Canipa breaks his hiatus to talk about how sad he is about NieR: Automata Ver 1.1a’s hiatus.
Support the channel on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/TheCanipaEffect
Video edited by penlum and U.N. Owen
Additional editing by Canipa
Sources and Further Reading:
Answerman that compiles info on Winter delays – https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/answerman/2023-01-27/.194130
Tomohiko Ito talking about struggles in the anime industry (including at A-1 Pictures) https://www.dailyshincho.jp/article/2022/12301041/?all=1&page=2
Thread from SakugaBlog’s Kvin running down Wonder Egg Priority’s similar production issues: https://twitter.com/Yuyucow/status/1410396850025340932
Follow me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/CanipaShow
Intro:
Animated by Christian Maize (@CookieficationJ)
Music by Steven Kelly (@Sarifus)
Produced for The Canipa Effect
Anime series featured in this video (chronologically):
NieR: Automata Ver 1.1a
The Detective is Already Dead
The Seven Deadly Sins
Tomo-chan is a Girl!
Persona 5: The Animation
Maquia: When the Promised Flower Blooms
86
Mirai
Ayakashi Triangle
UniteUp
The Misfit of Demon King Academy 2
Saekano: How to Raise a Boring Girlfriend
Lycoris Recoil
Sword Art Online
Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba
Music:
Copied City
Memories of Dust (Medium) (Instrumental)
Alien Manifestation (Instrumental)
Weight of the World (FFXIV Instrumental)
All footage is used for the purpose of review and is fair use.
30 Comments
I'm back! This one's less research-heavy than my usual work and it was meant to be a kind of inbetweener video released in March where I talk through how sad I am about the NieR: Automata anime. But then I got really busy, outsourced all the editing, and thankfully I still got it out faster than NieR episode 9!
But yeah, we're back on track! I refuse to become one of those people who's like "I used to make Youtube videos but then I grew up and got a real job"! I can do both! I've got some free time, I'm working with new editors, and I'm ready to talk about anime that actually makes me happy – aka Heavenly Delusion. As always, a massive, massive thanks to the Canipa Effect patreons who are paying for these videos to get edited. It's a process that I've been really overprotective of in the past, but I think they both did an amazing job!
It's really depressing how aniplex is screwing over a1 pictures 😢
The Moral of a story is aniplex is evil
The Nier anime could’ve been THE anime of the season, but instead it’s just another one.
Nier Automata was always going to be a hard adaptation, Nier's story, world and characters seems to be intrinsically designed around the fact that it is a game, it understands that it is a game: From the UI to the ending, everything that makes Nier fun and interesting, is because Nier Automata is a game, not in spite of it. The Last of Us works as an adaptation, due to the fact that the story of the Last of Us was something that could be told in any medium. Making it a game makes it more interactive, sure, but the Last of Us could be a book, movie, TV Series, or even a Visual Novel, and the story would still be intriguing and the characters could still be themselves.
Now imagine trying to write a book about Nier Automata's story, sure–Some of it would crossover well, but then you ask the readers to re-read the entire book from 9S's perspective, with only slight variation. Now you're trying to justify a reason for the characters to go on a fetch quest. Now you're trying to write the ending, where two robots are fighting falling credits. You have to change the story to make it fit the medium, if not, it won't work.
An Anime gives visuals to this story, and Okabe's music certainly adds the atmosphere. But Nier is an ever changing world, showing the Flooded City before in a few clips, doesn't carry the same impact when you don't get to run around it yourself, and just take things slow and examine your surroundings, I can't imagine many Anime Only viewers caring at all when the entire city is uprooted and destroyed.
What I'm trying to say, is for the Anime to work, they needed to focus strongly on what makes a Nier Anime good, not what makes a Nier Story good. To justify the existence of a Nier Anime, it needed to stand out from the game, and–There was promise on that front. Episode 2, as you mentioned was really well done. I went out of Episode 1, not sure if I wanted to continue this Anime, but Episode 2 hooked me despite that. There were a few more moments of brilliance later on, but nothing was more than serviceable at best. The Animation, was okay when it was good, but never anything special. The CG was jarring, and I've been able to stomach most CG in Anime without problem.
I don't need every Anime to be a Sakuga Fest, but if it's not fun to look at, if it's only fun to watch because I liked the game, why bother? I know what Nier Automata's story has in store, so I was compelled to keep watching, but if I were a first time viewer, I'd be asking: "Is this what those Nier fans have been clamoring over all this time?"
I watched the Mario Movie this week for the first time, and I came out of it understanding why the critics didn't enjoy it. It wasn't a good movie, the pacing was awful, the jokes often didn't land, the story was bland, and the characters were pretty much one noted. I didn't leave the Mario movie with intrigue, I watched it, and it left my mind. No questions about the story, during the movie itself I wasn't given a moment to think about what I was watching, it just kept going: And then it was over.
