Episode Review - NieR:Automata Ver1.1A Episode 24: Re-Automation

– This world will be…
…Broken//Saved.

The finale of the Nier anime adaptation is here. And A2 and 9S really went at it in this episode. And as expected, Yoko Taro came up with a new ending for the anime, and after all the deaths and destruction, we actually get quite a heartwarming ending mixed in with some bittersweetness.

The battle between 9S and A2 was very well done. The animation was great, fluid and the camera works was executed well. Furthermore, it really surprised me that 9S – in the condition that he’s in – was able to keep up with A2 in Berserker Mode. Fueled by anger and vengeance, 9S surpassed the normal capacity of a Scanner model and went toe to toe with an Attacker model. And I really like his motivation and end game here. Although he maybe slightly misguided that A2, YoHRa and everyone else took 2B away from him, he has now lost everything and everyone that he doesn’t care anymore. He doesn’t care if his anger is misplaced, he saw 2B getting infected by the virus, he saw A2 landing the final blow on 2B, and that’s all he needs to know. At that point, he blame the entire world for 2B’s death and is willing to kill everyone involved. This is quite unusual in mecha where a protag follow through with his vengeance and doesn’t get convinced or stopped halfway. He reminds me of Shu Aiba from Kissdum: Engage Planet where the protag also do not care if the world burns if he can reunite with the girl he love.

A2 – after many authentic experiences that she has lived through, with both happy memories and painful memories – she carried her sins on her back but also the hopes and dreams of others that have entrusted it to her. Pascal, Lily, Rose, and even 2B,…so many people has given her life meaning. While the other YoHRa androids are “reset” after they fall in battle, A2 has never had that luxury. All of her life has been one single continuous line…like a human. And she’s willing to fight to preserve this world that so many people she loved has existed. As we said before, she’s a 180 compared to 9S. And that makes their fight that much better.

In the end, 2A managed to defeat 9S, almost killing him. And he thanked her at the end for it. I think he knows deep down that even if he burned down the world and killed everyone, that wouldn’t bring 2B back. And with A2 finishing him, he’ll be able to join 2B in the world of memories.

And then we get to the human server stuff. It’s kinda funny that after the logic bomb from the Pod, they decided to completely scrapped their old plan and just decided to screw off to another planet (maybe for another Yoko Taro story). And they asked A2 to come with them but she declined. Even though she saved the world, her original goal was still defeating the machine lifeform as well as defeating the true enemy of the world, the Resistance, and YoHRa, now that her tasks are all finished, she wanted to reunite with everyone else – her squad, Rose, Lily and others – so she just fell into darkness.

And with that, the hostile machine lifeform and the Human Council that meddles with YoHRa – the two puppet masters behind all the events – are no more.

And then we get to something akin to ending [E] of the game – where the Pod presented to the players the question if they want to fight on, and to allow the androids to survive. And I really like that they turn the minigame in the game into an actual fight for the Pod, only it’s against other Pods that still adhere to their original programming and wanted to reset all of YoHRa and what not. The fact that 9S and 2B’s pods both develop a will of their own and agreed to save them both is really cool. Although it’s ironic that the entities with fully mechanical voices in this series are the ones that act the closest to normal humans, I guess they really want to express the “machine soul”. And in the end, a miracle did occurred.

Following “The End of YoHRa”, the two pods managed to rebuild 9S and 2B, with all their memories intact. Now they are free from YoHRa, from the machine lifeforms, and from any strings. They can forge their new path…together with A2. Yes A2 did survived thanks to a very special guest cameo: the Accord. She is an elusive character in the Nier-verse but she is quite influential in Automata. And this marks her first appearance in the anime by rebuilding A2. Even though this world doesn’t have many people they knew anymore, but the belief that A2, 2B and 9S will live happily after is a great thought. After they wake up, there’s no more blindfolds, no more directives, nothing else to stand in-between them, and 9S finally get the “Nines” he was waiting for, and 2B’s expression is as loving and gentle as it can be…Overall, a very satisfying ending.

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