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.