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YoRHa No.9 Type S (Japanese: ヨルハ九号S型, Hepburn: Yoruha Kyū-gō S-gata), commonly called 9S and informally "Nines", a fictional character from the thehe 2017 action role-playing game Nier: Automata developed by PlatinumGames and published by Square Enix. 9S is a YoRHa squadron "Scanner" reconnaissance model known for his outgoing personality and curiosity about the world and the Machine Lifeforms. Nier: Automata is set in the year 11945 on a post-apocalyptic Earth abandoned by humanity. Earth has been occupied by aliens, who fight using an army of Machine Lifeforms. Androids, created by humans, fight against the Machine Lifeforms, with the conflict turning into a prolonged proxy war. The latest addition to the android forces is YoRHa, an elite android fighting force based in the orbital Bunker and communicating directly with the Council of Humanity on the Moon. YoRHa models 2B and 9S are sent down as part of a reconnaissance force to investigate local Machine behaviour and aid local Resistance forces. During their time on Earth, 2B and 9S suppress hostile Machine Lifeforms, coming into contact with other characters who exist on the world.

9S was created by game designer Yoko Taro from the final moments of the video game Nier: Automata, setting him as an antagonistic lonely warrior opposing the rebellious android A2 and then coming up with a new scenario that would explain his transformation from a kind android to such broken down character. He is voiced by Natsuki Hanae in Japanese and Kyle McCarley in English. Critical response to 9S's character has been positive for his role in the story and relationship with 2B in both gaming and animated adaptation Nier: Automata Ver1.1a. He was also recognized as a more human character by scholars in latter parts of the game where 9S is portrayed as establishing his own identity rather than being forced to fight for Yorha.

Creation

Game designer Yoko Taro started creating Nier: Automata by started from the final fight scene between the androids 9S and A2. He then envisioned the main storyline including why they were fighting and thus had to emphatsize with the cat. In developing the character, Yoko Taro decided to show 9S broken and A2 a more justice fighter. Believing the gamers would not care for 9S's character, he kept writing the story to balance their stories and how they go from playable characters to mysterious and uncontrollable. In the end, Yoko Taro was glad with 9S's characterization as journalist from PlayStationLifeStyle found him human-like in the ending, as players in the end found several thoughts about how handle 9S. In contrast to the darker narrative of Drakengard, Yoko decided that 2B and 9S deserved a happy ending, due to his belief that their experiences in Automata had "cleansed" the androids of their transgressions. Yoko considers the story of 2B complete with Automata, believing the narrative should not be continued. However, for a later tribute concert, he wrote an audio play epilogue to Automata featuring 2B and 9S, a different method than the original Nier's epilogue, which is described in a game guide.

Role in Nier: Automata

9S (short for YoRHa No.9 Type S), a male "scanner" reconnaissance android who displays more emotion than other YoRHa units. 2B and 9S during the latest android strikes against the Machines. After opening a route for future missions, they are sent to clear machine threats for Anemone's Resistance forces. During their missions, 2B and 9S discover the Machines are replicating human societies and concepts. The two work with a pacifist machine group led by Pascal, and battle Adam and Eve, physical manifestations of the Machine Network who reveal their creators were destroyed centuries ago. 2B and 9S also encounter A2, a rogue YoRHa android. Adam is killed by 2B after he captures 9S. During his recuperation, 9S discovers a glitch in YoRHa's servers when syncing himself and 2B, and learns humanity was extinct long before the alien invasion. Humanity's last remnant is a Moon-based server holding their genetic remains. YoRHa perpetuates the myth of their survival to give the androids a reason for existing. With Adam dead, Eve goes mad with grief and drives connected Machines into a frenzy. 2B and 9S kill Eve, but 9S becomes infected with Eve's logic virus, forcing 2B to kill him. 9S's consciousness survives within the local Machine Network.

YoRHa launches a full-scale invasion. A logic virus attack, which is enabled by the glitch 9S previously discovered, corrupts every YoRHa unit except 2B and the restored 9S. 2B and 9S are separated in the aftermath, and 2B is infected with the logic virus. A2 discovers 2B, who asks her to take her place. An ignorant 9S sees A2 mercy-killing 2B and swears revenge on her. Simultaneously, a tower created by the Machines rises from the land, separating the two before they can fight. An increasingly unbalanced 9S investigates the tower's resource-gathering platforms, fighting Machine remnants and learning the tower is designed to launch a missile at the Moon server. Devola and Popola sacrifice themselves to open the tower, with 9S and A2 both entering. During these events and their final confrontation, the two learn that YoRHa was designed to lose and perpetuate the myth of humanity, and that the Machine Network are using the war to further their evolution; each side has trapped the other in an eternal cycle of war. A2 further learns that 2B's real designation was "2E", an "executioner" unit assigned to repeatedly kill 9S whenever he discovers the truth about humanity, and that 9S was aware of this.

9S—now insane and infected with the logic virus—challenges A2 to a fight, prompting the player to choose a character. Choosing A2 leads to A2 saving 9S and sacrificing herself to destroy the tower. Choosing 9S leads to both androids killing each other; in his final moments, he is offered the option of joining with the now-peaceful Machine Network, as the tower has changed its function to launch an ark containing their memories. Once both endings are unlocked, Pods 042 and 153 defy their orders to delete YoRHa's data, prompting the player to destroy the credits in a shoot 'em up section. Despite the possibility that 2B, 9S and A2 will repeat events, the Pods have faith they will forge a new future for themselves. The player is then given the option to sacrifice their save data to help other players.

