History Literature / EightySixEightySix

* MidSeasonUpgrade: The second season of the anime sees the survivors of Spearhead Squadron switch to the Federacy's newly developed Reginleif. Although heavily inspired by the design of the Republic's infamous Juggernaut, the Reginleif makes a number of notable improvements. These include better armor, a heavier gun, and more pilot survivability features. All of this comes at no cost to speed and maneuverability thanks to a superior powerplant.

* CutShort: In June 2022, Square-Enix Magazine put out announcements that both the ''86 - Eighty Six'' manga adaptation[[labelnote:note]]covering the first arc, or Volume 1 of the light novels[[/labelnote]] and the ''86 - Eighty Six - Run Through the Battlefront'' manga adaptation[[labelnote:note]]covering the second arc, or Volumes 2 & 3 of the light novels[[/labelnote]] would be ended prematurely due to the unfortunate circumstance that both [[https://magazine.jp.square-enix.com/yg/information/220624/index.html Motoki Yoshihara]] and [[https://magazine.jp.square-enix.com/mangaup/info/220627/ Hiroya Yamazaki]] were in very poor health (the announcement for Yamazaki specified that he would never make a full recovery from whatever was afflicting him) and neither of them had completed any new chapters since 2021 after releasing new volumes of their works (June 2021 and September 2021 respectively). This meant that the first manga ended incomplete with its third volume, while ''Battlefront'' also ended unfinished, having only released one manga volume.

** Interspersed with the scene above are also cuts to a scene where [[spoiler: Theo is re-painting the squadron's Personal Marks on each Reginleif, and he asks Shin if he wants to keep his Reaper mark]]; this is an adaptation from a scene in Volume 10 which is an interlude between chapters.

** Episode 10 is another episode that is mostly drawing on material from sidestories, which essentially expand a few sentences worth of description from Volume 2. The episode's front half featuring Spearhead relaxing by a river as Shin and Raiden go fishing is from the short story "By the Lethe River" which is Chapter 8 of Volume 10, followed by an anime-original segment of them exploring an abandoned Giadian town and zoo. The back half of the episode featuring [[spoiler: Fido's memories]] is drawing upon the "Fido" short story as its foundation, and also uses the short story included in the manga's Volume 1 [[spoiler: which shows the Spearhead Squadron assembled together for the first time doing an impromptu object kicking contest, and their group picture is taken by an Alban officer Shin intimidated]]. The only thing directly taken from the main story novels is the last 30 seconds of the episode, [[spoiler: which shows Fido destroyed as the start of Volume 2 Chapter 2.]]

* CutShort: In June 2022, Square-Enix Magazine put out announcements that both the ''86 - Eighty Six'' manga adaptation[[labelnote:note]]covering the first arc, or Volume 1 of the light novels[[/labelnote]] and the ''86 - Eighty Six - Run Through the Battlefront'' manga adaptation[[labelnote:note]]covering the second arc, or Volumes 2 & 3 of the light novels[[/labelnote]] would be ended prematurely due to the unfortunate circumstance that both [[https://magazine.jp.square-enix.com/yg/information/220624/index.html Motoki Yoshihara]] and [[https://magazine.jp.square-enix.com/mangaup/info/220627/ Hiroya Yamazaki]] were in very poor health (the announcement for Yamazaki specified that he would never make a full recovery from whatever was afflicting him) and neither of them had completed any new chapters since 2021 after releasing new volumes of their respective works (June 2021 and September 2021 respectively). This meant that the first manga ended incomplete with its third volume, while ''Battlefront'' also ended unfinished, having only released one manga volume.

* CutShort: In June 2022, Square-Enix Magazine put out announcements that both the ''86 - Eighty Six'' manga adaptation[[note:covering the first arc, or Volume 1 of the light novels]] and the ''86 - Eighty Six - Run Through the Battlefront'' manga adaptation[[note:covering the second arc, or Volumes 2 & 3 of the light novels]] would be ended and left unfinished due to the unfortunate circumstance that both [[https://magazine.jp.square-enix.com/yg/information/220624/index.html Motoki Yoshihara]] [[https://magazine.jp.square-enix.com/mangaup/info/220627/ Hiroya Yamazaki]] were in very poor health (the announcement for Yamazaki specified that he would never make a full recovery from whatever was afflicting him) and neither of them had completed any new chapters since 2021 after releasing new volumes of their respective works (June 2021 and September 2021 respectively). This means that the first manga will end incomplete with its third volume, while ''Battlefront'' will also be incomplete, having only released one manga volume.

