Episode Review - NieR:Automata Ver1.1A Episode 20: Towards The Deep End

– Don’t take away my memories of her!
– Berserker mode, Activate!

This episode brought back the heat for the series. Both A2 and 9S are caught in the deep end this episode, with both fighting for what’s most previous to them. Ironically, it is the machine lifeforms that are acting like “humanity” now that the real humans are gone. The Earth is now ruled by machine lifeforms, and it is the remaining androids – A2 and 9S – that are “invading” them. And the route this two take are complete opposite.

A2 and Pascal has to defend the village from a swarm of hostile machine lifeforms. Its pretty funny to see the villagers trying to defend themselves in a very primitive way – not unlike the feudal times in Asia. Mimicking the behaviors of human seems to be a common trait of “good” machine lifeforms. And the hostile ones are just basically automatons programmed to destroy. This is a pretty interesting case of “simulated humanity” versus “inhumanity”.

Anyway, A2 was impressed that the villagers were able to fend for themselves, and that she is actually willing to charge into battle to protect the peace of machine lifeforms that she hated so much. And she realized that there are different kinds of machine lifeforms, as well as there are different kinds of androids and humans as well. Its interesting to see A2’s change in mental state up till now. Furthermore, Pascal got a pretty cool highlight here as well, channeling his inner Heavyarms Gundam to bring some “democracy” to the hostile machines.

However, they are in the middle of a war, an invasion – and attacks don’t stop after the first wave. Shortly after the villagers return and cheer for their victory, a surprise attack follow. This attack is bombastic and explosive and serve as the shock moment for all of us. Peaceful machines and their kids were decimated in just a few seconds. The entire village that Pascal and everyone worked so hard to build brought to the ground in moments. Even I was shocked when watching this moment.

A2 then headed off to stop a Goliath-class machine while Pascal took the surviving kids to escape. And this is one of the most badass android combat moments in the series – with A2 going Trans A…I mean Berserker mode to fight. The fact that she is willing to risk her life for the machine lifeforms signify her new perspective. The Berserker Mode is cool, but I honestly expect more “oomph” from the combat and not just…faster A2. I guess they can only manage to do an adequate job but I think this is a golden opportunity to show off some great Sakugas. Anyway, it is a cool scene nonetheless.

Now we get to 9S. Whoo boy this kid is going through so much and ended up making sooo many wrong decisions. He’s still blind to what is actually important to the bigger picture. Though I guess right now humanity and the android’s “bigger picture” mean jackshit to him now. All he cares about is to avenge 2B. But he’s not being smart about it despite being a Scanner type. He’s just hacking in things blindly and took the bait hook, line and sinker. Sure he learned some fun facts about the Android’s true nature and YoHRa, but he also left himself wide open for a hacking attack. And the virus targeted the exact parts that would hurt him the most: 2B – or rather, his memories about her.

Seeing 9S going insane when his memories were being deleted was very emotional. Down to the fake dummy that the virus created to look exactly like 2B herself. He was so lost he didnt even hesitate stabbing the 2B dummy to save her memories. He’s basically too far gone now. Seeing 9S descending down this path of hatred and madness makes him eerily human – as we have had irl stories about obsessed revenge. The sequence was quite brief but still very impactful. Any levity we had from the first few moments in the episode were completely wiped by A2’s fight and 9S’ predicament.

The series is still going strong – with a very engaging plot development. The character development is still well-done. But of course some anime-onlies might feel…dragged out because they are more familiar with 2B and this is quite literally like a new series set in the Nier universe. It’s quite similar to when Gurren Lagann or Getter Armageddon when the MC’s POV is switched completely. But for game fans, it will still be good. Hopefully we get some more excitement next ep to get the pace going like this one.

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