Anime: 86 4f5b4k

This review covers both parts of 86.

The gist of the anime is given to you in the first episode. Children are sent to war while the republic they belong to treats them like objects and doesn’t count them as fatalities when they die. Themes such as propaganda and racial prejudice resonate strongly, yet their portrayal leaves much to be desired. The main reasons are summed up as followed.

1) Crappy CGI for the mechas. While far from the worst offender in the medium, the portrayal of the silver enemy units is particularly dreadful. It’s more than enough to drive away those accustomed to pretty artwork and fluent animation. Which is almost everyone; let’s not pretend that isn’t the case. The skirmishes lack intrigue, reduced to a banal exchange of gunfire between spider-like contraptions, resembling nothing more than mechanized tanks on legs. They lack the flare and rule of cool of more popular mecha titles and miss staples of the genre such as special attacks, and over the top particle effects. Yes, these elements are all super robot territory, but that is what makes them engaging. In 86 you are just multitasking as you wait for the lackluster fights to be over.

2) Completely forgettable stock characters. There is close to nothing worth ing about them, rendering the demise of some of them devoid of impact. Even the diehard fans of the show like them in the shallowest of manners. Lena is cute, Shin is cool, Frederica is annoying but adorable. That’s as far as it goes, they barely scratch the surface of depth because they are that generic.

3) Very simple and slow plot progression. Most episodes adopt a slice-of-life format or depict standalone skirmishes, with even the climactic battles failing to impart a sense of urgency or resolution.

4) Immersion-breaking erotic comedy. Although fairly tame in comparison to conventional romantic comedies, scenes set amidst beaches and baths remain out of place in what is supposed to be a serious war drama. These instances don’t add anything to the plot and are too simple to make the neckbeards huff and puff like happy dogs. Also it’s puzzling to see people in the 2020s still being fine with minors getting thrown at compromising situations for comedic effect. Not even Frederica was spared. Porn is now everywhere and it’ mostly free, you know? You don’t need watered down fan service about Frederica to fulfill your carnal needs. In conclusion, the show would undoubtedly benefit from the omission of such lukewarm and eventually worthless interludes.

5) Childish treatment of the themes. This is by far the worst one and deserves further elaboration.

86 plays out like a soap opera written by and aimed at teenagers who don’t know anything about the realities of warfare. I am not some war veteran, but almost everything is blatantly off. Despite the battles waging constantly for many years, the teen soldiers are still acting like typical high school students with none of the grumpy attitude and cynicism that comes with the territory. Sure, you can’t expect all soldiers to act like Rambo, but you can at least anticipate a departure from the tropes emblematic of frivolous high school romances. It’s hard to care when one of them dies and all you are thinking is ‘oh, no, there goes the out-of-place romcom stock character’.

That aside, the republic keeps treating them like subhumans when they have the firepower and battle experience to wipe out entire battalions. Not much reasoning is provided for why the Spearheads are fighting for the republic when they are treated like dirt and are eventually sent to suicide missions. Even their purported pursuit of honor stands as a contradiction. They are literally sent to die and nobody will give a shit or bother to their contribution. At the same time they have the firepower and vital position to refuse to fight if they are not treated better, or at least demand not to be murdered by their own people at the end for the lolz.

It’s as if the narrative was contrived to simultaneously victimize and empower the central characters. You know, just for the sake of eliciting sympathy from the audience while maintaining an aura of iration. Too bad this endeavor falls short due to the characters being stock archetypes. Also the solution to their drama is as easy as a mundane errand to the local market. Don’t fight and see the Magnolias sweating as the enemy machines wipe out their border towns. They will have no other choice besides conceding to the demands of the 86ers. Yet all we see is the Spearheads persisting in their futile struggle, seemingly resigned to their eventual demise. Although they eventually opt for flight, this decision could have been made from day 1and only comes off as a belated revelation.

