Important things to remember
- Pascal teaches children about the fear of machines, emphasizing the importance of experiencing both negative and positive emotions.
- A2 emphasizes the fear of being alone and acknowledges the importance of spending time with loved ones.
- A bittersweet comedy unfolds as fear of loneliness leads to cannibalism, showing irrational decision-making under pressure.
The following contains spoilers for episode 21 of NieR Automata Ver1.1a, currently streaming on Crunchyroll.
Goliath is defeated and the children are rescued, but A2 receives an urgent message from the Resistance. Meanwhile, Lily and her allies quarantine themselves from infected Resistance members after being exposed to the Logic Virus from a desperate mechanical child, eventually turning her body into a zombie-like entity.
Despite Jackass, Popola, Devola, and others arriving to help, Lily decides to stay and kill the infected to ensure the virus does not spread. A2 arrives on the scene just as the last surviving Lily, who is also infected, asks A2 to put her out of her misery. 9S receives the final code and realizes that he has feelings for 2B as well. Meanwhile, Pascal is confronted by visions of the cannibalistic machine boy.
The meaning of being human
Most would agree that experiencing both negative and positive emotions is essential to the human experience. With this comes the ability to grow, adapt, and learn. Pascal sought to isolate himself from other mechs and founded his own village in hopes of living a more fulfilling and passive life. As a result, he developed the ability to empathize with and connect with other mechs, even befriending a group of resistance fighters and earning the respect of Lily, who lost a comrade to her own kind. One of the main lessons he taught the mechs in his village was the concept of fear. Fear is what keeps things going, as it acts as a deterrent to them from engaging in activities that could be considered dangerous. In episode 18, the mechs display this behavior in response to A2's scolding. Interestingly, A2 also teaches them another concept: being alone.
Fear of being alone
While trying to comfort them, A2 says that she is so happy she is not alone, and when they ask what that means, she explains how important it is to appreciate the time they have with their loved ones, since they may be alone every day. In the ensuing panic, after the surviving machine children are taken to the resistance camp, one of them displays symptoms of the Logic Virus, allegedly due to the chaos of the infection itself. In Episode 6, the Logic Virus is shown to be very similar to PTSD, as 21S peeks into Lily's memories while administering her medication for the infection. She is also later the first of the group to become infected. When under stress, people (and even animals) can make irrational or violent decisions.
Sarcasm
When Pascal witnessed the remnants of the Machine Child, the first to be infected consumed the remaining ones, out of fear of being alone and believing the souvenir music box he had been carrying with him was broken. It's strange how A2 planted this idea in their heads. Like real children, they tend to overreact and take things for granted. When it thought it was at risk of losing everything, it consumed everyone else so that they could “be together forever.” To varying degrees, 9S experienced this as well. When he encountered 2B's old flying unit, he found a note left for him, confirming that 2B's feelings were the same, but that unlike the Machine Lifeforms and the Resistance, he was truly alone.
Community and family are essential elements of what it means to be human, and with every meeting comes a parting. Lily, infected with the same virus that A2 originally saved her from, dies at the hands of the gun that A2 used to protect Lily.
