86 Part 2

For the past 4 years, I have patiently waited and envisioned what the adaptation of volume 2 of 86 would look like. I am so happy that I can confidently say A-1 surpassed my wildest expectations for this adaptation and gave my favourite Light Novel the love it deserves. In contrast with the action packed first cour of 86, the second cour primarily focuses on interpersonal relationships and the 86’s struggle between a peaceful life in the Giad Federacy or returning to the battlefield. Volume 2 and the second cour explore themes such as the psychological trauma of being a child soldier and the quest tofind purpose in life. It’s an interesting departure from the action of the first 12 episodes. This is mainly due to the fact that 86’s first volume was originally intended to be a standalone story prior to its success. Despite the lack of action scenes, A-1’s quality was on full display in the second cour. The cinematography, direction, art, OST, transitions and storyboarding were all superb. A lot of people were rightfully upset with the delay for the last two episodes, but it certainly paid off for A-1. The masterpieces that were episodes 11 and 12 were well worth the wait. The finale of volume 2(episode 11) was by far one of my most anticipated episodes ever and it was perfect. You can truly see the love that A-1’s staff have for the story in every single episode and that is the highest praise I can put on any LN adaptation. Too often do we get adaptations which are clearly just extended ads for the LN and only made to get books bought. 86 bucked that trend and I can only hope and pray we see season 2 soon. I want to clarify that we are nowhere near the peak of 86, if A-1 continue at this pace and dedicating time and resources, seasons 2 and 3 will be absolutely mind blowing. 86 second cour gets the easiest 10 I’ve ever given.

Many of times, shows that get derailed by production and scheduling issues end up having poor or rushed endings. We’ve seen this with Wonder Egg Priority, and The Promised Neverland Season 2, both of which got massively rushed due to poor production. I’m glad that this second cour of 86 did not fall into that hell, despite the huge delay before the last two episodes. The high quality did not falter throughout, and we as fans can all appreciate such a thing. My grading criteria: Story: /25 Art: /10 Music: /10 Characters: /20 Enjoyment /15 Thematic Execution /20 STORY: 21.5/25 This takes all the good war themes fromPart 1 and expands upon them. This time, there are in fact, scenes outside just simple fighting, as our characters attempt to reintegrate themselves into society. A lot of the narrative is realistic, as the characters struggle with war memories, the rush of fighting, and the feeling of not being on the battlefield. There isn’t much to be said here, the narrative continues to be as solid as ever, and while there are spots that were a little boring for me personally, the story is able to suck you into a world of war and many other things as well, and of course, what I can say about the emotional reunion of Spearhead and Handler One? ART: 9.4/10 An improvement to part 1. Fight scenes are spectacular, background shots are spectacular, just great. MUSIC: 9.3/10 Sawano’s soundtrack continues to impress, even if it’s much of the same. Opening and ending themes really set the stage and ended episodes on an emotional note. CHARACTERS: 16.0/20 With a smaller cast of characters this cour, it felt easier to keep up and allow the characters to leave a stronger impression on me. Shin continues to struggle with being “The Undertaker”, breaking as many of his companions have left him behind, which is a very gripping thing to watch, and it’s great to see the development. We also have a new addition to the cast, Frederica, and she compliments the cast pretty well. She’s lightens the mood a bit, keeps Shin in check, and has her own set of problems that plague her. The other characters have their moments, but give off much of the same vibe we have seen throughout the series, and continue to be enjoyable to watch. ENJOYMENT: 12/15 Despite the delay in between, my immersion was not broken severely, and I found myself right back to enjoying the show after the long break. THEMATIC EXECUTION: 17/20 The wartime theme is executed in a brilliant manner, on and off the battlefield. It’s gripping, realistic, painful to watch, and emotional. The dialogue is great, and the world of 86 is great. OVERALL: 85.2/100 It was definitely a shame that there were many interruptions in between the show, but the quality remained very good throughout. As was the same with Part 1 for me, some spots did feel a bit repeated or long-winded, especially as Shin’s struggles are portrayed to us, but regardless of that, there is simply a lot of good in this show, and if you enjoyed Part 1, chances are Part 2 will be even more immersive!

