In my recent review of Nier Automata anime I mentioned that it was an ultimately flawed adaptation that could not replicate everything that made the game so deep and compelling. I decided to write an article on reasons for such conclusion.
Partly anime simply did not have enough time to cover it all. However, the main issue is that anime focused on main characters and overlooked the boarder world in which the game was set. The game, after the prologue section, deliberately has a slow start to give players better feel just what kind of world Nier Automata is set in. It is a very compelling world. To see it for yourself you have to watch the game walkthrough that is available on Youtube. I can link two different ones by different players. Unfortunately, each have different flaws in it, one skips dialogues and the other sometimes struggle to find his way in the world.
Now on what I picked from the game, that was missing in the anime. Androids may be fight machines for humanity, but each of them is societies in their own right.
Androids are programmed to respect humans and see them as advanced and sophisticated civilization that is worth fighting for. Because of that they wander among the ruins of apartment blocks and shopping malls like we do around some ancient Egyptian or Greek ruins. Their assistant pods narrate in dictionary definitions what this or that is, for example: "these structures are called apartment blocks, these were used by humans as dwellings" This is typically followed by a remark from android on how interesting and mysterious humans were. It's both curious and insightful to see them wonder over things ubiquitous to us as pen or shopping mall. When 9S asked what pen is for, the only thing pod could find is that is figures in phrase, 'pen is mightier than a sword.' meaning unknown. Pod knows neither what pen is for, not what the phrase means, but he connected these two together like that, just like archeologists would connect pieces of ancient civilizations that they dig out from the ground. It makes you think that ancient ruins we currently preserve were also ubiquitous and ordinary to people who build them.
Androids in many ways are more advance than humans are, yet they revere past just as we do. That makes you think this reverence of the past is misplaced.
Androids are electronic devices, essentially robots or even computers. Because of that they have certain advantages and disadvantages. For example, they can back up their consciousness and if they die, their memories from the moment of back up will remain. On the other hand, removing OS chip can cause them to die. There are also other chips, that either enhance performance or display certain elements of GUI, if you remove them, you will not be able to see certain data on your screen.
Androids look down on their enemies' machines, thinking that latter are primitive, imitate human speech without understanding it and otherwise horrible inhuman spawn. This is just like propaganda of our times that used to dehumanize enemies in wars.
While machines indeed look much less human compared to androids, machines actually adapted many of the human structures such as factories and use them for their own needs. Much like androids they also strive to imitate humans in their own way. In certain behaviors they even seem more human than androids. For example, machines have religions, form kingdoms, obsess over beauty or even ponder over philosophy. In contrast android society is more militarized and regulated.
Then there is also Emil (his clone to be precise) who mourns his friends from original Nier (Gestalt and Replicant) games. He helps you at first because you found a flower that reminded him of his past. However later he goes hostile and if you later fail to defeat him, he will blow the entire Earth, turning it into lifeless rock floating in the endless uncaring universe.
Language and phrasing they use throughout the game is unmatched. That alone makes it a work above others. Language conveys thoughts and feelings of greater world indifference to you and your happiness.
There is more. Blowing up bunker and thinking how commanders stern face probably float somewhere in the space. Eating mackerel. Deserting from duty like A2. Marx that fails to boot. Satre who talks on whether essence preceds matter or the other way around and then leaves to find himself. Satre's female fans, who do not get him, but love him because he treats them cruel. Plato, who fails to meet standards and stuggles with his own mediocracy; and many more.
All in all game is simply bigger than an anime could be. Watch it and see for yourself.
