▲ If this video is blocked in your region, try this one instead.

The new music video to amazarashi’s NieR:Automata theme song “命にふさわしい” (Inochi ni Fusawashii / Deserving of Life) was just uploaded earlier this afternoon. amazarashi posted a lyrical video of the song to their Web site last week for a 24 hour period only before quickly removing it again. This time, however, you can get a full sense of the scope of this song as it relates to the atmosphere of the story.

The theme of this song is:
What’s so important that’s worth giving up your life for?

■ The Story in the Music Video

• Takes place in the year 11944
  • Comparatively, Yoko Taro’s picture book takes place a year earlier in 11943.
• The world has been taken over by Bio-machines
• In a factory largely left in ruins, a single Bio-machine works to destroy a seemingly endless supply of dolls from long ago
• Why must the dolls be destroyed?
• This story will link together with the shock of Yoko Taro’s picture book of the same name, “Inochi ni Fusawashii” aka “Deserving of Life”

■ The Making of the video

• A total of 200 dolls were used in the filming of the music video
• various methods were used to destroy the dolls:
  • drilled
  • crushed
  • burned
  • imploded
  • severed
  • exploded
  • etc.
• All of the dolls were designed and created by Yoshida Ryo at Doll Space Pygmalion.
• Yoshida Ryo is also an instructor at Doll Space Pygmalion in Jiyuugaoka in Tokyo, offering free trial lessons throughout the week.
• Supervised by Yoshida, he painted all of the dolls to match the atmosphere of the NieR:Automata world
• A doll of 2B appears at the end of the video
• The dolls used for photography were donated by the “Kotobuki House“

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I took a bunch of photos from the video and will continue updating this page with more information as I have time to work on it, but here are just a couple interesting things that I’d like to point out first.

▲ This shot shows multiple scenes that appears to be from the game, but it also lists a bunch of dates including the following:

• August 20, 11944
• August 27, 11944
• August 29, 11944
• August 30, 11944
• September 5, 11944
• September 11, 11944
• September 22, 11944
• September 26, 11944
• September 27, 11944

The year 11944 is the second to last year of the 14th Machine (Automata?) War. Each of these video clips that are stored in the Bio-machine’s Battle Log cache also lists a running time stamp that varies between a couple hours to 20, 30, and even over 40 hours. Could this actually depict the running time within the game itself?

▲ What may be important to note here is that this particular Bio-machine is not a battle type robot but is rather designed to operate the controls and oversee the demolition of (hopefully) dead androids. It also has a “stand alone” type AI, which could be why it began to malfunction through out the video.

Lastly, the Bio-machine’s have cameras for eyes, as you can see in their schematic designs.

You can see in the following image that the boot up system checks the status of each of the eyes separately.

This is also somewhat reminiscent of P-33 aka Beepy from “The Fire of Prometheus” novella where he awakens to find many of this systems down, including the use of his “main cameras” aka eyes.

▲ Assignment: Remove the cause of system error
▶︎ Object: Destroy all dolls

As it was in Drakengard, the term “doll” is often used synonymously with “android”. It’s just so happens that this video actually uses real dolls to further extend the metaphor.

Now, as the Bio-machine Operator is demolishing the dolls in all sorts of manners… a Critical Error begins to flash on the screen: Detected Emotion Matrix

And it’s eyes flash from their normal red to a light green:

▲ This reminds me a lot of the Operators from the YoRHa stage play, where they witness the horrors that the battle type androids have to endure, so much that they begin to question their own superiors. It is only after they undergo a special “check up” that erases part of their memory so they are no longer burdened by such ethical or emotional questions. This shot of the Bio-machine beginning to be plagued by emotion may be similar in this regard. It sees the torture and slaughter being done to so many androids that… it’s beginning to question its programming and/or orders.

And then a familiar figure appears…

▲ It certainly looks like 2B and I’m sure we’re supposed to wonder of fear that it could be her… but if this music video is anything like what they described of the picture book that comes with the special edition CD, then this has no direct connection to the game in terms of characters (for example, the illustration of a similarly looking character to 9S with a hat is not actually 9S).

▲ Here the Bio-machine is being affected by emotion even more…

Until something begins to forcefully install the “PATCH (1728)”, quite possibly against the semi-awakened Bio-machine’s will.

This particular number was shown briefly earlier in the video, too:

▲ There are a lot of interesting things in this image. First of all is the writing on the wall that reads, “REMEMBER THE 1728”. Given the image above, I think we can assume this is the designation of the specific patch that will purge a machine’s system of any errant emotion.

On the back wall on the right side, we see an interesting warning poster that reads:

WARNING
Care for infection of ERROR 1728
Do not love dolls
Dolls have no spirt.
Dolls have no spirt.

