Episode Review: NieR:Automata Ver1.1A Episode 13: Emotional Betrayal

Restarted. Repeated. Revenged

The 2nd cour of Nier: Automata plunged us straight into the plot with some extremely fast-paced development and jumping through a lot of the story. Even so, the series never forget to give us some awesome action scenes and…of course, fan-service. A-1 is once again in charge of the series, and we really hope they will not run into any other production issues for this cour. From what we’ve seen, the quality sure hasn’t suffered a bit.

2B and 9S embarked on a mission to find a lost YoHRa operative, but it turns out that the person who requested it was also a YoHRa’s operative. But she is different from the others – as she was a special type: type-E – Executioner. In almost all organizations, there would be an Internal Affairs department to make sure the organization stay true to its purpose – or at least, the controller’s purpose. Type-S androids are tasked with the mission to “purge” traitors and deserters of YoHRa, but the more important thing is 9S was surprise while 2B…wasn’t. She took that revelation as a matter of fact and when the Executioner type jumped off the ledge, only 9S rushed to save her, and 2B just watched as if it isn’t a concern. Certainly wasn’t because she was jealous when the red-haired gal flirted with 9S beforehand.

That’s also one of the things A-1 did really well to “balance” out the depressing stuff in this episode. Natsuki Hanae really did a great job voicing a jolly 9S when he gets to partner with 2B. And he’s overly exposing his feelings as well. It’s obvious to the viewers at this point that he “likes” her. It’s also obvious to 2B, but she kept repeating that “Emotions are not allowed”. But after this episode, we can see that was also saying that to herself, that she isn’t allowed to “have feelings” for 9S.

We then shift the focus back to YoHRa command and once again, reestablish the mission of YoHRa for humanity’s glory. But at this point Commander White and 2B certainly doesn’t believe in that ideal 100% anymore. However, what must be done must be done. A full offensive is in the works against the machine lifeforms and YoHRa is throwing the entire force against them. But our 9S is once again deep in his snooping work, finding out the secrets that YoHRa is hiding. But his only mistake is thinking he’s the only one that knows about it.

Command found out about it, and ordered a Type-E Android to put 9S in his place, which is the recycle bin. And who else is more suitable for such a task than 2B – the presumed “Type-2” combat model and 9S’ partner. And this isn’t the first time this task was assigned to 2B, and also not the first “9S” that was executed. Since Android’s memories can be preserved and re-downloaded into a new body. Their memories can be altered so it only include memories up to a certain “point”. But for some reason, the particular 9S that we focus on always begin looking into YoHRa’s secret, and the order to execute him always got handed down to 2B, and she has destroyed numerous 9S multiple times – 48 times to be exact. And to destroy her own partner for so many times, 2B’s heart has grown weary and fearful of 9S’ feeling as well. The confrontation between 2B and 9S was beautifully done. You can see 9S utterly surprised at the revelation and tried all his tricks to stay alive, but 2B is 2-3 steps ahead of him and put him down easily. You can see that 2B is so familiar with this situation that she knows about the trick 9S tried. And it was his “trump card” too – but it got neutralized super quick by a method even 9S didn’t think of.

At the end, we see a bit of A2 as well, still a renegade and in the wild. A2 will no doubt be a key to help 9S deal with 2B in the future. So far, the story is taken from the game in a general direction. The fan service this episode is also very nice iykwim. Commander White looks pretty smoking in her undergarments. And it’s probably the only scene where you can tell it’s written for ecchi intention. Other fan-service moments are basically a natural development of combat. 2B’s design is truly revolutionary. Yoko Taro is a very smart man. The animation this episode is still very good quality, although the rushed combat makes it feel more …talky than before.

I’m not sure if they will give us a new ending or remix the existing one. But if Yoko Taro has any say in it, it will be something unexpected (and awesome). Looking forward for more!

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