This part was actually shrugged off by most as pathological altruism, suggesting that the characters persist in their endeavors out of a misguided sense of idealism, bereft of any tangible reward or recognition. Such portrayal further proves how juvenile the whole show is, lacking the depth or gravity required to render it meaningful. If everyone has the mentality of Naruto, don’t expect me to take them seriously.

6) Wait, what, there is more? Yes, and I placed this reason after the biggest problem with the show, simply because it’s something that pops up in the second cour. The core dramatic tension dissipates, rendering the second part even more lackluster than its predecessor. For you see, the 86ers find refuge in a foreign land where they are no longer discriminated. In fact, they are treated nicely and even gain everyone’s respect in battle. The theme lost the racism angle and became about PTSD where the soldiers can’t stay away from the fighting even when they are given the chance. It could be something interesting to explore, but because they are stock characters from some romcom it doesn’t work at all. Even Lena, the surrogate for the racists, no longer has much screentime. Her chemistry with the second team she controls is also non-existent and it’s as though she has exhausted her narrative potential, leaving the story bereft of vitality.

In conclusion, it’s not a good show. Watching the fans’ reaction to it feels like they haven’t seen another war drama in anime. Most 80s sci-fi were essentially doing the same thing. Heck, most mecha were doing the same thing. Heck, most Gundam series have the same themes, with far better visuals and action to boot. What’s that, people don’t bother watching 80s anime to know that? Okay then, Iron Blooded Orphans came out a couple of years before this anime, yet nobody amongst the fans of 86 seems to have heard of it.

What they surely had heard of, were the dozens of trashy fantasy isekai that come out every year to which 86 stands out because it’s not fantasy. Or isekai. Or a harem with videogame terminology. And that is somehow enough to make 86 a standout in the landscape of the time it came out. Fancy that. With that said, the show is not super popular either. Some of those who praise it tend to be vocal, while the vast majority of anime fans don’t give a damn about it. Which is to be expected, since mecha are not in fashion anymore and do not draw the casuals the same way fighting shonen, isekai, and romcoms do. So yeah, it never stood a chance at being popular, even if it didn’t have the issues I described above. Chances are nobody will even it by next year.

STORY ↴

86 story starts as one of the most confusing stories. In my opinion, The introduction could've done a lot better because as its stands the introduction is very confusing but other than that story is very good. The story of 86 is Dark, Sad, and Heartbreaking. The story isn't the slightest bit subtle about its theme. The main theme of the story is racism. The anime does a great job of showing how easy it is to fall into the cycle of hatred. The story pacing is quite slow but this is the type of anime that benefits from having slow pacing. The Anime takes its time with world-building, Character progression, etc. One of the welcome things about the anime is that A-1 Picture also added some completely original content into the anime which fits the Orignal story of the Light Novel. I am very excited to see where the story will head, Overall the story is very good and has a lot of potentials.

ANIMATION ↴

The Animation of 86 is very good, you can tell great care was put into the visuals, presentation, and details of the anime. I am surprised by how beautiful the Background/Scenery is, It's pleasing to look at. I can say this with confidence that this anime has one of the best Backgrounds. Characters were also drawn very beautifully, All the characters look amazing they did a good job of bringing these characters to life.

SOUND ↴

A lot of Animes have a good soundtrack but a lot of them don’t properly execute them. Thankfully, 86 Anime doesn't suffer from this issue. 86 Anime Soundtrack is properly executed at the right time which makes a lot of the scenes perfectly. In my opinion, This is where 86 Anime truly shines, going into this anime, I didn't expect much, I thought the music will probably be mediocre but I was surprised because 86 Anime has a great soundtrack, Hiroyuki Sawano, and KOHTA YAMAMOTO has nailed the music.