It’s very curious that any such poster would be displayed in a facility run by Bio-machines…

So, anyway, this Patch 1728 completes installing, the Bio-machine’s eyes return to their normal red color, it presses a button, and the doll resembling 2B is CRUSHED! ;_;

 

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Here are the lyrics that were used in the Closed Caption in the secondary link above:

“Deserving of Life” I met someone I liked, We unmistakingly touched. Asphalt over dirt, skin over steal If we instinctively choose warmth instead of the cold Then our dirt-covered faces are deserving of life There are those who snarl that we’re overreaching But we’ll sing of their hypocrisy If you need a reason to push forward Be it anger, or something else it is deserving of life. For the sun to rise and dry my spilled tears Patiently and tirelessly I wait and wait I’ve continued reaching, since that day it all fell apart For the morning I will be redeemed It’s worth destroying the world for the warmth I seek We could not be together Loneliness with loneliness What happened on those travels? That habit of laughing away pain There wouldn’t have been much to regret If only we didn’t have a heart I made a friend, we shared ideals We headed forward, our strides were the same I’d even stomach betrayal The nights we drank til dawn sprawled on the side of the road are deserving of life We kept searching for something, to replace what we’d lost Perhaps it’s not so, and loss is the solution Hoping for the tables to turn, knowing that it’s not impossible Even the footsteps that trailed off, should be called the journey It was worth deceiving the world, for what we had We couldn’t keep apart, loners who had found each other What happened on those travels? A look that said inflicting pain was to be expected There wouldn’t have been much to regret If only we didn’t have a heart To protect what I loved, I broke many things So many wishes brought suddenly to an end Walking across the broken pieces with bare feet Falling with my next step I’d accept death with that one step Yet that is the one deserving of life That loss, worth giving your heart for But sadness can’t make a clean switch for joy What happened on those travels? The answer is what I am now Hope, we could have thrown it away so simply If only we didn’t have hearts Light and Darkness   Romaji by Rekka Alexiel suki na hito ga dekita tashika ni fureatta asufaruto yori tsuchi koutetsu yori hitohada muishiki ni erabu noga tsumetasa yori nukumi nara sono yogoreta kao koso inochi ni fusawashii mi no hodo shirazuto nonoshitta yatsura no mi no hodo shiranasa wo sanzan utau no da mae ni susumu tameni riyuu ga hitsuyou nara akari de are nande are inochi ni fusawashii koboreta namida wo jouhatsusaseru tame ni hi ga teru asa wo aki mo sezu kori mo sezu matteiru matteiru zenbu wo muda ni shita hi kara boku wa koshi tantan to egaiteita zenbu ga mukuwareru asa wo sekai wo horobosu ni atai suru sono nukumori wa futari ni narenakatta kodoku to kodoku de wa michisugara nani ga atta? kizutsuite warau sono kuse wa sonnani kanashimu koto nante nakatta noni na kokoro sae kokoro sae kokoro sae nakatta nara kokoro sae kokoro sae kokoro sae nakatta nara tomodachi ga dekita risou wo wakachi atta mukau beki basho ni hohaba sura tomo ni shita uragiraretatte ii to michibatahire fusu youna meitei no yoake koso inochi ni fusawashii nakushita nanika no umeawase wo sagashite bakari iru kedo sou ja naku soushitsu mo seikai to ieru youna gyakuten geki wo kitaishiteru soshite sore wa keshite fukanou ja nai todaeta ashiato mo tabiji to yobe sekai wo azamuku ni atai suru bokura no kore made wa hitori ni narenakatta sabishigariya domo ga tsudotte michisugara nani ga atta? kizutsukete touzenna kao shite sonnani kanashimu koto nannte nakatta noni na kokoro sae kokoro sae kokoro sae nakatta nara kokoro sae kokoro sae kokoro sae nakatta nara aishita mono wo mamoritai yue ni kowashiteshimatta kazukazu akkenaku uchikudakareta negai no kazukazu sono hahan wo hadashi de wataru youna tsugi no ippo de katsurakushite soko de shindemo ii to omoeru ippo koso tada, tada, sore koso ga inochi ni fusawashii kokoro wo nakusu no ni ataishita sono soushitsu wa yorokobi to kanashimi wa hikikae janakatta hazu da michisugara nani ga atta? sono kotae koso ima no boku de kibou nannte itomo tayasuku nagesuteru koto wa dekiru kokoro sae kokoro sae kokoro sae nakatta nara kokoro sae kokoro sae kokoro sae nakatta nara hikari to kage hikari to kage hikari to kage hikari to kage hikari to kage hikari to kage hikari to kage hikari to kage

Sources: amazarashi | Dengeki | Famitsu