Eighty Six

Yup. My fear was warranted. This is for the best though.

Hope that means those final 2 episodes are the best.

The wait is going to be painful.

I feel I should point out to everyone at this point that the first 8 novels are available in English (and 9 will come out before the last two episodes air) and we're still only in Volume 3.

Episode 10:

I'm sure Spearhead will pull through (Never Found the Body is in full effect), but I'm still nervous about the team splitting up. The wait is going to hurt more.

What an absolutely mad battle between the two Nouzen madmen. Gonna rewatch it just to appreciate the choreo. Nice parallel between Shin and the Legion!Kiriya. Shin has to realize that fighting is not the only thing he has. Also interesting that Legion!Kiriya retains his loyalty and affection for Frederica, albeit twisted with rage.

And dammit they are teasing us with Lena's voice, and that artillery support.

And now, to wait until March. No biggie, I've grappled with worse. No biggie...

Edited by fillerdude on Dec 27th 2021 at 7:16:04 AM

And it's finally time. EP22 is sooo good. The aspect ratio growing narrower and narrower as Shin goes through the flashbacks and his depression builds, then fading out to normal once Lena shows up is an amazing art dirrection choice that just works perfectly.

The direction in that scene was incredible. This series is truly a masterclass in cinematography.

It's back! And LENA'S BACK! Hell yes. Lena is back and she has not forgotten, Shin. You were not left behind. The way the field of flowers changes color when Lena arrives, and she straight up disrespects the aspect ratio and Shin lets that chunk of metal with his brother's name fall down... Amazing scene.

Also everyone survived, not that I seriously believed they were going to die, but still I cried, man. Hell if I care their survival was improbably miraculous. I'm so mad they're teasing us with Lena and Spearhead's first face-to-face meeting. I just had a chill run down my back imagining if this was the episode before the hiatus haha. Anyway, Lena is giving Shin a purpose in life. Waifu truly is laifu.

Next episode is entitled "Handler One" and that is obviously going to be Lena, who will once again be in charge of the squad. I am ready to spray paintballs on the author and the animation studio if this prediction does not pan out.

EDIT: And the sound design! The BGM in the almost-meeting was spot on, but I have to give massive props to the use of silence to sell us on Shin's internal turmoil. Oh and don't forget how the black bars literally slice off Shin's arm. Seriously the cinematography in this show, mindblowing.

Edited by fillerdude on Mar 13th 2022 at 6:08:01 AM

Eighty six is interesting because as far as conveying character designs to screen I wouldn't rate it particularly high (this episode was the first time I was able to understand how someone would find Shin attractive and not boring to look at because he was actually emoting for once) but it's got one of the best directing I've seen in recent years. It's not as subtle as something like Utena but all the visual cues absolutely blow me away.

It's interesting to compare it against Mushoku, the other big light novel adaptation I watched last year since they contrast in a lot of ways, adaptation wise (Mushoku followed the 3/4 episode per volume philosophy that most novel adaptations do while most of the first cour was the first volume with a shitton of anime original content for 86).

Also this sound designer is definitely amazing. With how much focus is put on characters hearing things in the anime, I dread a bad timeline where someone like, say, the fate/apocrypha sound director was on the project.

Edited by Mami on Mar 13th 2022 at 4:27:15 PM

Shin's appeal has always been his glum emo look haha. It definitely was nice to see him smile, a genuine smile. And agreed the Adaptation Expansion is great. Usually you can see where the anime studio's added to the source's story, but in 86 everything fits so organically.

I've read too many shoujo manhwas with guys that look exactly like him so I can't find that sort of face attract at this point

Last episode for the second season is out and as expected it’s just one massive tease until those glorious last several minutes, holy shit I’m crying

Ernst finally gets to give not-Christmas presents to the squad. And for some reason he got Shin cookbooks, whom to his credit tries to actually use them. Shin really is a thoughtful guy.

How the hell is this show making me still feel bad about Eugene’s death? How?! At least Shin has patched things up with Marcel and Nina. Not only that, but he’s finally been freed from the specter of his brother. But he’s still carrying his brother, along with all the other poor 86 souls that were lost to the war.