CHARACTERS ↴

There is not much to say about the characters of 86 Anime, All of them are decent. The main characters are the ones who got the most development. Both Lena and Shin are interesting characters, I am interested to see how the relationship between Lena and Shin will develop. Throughout watching the 86 Anime I didn’t get attached to any Secondary characters, but I am excited to see how they will handle Secondary characters in the seasons. I’m hoping to see more focus on Secondary characters in future seasons.

ENJOYMENT ↴

I personally really enjoyed watching 86, It starts very confusing but slowly it becomes great and engaging to watch. I recommend watching this Anime to everyone who likes to watch a good Story-Driven Anime.

Review
There was a time when 86 Eighty-Six (86) would be your average anime: warfare, teen angst, machines, drama, and an approach to global topics such as prejudice and social struggles. We are, however, in the age of isekais, in a time where most shows offer escapist ideas, tales about isolation or personal glorification, and from time to time a bit about bullying and social values. 86, in this case, becomes such an outlier that it feels weird, somehow refreshing, but nonetheless a bit contaminated by the popular trends.

Sometime ago, the Empire of Giad lost control of its automated drones, called Legion, and was destroyed by them. Its neighbouring nation of San Magnolia is the next in the path of the horde of mindless machines, and to survive against it they employ their own automated weaponry… of sorts. It is in this scenario that young Major Vladilena Milize finds herself commandeering San Magnolia’s drones to fend off the Legion.

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1. The Initial Twists
   There’s a trick to San Magnolia’s automated drones: they are not automated. Yeah, instead they are piloted by second-class citizens who aren’t even classified as humans. The heart of the republic is completely inhabited by albans, humans with silver hair and eyes who have won a recent revolution and persecuted any non-alban to be sent to imprisonment fields to serve as pilots for their drones and fight off the Legion.
   
   This obscene truth is omitted from the average citizen, who thinks their nation is being protected by advanced technology and with minimal military casualties. Our protagonist, Major Milize, knows the truth though, and she is ready to clash against her superiors to spread consciousness about the issue and perhaps make albans treat the non-albans, known as 86 (named for their district), as the humans they are.
   
   It offers interesting ideas
   In a way, 86 approaches a multitude of traditional warfare topics of the last century: the alban-86 relationship is a mimicry to nazi-jew of the World War II; the fighting drones, and the fact that alban enforce combat in zones distant to their heartland is akin to modern day United States proxy warfare in the Middle East; the Empire of Giad losing to its own combat machines eludes to the dangers of automated weaponry; and so on.
   
   It’s a collection of interesting topics, and 86 does approach them with decent execution. Major Milize may look a bit too much of an idealist at first, but she is cracked down when she takes command of the Spearhead unit, where our co-protagonist Shin, also known as the Undertaker, leads a special group. Even this “special” group is by no means special because of superpowers or skills, as shown later in the show. It’s an intriguing approach to war-related topics that I haven’t seen since the Gundams of old. I mean, not even Iron Blooded Orphans could explore such an array of interesting ideas.
   
   It’s not all glory though
   86, however, starts to lose momentum in a few areas. The co-protagonist and its troupe are one of those. Instead of traumatized enslaved children, of people seeking a way out, of fighting off the system, every person in this unit seems fine with their ultimate fate: die in the battlefield of a war they were forced to participate in. They are too happy, spending a lot of time having fun and joking around and never plotting a way out or clashing with authorities. It’s only rarely when someone lashes out at Major Milize, but when this happens the reasoning is more about her ingenuity than about the horrors of being enslaved and forced to battle until death. It’s a pretty colorful take on such a heavy topic…
   
   Oh...
   Colorful happy characters and dark premise… well, well, well. It’s A-1 Pictures. Once again, the studio chosen for the animation is the worst possible for the theme. It’s pretty, alright, but that’s not the best way to give form to this story. This time, however, a larger part of the carefree attitude of characters can be attributed to the plot and character writing instead of just the presentation.
   
