‘NieR: Automata Ver1.1a’ Review: Yoko Taro’s Masterpiece Jumps into the Animation Realm

Video games have become the rulers of the entertainment business. Video games make more money than all other entertainment industries combined and that is a huge incentive to take properties from the video game world and translate them into other mediums such as books, TV series, and films. However, video game adaptations are hard to crack. The stories that are told in video games are often created with very different structures from other mediums, it becomes a hard exercise in adaptation. NieR: Automata Ver1.1a is now available on Crunchyroll, will try to crack the code once again.

NieR: Automata Ver1.1a is an anime adaptation of the NieR: Automata video game written and directed by Yoko Taro, developed by PlatinumGames, and published by Square Enix. The series adapts the story of the game into anime form, and it is being produced by A-1 Pictures, an animation studio that lately has worked on shows such as the Sword Art Online series, and The Seven Deadly Sins. A-1 Pictures also has a lot of experience adapting video games into anime. Some of their previous adaptations include Persona 4, Ace Attorney, and Granblue Fantasy.

NieR: Automata is considered a masterpiece of a video game. The action RPG managed to combine the unorthodox and experimental narrative that Yoko Taro is known for with a magnificent battle system developed by PlatinumGames, who themselves are masters when it comes to creating action games. The combination was a marriage made in heaven, and the game won numerous awards in the year of its release. The game tells a very complex story, filled with plenty of themes, revelations, and narrative experimentation. The fabulous score by Keiichi Okabe was just the cherry on top.

So, how can you adapt a game that basically went out of its way to be different to present its story in ways that have never been used in video games before? How can you grab all of that and create a cohesive anime show? The answer that A-1 Pictures arrived at was to streamline everything. This means that the narrative has been simplified quite a bit from the way it appears in the game. What was a tale that played with timelines, different endings, and recons, has now been simplified and reorganized into a linear storyline that covers the events of the game.

This is not a bad thing, the story of NieR: Automata is amazing, and the characters are just as equally fascinating. However, for those who played the game, there is definitely the feeling that something is lost. This is something that comes up in every video game adaptation; why? Because video games are a medium that is in constant flux. Unlike film, video games are always finding new ways to tell stories and make gamers active players in those stories. The film, on the other hand, has remained very stagnant for many, many decades.

This difference in the way the two mediums approach stories and make them evolve makes almost all video game adaptations feel like a step back. In the past, video games getting an animated or live-action adaptation felt like a true accomplishment, as these adaptations could take the visuals and the story to a new level. However, graphics in video games have evolved now to a level where they look better than most animated films and TV shows. The fidelity is so high that going to live-action feels unnecessary, and animation feels like a step back.

This is what happens with NieR: Automata Ver1.1a. The game feels so unique not only because of the way it presents its story but also because of the aesthetics on screen. The game chooses to go for a minimalist style that is felt in the world, the user interface, cutscenes, and more. Meanwhile, NieR: Automata Ver1.1a, the anime adaptation, feels and looks just like any other anime around. This is not to say that the anime show looks bad, not at all, the animation quality is pretty good. It is nothing incredible like what Mappa or Bones have been doing recently, but it is way above average.

However, the feeling that this anime is lacking something prevails. One major component of video games is interactivity. An animation or live-action adaptation lacks this vital component, and so, characters who feel close to the game, feel distant here. The action sequences that are exciting and creative here feel like action for action’s sake. The anime throws many lines, visuals, and moments ripped straight from the game into the anime, even replicating camera movements and shots from some of the game’s cutscenes. The effort is applauded, but it still feels like a lesser version of the original.

Keiichi’s Okabe score is a masterpiece, and really elevates many of the most intense, sad, and happy moments of the game to a new level. Here the score makes an appearance as well, but once again the punch that the music gives to the same moments in the game just hits differently. Sometimes the music definitely feels like it enters or exits a scene at the wrong time. The anime is just trying to be too faithful to the game in ways that hurt the anime because what works in a game does not always work in a film or TV show.

Unlike anime adaptations like Chainsaw Man, NieR: Automata Ver1.1a decides to go for the safe route and just copy moments, and make them in anime form. Because of this, the pacing feels weird, and for those who already played the game, the anime doesn’t really bring anything new or interesting. NieR: Automata Ver1.1a is certainly made for people who have never played the game. We can only hope that watching the series will inspire them to pick up the game, because that version of the story is definitely the superior one.

SCORE: 6/10