As part of the NieR 10th Anniversary, the NieR:Theatrical Orchestra 12020 was scheduled to be held earlier this March, but unfortunately due to the Coronavirus outbreak, all concerts with a live audience were cancelled. The concert was performed and broadcast live on NicoNico and YouTube, however, and just the other day, the Blu-ray recording of that performance has been released.
If anyone is a fan of the original NieR:Orchestra Concert 12018 from summer of 2018 or the later international performances of the same setlist earlier this year, let me reassure you… this version is by far superior in almost every way.
This version also featured two unique recitation dramas (朗読劇 / roudokugeki), one for each segment of the concert which featured NieR:Automata and NieR Replicant.
The Blu-ray features English subtitles throughout the entire concert, for both spoken dialogue on the stage and for the backdrop screen. I would highly recommend this concert Blu-ray to any NieR fan.
If you are interested in purchasing the Blu-ray, you can order it from Amazon here.
October 9, 2020 marked the release of the YoRHa Ver.1.3aa Stage Play Premium Box, recorded with an empty theater on March 14, 2020. The release comes in two versions, Standard and Premium. This post will take a closer look at the contents of the Premium Box.
YoRHa Ver.1.3aa Blu-ray Premium Box
The blu-ray box has several layers. When you first open the box, we have two little YoRHa goodies…
YoRHa patch & mask
The next layer we have the actual blu-ray discs…
3-disc blu-ray set
Disc 1: Multi-camera
Stage Play with & without Maintenance Time (179 minutes)
NicoNico Douga Live – NieR 10th Anniversary Livestream – Stage Play Talk (78 minutes)
Disc 2: Fixed Camera
Stage Play with & without Maintenance Time (179 minutes)
Family Mart Preview (1 minute)
Disc 3: Bonus
YoRHa Ver.1.3aa – Backstage Footage (103 minutes)
YoRHa Ver1.3aa – Location Making Footage (42 minutes)
YoRHa Ver.1.3a – Backstage Footage (108 minutes)
Includes the curtain call for the final Tokyo performance!
Tokyo Game Show 2020 will feature new information on at least 3 NieR titles!
Last week Square Enix dropped their schedule for the completely online Tokyo Game Show (TGS) this year, but there were several time slots that remained empty. This usually their way of keeping some things a secret for a while just for the hype!
And by-golly, have we got some HYPE now!
Here’s the current schedule:
Thursday, September 24, 10:00pm (JST) NieR TGS 2020 Special Programming The “We Have a Decent Amount of New Info” Special Japanese Audio / English Subtitles
Other likely topics of discussion related to NieR may include:
NieR Theatrical Orchestra 12020 Blu-ray
YoRHa Ver.1.3aa Stage Play Blu-ray
Friday, September 25, 7:30pm (JST) – SINoALICE
SINoALICE will be featured in a presentation on Friday, September 25 at 7:30pm. Guests include Aoki Tact (writer) and Himiko (illustrator/mangaka). This will be discussing some “secret” stories and highlights about the SINoALICE comic that will be released through SQEX’s Manga & Books label on the Manga Up app.
The FFXIV panel about YoRHa:Dark Apocalypse will likely be similar to the event last year. Yoko Taro, Saito Yosuke, Yoshida Naoki, and Murouchi Toshio will be in attendance. The presentation is scheduled for Sunday, September 27 at 8:30pm (All times are in JST).
On Monday, April 27, the Weekly Famitsu official Twitter account dropped a teaser for this week’s up-coming issue of Famitsu magazine, which will feature 48 pages worth of NieR related goodness, including interviews with Yoko Taro and Saito Yosuke.
The April 30th issue of Famitsu magazine will include 48 pages of NieR goodness! Both the front and back covers feature illustrations by Koda Kazuma.
Additionally, according to Ryokutya, the issue will discuss these points about the new version of NieR Replicant (my personal comments in red):
A considerable amount of work was put into this updated version of the game that it doesn’t really feel like a simple “remaster” but rather something more. This was already discussed during the March 29 NieR 10th Anniversary Livestream, in which they said that this will neither be a remaster nor a remake.For more on this, please read here.
Since the camera movements are pretty similar during event scenes, the game feels more like a remaster even though we’ve implemented many modifications.
All additional elements are brand-new, so we put a lot of effort into them.