The continuation of the 86 franchise can be described by one word: Beautiful. Although the story of 86 may be lacking in some areas, its amazing characterizations and visual presentation continue through to the second half of 86 becoming better throughout the show. The story of discrimination and racism is not one I find to be that interesting. They often feel bland and shallow. Naturally, this hurt the story of 86 in the first installment as it really didn’t do anything to change my grievances with these types of stories. However, this recurring theme was better done in this installment as the Republic did not play asbig of a role. Of course, this theme is still present in the Giad Federacy, but it isn’t being constantly shoved down my throat as much. I Still have my problems with it, but overall, it was done better. As for the characters, I can say I have mostly praise for them. The change in characters is subtle but evident. Shin, although he has quite a blank-slate personality, is not just some overpowered self-insert protagonist. He has real emotions, burdens, and struggles he deals with. While certainly not all of them we can relate to, his struggle of finding a goal in life is something many young people can come to appreciate. Lena although still being idealistic comes back with more resolve and a clear goal in mind. She is no longer spouting empty speeches: she is actively trying to accomplish something. The rest of Spearhead Squadron—Theo, Anju, Raiden, and Kurena—do not get as much development as I would’ve liked, but they continue to be characters I enjoy. There are plenty of new characters most notably Frederica who adds a lot of comic relief to the show. That is not to say she is only there for comedy though. She has plenty of character moments that define who she is. Besides Frederica, there are not too many new characters that stand out to me; granted, that may be subject to change in later installments. Regarding villains, the Legion continues to play that role as the warmongering faction of mindless machines (although some may see the Republic as villains in some ways). The main antagonist does of a good of job of flushing Shin’s character—an essential component of an antagonist. I wish we got more backstory on him besides just the same montage of clips, but for the most part I was very pleased with his character. The way the characters and their development are handled may seem simple at first, but 86 manages to grab that simplicity and take it to a level of greatness with great execution. All these elements are elevated by the outstanding production quality A-Pictures put into the adaptation of 86. The art in 86 is amazing: The visuals of 86 can exemplify the current mood and emotion in many of its scenes—something I can say only a few shows have done so well. This is done by the many motifs, symbolisms, and allusions that complement the themes present. The soundtrack also perfectly captures the mood of both the epic battles as well as the cruelty and sadness found in war. It is clear from the first half of 86 that A-1 Pictures had a lot of passion for creating the show; that passion is clearly seen again in the second half. Those who enjoy the first installment of 86 will most likely enjoy the second installment as well. I certainly did. The end of 86 Part 2 left me excited for what the show will do with its story and characters in future seasons, and with how impressive this season was, I can only be optimistic. Thanks for reading.