* EvolvingCredits: The anime's opening sequence changes from episode to episode, showcasing different characters in different places as members of the cast rise to prominence or get killed off.

** Volume 9's chapter titles are littered with references to classic fairy tales and children's stories, [[spoiler: fittingly enough as the Holy Theocracy of Noiryanaruse is a TeenageWasteland.]] These include references to ''Literature/TheLittleMermaid'', ''Literature/AliceInWonderland'', ''Literature/TheBlueBird'', ''Literature/{{Nibelungenlied}}'', ''Literature/SnowWhite'', ''Literature/ThePiedPiperOfHamelin'', and ''Literature/PeterPan''.

** In the ''Black Tag Daily Life'' short story, one of the books Shin reads is called ''[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Variety Second Variety]]'', a story by Creator/PhilipKDick. The entire basic plot of ''86'' is essentially a reimagination of that novel, which is about a war between the Soviet Union and the United Nations that ended in a worldwide apocalypse when the UN used automated drones to fight back but they went out of control, destroyed them, and then proceeded to rampage across the world. Another book he reads in that same short story is ''Literature/TheMist'', which Kujo thinks is aptly appropriate for their situation being surrounded by enemies on all sides.
** Volume 8 introduces a sailor who has dedicated his life to exploring the oceans and hunting massive sea monsters called Leviathans, and his name is [[Literature/MobyDick Ishmael Ahab.]]

** Episode 6 is almost entirely anime-original. The first part of the episode is a flashback showing how Spearhead Squadron was formed as they get to know each other and speculate on what their new Handler will be like (much of the dialogue is taken from the Black Tag Daily Life short story). The second major part shows the battle [[spoiler: where Daiya dies to a swarm of self-propelled mines, along with another squad member named Lecca]]; this was actually not shown or even explained what happened at all in the light novel, which skipped the battle and simply showed the aftermath.
** Episode 7 begins by showing how Lena was able to smuggle a package of celebratory fireworks to Spearhead Squadron by bribing a supply officer. This was implied in the novel but not explicitly confirmed.

** Episode 10 is another episode that is mostly drawing on material from sidestories, which essentially expand a few sentences worth of description from Volume 2. Most of the episode's front half [[spoiler: when Spearhead explores an abandoned Giadian town and finds a badly damaged Legion tank in a zoo]] is from the short story "By the Lethe River" which is Chapter 8 of Volume 10, and the back half of the episode featuring [[spoiler: Fido's memories]] is drawing upon the "Fido" short story as its foundation. The only thing directly taken from the main story novels is the last 30 seconds of the episode, [[spoiler: which shows Fido destroyed as the start of Volume 2 Chapter 2.]]

** Episode 12 starts off adapting Volume 2's prologue, but goes on to expand on it by giving us a much lengthier conversation between Lena and her new squadron leader Cyclops. It also shows she's been gathering some support among fellow like-minded Alban Handlers in HQ, and that she and Annette have mostly patched up their friendship.

** Episode 16's ending with Lena builds off of the earlier original scene from Episode 12 when it shows a new scene of her using a special device created by Annette that allows her Para-RAID to sync up with all remaining 86 Processors to [[spoiler: prepare for San Magnolia's last stand against the Legion all-out offensive.]]
** Episode 17 begins with a montage of [[spoiler: the Legion invasion of the Republic's capital and Lena's desperate attempts to stymie their advance.]] The end credits then show [[spoiler: the aftermath of the battle, with Legion and Juggernaut wreckage littering the streets of the city along with dozens of dead 86, and also showing Lena's own bedroom at home was destroyed in the fighting as well.]]