There were some things in the original game that may have felt a bit clunky or unrefined, so if people thought we ought to update those areas, we wanted to do so. We wanted to be sure that fans of Automata could enjoy playing this as well.
Please look forward to hearing the voices of Ishikawa Yui (2B) and Hanae Natsuki (9S).We previously knew this from the March 29 NieR 10th Anniversary Livestream that the three main voice actors of 2B, 9S, and A2 will be returning in the new version of Replicant; however, they they will NOT be reprising their roles from Automata.
Additionally, here are some more Famitsu leaks about NieR Re[in]carnation from another Ryokutya post:
The girl in the trailer is NOT Kaine. I thought that was pretty much a given, but people always want to believe what isn’t there…
The ghost sort of character floating there is literally called “Mama”. It’s a sort of character that watches over the MC as a mother would.
Yoko: There are more than one MC. Saito: There are lots of them. This suggests to me that we will be seeing the Original Accord here. Please take a look at what we were recently discussing about Accord here.Additional hints were given during the March 29 NieR 10th Anniversary Livestream, which I discussed here.
Famitsu just posted a couple preview images of their article on twitter! Check it out!
Please stay tuned for more news and info regarding this release in the coming days! In the meantime, here are a couple of preview videos for you to enjoy and help you stay up-to-date with all things in the Yokoverse!
There also seems to be a bit of misinformation going around regarding these leaks originally stated by Ryokutya. Like a game of telephone, the information seems to be going through several different journalists, each time losing more and more of the original intent or meaning.
The original leak started with Ryokutya, traveled to Game’s Talk, and then over to Twitter. The thing is, Ryokutya often adds his own personal comment at the end of his posts of leaked information, so for anyone unfamiliar with this, they could misinterpret his personal comments for actual leaked information.
Let’s break this down to eliminate any misunderstanding, starting with Ryokutya’s personal comment (not part of the official Famitsu leaks):
Taura wanted to keep the same action feel of the original (since he was a fan of the original), but Saito, Yoko, and the development company (Toylogic) seem intent on changing the feel considerably.
But if Taura’s going to check on the work, then I guess there’s noooooooooooooo need to worry.
The only thing left to worry about is maybe changes to the somewhat taboo aspects of the game… [Ryokutya]
Then Game’s Talk picked up this bit and wrote it like this:
PlatinumGames’ Taura Takahisa, who worked on the game design for NieR:Automata, will be cooperating on the development by supervising the game’s action.
Taura, a fan of the original game, didn’t want to change the feel of the original, but it is said that Saito, Yoko, and the development company, Toylogic, intend on changing it considerably. [Game’s Talk]
And then other folks on Twitter picked up the information and rolled with it:
The majority of this “new” information is actually a month old, as it was originally announced during the 10-hour NieR 10th Anniversary Livestream on March 29, which I covered here.
I do recall them discussing on the same program that Taura would be “helping” with the new version of Replicant, but exactly how much or what his actual role would be, working with Toylogic, was not discussed.
So, looking at how the information gradually changed the further down the grapevine it got, it’s clear that we need to stick with official sources and to be careful what gets passed around. Even if the overall statement is accurate, the slightest inaccuracy could be passed around and taken at face value.
Edit: April 30
The one line of dialogue that we saw spoken by Mama says, “Wow! Sand is pouring down! What’s going on here?” What’s interesting with this is that Mama clearly uses “feminine” speech. Of course, we don’t know anything about the character to know if Mama is actually a living being, a machine, or what… but this sort of speech is really difficult to get across when it’s translated into English.
As part of the NieR 10th Anniversary Livestream special events, the very final bit was broadcast to NicoNico Premium Members only, and it was in this portion in which Yoko revealed some very interesting tid-bits about Accord.
This section of the Livestream included the following members:
Yoko Taro – Director/Creator
Saito Yosuke – SQEX Producer
Akiyama Kaoru – Voice of Pod153, SS (YoRHa Boys stage play)
At one point, Yoko stated that the Accord that appears in YoRHa Ver.1.3a/aᵃ was never said to be male. The cast is male, so it’s easy to make that assumption; however, this was not a male version of Accord. That was a female Accord. He decided from the very beginning that there were only female-type Accord androids. No male-types exist.
