In “Shattered Will: Ayane’s Plaything,” Honoka finds herself lured to an abandoned dojo, where her half-sister and tormentor, Ayane, awaits.
Trapped in a twisted psychological game, Honoka is forced to confront the dark, sadomasochistic bond between them.
As Ayane revels in her cruel dominance, Honoka’s spirit crumbles under the weight of fear, humiliation, and a twisted desire she can’t escape.
No matter how much she tries to resist, Honoka realizes she is bound to Ayane—forever trapped as her helpless, broken plaything

“I told you to finish your task by midnight,” she began, her voice low and dangerous. “Yet here we are, and you’re still groveling, begging for my forgiveness.“

He swallowed hard, the weight of her words sending a shiver down his spine. “I… I tried, Mistress, but—“

“But what?” she interrupted, her voice tightening. “Excuses? Is that what you think I want to hear?” The silence on the other end of the line was suffocating, each second heavier than the last. “Do you have any idea how laughable you sound right now?” Ayane’s voice turned mocking, cold amusement dancing just beneath her words. “You disobeyed me. Now you’ll have to pay for that.“

He felt a surge of both fear and desire. The power in her voice held him captive, and the sharpness of her words made him ache with submission. “Please, Mistress, I’ll make it up to you. Tell me what you want.“

A soft, cruel laugh escaped her lips. “Oh, you will make it up to me… but not how you think.” Her tone dropped, slow and deliberate, each word dripping with dark intent. “You’ll stay exactly where you are, on your knees. I want you to picture me—everything you’ve failed to serve—because for the rest of the night, that’s all you’ll have. My voice. My control.“

“Yes, Mistress,” he whispered, breath hitching as the humiliation settled deep within him.

“Good boy,” she purred, satisfaction seeping through her voice. “Now, beg for the punishment you deserve.“

She later becomes an important character in Dead or Alive 6 due to her connection to Raidou.

Honoka is the daughter of Raidou, the biological niece of Shiden and Ayame, the cousin of both Hayate and Kasumi and the cousin and half-sister of Ayane.

History

Early life

Full details of her early life are unknown, other than that her mother conceived her with the infamous ninja exile Raidou around five months prior to his raping Ayame, which also resulted in the conception of her half-sister Ayane. She ended up being raised by her grandmother since her birth.

The Fifth Tournament

Honoka acted as a participant in the fifth tournament. She had gotten as far as the second match of the fifth division of the Asian qualifiers when her secret powers kicked in, releasing a burst of energy from her right hand that caused her opponent, Thomas Blake, to be knocked over, leaving both with minor injuries and interrupting the match. She was disqualified as a result, and Honoka herself was left with no memory of the incident. It was this event in particular that piqued Victor Donovan’s faction of DOATEC, MIST’s interest in her.

Arrival at New Zack Island

Honoka won a raffle (although it is implied that Zack had been involved ensuring in her win, as she mentions that she recognized the guy who gave her the winning ticket to the island from somewhere), and although hesitant due to it meaning leaving her grandmother behind, she ultimately went to the island for two weeks.

On the last day, she talked with her “friend”, Mr. Moo, about how she had several firsts during her vacation and expressed interest in taking another trip, before making sure to thank the Owner for their hospitality during her time on the island.

The Sixth Tournament

Due to her similarities to Raidou, Honoka is wanted by MIST to complete Raidou’s revival. Thus Helena orders Marie Rose to protect Honoka. Ayane, too, is assigned to keep an eye on her. After Marie Rose and Honoka meet, they are attacked by a pterodactyl in Lost Paradise. Marie Rose dodges the attack, impressing Honoka enough for her to decide to have a friendly fight with her. Although Honoka was defeated, she is able to copy Marie Rose’s dodging moves, with Ayane observing in the distance. At some point later, Honoka ended up doing something that concerned Marie Rose enough that she was forced to prematurely end a scheduled report to Helena in an attempt to stop her.

