First Impressions – Nier Automata v1.1a, Episode 1

I love the Ner series. My love for the seriesand my curiosity about how it could be done as an anime was what got me in front of thescreen to check out the premiere episode of Nier automata version 1.1 a. What a name. WhenI heard that a story that I said benefited from being a video game was being adapted into ananime, I knew I had to see it. I had to know how they would translate this absolute monsterof a video game plot, with its five endings into a coherent story that could be understood ina single viewing. Would they go a Fate Stay knife route and give us one of the routes thistime. Or would they cut between scenes from a playthrough A and B leading us into the unifiedplaythrough C. Or would they go the cyberpunk edge runner's route and tell a cool story in theNier automata world that would encourage viewers.

To check out the games and fall in love with theseries. Disclaimer there will be full spoilers of episode 1 of the Nier Automata anime up untilthe start of the first bunker scene in the game. The opening of Nier Automata version 1.1 ais called escalate by Aimer and it is a nice song. It was an emotional ballad with a mix ofrock and electronic music backing it up. It's a lot more bombastic than I expected but it doeshave an emotional tone to it. So perhaps it'll be more appropriate when the stakes get higherin the story later on. The video is where I have the issues with. The song is accompanied by whatappears to be a mix of real-life footage of a city and some computer-generated ruins and clips.We also see 2D images of the main characters, supporting cast and villains' kind ofprojected onto the walls of the locations.

That we see. Shout out to my boy Pascal.The whole thing was a black, white and gray affair. Watching it back a few times I cansay that an attempt was made to convey a vibe. Unfortunately, I couldn't fall in love withthis opening based on attempted vibes alone. The word that comes to mind when thinking aboutthis opening is 'uninspired'. We currently live in an age where anime openings have evolved froma clip show of the various characters. They're an opportunity for wild levels of artistic expressionand cool animation openings. From shows like Beastars which uses puppets, Chainsaw Man whichuses movie references and cinematic techniques to a masterful degree, the new Bleach season withits immaculate vibes. Not to mention the countless amazing JoJo openings have raised the bar for whatan opening can be. So, to see the anime adaptation.

Of a game as unique and subversive as NierAutomata fumble in this regard was sad to see. It's not the worst anime opening out thereby far. Aimer is really carrying the team here with their music, but the visuals hold itback from being memorable or visually engaging. You probably won't be seeing this on anybest-off compilations on YouTube anytime soon. One thing the animation studio had going in theirfavor for this project was the fact that Nier Automata the game comes with an immaculate OST.It is rare to have a soundtrack where every single track is a banger, but that's part of what'sspecial about the game. So when the anime reuses the same songs from the game in some scenes, Ican hardly fault them. However, despite liking the songs themselves I found their use in the showto be once again 'uninspired'. The anime recreates.

A lot of the scenes of the opening act of NeirAutomata, almost shot for shot, and still manages to mishandle the music. It almost feels like atheme is playing in a scene because that's just how it is in the game. However, the music doesn'talways tie into what's going on in the scene and this is a bit strange considering how the gamemanages to nail it throughout its entire run time. There are even occasions like whenthe Goliath class machine attacks 2B at the start where the musicsomewhat drowns out the dialogue. The show very closely replicates the game rightdown to the ost and exact action shots and yet it's still somehow manages to miss the emotionaland action beats through the music. Somehow it very much feels like atheme park version of the game,.

And we aren't even in the amusement park yet. Animation is hard work it is often grueling hourswith low pay, only for the fruits of your labor to be dissected online by armchair critics.So when I go on to criticize the animation of the show please bear in mind that this isintended to be constructive criticism and with all due respect to the hard-working individualsbehind the show. Animators in the anime industry already have it hard enough without us pilingon them. That said the visuals of this show have some issues that I cannot ignore.Let's begin with the 2D and 3D visuals. I'm not one of those anime fans who dislikes CGIin anime outright. This may seem like sacrilege to some fans but I've seen shows like Land of theLustrous, Chainsaw Man and the various Ufotable.

Outings which led me to believe that CGI is justanother tool for animation. The importance is in how you use it. Besides if an anime characteralways looks terrible in 3D, then explain Genshin Impact. Anyway, the visuals here did not appealto me due to several reasons. The first thing that irked me was the visible difference between themachines and the characters. The gulf between the 2D and 3D characters along with the 2D charactersand 3D backgrounds were often too vast for me to ignore. This was especially notable during theaction scenes. The scene where 2B flies into the abandoned Factory is particularly egregiousin this regard. The ocean and the bits of ruins sticking out of it look off in a way that wasimpossible for me to ignore. Then there's the fact that despite recreating some of the scenesin the game shot for shot, they still managed.

To make it feel off somehow sometimes. The camerawas too close sometimes, the perspective was from a strange angle and sometimes the scale of certainenemies and locations were not properly conveyed. But who knows, maybe they're saving the budgetfor the end of the season, you know, we'll see. This first episode of the anime covers theopening section of the game. I like to call it the prologue but I'm not sure if it's officiallycalled that. And when I say covers what I really mean is speed runs. Part of what made the storyof Nier Automata as enjoyable as it ended up being was the fact that it knows when to pick upthe pace and when to give the player down time. A 20-minute anime episode aiming to coverspecific events in the game isn't going to be able to convey that quiet feeling in quite thesame way. However, the fact that it doesn't linger.

