Summary
The following contains spoilers for episode 15 of NieR Automata Ver1.1a, nowstreaming onCrunchyroll.
2B and 9S continue their assault on the machine lifeforms, but also their own comrades. The former fights on the front lines along with the other B-type models. Curiously, before this, a shot of the moon appears, showing what looks to be 10H lying unconscious. 10H is a Healer-type android that’s responsible for overseeing what’s left of humanity’s memories and genetic data on the moon, that was introduced inNieR: Re[in]carnation. Fans havealready been informed of humanity’s extinctionlong before the invasion of aliens and the machine lifeforms, yetYoRHafights in hopes of overpowering their enemy - though it seems that their mission was doomed to fail from the beginning.
Death is a Constant
The characters we’ve grown attached to begin dropping one by one. 9S heads to 2B, to inform her of what’s happening,while she and the othersfight against the machines. However, the machinesthemselvesalso spread a virus, easily infecting the surrounding androids. This implies that there exists not only an internal back-door virus, as 9S speculated, but an external one as well. What’s more, while off guard, one of 2B’s infected allies kisses her, spreading the virus immediately. For reference, The Logic Virus, while deadly, cannot be spread through something as mundane as physical contact. Thankfully, 9S is able to cure her before it spreads - but faced with a last resort, the two use their black boxes to self-destruct and take out their enemies with them.
Things start getting real though, when it’s revealed Commander White, thinkingYoRHawas on the verge of winning, had been fed false information. It’s only then that we realize that this was no simple back-door virus, but a hack fromwithin. A brief but deadly confrontation with 6O confirms this and 2B and 9S are forced to leave The Bunker and an infected Commander White behind when it enters self-destruct mode.
What is Happening?
From what we’ve gathered so far, there are a couple of theories as to what’s going on. First off, we know that humanity is extinct, yetYoRHapushes the narrative that they have to keep fighting; second, the aliens are gone as well, as observed by Adam during his confrontation with 2B; third, The Red Girls exist; and fourth, the Resistance andfirst wave ofYoRHamodels, were subsequently abandoned by their superiors. There is no logical reason to stick to the status quo unless there’s something sinister at work. Given the personalities of the mysterious Red Girls, and their relation to theCouncil of Humanity, perhaps this isn’t a mission or cause to be fulfilled, but an experiment.
YoRHais supposed to be a somewhat recent concept, so much that Lily’s original friend group didn’t know what they were. This implies that there were other androids before them, and since they don’t age, it’s unknown how much time has passed. A largetheme inNieRis the cycle of hatred, so this could quite literally be just that: a cycle.
Desperate Times Call For Desperate Measures
In the original game, every time a player’s HP reaches zero, they would spawn back in The Bunker, and could resume where they left off. But after The Bunker gets taken over,that option is no longer availableand a drainage in HP would mean an instant game over. Since 2B and 9S have been able to respawn and resume missions in the anime, it’s safe to assume that, like in the game, their lives will also be at stake.
