NieR:Automata Anime – Illustrations, Trailers, and Cast List

Updated: January 6, 2023

ー Illustrations ー

ー Trailers ー


ー SPECIAL PROGRAM ー

Released by Aniplex USA (available outside Japan)
Released by Aniplex Japan (available within Japan)

ー Cast List ー


ー Episode List ー

Episode #1: or not to [B]e


ー On Air Information ー

Every Saturday at 12:00am from January 7
TOKYO MX / Tochigi TV / Gunma TV / BS11

Every Monday at 1:59am from January 9
Yomiuri TV

Fukuoka Housou
Every Tuesday at 1:59am from January 10

Chukyo TV
Every Tuesday at 2:27am from January 10

Sapporo TV
Every Thursday at 2:29am from January 12

Animax
Every Saturday at 10:00pm from January 14

  • Streaming on DMM TV, dAnime Store is scheduled to begin every Saturday at 12:30am from January 7
  • Additional broadcasts on other platforms are scheduled to begin after noon on January 10

NieR:Automata Fan Festival 12022

Updated: 2022.11.23 – 10:22 PM

This is an on-going event so there may be multiple updates to this post.
Please check back to see any future updates!

With the NieR:Automata Fan Festival coming up this weekend, I wanted to share a couple of helpful links that might be useful to everybody!

There are THREE shows of the NieR:Automata Fan Festival held in Tokyo, each with a talk and music portion, as well as a recitation drama section. Please be aware that not all sections of the event will be streamed live. It seems that the talk portions will be streamed for free, but the music concert will only be streamed once on Saturday night for 5,000 yen. The talk segment should include a brief talk session with the development staff followed by a recitation drama (朗読劇) by the voice cast.

Please see below for the details.

NieR:Automata Fan Festival 12022 壊レタ五年間ノ声
Pre-show

The pre-show kicked off with a “Driving DJ” segment in which a staff member drove from somewhere toward Tokyo through the rain. People suggested NieR related tracks throughout the whole thing until the next talk segment started around 8pm. Here’s an example of the view… IT’s basically someone driving for hours in the rain along to various themes from the NieR series. xD

Once the talk portion began around 8pm, we were joined by Yasumoto Hiroki (Pod042/Weiss (Replicant Ver.1.22)), Saito Yosuke, Okabe Keiichi, and Taura Takahisa.

They also showed off a couple of the items that will be available at the fan festival:

Attendance Fortunes – Everyone who attends the event will be given a random fortune.

These are the various livestreams that will be available. Please see below for the direct links.

The Livestream ended with a Premium user segment in which they were mostly waiting for the kick off for the World Cup game with Japan.


NieR:Automata Fan Festival 12022 壊レタ五年間ノ声
Voices from the Verge 5th Anniversary

TALK STAGE

Development Staff Part

  • Producer: Saito Yosuke
  • Director: Yoko Taro
  • Composer: Okabe Keiichi
  • Senior Game Designer: Taura Takahisa

This is a sort of free talk of discourse by key figures of those who brought you NieR:Automata. They plan on discussing secrets that could only be discussed 5 years after the game’s release, as well as a report detailing the results of “☆ * △ × * 〇”.

Voice Actor Part

Friday, November 25

  • Pod153: Akiyama Kaoru
  • 2B: Ishikawa Yui
  • Emil: Kadowaki Mai
  • A2: Suwa Ayaka
  • Yonah: Nonaka Ai
  • Pod042: Yasumoto Hiroki
  • Nier: Yusa Kouji

Saturday, November 26

  • Pod153: Akiyama Kaoru
  • Emil: Kadowaki Mai
  • A2: Suwa Ayaka
  • 9S: Hanae Natsuki
  • Mama: Hara Yumi
  • Pod042: Yasumoto Hiroki
  • Nier: Yusa Kouji

This is a conversation between the voice actors who breathed life into the characters of the NieR series. You can enjoy an original recitation drama during the special project corner that will deliver “a slightly strange fantasy comedy” by all the performers.

The talk stage will also feature a give away segment in which participants can win a rare item that can only be obtained at the event.