   It’s disconnected too
   When not being too happy and forgetting the horrors of its premise, 86 fails in being a decent action flick. The arachnid-like mechas feel disconnected from the rest of the show, lifeless CGI with too much detail to match the rest, much like what happened in Code Geass Agito. There’s also a big problem in making you feel as if the pilots are… piloting. Scenes where the characters are inside the mechas don’t connect to other scenes, making fights feel too robotic and not really presenting the stakes. There’s nothing to help you understand who is fighting who, no animation to relate to a mecha’s movement, and a lot of missing cues that are well known to the mecha genre. At least the music is of incredible quality.
   

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Comments
86 could’ve been more. In a way, it tries what Aldnoah.Zero tried a few years ago. The premise is much more interesting, the ideas are much more tangible and well explored, but it suffers from similar issues with a colorful cast and a much worse mecha aspect when it comes to combat. It does boast a better duo of protagonists, although they are still far from being as charming as needed.

It’s setting could work for the future though. Yes, this is yet another first season that paves the way to something in the future. It’s also strikingly similar to the ending of Aldnoah.Zero’s first season, meaning it can create a new beginning to strengthen the interesting setting and perhaps fix the problems with the lifeless combat and carefree cast. However, considering the past shows that had this opportunity and completely botched it, I wouldn’t raise my expectations.

Anyway, a decent warfare shounen in a time where they are strangely rare. It’s refreshing to watch it in this horde of isekais and shitty super-power shounens, so that’s something.

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While 86 is underpinned in a lot of ways by cliche ideas and sometimes naive execution, it is still a solid piece, to be watched if you like your mecha with more military feel added in than is the case for something like Code Geass. It is nothing particularly spectacular, like the aforementioned Code Geass, and does not really fit a niche segment in anime with an original plot either, like Made in Abyss. The premise overall is a long-since beaten path. It stays comfortably within its limits and makes for a good sophisticated watch while not overdoing itself. In other words, this anime is an attempt to use a lot of the signature things of line anime and use it with an above average plot. There are quite a few references and a lot of symbolism in this anime, which does not improve the plot, but does add to its sophistication, which in turn can add to value.

The story takes place in the Republic of San Magnolia, a rather nationalistic and somewhat futuristic English-speaking state that was almost defeated in war by a neighbouring country, the Empire of Giad.

There are quite a few themes in this anime as well. The 86s of this particular unit are all in their 17-18s, apparently because most of the 86s older than that have been killed off. They constantly reminisce about a peaceful and normal life. There is the beach episode. When they had the fireworks episode, that was a sort of a school festival type of thing, and they even role play a bit in an Imperial school that they lodged in for a bit. This is all meant to draw parallels to that possibility of a better life that they would have had at this same age. At the same time, they apparently are adamant of their duty to the Republic, even if that same Republic took away any chance they had at a good life. This conflict is found throughout this anime. There is the whole rather simple theme regarding to how Shin's brother changes his attitude of him, a familial forgiveness sort of story. Obviously the system that Major Milize has to work inside of is another major theme. This dystopian nationalistic country with a civilized face is rather inhumane, to say the least. There is the obvious theme of the differences in life between the Alba and the 86s. Needless to say, all of these themes have been done over and over again and in much better ways, for instance in the Legend of the Galactic Heroes, to bring forth an extreme example. This does not diminish the value of the anime, but clearly it is not outstanding in these themes either. For me, it is just a bit frustrating that even when such themes are presented nowadays, they seem to not be evaluated enough, in the very least to stand on par with other works with similar themes.

Generally, the plot itself is a type of contrast between the 86s unit that it follows fighting endless combat, precipitated by periods when these characters seem to be in a slice of life anime, with Major Vladilena Milize being almost like a POV character. She develops mostly independently of the unit she is overseeing. She is also there to provide a window into the life in and the inner workings of the Republic, and contrast that to the stuff experienced by the 86s. For the 86s, the slice of life episodes are there to develop the characters, to show their hopes and background, whereas the combat places them in situations to test those characters and show them in a somewhat different light. I will say however, that sometimes the slice of life parts of the series are a bit bland and are not realised fully. For instance, there was at least one love story type of thing, and it was slow going and ended abruptly.