*** Marcel is present when [[spoiler: Shin visits Eugene's grave, and tries to express his regret for telling Nina that Shin killed Eugene.]]

* AdaptationExplanationExtrication: In the final episode of the anime, Lena, who had been demoted to a Captain and was even referring to herself as such as recently as the previous episode, is suddenly a Colonel out of nowhere. The light novel explained that [[spoiler: due to her upcoming status as a liaison officer with the Federacy, she was promoted by the Republic to a "suitably" high rank for PR purposes, as it wouldn't look good on them to send a low-ranking officer for such an important role.]]

** The circumstances of Spearhead Squadron's rescue by Federacy are only vaguely alluded to in the anime. The only real clue the anime provides is the wrecked Dinosauria that the Federacy recovered alongside the Spearhead members. [[spoiler: The Dinosauria in question was Rei's backup unit. The anime never revealed that a badly corrupted copy of his mind had been partially transferred to a spare unit after Shin destroyed the original. This second Rei then proceeded to shadow Spearhead Squadron as they moved through Legion territory. He would ultimately rescue Shin's unit from certain death at the hands of the rest of the Legion and carry their unconscious bodies into Federacy territory, which resulted in his destruction.]] The strange circumstances of their rescue were the main reason why some Federacy officers feared that Spearhead was being used as a Trojan Horse for some Legion bioweapon, [[spoiler: because Rei's actions made it seem like the Legion deliberately let them go]].

** Volume 10's final chapter, "A Possible Kind World," is a short story where the outcome the Legion War changed drastically because [[spoiler: Shin's father, Reisha Nouzen, successfully completed his AI project for the San Magnolian military and deployed it on a large scale. With this, San Magnolia really was able to field a drone army and truthfully fight "a war with zero casualties," meaning the government never enacted any oppressive or discriminative policies against the Colorata. In this world, the war is still ongoing as of Stellar Year 2148, but millions of lives have been saved compared to the main timeline, all the world's countries are working together to fight the Legion, and Shin, Annette, and Lena are all just ordinary teenagers going to school together.]]

* PoweredArmor: Federacy of Giad soldiers employ [[https://imgpile.com/images/Nx0rSF.jpg powered exoskeletons on the battlefield]] so that regular infantry can carry heavier weapons that are capable of destroying Legion forces. 12.7mm (.50 caliber) machine guns are standard-issue for Federacy soldiers, which are effective against Ameise and Grauwolf models.

** [[spoiler:Frederica Rosenfolt, or rather Augusta Frederica Adel-Adler, despite her age, joined Shin's unit as mascot, and after that she becomes Lena's aide who used her seer ability to help monitor troops in the field.]]

* RichesToRags: A number of wealthy Colorata families are hit by this when Presidential Order 6609 hits, including Shin's family, especially given that his father was one of Para-RAID's co-creators, and that [[spoiler:his Nouzen family is a split branch of the Giadian Royal Guard Nouzen family that emigrated to San Magnolia]]. Averted in the Federacy, where the new government elect to keep the aristocrats who are controlling important industries in place because trying anything otherwise would be extremely bad for the economy for a country still fighting a RobotWar. Those that aren't important are pretty much demoted, however, which proves to be a problem for them to adapt to, especially since they're loathed by the now-huge middle class.

** The AlternativeCalendar used for the series has several names depending on which translation you're looking at. The original Japanese name is 星歴 ''Seireki''[[note]]this is the exact same pronunciation as the name of our real world ''Anno Domini'' calendar 西暦 ''Seireki'', just with different kanji[[/note]]; two different subtitling services for the anime use "Stellar Year" and "Astral Calendar," and another translation could be ''Anno Astrum'' (Year of the Star).

* YouGottaHaveBlueHair: Albans have silver hair, Raiden has steel-green hair and Anju has silver-blue hair originating from a distant Alba ancestor.

* StopOrIShootMyself: [[spoiler:In order to stop AI Kiriya from pulling a suicide attack on Shin, Frederica willingly exposes herself, then points a gun at her own head, trusting that AI Kiriya would want her to be alive and stop the attack[[note]]This is probably an unnecessary gesture given that she's already in Kiriya's suicide attack killzone, but she wants to get his attention[[/note]]. It works.]]

