Innocence is rife throughout Nier: Automata. Its main characters exist in a world that isꩲ doomed, occupied by little more than wayward machines and smatterings of wildlife that thrive off cities that have long surrendered themselves to nature. Each new discovery is a marvel to 9S and 2B, their status as obedient androids to a higher power making their prime directive priority above all else, but curiosity always seeps through the cracks, with our duo of protagonists making acute observations on the ruined planet they so eagerly ex🐓plore.
Their candidness is adorable, especially in regards to 9S, whose fascination with the wider world and the true nature of his own existence becomes a continuous cycle of pain throughout the na🌌rrative. 2B is far more stoic and emotionless, but even she warms to the innocence that permeates throughout her companion in the hours to come, fostering a silent, passionate connection whose unwillingness to embrace such feelings lead to an avoidable tragedy.
Nier: Automata isn’t a happy game, yet it is one that is coated in a hope - a drive to find purpose in 𒆙a world that has long left behind any semblance of meaning. The final ending is a perfect example of this, and one of my favourite moments in gaming history, but today I want to talk about the more intimate side of Automata, and how it d🦩epicts sexuality as something not to be afraid of, or to be prejudiced against.
Automata director Yoko Taro isn’t afraid to express his interest in the sexual side of things. The design of 2B is a🌃n obvious indicator of this, but even this reinforces the wider thematic elements at play. Another project of his, Drakengard 3, is obsessed with sex, the graphic nature of such acts drilled into a cast of char🦄acters who are little more than depraved, disgusting beings who thrive on the basest of human desires. It’s both juvenile and poignant, explored in a way that few games would even dare.
“You’re thinking about fucking 2B, aren’t you!” is the line from Nier: Automata that the majority of p꧅layers will point to, playful twists on the exchange becoming the subject of memes immediately after the game’s release. But I think it’s far more than that, it’s an explicit statement that unveils feelings that 9S has likely been holding back for the entire game, afraid to indulge in desires that simply aren’t befitting of an a♐ndroid designed with a singular purpose.
When these forbidden thoughts are brought to the forefront, our heroes fall apart, unable to comprehend what it would mean to embrace human instincts that have long been left behind. But they’re nothing to be ashamed of, they arജe simply feelings that are human at the most fundamental level, and it’s okay to be afraid of accepting them. This is where Nier Automata shines, it finds humanity in a world that is literally devoid of such things.
Love, lust, and other human thoughts are emotions our cast of characters are experiencing for the first time, so of course they’d be perceived as hostile. My favourite example of this happens during a conversation with 2B and 6O, an operator who has just been rejected by a girl she has romantic feelings for. She’s devastated, crying out in desperation as she’s unable to comprehend the newfound feeling of rejection. In her eyes, life isn’t worth living anymore, the one thing she found human value in is gone, and there’s nothing left to replace it with beyon🦂d the sense of duty programmed within her.
This is heartbreaking, but also coated with the bittersweet innocence I mentioned earlier. The prejudice towards gender and sexuality that define our reality doesn’t exist in N♛ier: Automata. Connections are made regardless of orientation, and if such a thing grows into romance, so be it - all that matters is that such feelings are genuine at the time and place in which they occur. The construct of gender is something that these androids learned from humans and applied to themselves, with the anatomy of their mechanical bodies also informed by such a normalised 𓆏binary.
Moments like this aren’t really brought up again unless you bother diving into the wider lore, and I feel that’s for good reason. Emotions are messy, and unearthing trauma is an act that even the most confident of human beings would have trouble with - so I can’t blame Automata’s androids for an 🧔outburst of emotion before burying things away forever. 2B is the epitome of this, she is a silent heroine because she’s been through so much, forced to murder her best friend again and again as he becomes privy to information that can never be known.
Her existence is a neverending sequence of pain. She isn’t cold towards 9S because emotions are prohibited, she’s doing it to protect him, to salvage what little time this iteration of the young man has left. As 9S becomes aware of human emotions, of loss, sexuality and love, he teeters closer to the brink of his own destruction. Following the second ending, this cycle is finally broken, allowing our heroes to embrace a brighter future, even if it me⛄ans fighting through the darkness to reach it.
While the ultimate conclusion to Nier: Automata is ambigious, it’s also happy, promising a brighter, more human tomorrow for 9S, 2B, and A2 where they can rebuild this planet in their own image, ♋no longer dictated by a leader who has long since faded into nothing. Yoko Taro is the master of such storytelling, finding humanity in the mechanical, forcing us to interact 💧with otherwise problematic tropes only to see them subverted into something greater. Wherever this franchise goes next, I hope it takes everything that made Automata so special with it.