NieR:Automata
ニーア オートマタ
A 2017 action RPG by PlatinumGames and Square Enix in which androids 2B, 9S, and A2 wield katana-style swords such as Virtuous Contract, Virtuous Treaty, and Cruel Oath, fusing Japanese sword design into a far-future science-fiction world.
Description
Overview
NieR:Automata is an action RPG developed by PlatinumGames and published by Square Enix, released on February 23, 2017 and directed by Yoko Taro. Set in the year 11945 AD, it depicts a proxy war on a machine-occupied Earth, fought between invading Machine Lifeforms and YoRHa, a squadron of android soldiers created to represent the remnants of humanity. The story unfolds across multiple playthroughs through combat android 2B, scanner android 9S, and, later, A2.
Katana-Style Weapons
Melee combat is built around four weapon classes — small swords, large swords, combat bracers, and spears — which can be freely combined. Several of these are explicitly katana-style blades: 2B's default weapon, the slender Virtuous Contract; the white-bladed Virtuous Treaty, said to be wielded by an Eastern samurai; and Cruel Oath, 9S's default sword. Their silhouettes and hilt designs draw clearly on the form of the traditional Japanese katana.
Tradition in a Futuristic World
By fusing Japanese sword iconography with a far-future science-fiction setting and an existentialist narrative, NieR:Automata earned wide acclaim among action RPG and science-fiction fans and later received an anime adaptation. That androids — human in form but not in origin — choose to wield weapons modeled on humanity's traditional swords echoes the game's broader theme of preserving a culture that has otherwise been lost.
Real Swords Featured
Uchigatana
The standard form of Japanese sword worn edge-up in the belt from the Muromachi period onward, allowing the wearer to draw and cut in a single motion. It became the archetypal katana silhouette. Many of the swords wielded by 2B and 9S in NieR:Automata follow this slender, straight uchigatana profile.
Koshirae
The complete set of external mountings on a Japanese sword — hilt, guard, and scabbard. Even when the blade itself is a common form, the koshirae's design expresses the individuality, status, and purpose of its owner. The way different androids in the game each carry distinctly designed swords echoes how koshirae have long individualized otherwise similar blades in Japanese sword culture.
Shirasaya
A plain, undecorated scabbard and hilt made of unlacquered white wood, used to store and preserve a blade apart from its combat mountings. Its austere form embodies an aesthetic of unadorned purity. The spare, pale design of the game's Virtuous Treaty recalls this same sensibility.
See authentic Japanese swords
See authentic Japanese swordsThis page is intended to introduce Japanese sword culture and is not affiliated with any of the works mentioned.