Nier: Automata Ver 1.1ais an excellent anime adaptation of theNier: Automatavideo game. It’s a series that tacklesthe themes of identity and purpose, settingNier: Automata’scharacters in a bleak worldwhere the word ‘hope’ is nearly all but forgotten. A2 is one of the first YorHA units produced by YorHA Command. More than just a key character for plot reasons though, her arc runs paralel withNier’sstory as a whole, as her fight to find out who she is and why she exists are basically the main questions the series attempts to ask.
A2’s story, like the rest ofNier, is bleak.It’s filled with so many twists and turns that neither the viewer nor A2 herself can ever really be sure about what’s going on around her. A2 struggles against fate itself. She doesn’t care that the Council of Humanity set her up, nor will she let the Machine Lifeforms destroy her in battle. No matter how bleak it gets, A2 will always push forward. Her hopeful indignation at the obstacles coming her way is a central theme inNierand the most important point the show tries to get across as a whole.
A2’s Story is Reflective of Nier’s Themes as a Whole
A2’s story is so deeply tied in withNier: Autotmata Ver 1.1athat the series may as well be about her. Surprisingly, it isn’t, as most of the show focuses on 2B and 9S. When A2 comes into the series, it’s easy to see why. She knows much more than the two other YorHA units do, and like the show itself, she isn’t willing to give them easy answers. If 2B and 9S want to find out more about the world they live in and their purpose in it, they’re going to have to suffer just like A2 did.
When 9S meets A2,he’s figuratively meeting a future version of himself.He’s a skeptical YorHA unit who is more than willing to ask questions, but that gets him into hot water. A2 also asked questions of the High Command, and like 9S, she got punished severely for it.Nierposits that a person can’t get answers for free, and if you want to look into the darker sides of life, they’re going to look back unto you. A2 is the perfect example of this, as when she finally finds out the true intentions behind YorHA Command, her entire squad is wiped out.
A2’s Life Is as Bleak as It Gets
A2’s personal backstory is as dark as it gets, and leads tosome ofNier Automata’s best moments. A2 was a prototype YorHA unit sent by the Council of Humanity to Earth for a very important mission. It’s not until later that she learns it was a suicide mission, as the Council didn’t expect any of her friends to survive. While they were supposed to be emotionless units, A2 and the rest of the prototype YorHA are so much more.
They develop real feelings for each other, the world around them, and ultimately, for themselves.
When A2 and her fellow YorHA prototypes get to Earth, they meet a resistance group who is also fighting against the Machine Lifeform threat. While their meeting gets off to a rocky start, the two groups agree that they have a common goal. They then work together to take down an important Machine Lifeform base, growing much closer during their mission. Unfortunately, A2 is then forced to watch each of her old and new friends die gruesomely on their mission. Worst of all,she learns this was the Council’s plan, as they never wanted her to survive in the first place.
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Nieris a story about fate, identity, and purpose.A2 was tricked into thinking she didn’t have an identity and that her purpose was to die. She fights fate itself, surviving a suicide mission and living on to defy the Council that sent her and her friends to their doom. She also decides to take her identity and her purpose into her own hands, one of the show’s central themes that 2B and 9S also learn later in the series.
While fate may have put A2 on a one-way collision course with death,she doesn’t care.She’ll do what she has to so that she can achieve the future she’s looking for, somethingNiercommunicates perfectly through its theme and her character.
Unlike Other YorHA Units, A2 Fights to Find Her Own Truth
While most of the other YorHA units working for the Council of Humanity listen to their orders unflinchingly,A2 has other plans.She was designed to be another cog in their machine, but instead of accepting her fate, she actively fights it. She doesn’t die on her suicide mission and works against the Council where she can. When she first meets the questioning 9S and 2B, she gives them just enough information to stoke their curiosity, causing the pair of them to further question both their identity and purpose.
A2 is the first character inNierto go against the grain.She forged the path that 9S and 2B eventually walk when they find out what the Council’s true intentions are. A2 is a symbol inNier.She represents the inherent will inside all the YorHA units, as none of them are the mindless drones the Council wants them to be. She represents the fight in humanity, and the desire to find out one’s true purpose, regardless of destiny or fate.
A2’s Life Ends Brutally, or Does It?
The ending ofNier: Automatatells a couple of different stories in one,just like the multiple endings of the game.It shows both Ending C, meaningless [C]ode, and Ending E, the [E]nd of YorHA. Both endings fit the themes ofNier,as the first relays the thematic sense of hopelessnessNieris known for, while the second recants the first to show a more hopeful version of the future.
The series' biggest themes surround fate and a person’s role in it. The first ending shows A2 succumbing to her fate, ending the Machine Lifeform threat but sacrificing her life in the process. A2 was designed to do two things: end the Machine Lifeform threat, and die, and she did both in Ending C.
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While themes of hopelessness can be found throughoutNier,the series doesn’t stop there.Ending E reveals that even will-less Pod Units do in fact have a will, and they use that desire to bring 9S, 2B, and even 2A back to life. It’s a much more positive ending that brings back the main cast of characters and cementsNieras a series that questions destiny, and shows that if a character tries hard enough, they can fight it.
NieR:Automata Ver1.1a
Cast
In a distant future where humanity has fled to the Moon, androids 2B and 9S are deployed to Earth to battle the alien-created Machine Lifeforms threatening to eradicate the remnants of civilization. As they fight for survival, the truth about the world and their purpose begins to unravel, revealing deep existential mysteries.