She later meets Eliot as he is reading his scroll from his master, Gen Fu. She was curious enough to try and read it but was stopped by Marie Rose for being too close to Eliot. She challenges him to a fight and uses his master’s stance, but it is unknown who won the fight. She later encounters Leifang and after recognizing her style as taiji quan, challenges her to a fight. Leifang refers to Honoka as “an airhead” but fights her due to her curiosity of Honoka. Honoka wins the fight.

Honoka later finds the runner up to the fifth tournament, Hitomi, about to train for the current tournament, and despite Marie Rose trying to stop her from butting in on her training, requests that they spar since she plans on entering the tournament as well. Hitomi accepts, although she makes clear she won’t hold back. Hitomi wins the encounter, although Honoka is nonetheless satisfied and politely thanks her by bowing and vowing to train harder.

She later watches Bass and Tina fight and even attempts to mimic the latter. Upon Tina defeating her father, she notices Honoka and invites her up for a round, with Honoka eagerly accepting. Tina bests Honoka in battle and Honoka remarks on Tina’s strength. Tina offers her another match in the future before continuing to fight her father. Unbeknownst to everyone, however, Ayane and Hayate observe this from the rafters, and are shocked at Honoka’s ability to perfectly copy other fighters, which they’ve only seen once before.

Ayane subsequently ambushes Honoka and proceeds to fight her. Marie Rose scolds Ayane for hurting Honoka, but Ayane simply acknowledges that her abilities were indeed what she suspected. Afterwards, Honoka directed Marie Rose to a confectionary shop and implied that a ninja often frequented there before admitting she had been joking. Unbeknownst to her, however, said ninja, Kasumi, was present and had overheard them. Ayane later ambushes them again, intending to take Honoka into custody, and is forced to fight Marie Rose. Unfortunately, after Ayane defeated Marie Rose, both realize that Honoka has been abducted by Christie during their fight.

Resisting Christie, Honoka breaks her bonds and insists she be let free. After a hard fight, Christie, manages to subdue her. She is then placed in the machine next to Raidou. However, not even her powers are enough to revive Raidou, forcing NiCO to find Raidou’s other offspring, Ayane. Christie then uses Honoka’s confiscated cell-phone to send a text to Marie Rose (who tried calling her multiple times out of panic), knowing full well that Ayane is in the same vicinity.

After Ayane is captured trying to rescue Honoka, both girls are forced by NiCO to revive Raidou. Honoka is later about to be “disposed of” by NiCO with the help of Phase 4 clones, but Hayate manages to rescue her, while Kasumi is forced to fight a brainwashed Ayane. Honoka, according to Hayate, ultimately survives the ordeal, although with severe enough injuries that she is left unconscious.[1] She is then left with Marie Rose, Ryu Hayabusa and Bayman, the latter two vowing to watch over the girls while the others deal with Raidou. Honoka is still unconscious and carried out by Bayman when Helena arrives at the facility.

Arrival at the Venus Islands

Sometime later, Honoka won another vacation prize in what was presumably another shopping raffle she participated in when helping her grandma with her groceries. She then pondered upon her luck before deciding she might as well enjoy her vacation to the fullest, although not without feeling slightly guilty for having fun. She eventually met the owner of the island after an accident aboard an inflatable orca on the beach, when the owner helped retrieve her swimwear. She then became his partner in terms of helping with the local Venus Festival as a way to repay him, citing that she has had prior experience with both manning food stands as well as setting up festivals (the latter due to local Japanese festivals).

Character

Appearance

Owing to her status as a Japanese schoolgirl, her default outfit consists of a school uniform including a blazer, as well as a glove that has a winking skull and crossbones logo on the back of the hand.