He also apparently didn’t say anything about this to Suga or Matsuda, the director of the play. Matsuda mentioned that it would have been better if he had known more about the character, especially to give Suga more direction, but…
Yoko: No one asked me about it, so I didn’t say anything.
I can see from the director’s stand-point that it would have been nice to know everything about the character ahead of time in order to give the necessary direction and advice to the actor, but this is a sort of “if” story to begin with, so it doesn’t really matter either way.
Now that he mentioned this, I’m really curious if there were other characters who were likewise female but appeared male merely because the actors were all male. This is especially important in the earlier versions of the stage play, such as Ver.1.1, in which several apparently female androids confessed their love for each other, which seemed like a really great nod to the LGBTQ community. I would be kinda sad if all of a sudden one of them turned out to be a male android.
This is shocking to us male-Accord fans and fans of the actor Suga Kyosuke, but really this realization doesn’t change much. Accord has always been an interesting character, and Suga brought new life the character in a new and interesting way. Although I am personally a little disappointed to hear this, since the “male Accord” was my favorite part to Ver.1.3a/aᵃ, it doesn’t mean much in the long-run. We’ll always have Suga’s awesome performance to look back on and enjoy whenever we feel the need to see a male Accord android. xD
Accord was first created by “Humans” in the Kingdom of Night.
Yoko revealed that Accord was originally created along with Dragons by “something like humans” in the Kingdom of Night, but he wouldn’t explain this in any detail. According to the official timeline, the “Army of Humanity” created the so-called “Dragon” weapons to fight in the war against the aliens in 6230. He also mentioned that Accord’s creation may have something to do with the Dragons, but he didn’t elaborate on this point either since it would get overly complicated (and he probably couldn’t discuss it even if he wanted to).
The definition of what is considered “human” during this time is unclear. In other words, the “Army of Humanity” androids are often labeled as the current figureheads of Humanity, so it could be possible that the faction of androids currently fighting the war against the aliens in the Kingdom of Night were the ones to initially create Accord.
Additionally, Yoko said that the details about the Kingdom of the Night were not vital to the story of Automata, so nothing was ever discussed about it, saying that “Discussing it has no purpose.”
Saito: As long as it has nothing to do with the narrative of the game, he doesn’t like discussing it.
Yoko: It has no purpose.
Saito: So, whenever this next NieR game comes out, I think we’ll probably end up over there.
Matsuda: Will you ever reveal any of this?
Yoko: Who knows…?
Matsuda: Whaat? You’ve gotta reveal this at some point!
Yoko: I’m not making games to reveal a clear setting, but rather drama and experience. I’m always thinking of the setting and how things fit together, but as far as each individual game goes, there’s a lot of information that isn’t necessary to tell the story.
Yoko: I always think that each story is its own thing and there’s no need to know anything more than what’s told within that singular story, even if other details do in fact exist. For example, Automata is just Automata, Replicant is just Replicant, and the same is true with YoRHa Ver.1.3aᵃ. I think they are complete as they are.
Saito: That’s not the end! C’mon, we were just talking about how Accord seems to be somewhat similar to Emil, how even though there are so many of them, they always have an Original. What about the Original Accord? Does she exist?
Yoko: She does.
Saito: Okay, so in Emil’s case, he replicated himself in order to fight the aliens, so what was the case with Accord?
Yoko: If I were to discuss that, I’d be in big trouble with the law, so…
Saito: Check out this awesome question I’m asking!! haha
Matsuda: So, Suga Kyosuke is amazing to play a character like this!
Yoko: Yeah, this is a huge secret, so I can’t talk about it.
Matsuda: But, he must know about it, otherwise he couldn’t play the role accurately.
Sekiya: Yup.
Matsuda: I’ve asked so many times about why Accord seems to come back to life all the time, but he’ll never tell me.
What is Accord’s connection to the Kingdom of Night?
Apparently, sometime before Replicant, there was a huge accident that caused the planet to become tidally locked, so that one face of the planet is enshrouded in eternal darkness. But as far as Replicant and Automata is concerned, those stories take place in the Kingdom of Day, where night never comes.
Matsuda: So, Accord’s in the Kingdom of Night?
Yoko: She’s actually in both, but she was created in the Kingdom of Night.
