NieR: Automata Ver 1.1a – 11 – We’re Gonna Need a Bigger Sword

The Machine Lifeforms are wilding the fuck out. Amassing in huge numbers and filled with (I assume) Adam’s rage, they quickly surround and overwhelm the Resistance camp. Fresh off their big guest appearance in episode 10’s omake, the redhead twins perform triage as Lily ponders her unit’s next move with the enemy growing and their ammo dwindling.

2B shows up to lend a much appreciated hand, and her Pod downloads a new, even bigger ML-killin’ sword. Commander White goes to the plate for her soldiers, but the Council of Humanity (who may well be neither a council or human), refuses her request for logistical aid, citing a greater purpose. Even so, 2B and the Resistance are still able to activate an EMP that disables the advancing ML armies.

Unfortunately, after it starts to rain, all of those neutralized ML husks combine to form a colossal Adam just as 9S returns in his mech. A resistance fighter fires a bazooka that topples Big Adam, but he simply transforms into a frankly silly looking giant monster, with the newly two-toned Adam lodged in its skull.

Rather than despair at the enemy’s evolution, Lily rallies her troops, and when they respond with unswerving loyalty, she looks the happiest and most excited she ever has. She believes they can defeat that big thing, and I believe her too.

2B engages the scary-fast, scary-vicious “elite” MLs, and while 9S’s first hacking attempt on the monster ends with the destruction of his mech, he is caught in midair by Pascal, who along with his village did not go berserk since they were cut off from the main network.

While he may technically be breaking a YoRHa regulation or two, 9S dons a heavy-duty hacking connector for his second attempt to shut the monster down. 2B is initially overmatched by her three elite hyper-berserk MLs, but manages to trick them with a hologram of herself and slashes them to smithereens with her big sword. It’s a magnificent spectacle.

Pascal carries 9S to the monster’s head so he can contact it directly with his gauntlet. Once he’s hacked in, 9S quickly realizes that Adam is pretty much going mad, which explains why the ML and the monster are totally out of control. But as usual, he’s able to buy just enough time exploring the various metaphorical constructs thrown his way and stab the cyber-Adam at his flaming table.

This causes the monster to start moving in the direction the Resistance troops want: right into the line of fire of a salvaged railroad cannon. When the monster is thrown back, an ICBM launches it into the atmosphere. While it initially survives and begins to plummet towards the earth, it appears to be finished off by a giant particle beam, I assume from an orbiting satellite weapon.

The battle against Adam and his berserk ML army escalated quickly, and appears to end just as quickly with a great victory for 2B, 9S, Lily, Jackass, and the androids. The omake is a brief one, with 2B and 9S petting their Pods as if they were pet puppies, and actually doesn’t result in a Game (or World) Over. With the Big Bad vanquished, I wonder what’s in store for the final episode, knowing a second cour has been confirmed.

NieR: Automata Ver 1.1a – 10 – Missing Eve

In the aftermath of the big Adam & Eve battle, 9S is shuttled back up to the Bunker for repairs (whether his memories are wiped again isn’t mentioned). Commander White orders 2B to finish the job solo and destroy Adam. Adam, as you’d imagine, is extremely blue, and has no patience for a ML dressed as a priest taking Eve’s place at the brothers’ table.

From the moment 2B arrives at a huge derelict factory festooned with religious banners, seething with proselytizing ML zealouts spouting boilerplate dogma. There’s some light comedic moments surrounding the fact 2B now temporarily has two Pods; they talk over each other and 9S’ wants 2B to converse more. Meanwhile the religious MLs get more and more fired up, while half of Adam becomes covered in tattoos.

You get the feeling 2B just stepped into the middle of a tinderbox, and while I’m not certain Adam’s change in body art triggers it, suddenly the yellow eyes of every ML in the joint turn red, and 2B and her Pods find themselves locked in a fight with a swarm of them. She does manage to escape to the elevator, whereupon she meets a still yellow-eyed ML, remotely controlled by 9S from the Bunker.

The happy semi-reunion vibes don’t last, as 2B jumped out of the frying pan and into the fire: specifically, an arena for a boss fight with a giant spherical ML with several legs. 9S uses the ML to hack into the factory in order to shut off the power so the boss’ shields drop, sacrificing the ML unit in the process. 2B manages to defeat the boss with a cool coup de grace. Unfortunately, she’s surrounded all over again by the hordes of red-eyed MLs. Back at the Bunker, alarms are going off all over the place.

It comes as no surprise that even in when White approves sending backup to 2B, comms are jammed. She’s on her own, and when she releases the Pods’ limiters, they barely make a dent in the ML numbers before going into low-power mode to recover. Fortunately, these Matrix Sentinal-like hordes of MLs aren’t interested in 2B, and pass right by her as they dive en masse into the tank of lava below, with the intention of becoming like Eve.

As for Adam, he’s destroyed his table, and looks ready to jump to his death…or do something else.I gotta be honest, while cool-looking and sounding, he’s simply not the most compelling villain. He has no one to blame but himself for Eve’s demise, as he’s the one who captured and tortured 9S and provoked 2B.

Could it be Eve, and his singular control over the network, was actually keeping the MLs from going berserk? Whatever the cause, that is the situation as the episode ends, with even the Resistance Camp threatened by escalating enemy action on all sides.

We close with a longer than usual puppet omake, involving the soft-spoken Popola and more rowdy Devola (both voiced by Shiraishi Ryouko, a fave of mine), 9S, and some desert rose wine. Hijinx ensue. I particularly liked the touch of using human hands to draw on the chalkboard and raise glasses for a toast.