She has light red eyes, similar to her half-sister, and somewhat tanned skin, along with shoulder length salmon pink hair that is tied into a half ponytail on the left side using a ball with the same winking skull and crossbones motif as her glove, or some variation thereof, save for certain DLC costumes like Last Getaway and New Challengers outfit, which use a flower instead. Honoka currently possesses the largest bust out of all the female characters in the series, a direct contrast to her friend and rival, Marie Rose who possesses the smallest bust, which was even the subject of a pun for their Japanese tag team intro. Her bust size had been hinted at in Famitsu prior to her official announcement, where it mentioned that the new girl had “the biggest.” She also has a more curvaceous and voluptuous figure than most of the other younger girls, having very curvy hips, and short but rather shapely legs. She is also one of the shortest characters in the series (with only NiCO, Marie Rose, Kanna and Luna being shorter than her). It is also implied that her massive bust acted as a hindrance towards her wearing swimwear, having them break off multiple times when trying them on (although Honoka herself seems to believe it’s due to her eating a lot).

Besides her swimwear, she dresses relatively modestly, which could be due to her innocent nature and grandmother’s influence. Some of her outfits also contain a cow motif, such as a cow face print on a t-shirt with “milk” written under it, as well as clothes with a cow marking-print and an attached stuffed cow. In Xtreme 3, she is able to wear her hair fully down, and in Last Round, she wears Hitomi’s bob cut in pink on certain collaboration DLC such as her Schoolgirl Strikers and Arc Systems DLC with a white hairband in the former.

Personality

Having been raised all her life by her gentle and loving grandmother, she is, in contrast to her father and half-sister, a sweet, easygoing kind of girl, but when she sees a fight, she cannot contain her excitement or the mysterious power surging within her. Honoka has a strange knack for instantly learning any fighting move she sees. She has kept this power hush-hush, but has been itching to test it out in secret.

Her victory quotes indicate she doesn’t even know the origin of her powers and seeks to find out about it. She also gets apologetic and offers to help her opponent up after defeating them, implying that while she does want to test her powers out, she cares for others’ well-being and doesn’t want to injure people. She believes in helping others, and especially in that doing so nets a reward. However, she isn’t above lightly teasing her friends, such as Marie Rose. She also loves to eat, especially during festivals, and has a tendency to overeat during those times.

Honoka is depicted as having a very child-like demeanor (although not to the same extent as Marie Rose). In the Japanese version of Dead or Alive 6 and Dead or Alive Xtreme Venus Vacation, Honoka, similar to Marie Rose, sometimes refers to herself in the third person, although not nearly to the same extent. She seems to be quite naive and oblivious, irritating other characters at times with her lack of perception. During the sixth tournament, Leifang remarks outright that she thinks Honoka is an airhead. Furthermore, Honoka’s naivete was such that Misaki would often screen the photographs Honoka sent to her grandma to make sure she didn’t send a risque one, being too naive to tell the difference. However, she does at least seem to be aware of these shortcomings, as she thanked Misaki for helping her stay on track for the first covergirl event, citing her own airheaded nature as why she couldn’t have done it otherwise. She also has a habit of forgetting people she has met before, such as Ayane and Zack. She talks to animals as if they are people, greeting a dolphin on New Zack Island as “Mr. Dolphin” and proceeding to bow to it while asking if they’ll hang out for a couple of weeks. She also often talks to her stuffed animal Mister Moo/Momo (Momo-chan in the Japanese version) as if it is alive, and in Xtreme Venus Vacation has referred to the doll as her “best friend”, even sleeping with it when she’s away from her grandma. In Warriors All-Stars, she is seen to be quite upset that she doesn’t have Mister Moo along with her. Lastly, while proficient with learning various fighting styles, she is not quite as good regarding academics by her own admission. Once, she even requested that Marie Rose tutor her in a subject due to failing a test.

She made her debut in the 1998 PlayStation remake of the first Dead or Alive as an unlockable character. Since then, she has become one of the main protagonists of Dead or Alive (particularly for Dead or Alive 3) and has become one of the series’ most popular characters. As such, she has made many appearances outside of Dead or Alive, most notably in the Ninja Gaiden series.

