Move Over, Fallout: Best Game Adaptation Anime with 100% on RT Just Returned with Season 2

Adapting video games is no easy task. Movie adaptations come out regularly, but rarely please fans with high quality. The situation with anime is a little better, but the main problem is always the same: the interactivity of the original story imposes its own characteristics that simply cannot be transferred without loss.

In 2023, however, an anime adaptation was released that did the job perfectly. NieR: Automata Ver 1.1a received a perfect 100% rating from viewers on Rotten Tomatoes. Since July 5, the second season has been streaming on Crunchyroll, and here's why you shouldn't miss it.

What Is NieR: Automata Ver 1.1a About?

In the distant future, humanity is on the brink of destruction — Earth has been attacked by machines sent by aliens. The remaining survivors have fled to the moon, while the androids continue to fight for them.

Two of them — 2B and 9S from the elite unit YoRHa — are sent on a special mission to study the machines, which seem to have begun to evolve dramatically. And apparently this is only the beginning of the problems.

Original Game Is an Intricate Story with Complex Topics

Before we get to the series, it is necessary to say a few words about the game. Automata is an indirect sequel to NieR Replicant: at first glance, they have almost nothing in common. For this we should thank the creator, Yoko Taro, an extremely eccentric game designer who pushes the boundaries of what is allowed in his projects.

He uses complex topics and experiments with narrative. Most of the time, his games have to be played several times to fully understand the story.

This was the case with Automata, which requires at least three playthroughs to understand the essence of the story and all the details of the conflict. Three playthroughs give three points of view: 2B, 9S, and another android who remains unknown until a certain point. And immediately after the announcement of the anime, the question arose as to how the authors would handle such a difficult task.

NieR: Automata Ver 1.1a Is Everything a Perfect game Adaptation Should Be

NieR: Automata Ver 1.1a took the only right path — the anime simultaneously recreates some scenes from the game frame by frame, while changing the course of the plot. Some events are presented differently, some scenes are in a different order, changing and updating the familiar plot. In general, the project does what a good adaptation should do — it allows something familiar to flourish in a new format.

In general, it does the same thing as the Fallout series, proving once again that such a formula is a sure way to make a good adaptation.

The anime is friendly to newcomers, and the creators have plenty of surprises in store for fans. Along with the events, the philosophical topics raised by Yoko Taro have remained. NieR: Automata Ver 1.1a follows the original and asks existential questions. What is the soul? How important are emotions in existence? And what makes us human?