......

Oh no. Saori is slacking off.

I’m not! I’m sulking because the NieR:Automata Ver1.1a anime has been put on hold!!!!

Oh that’s right. There are some health issues among production staff, and they’ve postponed the airing of 4th episode and beyond. (Dear staff members, please get better soon!)

Yes! And so today is a chance for people to catch up if they haven’t seen the anime yet! It’s not just an animated version! We want to give a presentation on NieR:Automata Ver1.1a that rearranged the game version scenario specifically for the animation!

First, the currently on-air anime, NieR:Automata Ver1.1a is based on the action RPG, NieR:Automata which was released in 2017!

NieR series is such a famous game series, even I have heard of it. Its scenario is especially appealing, and it’s a work with fans not just in Japan but all over the world.

Yes! NieR series is the dark fantasy RPG series that takes on the similar scope and (to some extend) common settings as NieR Gestalt and NieR Replicant, which were released simultaneously in 2010! NieR:Automata is the newest (excluding the smartphone version) of the NieR series, and is the official sequel to NieR Gestalt and NieR Replicant!

Then if I want to play the NieR:Automata game, should I play the proceeding NieR Gestalt and NieR Replicant beforehand?

No! That’s not necessary! NieR:Automata is a sequel to NieR Gestalt and NieR Replicant, but there is a gap of few hundred years between the story settings, and NieR:Automata storyline is completely understandable even without knowing NieR Gestalt and NieR Replicant!(Playing it does let you make some connections and foreshadows though!)

If I were to explain extremely simply, this is a story about Automata, in place of humans, trying to take back control over Earth from the aliens!

Story of Automata, does this mean that these 2 characters I frequently see are also Automata?

Yes! The story of NieR:Automata develops from these 2...... 2B and 9S, Automata’s perspectives!

I see.

The story develops as these 2 land on Earth and invest the completely changed Earth. After humans left, Earth was covered by nature...... and, it had become a den swarming of mysterious machine creatures......!

What? What happened to aliens? How did the Earth get so populated with machines?

Aliens haven’t (at the anime episode 3) appeared yet. From here, 2B and 9S are going to investigate the reason for this massive number of machine creatures!

I see~!

By the way, ‘Ver1.1a’ in the anime title means ‘Game version scenario arranged for the anime’! NieR:Automata story is full of gimmicks only meant to be experienced through playing the game. So, the crew felt that there are too many scenes that would be difficult to understand or be less attractive if they animated the story as is. The staff was concerned about that!

So, the story is mostly same as the game version, but it’s arranged a little bit for the anime.

Exactly!For example, Lily, the Automata, that appears on the anime’s 3rd episode is not in the game version, she is a character specifically for the theater and manga version. So NieR:Automata Ver1.1a is created by mixing various media versions of NieR:Automata, from game of course, but also novels, theater, and manga!

And so! For people who haven’t see the anime version yet, this is the perfect time to enjoy the world of NieR:Automata, by binge-watching the first to the third episode, or playing the game version! They really considered the appeal of the game to create this anime-specific story, so I think this is made for the enjoyment for both the people who haven’t played the game yet and those who have~!

Alrighty! That’s about it for now! See you in the next article~! Bye~!