Friday, November 25 – OPEN: 17:50 / START: 18:00

Saturday, November 26 – OPEN: 10:50 / START: 11:00

Saturday, November 26 – OPEN: 16:50 / START: 17:00

CONCERT STAGE

Saturday, November 26 – OPEN: 17:45 / START: 18:15
Price: 5,000 yen
Purchase Window: Friday, November 18 at noon through Sunday, December 11 at 8pm (JST)
Archived through: Sunday, November 27 at 6pm through Sunday, December 11 at 11:59pm (JST)

Click the image above to purchase an online ticket for the concert.

The introduction will include the following participants:

  • Music: Okabe Keiichi
  • Director: Matsuda Daiichi
  • General Supervisor: Yoko Taro

The musical performance includes the following participants:

Recitation Drama Part

Friday, November 25
Between the Collapse (2B)

Performers:

  • Ishikawa Yui – 2B
  • Suwa Ayaka – A2
  • Yasumoto Hiroki – Pod042
  • Akiyama Kaoru – Pod153
  • Yusa Kouji – Nier
  • Nonaka Ai – Yonah
  • Kadowaki Mai – Emil
  • The devastated YoRHa Squadron and the cornered 2B. Preparing for her death, 2B arrives at a city she had never seen before and encounters A2. What will 2B’s choice be when she meets with an unknown brother…?

Saturday, November 26
Between the Collapse (9S)

Performers:

  • Hanae Natsuki – 9S
  • Suwa Ayaka – A2
  • Yasumoto Hiroki – Pod042
  • Akiyama Kaoru – Pod153
  • Yusa Kouji – Nier
  • Kadowaki Mai – Emil
  • Hara Yumi – Mama
  • 9S has lost the entire YoRHa squadron but also 2B. In despair, he awakens in a city he’s never seen before. With the abhorrent A2 and a disturbing shadow approaching, soon we shall witness the future 9S had envisioned.

There will also be another Emil truck driving around the concert hall, so if you take a walk around the area, you might see it driving by! This would be the 2nd Emil truck since the last one that went around various cities in Japan.

I perched outside for several hours to try and catch a glimpse of it driving by in Yokohama, and I was pleasantly surprised to spot it in the end!! Check the video below for more on that!


Official Links:

Grimoire NieR & NieR Replicant Recollections Novel to be Officially Released in English

The much anticipated Revised Edition of the 2010 Grimoire NieR complete guide as well as the first of the two-part NieR Replicant Recollections novels are scheduled to be released officially in English in 2023 by Square Enix’s very own Manga & Books brand!

THANK GOD!!! It’s so hard to get good translations done when the work is outsourced to companies simply translate what’s written on the page without any deeper understanding of the context…

Here are the official announcements by the Square Enix Manga & Books Twitter account:

And here are the quick links to the item pages on the Square Enix Manga & Books site:

I’ve previously written in detail about these novels, but I’ve removed my personal translations of various passages to respect the official release later next year. Please note that there are two novels in this series, Project Gestalt Recollections File 1 and File 2, which means the release of File 2 will likely come a few months after the first… maybe summer or fall 2023!


The Revised Edition of Grimoire NieR is largely the same as the 2010 version that’s been updated with assets and information from Replicant Ver.1.22… If you’ve seen a great big fan translation of the original book floating around, please delete it and purchase the official English translation when it’s released! Since it’s being released by SQEX themselves, I have no doubt that it will be of the utmost quality! I’m super excited to see it!

Piano Collections NieR Gestalt & Replicant Release Event 2012

Game Watch
(C)2012 SQUARE ENIX CO., LTD. All Rights Reserved.
(C)2010 SQUARE ENIX CO., LTD. All Rights Reserved. Developed by cavia Inc.

Back in 2012, a quint event of only 200 Square Enix Members was held for free on March 20, 2012 for the release in commemoration of the Piano Collections NieR Gestalt & Replicant, which was released the following day. Yoko Taro, Saito Yosuke, Okabe Keiichi, Hoashi Keigo, and Tanioka Kumi, who participated on the piano arrangements on the CD, appeared along with Kadowaki Mai (voice of Emil) as the MC. Live piano segments were performed by both Hoashi Keigo and Tanioka Kumi.

If memory serves, this was the first time Yoko used his Black Mannequin avatar in a live event. He has otherwise used his typical Yoko icon in other media prior to this.

Tickets to this event were based on a lottery system to anyone who was a Square Enix Member. Entries were just shy of 2,000, but it gave SQEX a massive wake-up call that there were many more NieR fans out there than they had originally estimated.

Kadowaki Mai appearing as the MC was actually a surprise!