However, the fact that the Mario Movie, wasn't a good movie doesn't change the fact that it was a Great Mario Movie, when I saw Mario carrying the Mini Mushroom, I excitedly knew what would happen when he ate it. The countless references kept a smile on my face the entire movie, I loved that they didn't shy away from the fact that the Mario universe, is a video game universe first and foremost. Hearing the music I've been listening to my whole life throughout various games, made me a bit emotional. This film, didn't need to explain why a Mario movie needed to be made, even though I had been asking myself that question for years, once I watched it, I understood the hype, I understood why a Mario movie was a good idea. It may not be my favorite movie, not by a long shot — I even prefer the Sonic movie's in many ways, and I'm not a big fan of them either, but I'm glad we got a Mario Brother's Movie.
All this to say: Nier Automata never had to be a good Anime to be a good Nier Anime. And it failed on both fronts–It could have been at least okay if the production wasn't so poorly managed, but now: Even if the next episodes release, and they somehow have the best Animation I've ever seen, I'll always have a sour taste on my tongue for this show. It's not that I hate the Anime, it's not so bad that I get to laugh at it, it's just that I feel nothing but disappointment and apathy for this adaptation. And the last thing Nier should ever be, is forgettable.
And unfortunately, Forgettable is all this Anime will ever be.
I guess you can say the anime staff was carrying "The weight of the world" while adapting Nier
“Why make anime better when people will watch if either way 😀”
A little premature statment.
I like this anime, it is beautiful. I recently subscribed to your channel! Also it's great that your own mum supports your channel. That's great man! Does she give you some great ideals about anime and making YouTube videos? This is awesome man.
Seeing this i want to know your thaughts on Heavenly Delusion thats airing this season, its a show with proper production time and has put production IG back on the track after haikyu for me
I'm glad my sequence made the cut as the "15 seconds of 2b swishing her sword"
I always hear stuff about how some anime get delayed because they dont have time slots for anime.
Does…..japan not have their own streaming service? I've never heard western cartoons deal with that problem
Remember Dragon Ball Super’s absolutely horrible schedule that took literally 2-3 years to stabilize? Yeah glad no one learned from that……..
Yes.
Glad I'm not the only one upset at the lack of fight scenes. I get that it's okay to cut out fight scenes which don't advance plot or character development, but come on! In the last episode they skipped over so many big battles to get to the "Adam kidnapping 9S" stuff.
86 wasn't my cup of tea but it was very well made and I was expecting the same high quality with Nier. It's unfortunate both were plagued by incompetence from the animation studio.
Nier Automata Anime has been very hit or miss. I definitely like whenever they depart from the game to "recontextualize" themes and characters.
Haha, I have my problems with Lycoris Recoil's writing, I wouldn't call the show great or a masterpiece. And saying "at least it was able to air 12 episodes" isn't a low bar we should be accepting.
dude, so many spoilers playing on your background
This was a fun anime. Too bad it didn't get the full treatment! And now we only get… what… 9 episodes?
The vid content got spoiled because of the wall of sub at the start. I'm ngmi bros
Trigun Stampede Breakdown?
I'm not entirely sure that these breaks aren't Yoko Taro using the anime industry itself to tell a story. Twisting the medium he's using to tell a story that fucks with your expectations is his specialty, after all.
Ngl i kinda wish they did a drakengard anime
Also want a drakengard 3 remake
Ahh So the full-time YouTube experiment didn't work out then.😢 Good luck
Honestly, this, imo, is less of a case of the anime industry being shit, and more Aniplex specifically being shit.
Becauee CLW/A-1 basically are subsidiaries of Aniplex, they can't refuse whatever production that Aniplex offers. And unlike CLW, which has invested in Spy x family, A-1 is still dealing with the problems of being a subsidiary of Aniplex.
I am scared for the anime industry. It seems like as time passes on, the people working behind it that actually care are getting stretched so thin due to the production companies incompitence to make a good schedule for animators, directors and artists across the medium to make high quality products.
The game can't be adapted, best you can do is translate, it's just a video game esque video game and nothing would work as well if you were to remove the video game part.
Best they could have done is do a cyberpunk and adapt another story from the universe
As someone who has not played the game , I honestly have been really enjoying this anime and am looking forward for it to return
Would you say a similar issue was present with the Shenmue anime? I think that was one of the better video game based anime that we've gotten.
I was so excited for both this anime and "Misfit of Demon King Academy”. I’ve dropped both; I’m not waiting indefinitely for new episodes.
For me, I never play the game before. But when I watch the anime version of Nier Automata series I instantly fall in love with it. At least I can re-watch the episode of the Nier Automata.
I agree with animation cgi was very awkward