Author Archives: Rekka Alexiel

About Rekka Alexiel

Production manager, coordinator, writer/translator, motion/voice actor. Anime Expo 2022 Exhibitor. Since 2005, she has covered all things related to Japanese subculture with an added focus on Yoko Taro and his works, including the Drakengard and NieR series among many others. As the head of Fire Sanctuary, she has published a multitude of official reports on various topics such as Tokyo Game Show, gaming news, and multiple stage plays by Yoko Taro. She has also participated in many volunteer orchestras in Japan as a soprano vocalist.

Major thanks to my supporters!

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I just wanted to give a huge shout-out to those of you who have ever sent a donation to me via the link at the top of this page. I haven’t used any of those funds and have saved everything in my account for when I might desperately need it.

My current job is coming to an end next week and I am still looking for full-time work from September.

I have been an English teacher in Japan for 14 years and I’ve come to realize that this is pretty much a dead end career for me. I enjoy interacting with my students, but my heart really isn’t in teaching. I get paid enough to live paycheck to paycheck but little else to save. I need something that will allow me to engage my creative side and seriously need to get back to my love of writing.

It’s just very, very hard changing careers at my age in a foreign country while being a woman…

I’m trying to work on a couple story pitches for anime/manga/games, but… I have no experience in this and I’m trying to learn as much as I can on my own and by networking and meeting people who do know these things.

I’m very much feeling the pinch right now, especially when I seem to keep getting huge bills that I simply cannot pay (my local government screwed up their city/prefectural taxes this year and even though they normally let you pay the taxes quarterly throughout the year, it’s now installments of three… which comes to an additional $500 bill every other month almost. hahaaha).

In a last-ditch effort to stay afloat, I do have money from my dad’s inheritance that I can withdraw… but I really don’t want to do that if I don’t have to. It’s a major hassle trying to do that from Japan (plus the agent I normally talk to apparently just had a baby and won’t be able to help me!!). *sigh*

But anyway, thank you very much to those who’ve given anything in the past year or more. It’s really going to help me this month!! I’m sorry I can’t do much more than say thank you right now, but hopefully if I can get my career turned in the right direction, I can start getting more involved with this site and more again. Please send me your good vibes to get through this next month or so… I think emotionally I’m really going to need it. lol

THANK YOU!!

NieR:Automata World Guide Vol.1 (English) Available for Pre-order

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Thanks for the heads up by NieRLibrary and Wario64 on Twitter, it seems like the NieR:Automata World Guide will be released in English on May 7, 2019 by Dark Horse Books. Pre-order from Amazon here.

Step into the boots of a YoRHa combat android and discover the world of NieR: Automata from a firsthand perspective!

192 pages of art, lore, and exploration collected into a fantastic full-color hardcover volume in English for the very first time!

  • Price: $39.99
  • Hardcover: 192 pages
  • Publisher: Dark Horse Books (May 7, 2019)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 150671031X
  • ISBN-13: 978-1506710310

The World Guide book originally contained two novellas, “The Bunker: Observational Diary” and “The Memory Cage“.

It’s unclear if they will translate these since they also appear in the A Short Story / Short Story Long novel that will be released in English on April 9, 2019 by VIZ Media LLC. You can also pre-order this book on Amazon here.

NieR Orchestral Soundtrack Livestream & Latest Info

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There is a scheduled livestream on NicoNico to first broadcast the bonus CD that comes with the Premium Edition of the NieR Orchestral Soundtrack followed by an hour and a half talk segment with Yoko Taro, Saito Yosuke, and Okabe Keiichi.

Saturday, August 18 – 6:00-6:30pm (JST)

Saturday, August 18 – 6:30-8:00pm (JST)

The 30 minute segment where they will stream the bonus disc is *not* free. You have to be a member of the Famitsu Channel (864 yen/month).

The talk show on both NicoNico Douga and YouTube is free to watch. They will discuss the process of recording the soundtrack (which just wrapped up on July 31st), let us hear a couple audio samples, plus relay some new information regarding the orchestral concert to be held on Monday, September 17 in Yokohama.

There will be appearances by:

  • Okabe Keiichi (Composer)
  • Saito Yosuke (Producer)
  • Yoko Taro (Director)
  • Yui (Voice Actor, Talent) – She previously cosplayed as 2B at the SQEX Cafe Livestream.
  • Sugihara Takahiro (Weekly Famitsu)

◆ Related Links:

New Song Lyrics in the YoRHa Musical

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The YoRHa Musical Ver.1.2 was massively upgraded and revisioned from the previous Ver.1.1 stage play that had its last run in May 2015. One of the new additions to the musical was newly added song lyrics penned by Yoko Taro himself.

Back in February when I went to the musical and later watched it several more times via NicoNico Douga, I wrote down the lyrics as I heard and understood them, later translating them into English. This was really difficult to do and I knew there would be plenty of discrepancies and mistakes.

Now that the Musical has been released on blu-ray, they’ve included the lyrics to these songs, so now all we have to do is translate them. There are a couple additional verses to the song “Grandma” that does not actually appear in the musical.

Below you can find the lyrics as they’re shown in the booklet along with the Romaji reading and my preliminary English translation. It’s still pretty barebones right now and I may tweak them some more so that it sounds more like song lyrics without losing the intended meaning and feeling.