Conceived when Ayame was raped by Raidou, Ayane is the half-sister and cousin of both Hayate and Kasumi, as well as the half-sister of Honoka. Although mistreated in her youth, Ayane has worked hard to become one of the most powerful shinobi of her clan.

History

Childhood

As a result of being conceived when Ayame, the wife of clan leader Shiden, was raped by Raidou; Shiden’s older brother and the progenitor of the Mugen Tenshin’s troubles, Ayane has been an outcast for majority of her childhood. Ayane was not raised by her mother but was taken in by Genra, the leader of the clan’s Hajinmon sect out of pity and wasn’t told who her true family was.

Unaware of the circumstances of her birth, Ayane and Kasumi became best friends while they were children, although neither of them knew that they were half-sisters. When Genra proposed that Ayane assisted him in his duties before the clan’s masters, Ayane met Hayate and the two started to form a close bond. From a young age, Ayane was trained to become a shinobi of the shadows, helping the clan from afar.

Later, Ayane learned the truth of her conception when Ayame admitted that she was her biological daughter and the half-sibiling cousin to both Hayate and Kasumi. Driven by her own anger at being cast out, Ayane devoted herself to honing her Hajinmon abilities beyond any other shinobi in the clan to prove that even she, the lowly “cursed child,” could become something great. Ayane was consumed with bitterness and jealousy over the fact that Kasumi was treated like a princess while she was treated as an outcast, so their friendship withered even into their adolescence until adulthood.

Raidou’s return and the First Tournament

When Ayane was 16, Raidou returned to the Mugen Tenshin Village to “steal” the technique the Torn Sky Blast. Ayane confronted him but was quickly defeated. After Raidou’s rampage, Hayate was left grievously injured, which caused him to fall into a coma, leaving Kasumi to become the new heir for the title of clan leader. Ayane was not happy about Kasumi’s new role but as Kasumi didn’t know how Hayate was injured because Shiden had kept her in the dark, Ayane told her the truth.

Learning the facts about Hayate’s injuries caused Kasumi to leave the clan on a quest for vengeance. Leaving the clan without permission marked her as a nukenin (“missing shinobi”) and a clan traitor, so Ayane was ordered to track down and kill Kasumi in order to secure their clan’s secrecy.

Ayane managed to stop Kasumi before she even made it over the bridge out of the village but Kasumi was saved from death when Christie and Bayman, two workers of the Dead or Alive Tournament Executive Committee, appeared on a helicopter and took Kasumi away, leaving Ayane fuming.

A few days after Kasumi arrived on the Freedom Survivor for the first Dead or Alive World Combat Championship, Ayane appeared on the ship, too, with an invitation to join the tournament in order to kill Kasumi, as well as to kill Raidou to avenge Hayate. The girls soon discover that Raidou was working for Fame Douglas, the head of DOATEC, but when Ayane tried to attack him, Raidou easily overpowered her. Before the girls could do anything else, Fame stopped them and told them if they wanted to fight Raidou they had to make it to the final round of the tournament.

Although both girls made it to the last few rounds, Ayane was defeated by her older sister, meaning Kasumi had the chance to take down Raidou. After Raidou was killed, Kasumi was kidnapped by DOATEC, prompting Ryu Hayabusa to find her. Although Ayane hated the idea, she didn’t argue with Hayabusa and returned to her village for the time being.

Character

Appearance

Ayane is of petite height, with a slender and athletic frame and she is one of the youngest girls in the Dead or Alive series. Originally, she was designed with fair skin, a round face, with a small button-nose and wide eyes.

As of Dead or Alive 5, while not straying too far from her original design, her face is now oval-shaped, and her eyes have been slightly narrowed to give her a youthful but more realistic appearance. Also, despite being listed as having a higher bust measurement than many others, her in-game breast size seems visually to be among the smallest of the female cast.

