English Dub Review: Nier: Automata Ver1.1a: “[Q]uestionable actions”

Overview: Pascal (Alexis Tipton) asks for 2B (Kira Buckland) and 9S’s (Kyle McCarley) assistance in locating a lost little girl from their village. 

Our Take: 9S wouldn’t be 9S if he didn’t follow up Pascal’s plea for help with his callous, dickish retorts. It’s this very attitude that makes him a constant frustration whenever he engages with machines. 2B acts as a kinder balance to that relationship. On top of that, their dynamic continues to charm in how he opens her up to him. 

Pascal is a refreshing character in how they challenge 9S’ disdain for machine kind. The existential concept of whether one’s heart and/or soul is independent of their parts is a brilliant segue into that. Their tried-and-true philosophical question works on multiple fronts in not only delving into machine lifeforms’ humanity, but testing the legitimacy of androids existence to 9S. 

Sifting through memories of the Forest Kingdom continues to show the pattern of machine life-form civilizations’ advancement. Exploring other types of governments smaller machine societies is intriguing in how they prosper differently, similarly to humans. 

Beyond their society, how the citizens transfer memories to new heirs is a sweet sentiment. The memory share is yet another aspect of how machine lifeforms closely mirror humans in passing down history and their feelings through it. Each new characteristic offers more ways of reliability that humanizes them even more so. 

Other great interactions feature 9S finally coming around on Pascal through her heroic actions. You begin to see how well 2B and 9S relationship has grown in how she sees through his prideful, coy act saying otherwise

With the little sister’s saving, it brings about A2’s return. Her merciless killing of the infant king is a brutal way to set the stage for her. 9S’ confliction about her distrust of YoRHa shows how green he is. If her experiences can provide another meaningful stepping stone about human complexity, all the better for his development. Especially if it also brings the truth of YoRHa, and what they’re trying to bury of Adam and Eve, to light.