Reception

Kyle Campbell of RPG Site said that, while 2B was caring and loving, he noted that the need for her to constantly kill 9S prompted her callous "act". He drew a contrast between 2B's "bottled-up" sadness and 9S's reaction at 2B's death, in which he "lets his emotions boil over" while fighting impostors of 2B. Anthony John Agnello of The A.V. Club stated that their "Hamlet-sourced name" was indicative of Nier: Automata's "obsession with classic existentialist philosophy", noting that 2B was disturbed by her partner's repeated deaths and memory wipes which something were equals. Nevertheless, the game makes it clear to the player that despite the tragedy there is a chance that 9S and 2B will live again. Celia Lewis of The Escapist noted that the blindfold worn by 2B and 9S was a "deviant design choice" that indicated their "inability to see the greater picture", its black color scheme showing how she was limited to a "black and white" view of the war. The duo's role in Nier: Automata Ver1.1a was praised for its fresh dynamic between 2B and 9S, the player's perspective constantly changing between them. In particular, GamesRadar like the fight 9S and 2B have against the machine Simone in the theater especially because of how the anime adapts 9S's hacking ability in the enemy and the next scene where 9S brutally kills two machines that gave up.

Polygon regarded the player's actions as 9S as one of the biggest spoilers of the decade due to the different fighting style he employs in contrast to 2B and gives the player a completely different perspective in regards to the story. The website further noted that the ending of the game was shocking as the duo suffer horrible deaths, praising Yoko Taro's writing in regards to the execution. Because of 9S's arc from a friendly soldier to a revengeful renegade seeking to kill A2 after 2B's death, Paste Magazine regarded him as one of the best characters from 2017.

In "NieR (De)Automata: Defamiliarization and the Poetic Revolution of NieR: Automata" Grace Gerrish from Boston College commented that 9S and 2B are free from Yorha for the first time when the bunker is destroyed by the virus and start travelling around the world on their own will establishing the trope of death of the author. This further gives the player freedom with the multiple endings they can reach from then on especially with the ability to switch between androids.

In "When machines long for human warmth : Nier: Automata and the player-game relationship", Z. Zhou commented that 9S' hacking abilities allow the player to see machines from a different point of view, challenging the player's moral as well as go back to see the roots of gaming. The player's perspective is often connected with 9S's perspective giving a major impact once both routes are finished. The twist about 2B actually 9S' executioner was labeled as "socially and politically determined" due to how they are controlled by Yorha. 2B's death and 9S' realization of the truth leads to an emotional breakdown which can nearly give the story a "bleak" ending unless where the character continues investigating Earth alongside A2. The trauma of losing 2B is reflected when 9S battles another copy of her and takes one of her arms to put it into his own body.

In, "Reflejos de un futuro para nosotros: análisis de los conceptos de Alteridad, Distopía y Red en Nier: Autómata" Aguirre Gaitán and Leonardo Andrés from Licenciatura en Artes Visuales note that traits from 9S's personality are not shown in the official localization of the game due to different types of dialogues used in Japanese such as addressing 2B by "2B-san" which is a form of affection directed towards others. However, in the Japanese version, 2B rejects this idea. Meanwhile, 9S's appearance and all of fellow androids where noted to wear blindfolds as symbolism for the orders they take. In the first mission, 9S and 2B sacrifice each other to destroy a machine using their Black Boxes, pivotal for their bodies to be active. Although the duo survives, the writer notes that the two player characters could be copies as a result of how identities could be formed. 9S' identity is further explored when being tortured by the machine Adam who suggests him to follow his own objective as well as his true desire towards 2B.

References

1. "Interview: Yoko Taro Talks NieR: Automata One Year After Release". PlayStationLifeStyle. April 7, 2018. Retrieved August 13, 2024.
2. Minotti, Mike (April 1, 2018). "Nier: Automata's Yoko Taro and Takahisa Taura on sentencing characters and turning 2B into a bug". VentureBeat. Archived from the original on September 7, 2022. Retrieved January 4, 2023.
3. ニーア オートマタ. Famitsu. No. 1495. Gzbrain. July 26, 2017.
4. Campbell, Kyle (April 23, 2017). "Death, Sex, and Love: A closer look at NieR Automata". www.rpgsite.net. Archived from the original on April 27, 2017. Retrieved September 10, 2020.
5. Agnello, Anthony John (August 31, 2017). "With one final death, Nier: Automata's ending redefines the meaning of life". The A.V. Club. Archived from the original on August 31, 2017. Retrieved September 10, 2020.
6. Lewis, Celia (April 24, 2020). "NieR: Automata Challenges Our Ideas of Morality with Its Character Design". Escapist Magazine. Archived from the original on April 29, 2020. Retrieved September 10, 2020.
7. "NieR:Automata Ver 1.1a". Anime News Network. Archived from the original on March 2, 2023. Retrieved March 2, 2023.
8. "The Nier: Automata Anime Fittingly Wrestles with Its Own Existence". Escapist Magazine. January 10, 2023. Archived from the original on March 3, 2023. Retrieved March 2, 2023.
9. "The Nier: Automata anime is back and episode 4 nailed the best boss in the game". GamesRadar. February 22, 2023. Retrieved August 13, 2024.
10. "The best game spoilers of the decade". Complex. November 14, 2019. Retrieved August 13, 2024.
11. "The Best New Game Characters of 2017". Paste Magazine. December 13, 2017. Retrieved August 13, 2024.
12. "NieR (De)Automata: Defamiliarization and the Poetic Revolution of NieR: Automata". Digra. Retrieved August 12, 2024.
13. Zhou, Z. (2022). "When machines long for human warmth : Nier: Automata and the player-game relationship". (T). University of British Columbia. Archived from the original on March 12, 2024. Retrieved May 23, 2023.
14. "Reflejos de un futuro para nosotros : análisis de los conceptos de Alteridad, Distopía y Red en Nier : Autómata". Repistory Pedagogica (in Spanish). Retrieved August 13, 2024.

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