Much on any of the locations 2B goes through orthrow in some wide shots of the area she's in, feels like a huge, missed opportunity. And whatdoes this have to do with the story. Well by focusing on only the exciting bits and leavingout most of the quiet bits it ends up feeling like an overwhelming flood of information, andnew words. We never get to sit with one idea long enough to absorb it or ruminate on it, because thestory is already dragging us into the next thing. We literally have no time to observe or ponderthe ruined remains of human civilization or the strange ways in which the machines interact withthem. The story did throw in an anime original scene of 2B walking past a bunch of non-hostilemachines. It was a somewhat ham-fisted way to clue you the viewer into the idea that there'smore going on with these machines than it seems..

There are moments where the exact dialogue istaken from the game. These moments aren't exactly uncommon either, but the fact that the originalvoice actors of the game reprise their roles in these moments uh give them a more endearingquality than anything else. Shout out to 9s's 'Hai, Hai' scene. While I was watching the episodeand experiencing the speed run that was its pace, I was reminded of another anime based on avideo game. Persona 4 the Animation. That show too told the exact same story as the game,but in a condensed way that felt like a highlight reel of the game, and wouldn't you know it.It was made by the same Studio, A1 pictures. The rapid pace and the length of the contentcovered influenced where the episode ends as well. I expected this episode to end with 2B and 9scausing a black box reaction and quote unquote,.

Dying. However, the show keeps going. We getto see the bunker; we get to see 2B reawaken and then we get to see 2B meet 9s again. Perhapsthis was done as a shocking ending scene to hook the first-time viewer or perhaps it was done totarget the heartstrings of video game players who enjoyed Nier Automata as a game. Either wayit ends up robbing their previous death scene of much impact or so I felt anyway. When I firstexperienced the scene, it was during the demo of Nier Automata. Imagine my absolute surprise whenthe primary cast was obliterated at the end of the demo. I immediately needed to get the game andsee what happened next or what led up to this. Here's my review of Nier Automata where I callthe game a masterpiece for like half an hour. But here, in the anime, any dramatic tensionthe moment might have had is sacrificed for the.

Attempted melancholy of revealing that 9s haslost his memories. The story of Nier Automata is an unforgettable one even went filteredthrough the rough production schedule of the Japanese animation industry. The strength ofthe setting and characters endure. While I wish this anime left the scenes breathe a little bitmore and built up to the action scenes, instead of flashing through them, I'm willing to see ifthe story past the prologue will take its time. You know how some anime have a little animation atthe end where the chibi versions of the characters explain terms and concepts of the story or havesome comedic skits? This anime has that too. The Nier Automata version 1.1 a anime opts to dothis kind of thing in the form of a puppet show. I can honestly say that the Nier Automata's anime'spuppet show was the best part of the anime for me,.

And no I'm not trying to be mean. This puppetshow clearly made for fun has a lot going on. Not only are the puppets adorable but they'realso voiced by the original voice cast. 2B and 9S bantering in puppet form is something I neverknew I needed but I totally enjoyed. Another aspect of the puppet show that's amazing is thatit promises to highlight the multiple joke endings of Nier Automata. In this first episode we getan introduction to the black boxes as a concept, only for the 2B puppet to take her black boxand book the 9S puppets Black Box. This causes a black box reaction, blowing them both upalong with the bunker resulting in ending U, debunked of Nier Automata. If eachof the after-episode puppet shows, showcases a different joke ending of the gamewhile conveying some lore or background info,.

That would be amazing. This is the kind ofcreativity I expect from the Nier franchise, and it is a shame that it could only be foundin the post-credit puppet show. Nier Automata version 1.1 a exists in a world where the standardof animated content is sky high. It also exists in a market where so much content comes out of thepipe that viewers are drowning in alternative options. It is also a show aided by the fact thatall the legwork of creating an amazing story, visuals and music have already been done by thegame. However, despite all this the final product feels uninspired and by the numbers, in a waythat neither Nier nor Nier Automata ever felt. There are many different ways to make anadaptation. In a series with as much side content as Nier this was yet another chance to adda new wrinkle into the story through a new medium..

There's even a Nier Automata stage play after all.However, with this show A1 pictures has taken the safe route of retelling the original game's storybut without the original game's shot composition, use of music and pacing, the whole affair endsup feeling like a highlight reel of a video game. Perhaps it is too early to talk about this, butI think it would be very sad to see Nier Automata anime end up as just another forgotten show onthe pile of lackluster video game adaptations. Especially since the game itself was so brilliantand subversive in so many ways. If you're an anime only viewer of this story, good news there's anentire game based around the same story told with better visuals music use and pacing. If you're aGame Fan looking to recapture that magic again or somehow get something new through the anime, welluh, the puppet show was genuinely cute and funny..

Otherwise, this first episode left a blandtaste in my mouth. It was not offensively bad, nor was it laudably good. But considering howmuch of a masterpiece the original game is, the middling quality of this adaptation stingsworse. But hey it's only episode one. Maybe it'll get better, maybe episode 2 will slow downwith the pacing and pull the camera back and show off some of the locations and slowly buildup to those loud and bombastic moments. I love the Nier series. That love was earned throughgenuinely high-quality moments and experiences in the games. Unless the anime steps up its levelof quality, I will not be extending that love to it. But that's just like my opinion man. What'syours? Have you seen the premiere episode of Nier Automata version 1.1 a. What did you thinkabout it. Let us know in the comments below. Also.

Expect a full series review from us when theseries comes to a close. Thanks for watching.

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