◆「還ラナイ声」/ kaeranai koe / Voice of No Return

[ JAPANESE ]

我が見えし
祈りの太刀
現闇に
惑いながら

彼の敵と
滅びの火は
何時　光　未だ見えなくて

それは　虚ろな
それは　贖い
ありもしない　御霊が
歌に　遠い　歌に
今も　壊れゆく

[ ROMAJI ]

waga mieshi
inori no tachi
utsuyami ni
madoi nagara

ka no teki to
horibi no hi wa
itsu hikari imada mienakute

sore wa utsurona
sore wa aganai
arimoshinai mitama ga
uta ni tooi uta ni
ima mo kowareyuku

[ ENGLISH ]

My vision
A sword of prayer
In the present darkness
While lost

His enemies and the fire of destruction
When the light still cannot be seen

Is it empty?
Is it redemption?
Those imaginary spirits in the song, the distant song,
Even now they break

 

◆「オバアチャン」/ obaachan / Grandma

黒　寄る辺なき光
白　薄闇と
空　届かない祈り
歌　今もなお

音　侵されて
刻　戸惑いて
音　奪われて
刻　彷徨いて

赤　砕けゆく命
灰　運命が
牙　曇りゆく刃
傷　忘れ得ぬ

音　狂わせて
刻　失って
音　間違えて
刻　呪われて

[ ROMAJI ]

kuro yorube naki hikari
shiro usuyami to
sora todokanai inori
uta ima mo nao

oto okasarete
toki tomadoite
oto ubawarete
toki samayoite

aka kudake yuku inochi
hai unmei ga
kiba kumori yuku yaiba
kizu wasureenu

oto kuruwasete
toki ushinatte
oto machigaete
toki norowa rete

[ ENGLISH ]

Black, No light to turn to
White, With the pale darkness
Sky, Unreachable prayers
Song, Even now

Sound, Is distorted
Time, Is confused
Sound, Is stolen away
Time, Is lost

Red, Life falling to pieces
Ash, Fate
Fangs, Growingly cloudy blade
Wounds, Cannot be forgotten

Sound, Is mad
Time, Is lost
Sound, Is mistaken
Time, Is cursed

YoRHa Boys Novel

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The new novel by Eishima Jun and Yoko Taro was just released yesterday, July 27, 2018. I will post various notes and such about it as I’m able to read through the book.

Table of Contents

  • YoRHa Boys Ver.1.05 – Prologue (Project YoRHa)
  • Chapter 1
  • Chapter 2
  • Chapter 3
  • Chapter 4
  • Chapter 5
  • Chapter 6
  • Epilogue
  • Flashback
  • 1994X, Treasure Hunting Trip

Written by: Eishima Jun
Supervised by: Yoko Taro
Cover Art by: Koda Kazuma
Illustration Art by: Itahana Toshiyuki

Notes and Such
(Spoilers are discussed below, so this is your one and only warning.)

  • The prologue is a novelization of the “Project YoRHa” recitation drama which was performed at the NieR:Automata Music Concert. You can read my translation of that script here, but this novelization seems to have reworked a bunch into a concisely formatted novel form.
  • We know that Zinnia was pretty much the one who created YoRHa, but it’s blatantly stated in this novelization (p.7).
  • No9 mentions that Zinnia’s words are really difficult to read whether he’s merely joking or is being serious. It’s just part of his personality.
  • No9 wants to know more about the situation and illegally accesses the server on the Lab and discovers that machine lifeforms have taken over a gigantic portion of Eurasia. He wanted to ask Zinnia more about it, but then he would know that he accessed the server without permission…
  • No9 sets off on his mission to create Project YoRHa after discovering the truth about YoRHa, why they were created, and also the truth that humanity is already long extinct.
  • No9 sets all the YoRHa into a deep sleep when they go in for a scheduled screening check and sets a fire to eventually ingulf the entire satellite. He made sure that No2 would be outside, testing a flight unit.
  • On the way to Zinna’s room, No9 comes across No4. He kills No4 and opens Zinnia’s door, where he finds No21 and he talking inside. No9 quickly dispatches No21 before she/he (unknown) can even utter a sound.
  • No9 then wants Zinnia to suffer. He stabs Zinnia straight through the gut, severs his arm at the shoulder.
  • The Lab has suffered major damage due to the fire and the artificial gravity no longer works. No9 freaks out when Zinnia’s door suddenly opens–he thinks that it’s No2–but discovers that it’s No4’s dead body floating in the air. It must have triggered the mechanism to open the door.
  • Eventually No2 makes it to Zinnia’s room. Just as she enters the room and before she has the chance to react to what No9 has done, he stabs her… and her blood slowly flows out as round balls floating in anti-gravity. No9 explains to her what happened and that he’s already set in motion his so-called “Project YoRHa”. There is no stopping it now.
  • Still she reluctantly stabs him through. He tells her, “The person I am now… I’m glad… you’re the one… to kill me…”
  • No9 dies thinking about how much he wants to see No2 again. He knows that new YoRHa will be made, there will be other No2s and No9s… And he wishes to meet No2 again somewhere warm and washed in light. “I want to see you again. What about you? Huh, No2?”

 

  • The flashback chapter is from Black’s perspective. There’s a scene that takes place before the start of the M001 mission and he’s talking with White…! The rest are sort of flashbacks that take place here and there at different points throughout the story, but it all takes place within the last couple seconds before No6’s core implodes, taking Black with him.
  • No6 was never infected with the Logic Virus, like No3 or No21.
  • No6 tells Black that he didn’t really want to be intimate with him… but rather he wanted to torture him…
  • The last chapter is of Cactus, Phlox, and Lotus… they meet Anemone, and even come across Emil. They initially think he’s a machine lifeform…
  • The three of them ran into Jackass…and she about killed them, saying how interesting they seemed. She wanted to “study” them…
  • “We don’t need to fight and kill each other. No one shall die. How I wish to go to such a place. After all, even a coward has the dream of a coward.”–last thought by Cactus.