning to end. Ah, well. In any case, NieR:Automata Ver.1.1a is back, and it has dropped the entire final third of its first run of episodes in a single sitting to reward us for our patience. Now that the show has covered the vast majority of Routes A and B from the original game, we can finally start answering the question that has been hanging over this show's head from the very beginning: Does the story of this stone-cold classic game hold up in animated form?

Seeing as A-1 just announced that we've still got an entire season left to go, it's too early to make any super definitive statements, but I've got to say that I'm feeling surprisingly good about this adaptation so far! If we can forgive the bonkers pacing that comes from being forced to binge a full 33% of a season in one sitting, I feel like Episodes 9-12 of Ver1.1a do a solid job of chronicling the climactic events of the A and B campaigns of NieR:Automata…with just one or two caveats. Still, that's way better than it could have been! The last time a (formerly) A-1 Pictures-adjacent studio like CloverWorks got their hands on a beloved property of mine, we got The Promised Neverland, which somehow ended with an entire second season comprised of nothing but static and the sounds of crying children…

Anyways, as far as this first half of the NieR anime is concerned, I think the creators did a good job of streamlining the story and, in some cases, making improvements to its presentation that are particularly suited for the medium. I like the increased presence of the Resistance fighters in the core of the narrative, and I am especially glad that the semi-adaptation of the YoRHa was able to provide some much-needed foreshadowing for the logic virus, which plays such an important role in the final fight against Adam. Jackass and Lily are wonderful, and I hope we see even more of them in the future.

Another choice I've come to appreciate is the more cinematic and abstract approach to 9S' hacking scenes, which I honestly wouldn't have minded seeing in the original game. Mostly, though, I'm just glad that the production was able to deliver on the action and spectacle of the final act of Route A. There were some rough spots, naturally, but between the eerie showdown in Adam and Eve's Copied City and the descent into the Machine Cult's lair, I think we got to eat pretty darn well with this batch.

There are other changes to the narrative that I'm more ambivalent about, mostly because I don't know how—or even if—they impact the overall story. For instance, the biggest change occuring here is that Adam ends up being the final boss for 2B and 9S to confront after Eve gets killed during 2B's rescue operation in Episode 9. In the game, the Twins' roles were reversed, and it's too early to say whether the switch-up is just a difference for the sake of being different or a hint towards more impactful deviations to come. The same goes for the fact that Adam's new monster form is (I'm pretty sure, at least) the same creature that you fight as a boss, like, a thousand times in the NieR: Reincarnation mobile game. Is this just a cute reference, or is the series going to end up pulling some mind-melting, franchise-unifying shenanigans in its second half? Who knows!

Finally, I'd be lying if I said the pacing doesn't feel a tad rushed in this limited twelve-episode format. My biggest concern is that a lot of the emotional appeal of 2B and 9S' burgeoning relationship doesn't translate as well when you don't have all of the extra time that the game affords to get to know them. I can't look at this issue with any objectivity, so I'd be very interested in hearing anime-only viewers' perspectives in the comments. Did you find yourself invested in that seemingly final moment that 2B and 9S were sharing before Nines asspulled his way back to life thanks to the magic of computer hacking? It was rather pretty in its direction, but I don't know if that's enough in the end.

Speaking of 9S' hacking, there is one sequence that I feel really doesn't work in this run of episodes, and that's the extended epilogue after the “credits” sequence, which reveals what 9S was up to before coming back down to save 2B from the creepy machine cult. The whole scene felt very stilted and sluggishly paced, and I don't think all of the time spent in the sepia-toned machine space where 9S goes spelunking for secrets compares very favorably to the more abstract hacking scenes I mentioned earlier. Again, this issue might come from my experience with the games, making it hard for me to know how well this stuff plays to fresh eyes, but it was the first time all season I found myself getting bored.

Still, that's small potatoes in the grand scheme of things. Overall, I'm very happy that we're getting new(ish) NieR:Automata content that can bring even more new fans to the franchise, and I'm especially happy that the crew at A-1 seems to have survived the ordeal of finishing this season before the end of the calendar year. I'm quite eager to dig into the second cour and uncover all of the juicy Robot-on-Machine drama that is headed our way for the adaptations of the game's C, D, and E routes. Just, er, make sure to take all the time you need upfront, A-1. I'd much rather wait an extra few months if it means your animators can reasonably produce a series that won't threaten to self-destruct every week.

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• Would I be crazy if I said that I missed the puppet outros even more than the regular show? Well, I don't care what you think; call me “Bonkers” Beckett, if you must, because I was just delighted to get more of these skits. I was already laughing my head off at 9S and 2B dooming earth to ruin because they can't decide on what t-shirt designs to run with for their Android friends, and I'll never turn down the Pods getting some much overdue attention from their partners, but the crown jewel of the whole season might come from the very long debut of Puppet!Devola and Puppet!Popola, who are perfect in every way. Even more perfect, though, is 9S drunken cheer song, which, in addition to being catchy as hell, also dooms the world to destruction. Hooray for puppet theater!

NieR:Automata Ver 1.1a is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.

James is a writer with many thoughts and feelings about anime and other pop-culture, which can also be found on Twitter, his blog, and his podcast.