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NieR:Automata Ver 1.1a Anime Delays Episodes 4 & Beyond Due to COVID-19
posted on by Egan Loo
The official website for NieR:Automata Ver 1.1a, the television anime of Square Enix and Platinum Games' NieR:Automata action role-playing game, announced on Sunday that the anime's episodes 4 and beyond have been delayed. The anime's production committee cited the impact of the increase in COVID-19 infections on its production schedule.
The anime will instead air the first three episodes again starting on January 28. The anime's website and Twitter account will announce the broadcast and streaming schedules of episodes 4 and beyond in the near future.
Square Enix describes the game's story:
NieR:Automata tells the story of androids 2B, 9S and A2 and their battle to reclaim the machine-driven dystopia overrun by powerful machines.Humanity has been driven from the Earth by mechanical beings from another world. In a final effort to take back the planet, the human resistance sends a force of android soldiers to destroy the invaders. Now, a war between machines and androids rages on... A war that could soon unveil a long-forgotten truth of the world.
The anime's cast includes:
- Yui Ishikawa as 2B
- Natsuki Hanae as 9S
- Hiroki Yasumoto as Pod 042
- Kaoru Akiyama as Pod 153
- Chiaki Kanou as Commander
- Keiko Isobe as Operator 60
- Meari Hatsumi as Operator 210
- Aoi Yūki as Pascal
- Daisuke Namikawa as Adam
- Tatsuhisa Suzuki as Eve
- Atsumi Tanezaki as Lily
- Ayaka Suwa as A2
Ryouji Masuyama (Blend S, Hello WeGo!) is directing the anime at A-1 Pictures, and Masuyama is also in charge of series composition alongside the original game's Yokō Tarō. Jun Nakai is designing the characters and serving as chief animation director. MONACA is composing the music.
The other staff members include:
- Action Supervision, Prop Design: Shun Tachibana (Key Animation, My Senpai is Annoying)
- CG Action Supervision, Blender Supervision: Masaki Inada (3DCG Animator, The God of High School)
- Blender Supervision: Takahiro Kawakoshi (Episode Director, Aikatsu!, Btooom!)
- 2D Work: Mie Hiraga
- Military Research: Ken'ichi Kaneko (Military Supervision, GATE)
- Art Supervision: Hiroshi Katō (Gurren Lagann, He Is My Master)
- Art Director: Hirofumi Sakagami (Shadows House, Visual Prison)
- Art: Totonyan
- Art Setting: Takeyuki Takahashi (Higurashi: When They Cry – GOU)
- Color Key Artist: Takahiro Mogi (Golden Kamuy)
- CG Director: Yuusuke Noma (Hypnosis Mic -Division Rap Battle- Rhyme Anima)
- Sub CG Director: Takeshi Ōkawa (Gekijō-ban Utano☆Princesama♪ Maji Love ST☆RISH Tours)
- Compositing Director of Photography: Toshiaki Aoshima (Lycoris Recoil)
- Editing: Akinori Mishima (86, Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War)
- Sound Director: Yukio Nagasaki (Orange, One Piece Film Z)
The anime premiered on the Tokyo MX, Tochigi TV, Gunma TV, and BS11 channels on January 7 at 24:00 (effectively, January 8 at midnight or January 7 at 10:00 a.m. EST), before running on other television channels. The anime also began streaming on DMM TV and dAnime Store in Japan on January 7, and on other streaming services in Japan starting on January 10. Crunchyroll is streaming the anime.
The NieR:Automata game shipped for the PlayStation 4 in Japan in February 2017, followed by North America and Europe in March 2017. Square Enix also released the game on PC via Steam in March 2017, and on Xbox One in June 2018. The game launched on Nintendo Switch on October 6. The game has a combined shipments and digital download sales number of over 7 million.
