Nier: Automata showed up at the Olympics

Video games and anime are all over the Paris 2024 Olympics. We have a gymnast with Nintendo tattoos, a runner who carries Yu-Gi-Oh cards, and even loads of Haikyuu!! fans are attending volleyball games. Now, we have something new: The Japanese Olympic swimming team has blessed viewers with an intricate routine set to music from Nier: Automata on Tuesday. The Japanese Olympic swimming team performed the routine with the Nier: Automata soundtrack as part of the team free swim section on Tuesday. The choreography was inspired by chess, and according to the announcer Andrea Holland on NBC, the team aimed to “express movement of chess pieces in the water with victory at the end.” The routine used “A Beautiful Song” from the game and it fit perfectly. The songs’ intense operatic vocals with a booming orchestral arrangement imbued the swim routine with a level of urgency befitting of global competition. Additionally, the sharp and angular movements of the swimmers underwater matched the sort of overpowering nature of the song. You can view a short clip of it below. [Media: https://x.com/KiseStrife/status/1820891411233083489] Some might know Nier: Automata for its eccentric director, Yoko Taro, or its hyperfeminine android, 2B. But the game has always been so much more than that. Music director Keiichi Okabe and composers Keigo Hoashi and Kuniyuki Takahashi created a soundtrack whose songs that capture both delicate moments of solitude and decay its gritty, post apocalyptic world. It’s an incredible listen even when people aren’t swimming behind it. So if you haven’t heard it yet, I’d highly recommend you do.