YoRHa

Updated: 10/09/2022 – 12:25pm

What is “YoRHa”?

  • Quick Definition
    The storyline of “YoRHa” was the product of Yoko Taro. He collaborated with MONACA and DearStage among others to create a story that involves traditional Japanese idols who sing, dance, and later perform in the YoRHa stage play. This story later became the basis for the game NieR:Automata.

■ History

  • Collaboration between Yoko Taro, MONACA, and DearStage
    “YoRHa” originally was the brain child of Yoko Taro with an association with MONACA and DearStage. He had the idea to “do something new” by getting involved into the “idol” scene in Akihabara. So, with his connections with Okabe Keiichi at MONACA and Iwasaki Takuya at ILCA and DearStage, they selected three idol vocalists, Aino Eri, Ichikura Yuna, and Sakurai Tamaki, who were already performing in other groups produced by DearStage and created the group “YoRHa”. They performed the “First ACT” in May 2012. The group continued to meet an additional 6 times throughout 2012 and 2013. In 2014, they performed the “Second ACT” and also released a single CD of two songs: Normandy and Guadalcanal. This same trio of vocalists is accredited by the name “YoRHa” for the boss battle themes on the Drakengard 3 soundtrack. The music for the YoRHa CD was composed by Okabe Keiichi (MONACA) with lyrics written by Kikuchi Hana. Mysteriously, a version of the Normandy song appears embedded in the data on the Drakengard 3 game disc.
  • Yoko Taro’s Involvement with YoRHa
    The YoRHa single CD came with a booklet containing a detailed storyline which was written by Yoko Taro, creative director of NieR and the Drakengard series. Because of this, I originally speculated that there could be a connection between YoRHa and NieR. This was in January of 2014.

■ The YoRHa Stage Play

Yoko Taro later worked on creating the story for a stage play based on his YoRHa idea. This play was performed by an all-female cast managed by the production company Alicein Project. The original YoRHa vocalists, who sang the boss battle themes in Drakengard 3, performed the songs “Normandy” and “Guadalcanal” live at these shows.

As of October 2020, there have been 5 versions of the original YoRHa story depicting the Pearl Harbor Descent Mission on December 8, 11941.

  • YoRHa Ver.1.0 Pamphlet
  • YoRHa Ver.1.1 Pamphlet
  • YoRHa Ver.1.2 Musical Pamphlet
  • YoRHa Boys Ver.1.0 Pamphlet
  • YoRHa Ver.1.3a Pamphlet
  • YoRHa Ver.1.0 – October 1-5, 2014 – Heaven & Earth Dual Casts
  • YoRHa Ver.1.1 – May 23-31, 2015 – Alpha & Delta Dual Casts
  • YoRHa Ver.1.2 Musical – February 9-13, 2018
  • YoRHa Ver.1.3a
    • Tokyo: July 4-7, 2019
    • Osaka: July 11-14, 2019
  • YoRHa Ver.1.3aᵃ – March 12-15, 2020 (Cancelled, Livestreamed on March 29, 2020)

After the success of NieR:Automata, Yoko Taro penned a brand new YoRHa themed stage play in the form of an all-boys cast in YoRHa Boys. This story depicts the M002 mission in Madagascar in May 11942. This story was later reprised in December 2020 as an “alternate” version in with YoRHa Girls Ver.1.1a, which instead takes place in Tokyo, Japan.

  • YoRHa Boys Ver.1.0 – January 31-February 4, 2018
  • YoRHa Girls Ver.1.1a – December 3-6, 2020

YoRHa Ver.1.0 was released on February 28, 2015. There was no commercial release of Ver.1.1. Both the YoRHa Ver.1.2 Musical and YoRHa Boys Ver.1.0 were released together on Blu-ray on July 27, 2018.

Related Links:

YoRHa – All related blog posts and updates

Source: Please understand that the information on this page has been translated and compiled by me from various sources such as the YoRHa Ver.1.1 pamphlet that was sold at the live performance of the stage play, the YoRHa CD and companion booklet, and others.

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