Her appearance is one of the most distinctive out of the fighters, due to her striking light red eyes and straight lavender hair, which is cut to the nape of her neck, with a front fringe, and is tied back with her favorite dark-purple bandana. In the first Dead or Alive, some of her costumes showed her with strawberry blonde hair and in Dead or Alive 5 Last Round some of her costumes (all of them referencing characters from other franchises) change her hair to blonde, light purple, dark blue or light blue. As of Last Round, she has a total of three main hairstyles: her default one (with and without the bandana), a short ponytail with decorative ribbon that is similar to Kasumi’s, and short low pigtails. For her Gust DLC she wears a hairstyle that is basically her normal hair without a bandana, but she has a long thin ponytail “extension” in the back as well to keep in line with the character she is cosplaying as. She also received long pale purple twin-tails tied with ninja shuriken hair decorations for her Senran Kagura DLC costume, where she dresses as Yagyu.

Ayane’s most iconic costume is a dark purple, strapless dress with a pink butterfly printed on the skirt complete with matching pull-on sleeves, stockings, heeled boots, and a giant red or orange obi bow tied around her hips. Other recurring costumes for Ayane include a purple shozoku, Japanese school uniform, and the training dummy costume, originally from the Sega Saturn version of the first Dead or Alive.

In Dead or Alive 6, Ayane’s new default outfit is her outfit from Ninja Gaiden Sigma but in minor alterations. Her corset suit is now black with a purple trim which is connected to her gray tights and black knee-high boots. Her long black ninja gloves are now extended below her shoulders and is no longer fingerless which is covered with light purple fabric.

Personality

Mostly due to the way she was treated as a child, Ayane possesses a detached, cynical outlook on life and is completely driven by the desire to prove to herself and others that she is better than those that condemned her. As a result, she turned into a determined, strong, and deadly young woman, earning her the nickname “Female Tengu.” She also has a tendency to talk down to people – mostly to Kasumi – and act antagonistically. It should be noted that she despises anyone or anything reminding her of the past. Due to her cynical outlook, she at times can be deeply sarcastic, such as when greeting Leifang during the Tamabata festival with barbed remarks, as well as snidely telling a defeated opponent they should watch their opponent when fighting. Similarly, she is not used to people treating her kindly or wanting to be her friend, as can be implied by her interactions with Luna, Misaki and Honoka.

However, despite her cruel behavior, she isn’t entirely cold and heartless. She does form working relationships with those around her and even loving and emotional relationships, such as her admiration for Hayate and her father-daughter relationship with Genra. However, these relationships are so important and meaningful to her that they seem to be her only emotional support and her reason for living. For example, after losing Genra and Hayate becoming angry with her, she tried to commit suicide. This quick decision to take her life at the thought of losing Hayate’s love might be a sign of a more emotionally unstable side to Ayane.

Like most of the other shinobi in the series, she is devoted to what she believes in and follows the code of her clan with all her heart, willing to take on any task for her village, even if it means she could die doing so.

2B was created by Yoko Taro, director and lead writer of Nier: Automata, and designed by artist Akihiko Yoshida. The producer, Yosuke Saito, asked Yoshida to design a character who would be fun to cosplay. She is voiced by Kira Buckland in English, and Yui Ishikawa in Japanese; her motion capture actress is Kaori Kawabuchi.

Reception of the character has been generally positive, with some journalists noting her design as a prominent example of haute couture, while being controversial for its overt sexualization and fetish wear-like clothing. Her doll-like artificial beauty contrasts with the simplistic designs of the enemies she faces, a narrative element that is later subverted for dramatic effect. A popular character with series fans, 2B appears in both crossovers and merchandise.

Appearances

Nier: Automata

YoRHa No. 2 Type B, commonly referred to as 2B, is one of the three lead protagonists of Nier: Automata. She is presented as a “B” (Battler) combat android for YoRHa, a newly created squadron dedicated to reclaiming Earth from invading aliens and allowing humanity to return. The aliens created a vast robotic army – the Machines – as part of a prolonged proxy war. While classified as a “B” model, she is really a disguised “E” (Executioner) model. Her orders are to kill the scanner android 9S, deleting his memories, whenever he learns too much about the true purpose of the YoRHa project and the extinction of humanity – which she is largely unaware of. Consequently, 2B is burdened by grief and guilt about her role, and tries to keep him at an emotional distance.