Okabe Keiichi had asked Tanioka Kumi to participate on this album and event, so this was her first time to get involved in the NieR franchise. She was also involved on Final Fantasy XI, Chrystal Chronicles, and many more. She became a fan of the music in NieR when she purchased the soundtrack, so she was quite delighted to be able to participate on the piano arrngements.

Yoko appeared on stage as his Black Mannequin persona. Since the black doll was placed up-right on stage, creating a surreal atmosphere that made the audience laugh periodically during the talk segments.

Game Watch
(C)2012 SQUARE ENIX CO., LTD. All Rights Reserved.
(C)2010 SQUARE ENIX CO., LTD. All Rights Reserved. Developed by cavia Inc.
This is a photo that I took during the NieR:Automata presentation at Tokyo Game Show 2016.

Question Corner

(From IRUJIA)
Q: Were there any songs that were decided quickly?
A: Nothing was really decided on very quickly, but many went smoothly. Blu-bird was actually one that took multiple retakes along with additional requests from Yoko to make it have more impact.

(From *samaru)
Q: (To Tanioka) Did you feel any pressure to participate on the Piano Collections?
A: She felt quite a lot of pressure. She also mentioned she’s a fan of NieR music.

(From z*r_cradle)
Q: (To Hoashi) What do you keep in mind when you compose?
A: Okabe rejected many of his songs, so he was pretty desperate most of the time. But because of this, he believes he was able to come up with themes that were received really well.

(From mocrain)
Q: (To Tanioka) Were there any themes that were difficult to arrange for the piano? Or were there any that seemed more beautiful as a piano theme?
A: None of the themes were originally intended for a piano arrangement, so it was difficult to incorporate the same freshness without destroying the world view.

(From Famitsu.com ?)
Q: Were there any piano arrangements that changed your impression of the original theme?
A: For Tanioka, since this was her first time to compose NieR music, everything felt very fresh and new. She was also quite impressed with Hoashi, who tends to improvise with his own unique musical score or something.

(From Saito Yosuke)
Q: Who the heck is Yoko Taro?
A: Closing out the Question Corner was a funny question by Saito Yosuke in which Yoko once again introduced himself. He also told a story about how much trouble they had with the production of the game, especially when development began.

At the end, Saito Yosuke appeared on stage to give a comment. He said that he wanted to keep this particular event relatively small, but personally he wanted to aim for a “new NieR” in the future. Little did we know, this was likely the first few burning embers that eventually lead way to Automata.

At the end of the event, they had a autograph session with Hoashi Keigo, Tanioka Kumi, and Okabe Keiichi.

There was also a raffle drawing for attendees at the event. They gave away signed voice recording scripts from the game, a card set of Kaine and Emil from Lord of Vermillion 2. There was also a keyword giveaway on the official website for those who watched the event on uStream.

There was also a sales and exhibition corner where they conducted pre-sales of the new Piano Collections soundtrack and other NieR related merch. They had NieR Gestalt & Replicant posters, specially signed merch and panels especially for Ultimate SQEX Members on display. The displayed the posters with the scenic view of West Shinjuku and a bunch of skyscrapers as the backdrop, so the layout was pretty slick.


Event: Piano Collections NieR Gestalt & Replicant Release Commemorative Event
“Distant, Small, Ephemeral Piano”
Date: Tuesday, March 20, 2012
Venue: Shinjuku I-land Hall

Set List

  • Opening: MC Kadowaki Mai
  • M-1 Song of the Ancients (Performed by Hoashi Keigo)
  • Talk: Kadowaki Mai, Okabe Keiichi, Hoashi Keigo
  • M-2 Emil (Performed by Hoashi Keigo)
  • Talk: Kadowaki Mai, Okabe Keiichi, Hoashi Keigo, Tanioka Kumi
  • M-3 Hills of Radiant Winds
  • Talk: Secret Discussion on Music Production
  • M-4 Gods Bound by Rules (Performed by Tanioka Kumi)
  • Talk: Behind the Scenes Story on the Recording and Question Corner
  • M-5 Grandma (Performed by Tanioka Kumi)
  • Gift Raffle Drawing
  • M-6 Kaine (Performed by Hoashi Keigo)
  • M-7 Yonah, Shadowlord (Performed by Hoashi Keigo)

Here are a couple other photos that I took from home as I watched the livestream on uStream:


Used Sources: