Nier: Automata’s Yoko Taro made a new 15-minute music video based on the game

Nier: Automata Ver1.1aThe animated adaptation of 2017’s action-role-playing game Nier: AutomataDue to COVID-19 production issues,, will be on an indefinite hiatus starting Jan 21. If you’re having trouble waiting for the next episode in this reprise of the epic post-apocalyptic story about blindfolded android soldiers dressed in gothic lolita haute couture, not to worry: Nier: Automata’s director Yoko Taro went and made you a puppet show to tide you over in the meantime.

Based on “Antinomy,” which is the ending credits song of Nier: Automata Ver1.1a written and performed by the Japanese rock band Amazarashi, the 15-minute “non-credits” music video depicts a puppet show reenacting the story of Nier: Automata.

However, this is no “Life in Technicolor ii.” Told from the perspective of the game’s antagonists: “machine lifeforms” resembling rudimentary wind-up toys, the play depicts the machines as analogous to child soldiers, placed in a violent struggle beyond their understanding by their mysterious creators “Father” and “Mother,” two original characters created and written by Yoko Taro specifically for the music video.

The machines, wearing blindfolds similar in design to the ones worn by 9S and 2B, are encouraged to continue fighting, despite the horrendous war. Nier: Automata. This pattern continues, as the machines are forced to relinquish their ability to hear, to speak, and even feel as they are — as 2B puts it in her opening monologue at the beginning of Nier: Automata — perpetually trapped in a never-ending spiral of life and death.

Image: Amazarashi

Inflicting a hail of gunfire, they kill their creators before breaking through the fourth wall. This reveals that, not only was this not the first instance of this happening, but that hundreds upon hundreds of machines have recreated their creators in order to exact their revenge for past neglect and abuse. A room filled with blindfolded, dead bodies and toppled seats is revealed in the middle of an industrial dump.

It’s a fascinating (and quite disturbing) music video, especially for those already familiar with the lore of Nier: Automata’s universe. Produced and written by Yoko Taro, the video is the second time Taro has collaborated with Amazarashi, having previously released the 2017 music video “Deserving of Life” in celebration of Nier: Automata’s release.

In an article published last Friday on the Japanese website Game Watch, Taro shares that the motif of the music video’s script is inspired by the works of Kenji Miyazawa, the famous Japanese author known for such novels as “Night on the Galactic Railroad” and “Gauche the Cellist,” and that the characters of “Father” and “Mother” are intended as analogs for “unscrupulous capitalists.”

“I think “Antinomy” is a song of hope,” Taro says in the article. “It’s a story that continues. This story depicts the feeling of loss that can be felt in a world with no parents. The theme of this puppet show is how to deal with that feeling of insecurity, and from there it leads to Mr. Akita’s light of hope. We aimed for content that would only come true when the music continued after the puppet show.”

Nier: Automata Ver1.1aCrunchyroll allows you to watch it online.