Also a super important aspect to the character of Accord is her ability to seemingly replicate herself endlessly. The only other characters that we know can do this in some shape or form is Emil during the initial invasion of the aliens in 5012 and N2. Yoko mentioned that there was a reason for this, but wouldn’t say why there are so many versions of Accord.
Saito: So, Accord was out there somewhere, watching what was going on in Replicant.
Yoko: Yes, she was always there, watching. She’s always there.
Yoko: For the longest time, we’ve said that Accord isn’t supposed to get involved, but with YoRHa Ver.1.3aa, she sort of over did it. That was Suga-kun’s curse.
Saito: Why are you blaming that on the actor?
Yoko: Yeah, watching Suga-san performing, it made you want to see more.
Matsuda: I suppose it’s okay, though, since this is a separate possibility.
Yoko: That’s right. It makes you wonder what could be possible in a separate timeline. So, further down this path, there are no more Red Girls/Boys. The story of NieR has always been about the thought of history repeating itself, so even without the Red Girls/Boys, the war with machines still manages to happen somehow.
Saito: So, throughout the whole Yokoverse, whether it be with Drakengard or NieR, do you have a particular goal in mind, like no matter how far apart the timeline might split into different directions that it still somehow reaches the same goal.
For example, in Doraemon, there’s a part of the story where they’re going to Osaka, so they think about all the different ways to get there, whether it be by car, or shinkansen, or whatever, but eventually they reach their goal in the end: Osaka.
So, regarding the whole Yokoverse, with Drakengard, NieR, and whatever else, you must have a specific goal in mind, right?
Yoko: If I were to answer accurately, no.
Saito: No?!
Yoko: It’s more about the search for that goal.
Akiyama: Like searching for Osaka.
Yoko: It’s similar to that. Or maybe more like “What happened to Osaka?”
Saito: So, no matter how hard you try to change things, sometimes you still end up in the same place.
Yoko: That’s right. That’s actually what Accord’s trying to figure out.
Taura (on LINE chat): Osaka is right here.
Yoko: I don’t know how many people are watching right now, but I never thought we would be having this conversation about Accord.
Matsuda: During the auditions, I had absolutely no idea for the image of Accord, so I left all of that up to Yoko-sama.
Yoko: Yeah, Matsuta originally wasn’t interested in selecting Suga-san for the role.
Matsuda: (haha) Well, of course. I mean, he brought a guitar to the audition, and you’d think that if he brought a guitar, he’d sing but… all he did was a bunch of technical fingering.
Yoko: The thing with Suga-san was that he did fit a sort of image I had for the role, and even though he didn’t have much experience as a performer…
Saito: Yeah, Ver.1.3a was actually his first performance, right?
Matsuda: Yes, that was his first performance. So there was a lot of stuff he was unfamiliar with.
Yoko: The role of Accord is pretty important within the story, so there was a little worry about thatーbut it wasn’t like I thought everything would work out; I just thought that it was Ichida’s job to deal with whatever might happen.
Apparently, some of the only things in Suga’s portfolio were a bunch of photos of him playing golfー Yes, he absolutely loves golf! That and just playing golf. No singing. Just playing the guitar. It also seems as though Suga has become the producer of an idol group as well, so it’s really unclear exactly WHO HE IS! lol He’s doing so many unrelated things, it’s hard to know!
Yoko: But there was definitely an aspect of mystery about him that I felt that just maybe he could pull it off.
Matsuda: Then I think we were right in choosing him.
Yoko: Ah, so… “Fall Down” (大崩落・フォールダウン) refers to the event in which every single timeline disappearsーis annihilatedー so, she’s actually working to prevent that from happening. The end.
So, Accord continues to be a huge mystery in the Yokoverse, but I am exponentially beginning to think that the new NieR Reincarnation is going to focus more on Accord and her uncanny ability to replicate over and over again. We’ve seen in the YoRHa Ver.1.3a/aᵃ stage play that Accord absolutely can “die”, and that each and every iteration of her is unique, but the mere fact that they share the same memory bank of sorts links them all togetherー much like a Borg collective. I’m beginning to think we’ll get more story on Accord, the Original Accord, and the events happening in the Kingdom of the Night during the initial conflict with the aliens.
Related Links
There’s also considerable discussion about Accord in SINoALICE, so if you’re not worried about spoilers, you can check that out here.
Also, reviewing the DOD3 collaboration with SINoALICE also might prove to be important. You can read about that here.
