NieR: Automata

NieR: Automata : The Cast Behind One of Gaming’s Greatest Stories
Some games tell a story. NieR: Automata tears you apart with one. Yoko Taro’s 2017 action RPG drops you into a proxy war between machine lifeforms and android soldiers, fought across a post-human Earth where the real questions have nothing to do with winning. The world is gorgeous, the combat is brilliant, and the NieR: Automata voice actors carry an emotional weight that lingers long after the credits roll for the third, fourth, and fifth time.
Who Voices 2B in NieR: Automata?
2B is one of gaming’s most iconic characters, and not just because of her design. She’s cold on the surface, precise in combat, and slowly revealed to be carrying something enormous underneath all that composure. Getting her right was everything. Kira Buckland voices 2B in the English dub, and she walks the tightrope between detached professionalism and buried feeling with real skill. Buckland is also known for voicing Izuku Midoriya’s mother Inko in My Hero Academia and Reimi Sugimoto in JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Diamond is Unbreakable. In Japanese, Yui Ishikawa originated the role and brought a crystalline restraint to 2B that made her a cultural phenomenon in Japan well before the Western release.
Who Voices 9S in NieR: Automata?
9S is 2B’s partner, a Scanner-type android who is curious, enthusiastic, and completely unprepared for what the game is going to do to him. His arc is the emotional engine of the story. Kyle McCarley voices 9S in English, and his performance in the later chapters is extraordinary, handling a character unraveling in real time with full commitment. McCarley is also recognized for voicing Mob in Mob Psycho 100. The Japanese voice, Natsuki Hanae, brought the same heartbreak to 9S first and earned widespread praise for some of the most demanding voice work in the game.
Who Voices A2 in NieR: Automata?
A2 enters the story as a mystery and exits it as one of the most compelling characters in the whole NieR: Automata cast. A rogue android with a violent past and a complicated relationship with both 2B and 9S, she’s guarded, fierce, and ultimately defined by what she chooses to protect. Cherami Leigh voices A2 in English, known widely for voicing Asuna in Sword Art Online and Lucy Heartfilia in Fairy Tail. She brings exactly the right edge to A2, a weariness that never tips into weakness.
Who Voices the Operator and Pod 042 in NieR: Automata?
The Operators are the remote support voices guiding YoRHa units through missions, and Stephanie Panisello voices Operator 6O with a warmth that makes her side-quest conversations genuinely moving. Pod 042, 2B’s floating mechanical companion, is voiced by Ian Sinclair, who delivers the Pod’s flat monotone with a deadpan that quietly becomes one of the game’s most endearing running threads. Sinclair also voices Brook in the One Piece English dub.
Who Voices Commander White in NieR: Automata?
The Commander of YoRHa is authority incarnate, the kind of leader whose absolute conviction makes her either inspiring or terrifying depending on the moment. Abby Trott voices her in English with a controlled gravity that makes her pivotal late-game scenes hit harder. Trott is also known for voicing Nezuko Kamado in Demon Slayer.
Why Voice Acting Makes NieR: Automata Special
NieR: Automata asks its cast to perform grief, existential dread, joy, betrayal, and something close to transcendence, often within the same playthrough. The English and Japanese casts both rise to it completely. What makes this game’s voice work stand apart is that none of it feels performed for spectacle. The quieter moments, a Pod’s flat observation, a brief exchange between 2B and 9S before a battle, carry just as much weight as the big dramatic swings. That restraint is what makes the story devastating.
If you have been sleeping on NieR: Automata, the voice acting alone is reason enough to finally sit down with it.














