NieR:Automata meets amazarashi – New Music Video


▲ 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

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! ;_;

 


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