Drag-On Dragoon: Utahime Five

Utahime Five is a prequel to the video game Drakengard 3 set two years before the events of the game. Originally I went into watching this while playing Drakengard 3, after beating the first two boss battles I was hoping I'd get some answers as to why Zero hates her sisters so much. Unfortunately this manga doesn't cover this HOWEVER, I do think this is a good starting point to either read before Drakengard 3 or while playing it. This story is set two years before the events shown in the game, the main focus is on the sisters while Zero is more so a sidecharacter, Zero already wants to kill her sisters here and they view her as a "traitor" I'm hoping the reasoning for this gets explained in the game as it isn't really explained at all here. The characters are younger, and the manga begins more on the silly side of things, almost feeling like it's going to be an adventure moe spin off of the sisters as loli's rather than a canonical prequel, even with references to other anime at some points, however it quickly gets extremely dark, and as expected from this series quickly gets quite graphic. The manga has a focus on showing the bond between the sisters, how much they all need and rely on each other, and how they ESPEICALLY rely on the oldest sister One who can be considered the main character of this manga. Honestly after reading this having yet to finish the game with no answers as to why Zero hates her sisters so much, it made me dislike Zero somewhat. Her sisters are wonderful and well intentioned, only wanting to protect the world using their powers as intoners that normal humans don't have, I can't help but feel disdain towards her knowing the violent acts she commits during the game against them. I'd highly recommend reading this especially if you're a fan of the Draken/NieR franchise, it can help introduce you to the main cast of Drakengard 3 and get a better understanding of their stories. It's a good starting point for the series and is at the moment set at the earliest point in time we currently have in the Draken/NieR timeline in the year 998.