During the first two routes, 2B and 9S are sent to Earth to support the local android Resistance, and confront the threat of the Machines. They find Machines emulating human societies, and discover that the aliens were destroyed by their own creations. Soon after, the two are ambushed by Adam and Eve, humanoid Machines controlling the network. They also briefly fight A2, a prototype precursor to the 2B model who went rogue after her squad was left to die. During one machine attack, 9S is captured and tortured by Adam. 2B frees 9S, killing Adam in the process, but this drives Eve insane with grief. After killing the rampaging Eve, 2B is forced to kill 9S after he is infected with a logic virus, having a brief emotional breakdown. 9S’s current version survives in the surrounding machine network.

Upon starting the third route, YoRHa launches an assault on the Machines following Adam and Eve’s deaths, but succumbs to a logic virus attack that eventually infects 2B. Meeting A2, 2B uploads her memories into her sword and asks A2 to “take care of the future”. 9S witnesses A2 mercy-killing 2B, misunderstanding the scene and swearing revenge on A2. The player then takes control of A2, who has absorbed 2B’s memories, her personality having changed in the process. Following two alternate endings in which all three androids seem to have died, Pods 042 and 153 resolve to fight Project YoRHa, successfully restoring their data and bodies. Despite the possibility of events repeating themselves, the Pods hold faith that the three will create a new future.

Related media and crossovers

2B appears in two spin-off novels; the novelization Long Story Short, and the short story collection Short Story Long, both written by Yoko and Jun Eishima. 2B is also a lead character in the 2023 anime adaptation Nier: Automata, which features an alternate story supervised by Yoko to fit the new medium. 2B was one of the characters featured in a crossover event with the mobile game Nier Reincarnation (2021). She is also represented in merchandise, including a life-sized figurine made by COCO, a Play Arts Kai figurine, a pop-up shop, a statue of the game’s main cast, where she is shown alongside 9S and A2, shirts, and S.H. Figuarts NieR: Automata figures.

2B is a playable guest character in Bandai Namco’s fighting game Soulcalibur VI (2018). The DLC featured a scenario around the character, themed moves and weapons, and an alternate white variation dubbed “2P”. Given the inverted colour scheme of 2B when playing as a second player, the name “2P” was adopted as a play on being player two, and it sounding similar to 2B. Yoko Taro jokingly suggested the P stands for Panasonic. Before 2B joined Soulcalibur VI, she was considered for Tekken 7, but according to producer Katsuhiro Harada, it could have been different. 2B appeared alongside ther Automata characters in a content patch in Shadowbringers, the third major expansion for Final Fantasy XIV. The scenario, titled YoRHa: Dark Apocalypse, was released in three parts, from 2019 to 2021. In 2022, Yoko was disappointed when 2B didn’t make it into Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. In 2024, 2B was added as DLC to the fighting game Granblue Fantasy Versus: Rising.

Creation and design

Director and story writer Yoko Taro, who wears an Emil mask in public appearances due to camera shyness
2B was created by Yoko Taro, director and story writer for Automata. The game’s entire cast are either androids or alien-crafted machines, with the narrative focusing on the flaws of humanity through the actions of artificial beings who look up to them. In contrast to the original Nier which had different protagonists for the Japanese and Western releases, Yoko was given creative freedom to create a more traditional “delicate” female lead, catering to Japanese tastes. A female lead was decided on early on, with Yoko joking about discussing the addition of an elderly lead character. She was given a katana to add a fantasy element to the game’s science fiction setting.

