Episode Review: NieR:Automata Ver1.1A Episode 7

An encounter with the past

The Pascal mission starts. 2B and 9S half reluctantly went on a missing machine seek-and-rescue mission. On their way they encountered a “kingdom” of old machine lifeforms. During the quest, the android pair encountered a mysterious “Intruder” that seems extremely familiar to YoRHa soldiers. Along the way, some serious questions are once again posed to the androids and machines for their pondering.

We started the episode with some humor and levity. The Older Sis machine kicked up a fuss when its Little Sis went missing. Even though the whole guilty charade was pretty heartfelt, the acting out like a child is pretty obviously staged to “coerce” 9S and 2B in to taking action. It’s pretty funny when a machine mimic a child that’s just lost her teddy toy and will wail until the adults conform to her wish.

Pascal also went along and “persuade” the pair pretty “heartfeltly”. It’s a rare occasion where we can laugh in universe at the way the machine lifeforms behave.

On the way, 9S expressed his discontent multiple times. He viewed the search party as unnecessary and pointless since it doesn’t serve their purpose. In addition, 9S is starting to suspect Commander White and the Bunker of withholding information from them. But 2B always intervene like a babysitter telling off 9S. It’s pretty funny to see their dynamic and different perspective on how they view each other. 2B definitely cares for 9S like a younger brother. Whereas 9S view her as more of a naggy partner whom he respects but loves to tease. It’s a pretty interesting dynamic that has a humane side to it as well.

Along the way, Pascal and 9S threw some philosophical questions at each other – and at the viewers as well. The Ship of Theseus dilemma where if you replace every parts of an entity with the exact same components, will it still be the same entity post-change? For a machine life-form, their body are fully interchangeable and they can modify and replace parts of their body freely if they have the materials. After the changes, the machine lifeforms would most likely behave in the exact same way as it did before. For YoRHa androids, sacrificing their whole body then getting their memories downloaded into another vessel isn’t rare. But will that new vessel be the same android to their surviving partner? This dilemma was very prevalent in the the Nier game as 9S got his asses blown up many times as does 2B. The conclusion that Pascal came up with is the “heart”. But that is an abstract concept that doesn’t physically exist and it cannot be fully “simulate” by their data.

And of course, in comes the “intruder”. A rogue android identified as A2 by YoRHa – a traitor to the Council of Humanity that preside over all the androids. Of course, the encounter was brief, but 2B was anxious to take her down because she definitely sensed something in her, and also because they are the same type of combat android. The fact that A2 attack machines and androids alike raise 2B’s cautiousness since 9S can easily get sliced in half by her if she thinks they are in their way. Regarding the “betrayal” of Command, 2B must have her suspicions but she kept it to himself and not spoke out like 9S did, so A2’s words definitely affect her in some ways. Aside from that, A2 looks absolutely gorgeous. Although she looks a bit more…curvaceous than in the game. And that glare was bewitching.

The action in this episode was brief, but once again, the philosophical existentialism presented to the viewers is quite significant. Furthermore, the appearance of A2 will propel us towards the new arc. Once again, the series is very light on the action, but rather focus on the evolution of the machine lifeforms as they are now forming the most intimate relationship even between humans. The setup for Adam, Eva and A2 just progresses little by little. But all the details are quite tightly woven since the series only show the necessary parts. Let’s see which direction the studio take the series.

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