86

86 starts off with an interesting premise if you can ignore the clear parallel to Nazi Germany and their beliefs in the superior Aryan race. But if you can suspend your disbelief, and pretend that everyone has forgotten about Hitler in the distant future, then I suppose the power dynamic between the superior "Alba" and the inferior "86" might hold some water. But okay, perhaps Nazi Germany never existed in this fictional history. Regardless, presenting a concept of genocide disguised as a casualty-less war is nothing short of baffling. It's unbelievable to me that the Republic could actually also brainwash their citizens into such astupid belief, especially when they all used to live side-by-side with the 86. So yeah, the setting of 86 certainly has its issues. But then we begin to dig even deeper. Note: The rest of the review contains spoilers. The Republic and their forced infantry of 86 are fighting against a mysterious enemy known as the "Legion". And that's where things get weird. See the Legion on the other hand doesn't actually have any live humans as pilots but are completely automatous. How the Republic never managed to match this level of technological advancement will surprise you: the Legion are actually formed when the feed on the brains of dead Republic soldiers. When soldiers die, they actually turn into parasitic robot zombies. Yeah. It was at this moment the show completely lost me. Now I could go on and on about how the world building continues to fall apart, but I think I've made my point clear. And here's where we get to the actual crux of the show. Our main protagonist, Lena, leads a special group of 86, notably with one pilot with a codename "Undertaker." What purpose these battles have are never really explained but eventually resolve to vague answers such as "defending the country" and later, "to send them to die." Over the course of the anime, Lena slowly learns the shocking realities of the 86, the Legion, and her own country's dark secrets. Lena is ultimately used as a vessel to help us, the audience, understand the plight of the 86 through the eyes of the uninformed, and I do give credit that this dual perspective leads to a more unique storytelling experience. But in the end that's as far as it really goes. Her impact on the narrative is mostly pathetic and helpless until her "crowning moment" where she overrides protocol to help support her team with a missile strike. But really, with episode after episode of her wallowing in her own helplessness, having her finally take action in the perfect moment that would save her team's lives comes off as completely disingenuous; it's the kind of plot armor that futher establishes her uselessness in the narrative. And Lena is the only character with an ounce of development. The rest of the cast is as static as war; and war... War never changes. Shin, the second most important character in the narrative, has no personality. And the catharsis when he finally kills his brother is completely uncompelling and forgettable, particularly since it's built off of essentially nothing. And the web goes deeper and deeper as Lena used to know Shin's brother. Lena's friend, Annette, was childhood friends with Shin, and so on. Everything and everyone is placed to act as either pretentious drama or a convenient plot-device. And while you may be fooled into thinking that these plot twists are cleverly well-crafted, the reality is that the narrative could very well continue without skipping a beat if you took them out; it's a tell-tale sign that there's nothing clever about them at all. Overall, 86 presents a questionable narrative with an interesting storytelling perspective that could have been something more, but is ultimately dragged into the mud by an unbelievable setting and world building and an even more unbelievable set of characters and circumstances.

"Is there anybody stupid enough to hang themselves because they know they'll die tomorrow?" The show initially seems to be just a mecha anime about racism, which it is, but it's much more than the edgy, gritty cover it's wrapped up in. At its core, 86 is about life in a concentration camp. The show is not shy about setting the narrative within a country paralleling WWII Nazi Germany. 86 uses this parallel to skip over unnecessary edgy depictions of dehumanization and get right to the point. How do you fight back against an oppressive state? On one hand, we witness the fight from within by VladilenaMilizé, or Lena for short. The show does an excellent job at depicting the brutal reality of how impossible it can be to dismantle a system designed to dehumanize the 86. There are no cartoonish villains oppressing the people, or a Hitler-like head of state. Instead, the show accurately depicts the government working as intended by following the will of the people it governs. Powerless against a state, Lena's idealistic goals clash with the brutal reality surrounding her. Constantly Lena is reminded by her friend Henrietta Penrose, to give up trying to humanize the 86, and that it will only serve to hurt her. We see this come to fruition in an extremely powerful episode 9 where Lena is faced with what awaits her by growing close to those sentenced to concentration camps. On the other hand, we see how those within the camps fight back against an oppressive state through the perspective of the 86 that Lena is in charge of. How do you fight back against a state that sentenced you to death? You live, and that's precisely what each member of the Spearhead Squadron does. Despite the constant horrifying reality of war that they face, the show spends a significant portion of time depicting the life that the prisoners live. There, we see a range of emotions, from sorrow and grief, to joy and laughter. Despite all the atrocities and human rights violations thrust upon the 86, Spearhead never falters in rebelling against the Republic by living their lives according to themselves. The unwavering spirit of the cast and their persistence to move forward in spite of death looming in their face is inspiring and is what makes the show worth watching. All in all, even though the show appears to be a mech action anime it's better off being viewed as a drama. One about fighting oppression, both as a system and also in spirit. The only fault that I can give the show is that it takes a while to show its hand. It's not until episode 7 when it really shows itself to be drama. If you can get that far then I guarantee that you will not be let down.