Second half of the episode has us following Lena in a return to the format of Part One. Her city’s been struck hard and the survivors are subsisting on the grace of Giad. Annette survived too! I mean, of course she did. But she’s going to join Lena as an envoy to Giad. Wondering if she’ll also end up meeting Shin.

Aww, Lena puts her little drawings at the monument for the fallen. And in another flourish of directorial prowess, Lena leaves that place in the same way Shin did.

Of course, all this was to set up the absolutely amazing, heartwarming, riveting reunion between Lena and Spearhead Squadron. Shin saying this isn’t the first time they’re meeting, and Lena slowly realizes what they mean… and then Shin introduces himself, and I cried at the same time Lena did. We even get a small Ship Tease moment of Shin and Lena’s hands almost touching (sorry Kurena). Oh and the shadows of those hands form the number 86. The director is a genius!

Also: Episode one was titled Undertaker. The last episode is titled Handler One. Elegant. Perfection.

EDIT: Even the cat gets to reunite with Spearhead, and that small break in Anju’s voice because Kitty reminds her of Daiya… I’m still crying here

Edited by fillerdude on Mar 19th 2022 at 11:56:55 AM

Despite being saved by the Giad Federation, the racist Alba civilians still dare to complain about their "colored" saviors not giving them enough food. At least the Alba officers who fought together with the 86 during the siege didn't have that attitude. It was interesting to know Lena's superior officer used to have a non-Alba wife and child and adopted two 86 kids.

Lena's superior officer's behavior during that meeting indicates that it's all just an attempt to curry favor, since a comparison shot from a previous episode suggests he just dyed his wife and son's hair, plus the expressions on the 86 kids implies they're just props for a photo op.

And apparently we haven't even seen the depths of spiteful Alba idiocy, according to light novel readers.

I’m not surprised, it’s not like a massacre by the Legion would have been enough to cure the Alba of their idiocy. It’s rooted too deep.

Yeah; I picked up the LNs just before the last two episodes dropped and as of volume 6 it's all but stated that the republic's government is feeding the Legion intel on the task force that gets formed around the 86 just for having the temerity of not going straight back into slavery after saving them.

Yeah, you know somethings up when the superior officer has those pictures facing outwards so other people can see, rather then facing towards him like you'd usually have your loved ones pictures. He wants the Federacy officers to see them and think better of him. It's pretty pathetic PR, and judging by their attitudes, the guys in his office weren't buying it.

Also, holy cow. It never dawned on me that through this entire show, Lena never actually saw their faces!?

Even with the photo she found, she wouldn't have anyway to know who's who. Apparently it's also a very bad quality photo in-universe too.

Yeah, I just remembered the group photo and realized she wouldn't have known who was who.

Yup, it’s one of the things that makes their first face-to-face meeting all the better.

As beautiful and heartwarming as the reunion was, it's funny to think that all that meaningful setting and dramatic reveals were absolutely not necessary in the slightest. It would have been far simpler to just have Lena sent to the base Spearhead was already operating from and just have them meet in a conference room. It played out the way it did because Ernest loves his theatrics.

Edited by Parable on Mar 20th 2022 at 9:12:57 AM

I mean yeah, even Lena was surprised she was meeting her squad right then and there. I’d like to think Ernst ran the idea by Spearhead and they were like, “heck yeah, let’s give the Major a surprise.”

Yeah, the Light Novels are actually even more blatant on how they were just trolling Lena setting up the reveal that way.

No. No we have not. Fucking Bleachers.

LN spoilers up to Volume 11: Basically, the exact same thing happens again when the Legion overruns the Republic a second time, with the nobility and army abandoning the civilians to flee to the Federacy on their own, forcing the 86 and Federacy to sacrifice Richard to buy time because the civilians refuse to be saved by the 86 again until Lena practically forces them to march to safety at gunpoint.

They suffer a total demographic collapse due to their bigotry against the 86 twice, and still don't learn anything from it, ironically reducing them to a hated refugee population in the Federacy because even Lena eventually gives up on trying to save them.

In a way, it makes the last shot of the Republic poster in EP 23 incredibly sad. "Will come true the Republic of San Magnolia"?, which basically asks if there is hope in Lena's dream that her nation can ever live up to their founding ideals. In the end, the answer is "no".

Edited by WhatsTheDeals on Mar 22nd 2022 at 10:21:27 AM