A new visual and promotion file video for NieR: Automata Ver 1.1a have revealed that Lily, an android resistance fighter who appears in the YoRHa stage play and its manga adaptation, will make an appearance in the anime. She is voiced by Atsumi Tanezaki.

NieR: Automata Ver 1.1a is set to premiere in January 2023. It is inspired by the 2017 open world action-RPG NieR: Automata, which sees a group of androids battling to reclaim Earth from an army of alien-created machines in the far future. The stage play that Lily appears in is a prequel to the game that covers the events of the Pearl Harbor Descent.

According to Nier creator Yoko Taro, the “Ver 1.1a” affix in the anime’s title is due to the original title being “a story we created to be a game, so copying it as is wouldn’t make an interesting story for an anime. So I brought up the idea of changing things around.” 

NieR: Automata was developed by PlatinumGames and published by Square Enix as a sequel to 2010’s Nier, which is set thousands of years before the events of Automata. Like the first game, which was developed by the now-defunct Cavia, NieR: Automata combined third-person hack-and-slash gameplay with shoot-em-up and side-scrolling elements. 

Ryouji Masuyama (Blend S, The Idolmaster: Cinderella Girls assistant director) is directing NieR: Automata Ver 1.1a and has co-series composer credits with Yoko Taro. Other staff include Jun Nakai (Lord El-Melloi II’s Case Files {Rail Zeppelin} Grace note) as character designer and chief animation director and MONACA (Assassin’s Pride) as music composer. 

Meanwhile, the returning cast from the game includes Yui Ishikawa as 2B, Natsuki Hanae as 9S, Chiaki Kano as YoRHa’s commander, Keiko Isobe as Operator 6O, Meari Hatsumi as Operator 21O, Aoi Yuuki as Pacal, Daisuke Namikawa as Adam, and Tatsuhisa Suzuki as Eve.