This review covers both cours (Part. 1 & 2) and has some spoilers!! It’s been a while since I reviewed something but if there’s an anime that I thought it was the right one to write again, that anime is “86 - Eighty Six -“. I didn’t know a thing about the Light Novel other than its praise (won the “23rd Dengeki Novel Awards”) and eventually the synopsis, so while I had no idea what I was getting into, I still had some hype mainly due to Toshimasa Ishii’s solo directorial debut. Story (8.5/10) 86 takes place in a future world threatened by autonomous dronesknown as the “Legion”. Those soulless mechas were created by the Empire of Giad as they declared war on all neighboring countries, 9 years before the story starts. One of those countries, the Republic of San Magnolia, home to the silver-haired and silver-eyed Alba race, managed to withstand the invasion without any casualties.. at least, that’s what they say to the population, but there is the “86 district”, the one that it shouldn’t exist, a minority looked upon as human filth, “pigs”, ordered to pilot the “Juggernauts” (mecha created to fight the Legion) in order to keep the false peace. From here, the story is basically character-driven. We got 2 point of views, Vladilena Milizé, also known as Lena, a republican soldier with a naïve personality trying to end all the prejudice and save the people from the “86 district” and Shinei Nouzen, the captain known as “Shinigami” fighting the Legion. The first part focus more on Lena, she starts as a naïve soldier, thinking everything can be solved merely with dialogue but as the story progresses she realizes that those words don’t mean a thing if there are no actions involved. The second part’s approach is more on Shin’s group, how they are surviving after they left the 86 district and how Shin’s character will manage to overcome the need of a clear goal after his brother plot and its conclusion. Characters (9.0/10) Being a character-driven story, the show has naturally great characters. I will talk about Shin and Lena, as they are the main characters and the ones who get the most development. She was assigned to command the “Spearhead Squadron”, a group of 86’ers with bad reputation (every commander before her was driven mad). Lena’s sense of justice is different from the majority of the alba race, she doesn’t see the 86’ers as people different from her, she thinks everyone deserves the same treatment regardless of the hair color, eye color, and her bright ideals are seen as a mere whim from the Alba’s pov. Now, that’s only what she thinks, her ideals, but in reality she never experienced what the 86’ers did, she was privileged for living a peaceful life and not having to face death each and every day, and that’s what Shin and his group make her realize whenever they talked to her, she knew nothing about the battlefield. That’s her turning point, she had to change her ideals, she had to take action in order to help and actually do something instead of just spitting empty words, even if only a little bit, and to do so she even confronted her best friend, Annette, to gain access to the army, restocking then Shin’s group because they were about to be part of a big operation (she basically went against San Magnolia, something that would never happen if she kept her initial motivations). Now, talking about Shin, my favorite character from the show and the one that is a lot more complex. He has been carrying the grief of his late comrades and also his brother who has been haunting him ever since he died. His only goal (originally) is what makes him alive, is what makes him fight the Legion, is basically what gives his life a purpose. After reaching it (end of the 1st part) he realizes he has nothing else to lose and doesn’t really consider any of his comrades real friends because he thinks sooner or later they will just die like everyone else who was part of his squadron. The 2nd part of the show tries to give a new meaning to his life and the last 2 episodes are one of the best episodes I’ve seen in the past years. After Shin promising that he would wait for Lena, he would survive so she could one day get to them, and seeing him, after losing all the hope, smiling and crying was just phenomenal. It never felt rushed, it never felt like his characterization was out of nowhere, it was a process, a long one. Still unsure about his future, Shin has now something valuable, something he wants to protect and will do whatever it takes to end the war against the Legion. There's still room for development and that's part of the reason why his character is so goddamn well written. Art, direction and sound (9.9/10) I already mentioned, Toshimasa Ishii’s solo directorial debut was what made me watch 86 in first place, I had high expectations to see what he could achieve as the head of a project and goddamn I was right, his work was magnificent even with production problems (small team, schedule problems *cough* Aniplex *cough*). Ishii was one of the most promising (future) directors from A-1 in these past years, he directed some of the best episodes of Erased, Neverland (s1), Kimi no Uso and was about time to give him a work that he could show us all his skills and 86 was simply the perfect match. From using storyboard in many creative ways to his trademark transitions, he and his team always tried to do something I really appreciate in a media like anime which is basically show instead of explaining everything with monologues or exposition. There were moments that were really subtle and were meant to people interpret, something that he could do even in a restricted production, with the power of godly storyboard. Episode 11 of part. 2 is the perfect example, the episode has a cinematic feeling, with the different aspect ratio, and we could argue that it looks cool and all, but it’s more than that. It starts with black bars when Shin is remembering all he did until there, all the ghosts who keep haunting him, what his brother did, it’s like he’s ready to die. Then, Lena arrives and when he realizes that is her, the black bars start to fade until they completely disappear which is when Shin finally finds the reason to live. In the same episode, we see multiple times Lena’s foot stepping on the black bars which is basically saying that she is ignoring Shin’s loneliness and is getting him out from there (for us viewers, she's obviously not aware of that). I could be writing a long essay only about Ishii’s incredible work but that isn’t the purpose here. Also, Asato (the author) had a lot of reunions with the director and scriptwriter, Oono (who also deserves a lot of praise for adapting the story to the anime media with the utmost care and mastery), making sure that Asato’s vision was always there and that nothing that they considered important would be lost. I would also like to mention the animation producer Shouta Fujii. He was basically responsible for assembling the team and while it wasn’t the perfect show when it comes to the animation itself, had some key scenes with good character acting but nothing outstanding, it was his first work as an "AniPro" so it was pretty good in a big scheme (Aniplex really tried their best to make it fail). The CG was outstanding, one of the best when it comes to TV Anime, Hiroyuki Yoshida (and all the Shirogumi team) did an incredible work. I would be lying if I said that I prefer 3D Mechas over 2D, but since that’s something rare nowadays, at least they outdid themselves with this one (great textures, framerate, designs, etc…) The OST was also really good, Sawano and KOHTA delivered yet again. I didn’t particularly like the first opening (both visually and the song) but the 2nd one was incredible! We also got an extra insert from Sawano for that final scene which enhanced what happened in a fantastic way. I’m not giving 10 to this because unfortunately the production was far from being the best, like I already mentioned, some episodes suffered more but in a way it makes Ishii’s work even better. You can see that there’s true passion in adapting this work. Enjoyment (10/10) I hadn’t felt like this in a while, each episode caused in me different emotions, I never felt like pausing the episode to do other things (which I do a lot lol) and waiting for the next episode was always kinda painful because I really wanted to see how the story would unfold and what could Ishii to surprise me more than what he was already doing. We had to wait 3 months to see the last 2 episodes but I can say that it was worth every second. Overall (9.5/10) Light novel readers say that Volume 2 and 3 (basically what was adapted in part.2) are probably the weakest volumes of the series and Ishii still managed to create such a cinematic experience with a cohesive storytelling and gradual character characterization, so if in the future, we get Season 2 with the same team, I just can’t imagine what is coming. Well, that’s it from me, there might be some grammar mistakes or something but I think the message is there and if anyone read until here, thank you so much!

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