YoRHa Boys Novel

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.

Tickets to the YoRHa Stage Plays Blu-ray Special Screening Available Tomorrow!

Tickets to the special two-day blu-ray screening event on July 21 and 22 open tomorrow! Here’s to hoping they don’t get sold out right away to scalpers!!

More info about this will be released later tonight.

 

-> EDIT: 7:48pm

Tickets will go on sale tomorrow from 10:00am! Good luck to all! <3 Tickets are 4,000 yen a piece and you are able to reserve up to 4 tickets per show.

Here’s the screening schedule for both Saturday and Sunday.

Saturday, July 21

  • YoRHa Musicial Ver.1.2 Blu-ray Screening
    Open: 11:00am, Start: 11:30am
  • YoRHa Boys Stage Play Ver.1.0 Blu-ray Screening
    Open: 3:30pm, Start: 4:00pm

Sunday, July 22

  • YoRHa Boys Stage Play Ver.1.0 Blu-ray Screening
    Open: 10:30am, Start: 11:00am
  • YoRHa Musical Ver.1.2 Blu-ray Screening
    Open: 3:00pm, Start: 3:30pm

ACCESS TO THE VENUE

The best way to get to the UDX Theater is probably by taking JR to Akihabara. It’s a 2 minute walk from the Denkigai exit.

YoRHa Musical/YoRHa Boys Blu-ray does NOT have English Subtitles

A fellow user on Twitter recently asked the official account for the YoRHa stage plays whether or not the up-coming Blu-ray release will have English subtitles, and here was their reply:

Unfortunate for sure but not entirely unforeseen. I have yet witnessed a release by DearStage that includes any subtitles whatsoever. Then again, my only experience is with the initial DVD release of the YoRHa Ver.1.0 stage play, which was strictly a barebones release with not special extras. The video itself was horribly rendered with interlacing codecs that made it sort of ugly to even watch. *sigh* Here’s to hoping at least the production quality of this release will be better…

There could still be hope for an international release that includes English subtitles (and maybe others as well), depending on how well this first release does.

Lastly, if you look closely at the image that they posted, you can see that the region encoding of the Blu-ray is “region free”… which would make this playable internationally. That’s at least one small step that they took to make at the very least importing it more plausible…

I also tweeted the following information:

It amused me that the official YoRHa Twitter account liked it. lol

YoRHa Musical & YoRHa Boys Blu-ray Screening on July 21 and 22 in Akihabara

This just announced, the special two-day screening event of the YoRHa Musical Ver.1.2 and the YoRHa Boys Stage Play Ver.1.0 will be held at the UDX Theater in Akihabara on Saturday and Sunday, July 21 and 22. This is about a week before the official release of the blu-ray sets on July 27.

Ticket information for these special screening events will be announced via Twitter in the days to come! Aside from merely screening the blu-ray, they will also have a talk event with the cast members!

YoRHa Musical / YoRHa Boys Stage Play Blu-ray

Tonight was the special live broadcast to celebrate the up-coming release of the YoRHa Musical Ver.1.2 & YoRHa Boys Ver.1.0 blu-ray. It was hosted by Sekiya Makoto from ILCA, the same man who helped me immensely with my report on the YoRHa Musical dress rehearsal.

Left: Sekiya Makoto (ILCA), Yoko Taro (Bukkoro)

Nearly the entire cast of the YoRHa Boys Stage Play appeared on the show in complete costume:

Unfortunately, only a handful of the girls from the YoRHa Musical were able to appear.

They weren’t in any specific outfit, but a few of them brought the YoRHa blankets and draped them over their legs to resemble the classic YoRHa dresses. Did it work?

We learned a couple new things regarding the release of the blu-ray, including some interesting… hints, perhaps?

  • The blu-rays will be released on Friday, July 27. Pre-orders will be available from the DearStage website, and at a later date on Amazon as well.

The following tweets make some clarifications regarding the Blu-ray releases:

There is no difference between the Standard Edition and Premium Edition in regard to the actual video of the plays. They are exactly the same. Simply, the Premium Edition comes with a special box packaging as well as the 2 photo books of the cast.

The Premium Edition will include 2 photo books for each play, each with over 100 pages. The majority of the photos will be “other” bromides (pin-up shots of the cast that weren’t selected for release at the shows) but there will also be additional photos included as well.

  • Upgraded Video – The video recorded for the NicoNico livestream will be edited and will include additional cuts and color correction. There will be different shots and the like on the blu-ray that was not included in the NicoNIco livestream.
  • 5.1 Channel Sound – The scenes with the Resistance on the stage, the voice of SS, etc. will sound great as though you’re sitting in a front row seat.
  • Audio Commentary – The entire cast recorded audio commentary.

  • Standard Release – YoRHa Musical Ver.1.2 & YoRHa Boys Stage Play (2 discs)
    Price: 10,000 yen
  • Premium Release – YoRHa Musical Ver.1.2 & YoRHa Boys Stage Play (2 discs)
    Includes a 100+ page photo book from each show. This will include additional shots of bromides (pin-up photos) of the cast members that were not sold at the show.
    Price: 20,000 yen*

This price seems extremely expensive for just 2 photo books, but considering that a single set of 2 photos that were sold at the plays cost 500 each… I can sort of understand where this price comes from.

  • Due to the contract with SQEX, online orders for the merchandise from both plays will conclude at the end of May. If you haven’t ordered what you wanted yet, do it now from the DearStage site here!!

  • There will be a fan event held at UDX Theater in Akihabara to screen both the YoRHa Musical and YoRHa Boys Stage Play on a Saturday and Sunday this summer (exact date has not yet been decided). Yoko Taro will be present at the event, although he seemed a little concerned that he might be in America… Could this be a hint that he will be attending E3 this year?

  • Author Eishima Jun returns to pen yet another novel in the NieR/DOD franchise. This time she’ll be novelizing the YoRHa Boys Stage Play with supervision by Yoko Taro. The book will be released on Friday, July 27 for 928yen. You can pre-order* this book from the following:
    • SQEX e-STORE
    • Amazon*
      • Please note that the pre-order from Amazon is currently not available. You can sign up for an e-mail alert when it becomes available.

SQEX e-STORE

More information regarding any future announcements will be added to this post, so please stay tuned for more!