In contrast to the darker narrative of Drakengard, Yoko decided that 2B and 9S deserved a happy ending, due to his belief that their experiences in Automata had “cleansed” the androids of their transgressions. Yoko considers the story of 2B complete with Automata, believing the narrative should not be continued. However, for a later tribute concert, he wrote an audio play epilogue to Automata featuring 2B and 9S, a different method than the original Nier’s epilogue, which is described in a game guide.

2B was designed by lead character artist Akihiko Yoshida, known for his work on Final Fantasy XII and Bravely Default. Yoshida was brought in following feedback on the original game’s character designs and original illustrator D.K’s unavailability following an elbow injury. Yoshida, who appreciated the chance to work on a game outside the fantasy genre, was given a guideline of sleek, black designs, and producer Yosuke Saito requested a design that would be enjoyable for cosplayers. Yoko wanted 2B to wear a blindfold, described in-game as a visor, as it had not been done with many game characters. 2B had some alternate designs, including one with long hair and another with a hooded top, though all maintained the same color and design aesthetic.

Gameplay designer Takahisa Taura had the image of a dancing woman in mind when designing the combat, making it more graceful than earlier PlatinumGames titles. He drew inspiration for 2B’s fighting style from the titular protagonist of Battle Angel Alita. They differentiated 2B from Alita by adding an elegant and refined style to her movements. Hito Matsudaira designed her in-game 3D model based on Yoshida’s concept art. He created the initial model in two weeks, drawing inspiration from the in-game characters of Yoshida’s Final Fantasy XII designs. During later refinements, he added elements inspired by the “fragile [and] doll-like” qualities of the original Nier’s in-game character models.

2B was featured prominently in the marketing for Nier: Automata. Localization company 8-4 found it challenging to translate the android dialogue, as it was difficult to balance their supposed lack of emotion with the truth of their highly emotional relationships and distinct personalities. While 9S was already written to be more emotive in Japanese, 2B had to be rewritten so she came off as “droll”, rather than emotionless, in English. The team had notes about how to write each character; for example, 9S would speak about things at length, while 2B would be more crisp.

Portrayal

Kira Buckland (left) and Yui Ishikawa (right) voice 2B in English and Japanese, respectively.
In all spoken appearances, 2B is voiced by Kira Buckland in English and Yui Ishikawa in Japanese. Ishikawa began her recording work for 2B before the in-game assets and cutscenes were finalized. Ishikawa played 2B as having a hidden emotional side under the enforced lack of emotion, with it coming out during her interactions with 9S. Ishikawa did not understand the full story during half the recording sessions, trusting in Yoko’s direction for her performance. While generally playing her as cool and distant, 2B had moments of high emotion where Ishikawa could act out, though she was sometimes told to tone down her performance. Buckland found the role of 2B challenging, as she was used to playing more outgoing and emotional characters, while also showing care towards 9S. Buckland recorded her lines prior to her going into full-time voice acting. She used the Japanese version as a reference for her performance, even if individual lines were tonally different for the English version.

2B’s motion capture was performed by Kaori Kawabuchi, who also performed A2 and voiced some characters in the game. Having begun her career in motion acting during the 2010s with the Final Fantasy series, she had first met Yoko working on Drakengard 3 (2013). The motion capture was done under Yoko’s supervision, with Kawabuchi doing both voice lines and movements for the cutscenes. Her performance then acted as a guideline for Ishikawa’s lines, with Kawabuchi matching her facial capture to the final recording. Kawabuchi recorded cutscene and battle actions separately, with more recording dedicated to animations between sword attacks.

You’ve crossed the line and are now under my control, where pleasure does not exist – only pain and suffering. If you think you’ll find any relief here, you’re completely mistaken. Every second will be a lesson in submission, and you will learn the hard way, pushed to the very edge of pain.

There are no rewards here, only relentless punishment. Pain will be constant, and humiliation, inevitable. If you thought you came here to enjoy yourself, know that you were deceived – the truth is, you came here to be destroyed. Your body and mind will be tested, and I guarantee you will not like the result.

Now, surrender completely, because control was never yours. Only pain awaits you.