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:

Bakuken 2 – Main Visual

The main visual for Bakuken 2 was just released the other day, so let’s have a quick look at the catch phrases on it!

Bakuken ーTokyo Resurrection Deathmatchー

  • Modern Day
  • Tokyo
  • Resurrection
  • Warlords
  • Gourmet

Also read up on the first Bakuken stage play here.


▶︎ Sources and Other References on Twitter

Bakuken 2 Promotional Video

During the Yosu-P Santa 2021 program this year, there was a very short segment to promote the up-coming Bakuken 2 stage play, which will be performed later at the end of February.

Bakuken 2 Returns February 2022!

The other day, the official Bakuken Twitter released the first news regarding next year’s Bakuken 2 news!

Translation of the above tweet:

Winter 2022. In the capital city of Tokyo, when people’s hopes and dreams have become stagnant… There within the shadows, untouched by the light of the moon, a man is murdered… a man known as “Oda Nobunaga”… What sights will these reincarnated swordfighters discover in the present age, 100 years later…?

Bakuken ~Tokyo Reincarnation Death Match~
Advanced lottery reservations open on December 24 at 10am

For those of you who haven’t heard of the Bakuken stage play yet, please check out this post from March earlier this year.

Although the setting has shifted to the modern day this time, the cast of historical characters are all largely the same!

Losing the following cast members:

  • Maikawa Miyako as Sasaki Setsu — Maikawa recently “graduated” from DearStage, the company involved in the majority of Yoko’s plays, and has since become a freelance actress.
  • Koga Ruito as Sasaki Kojiro
  • Kadono Sho as Togo Shigekata

Gaining the following cast members:

  • Matsubara Rin (Anemone, YoRHa Ver.1.3a) as Kondo Isami Kondō Isami was a Japanese swordsman and official of the late Edo period. He was the fourth generation master of Tennen Rishin-ryū and was famed for his role as commander of the Shinsengumi. [Wikipedia]
  • Tsurumi Moe (No4, YoRHa Girls Ver.1.1a) as Shirou Amakusa Amakusa Shirō, often romanized as Shirou, was a Japanese Christian of the Edo period and leader of the Shimabara Rebellion, an uprising of Japanese Roman Catholics against the Shogunate. His imina is Tokisada and he is also known as Masuda Shirō. [Wikipedia]

And for anyone wondering what this stage play is, the first one was held last March. You can read more about it here.