** Episode 22 begins with [[spoiler: a nightmare sequence showing Shin's collapsing mental state regarding the memories of all the people in his life who have died, and when he wakes up to reality, Kiriya is still active and has transferred into an Ameise unit to kill him, which is destroyed by a shot from Cyclops's Juggernaut.]] It also shows us that [[spoiler: Shin's Reginleif could barely pick up Lena's talking so he had to use a speech-to-text lip-reading program built into the Reginleif's computer to understand her words. Frederica also was able to survive the Morpho's self destruct blast thanks to Kiriya using Liquid Micromachine arms to push her down a ridge.]] None of these details were present in the light novel.

** The conference call between Ernst Zimmerman, Zafar Idinarohk, and Bel Aegis in Episode 17 is greatly shortened from Volume 3. Some of the tidbits of information that were cut from the anime include [[spoiler: the reveals that the Legion's AI template was developed in the United Kingdom of Roa Gracia, the basic design of their units was from Alliance of Wald technology, and that the majority of Shepherds being encountered are from brains taken from former Republic of San Magnolia Eighty-Six fighters.]]

*** The episode opens with Ernst throwing a Christmas party for the whole team and handing out presents to everyone, before informing them of the proposal to create a new unit: [[spoiler: the Eighty-Sixth Strike Package.]]

*** [[spoiler: Lena visits her destroyed house to recover the box of sticky notes with Spearhead's drawings on them before giving one final salute to her flowers, then similarly visits her father's grave to tell him what has happened to the Republic.]]

** The PoweredArmor and heavy machine guns that the Giadian troops are mentioned to be using in the light novels are non-existent in the anime. Instead, they are simply drawn as wearing thick but conventional body armor and ballistic helmets, and they use anti-tank rifles in fireteams of 3.

** Episode 22 begins with [[spoiler: a nightmare sequence showing Shin's collapsing mental state regarding the memories of all the people in his life who have died, and when he wakes up to reality, a completely random Ameise is approaching him, which is destroyed by a shot from Cyclops's Juggernaut.]] It also shows us that [[spoiler: Shin's Reginleif could barely pick up Lena's talking so he had to use a speech-to-text lip-reading program built into the Reginleif's computer to understand her words. Frederica also was able to survive the Morpho's self destruct blast thanks to Kiriya using Liquid Micromachine arms to push her down a ridge.]] None of these details were present in the light novel.

** Episode 22 cuts out the conversation between [[spoiler: Frederica and Shin regarding his broken pistol since in the anime, she was unconscious for most of Shin and Lena's reunion in the lycoris field and didn't reach Shin's Reginleif until they were done talking. This is opposed to the light novel where she ran up to him right after the Morpho's self-destruct and was in the cockpit with him for the entire talk.]]

** Episode 22 begins with [[spoiler: a nightmare sequence showing Shin's collapsing mental state regarding the memories of all the people in his life who have died.]] It also shows us that [[spoiler: Shin's Reginleif could barely pick up Lena's talking so he had to use a speech-to-text lip-reading program built into the Reginleif's computer to understand her words. Frederica also was able to survive the Morpho's self destruct blast thanks to Kiriya using Liquid Micromachine arms to push her down a ridge.]] None of these details were present in the light novel.

''86 EIGHTY-SIX'' is a MilitaryScienceFiction {{Light Novel|s}} series by Asato Asato [[note]] her true name is Toru Asakura [[/note]], illustrated by Shirabii, and with mech design by I-IV[[note]]''VideoGame/FateGrandOrder'' players might recognize the artist for drawing Charles Babbage, Orion, and Anne Bonnie and Mary Read, while ''[[VideoGame/XenobladeChronicles2 Xenoblade 2]]'' players might be more familiar with this person as the designer of the Rare Blade Boreas[[/note]] which began publishing in February 2017.

Ten volumes have been released in Japanese so far. The web novel side stories can be found [[https://kakuyomu.jp/works/1177354054885551439 here]] (in Japanese). Creator/YenPress has licensed the series for English release beginning March 2019.