In February, an anime series inspired by the massively-popular title NieR: Automata was announced during the game’s 5th anniversary live stream. More information came a lengthy seven months later during September’s Aniplex Online Fest 2022, where fans were given two incredible teaser trailers, cast information, and a release window of January 2023. As the year comes to a close, another trailer and poster have been released, this time focusing on a fan-favorite character from the popular RPG.

Pascal quickly won over players in NieR: Automata. The title itself follows 2B, 9S, and A2, androids sent to Earth to eliminate alien-created machines. After spending so much time wrecking enemy forces, meeting Pascal, a peace-loving machine, is a turning point for players, as they realize that things may not be so black and white when it comes to their mission. Pascal served as the leader of a machine village in which the residents had disconnected from the Machine network and embraced a pacifist lifestyle. This new trailer notes Pascal’s hope to promote a mutual understanding between the machines and the YoRHa androids.

See the new trailer for NieR: Automata Ver1.1a below. Anime fans may recognize Pascal’s voice as Aoi Yuuki, known for her work as Tsuyu Asui in My Hero Academia and Futaba in Persona 5.

The role of 2B will be played by Yui Ishikawa, while Natsuki Hanae will play 9S. Both are reprising their roles after portraying the characters in the 2017 game. A-1 Pictures will produce the series, known best for Sword Art Online, Lycoris Recoil, and Kaguya-Sama: Love is War. The series will be directed by Ryouji Masuyama, who previously worked on Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt and Gurren Lagann Parallel Works.

Check out the new poster for the anime series below.

As the game itself has dozens of unique endings, it’s no surprise that the anime series will follow an original story and diverge greatly from the original storyline. In an interview with Polygon, Yoko Taro, the game’s director, noted that copying the game’s story won’t be interesting for fans in the first place, but bringing back beloved characters and putting them in new situations would be a much better idea.

NieR: Automata Ver1.1a will begin airing in January 2023.

NieR: Automata was released in 2017 for PlayStation 4 and PC. An Xbox One port was released in 2018. This month, the game was released for the Nintendo Switch under the name NieR: Automata: The End of YoRHa Edition, which includes new in-game items and costumes, along with reversible cover art showing off a new illustration by Kazuma Koda.

Nier Reincarnation, a mobile game set in the same universe as NieR and NieR: Automata, was released in 2021. NieR Replicant ver.1.22474487139…, an enhanced rerelease of the Japanese exclusive Replicant version of NieR for the PlayStation 3, was released worldwide in April 2021.

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