The word masterpiece gets thrown around so much these days, it’s nearly lost its meaning. The literal meaning being the defining work of an individual’s career. I’m here to tell you now, Eighty-Six:86 is a masterpiece in the truest sense of the word and is one of the best stories in the modern history of the medium. 86 depicts the brutal nature of war, racism and oppression in such a way that you can’t help but to be absorbed into the story, characters and fall in love with the series. From the time it was announced that my favourite LN series would be getting an animeadaptation, I was filled with excitement at the prospect of seeing my fave scenes and characters adapted. Unfortunately, I could not help feeling a sense of dread as well given the studio that would be adapting it. A-1 have had a pretty inconsistent track record over the past decade or so. They’ve given us some amazing works like Anohana and Bokumachi, but also some…. less than stellar works like SAO season 2 or War of Underworld PT.2. A-1, and the anime industry as a whole’s main issue is that LN adaptations are usually just cash grabs and glorified promo material to get people to go out and buy the books. Usually large swathes of stories are left out or butchered. As a result, I was worried that A-1 may rush through the story and omit key aspects of 86. Thankfully, I could not have been more wrong. Not only did A-1 remain faithful to the source material, they even enhanced it in many instances. With arguably their best LN adaptation ever, A-1 gave us the anime of the season. 86 is a very character driven story. Volume 1, which the first cour of the anime covers, is quite slow at time just because of all the detail that goes into the world-building. Asato sensei does a great job of humanising characters and creating a connection between you and them. There may be times during the anime where you feel it drags on or it’s going a bit slow, but I can guarantee you there’s a pay-off coming around the corner. Every second you spend in this world and with these characters matters. The cruel nature of war and child soldiers is on full display, and unfortunately death is always only a moment away. At the core of 86 is the theme of racism. The light novel and anime by extension, do an amazing job of showing how easy it is to fall into the cycle of hatred. On one hand, you have the Alba living peaceful lives within their cities, on the other you have the 86 being forced into a war they didn’t start and left to die. The psychological trauma that both the kids and their commanding officer, Lena go through is conveyed masterfully and really drives home the toll these things can take on humans. If it sounds like this is a dense story, it’s because it is. There is a LOT to unpack in 86, which is why I am so happy A-1 took their time and only adapted one volume for the first cour. This is something that’s nearly unprecedented in today’s era of profit over fidelity. From a cinematic perspective, A-1 eloquently employ the use of split perspectives in 86. The story is told through the eyes of Lena and Shin and is usually split halfway each episode. It’s a great way to flesh out the world and the characters and I’m glad they went this route. I also loved the use of camera angles, particularly as it relates to facial expressions in the show. During tense moments and conversations, I found that the cuts and angles used added to the moment and helped drive home the significance of the scene. I mentioned it briefly earlier, but I can’t help but reiterate how much I LOVED the pacing of the show. Usually with these types of adaptations we would get 1-3 volumes for 12 episodes. For a series like 86 which is quite frankly extremely dense, this would have been a disaster. Doing the first volume, at a rate of one chapter per episode and with the quality we got artistically with amazing character designs, the best CGI I’ve ever seen, etc etc., perfection. Anyone who knows me knows I’ve been pushing the 86 agenda on Twitter and facebook for years. Part of that agenda was an OST by Sawano Hiroyuki. I could not imagine the world of 86 being animated without an OST from the GOAT himself. Sawano has done the OST for several aniplex mech series so it’s not really a shock that he hopped on 86, but bringing his kouhai Yamamoto Kohta onboard was a pleasant surprise. As you’d expect, the two of them SNAPPED on every track featured in the anime. Both EDs are amazing and several inserts like “The Answer” are on repeat on my phone daily. Could not ask for more. In closing, 86 has been my favourite Light Novel series for years, and at this point it’s probably safe to say the anime is now my favourite anime series. A-1 put together an all star team of talent to work on this show, took their time and gave us something really special. Even if you don’t normally like mech or science-fiction anime, 86 is well worth a viewing due to the amazing handling of real life themes. In today’s hyper-political and tense times, a story on the dangers of racism and hate couldn’t be more relevant. Eighty-six gets 10 Para-Raids out of 10.

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