The conflict within the anime can be seen as an allusion to the many ongoing local conflicts going on in the world. The tanks that they refer to as Lowe may be a reference to a proposed Nazi-era German tank. Shin is also seen reading a number of books, like Erich Maria Remarque's "All Quiet on the Western Front". The book tells of the detachment from civilian life and the stress of German soldiers in WWI, a bit like what is experienced by the 86s. This book was one of the first to be burned by the NSDAP (aka the Nazis) because of its anti war rhetoric among other things, and therefore fits the contrast against the militaristic but oblivious Republic of San Magnolia.

The authors tried to develop the characters as much as possible, but sometimes their attempts come off as naive and cheap at times. Personally I thought that the characters were made to over exaggerate their personality traits to the point that they distinguished themselves, but I feel that that is a rather cheap way to develop characters. Even Major Milize exaggerates her emotions at many points and so much so that it becomes beyond cliche, and she was not the only character to be made that way. She does this cliche gasp and jumps up so much it is sometimes unbearable. She is literally in a state of constant surprise during half of the show. They are all shown to have their hopes and relationships that are mostly well done, which is a good thing.
A character that is shown to be well developed was Major Vladilena Milize. Aside from the aforementioned ludicrous show of emotion, she travelled a path from a privileged and naive officer to a commander who is humane, competent, and willing to make sacrifices for victory. She is also apparently immune to the ideology of the Republic and to the horrors of war as she saw them. All of this is shown fairly convincingly, even if it is hard to believe in such a story in real life. Her specific parallel would probably be Tsunemori Akane from Psycho, who likewise went from simply a smart police inspector to something much more. That said, there are many characters like that in many movies and series that change in their interaction with a government system.

As a point of comparison, Sora no Woto can be compared as a far less gritty military anime (also animated by A-1) to 86. The animation of 86 is superior, but the music for Sora no Woto is better. The premise, and therefore the plot, sets the two series most vividly, as Sora no Woto has a much more novel and organic premise than 86 does and subsequently in the balance between warfare and slice of life, focuses much more on the latter. 86 tries to balance the two.

I found the opening and the OP to be more annoying than anything. It is a rock piece of some sort, but feels too random and at the same time tame in tone. Generally the opening is nothing to write home about. There is no set ED technically, as they switch it up quite often towards the end of the series. The EDs are better, but likewise nothing too distinguished. The BGM is almost non existent or not memorable. Music is probably one of the weaker points of this anime oddly enough.

The animation is well done on most fronts. A-1 have done a good job of not just the drawn animation, but also of making convincing CGI and 3D modelling, though sometimes the CGI drops in frames or is hard to follow, but that is more of a direction issue. I suppose part of that problem is that sometimes, the screen is oversaturated with different bright CGI effects, which makes it hard to pay attention. Additionally, the mechs used by Giad stand out very much. I recognise that they are meant to look imperial and alien, but they just look a bit cheap at times. Some of the stylistic choices made in the anime are rewarding, particularly the various visions that Captain Nouzen has and the general direction towards the end of the anime is well done. The part where for 2 minutes the POV character becomes Fido the robot is also quite cool, though a bit belated probably.

Overall, this was one of the flagship titles of the season. I struggle to a better military anime in the last couple of years. Though it has its limitations, it is a well rounded anime that will cater to many people that watch anime in general. The proper way to watch this is to get some popcorn and maybe some beer to make you more resilient to some of its worse and more weary moments. On a side note and while this anime was not over reliant on stuff like references and symbolism, it is a good example conceptually of why symbolism and references alone are not enough to improve value or enjoyment by miles or even compensate for a lacking plot, though neither really apply here. This anime is yet another overall victory for A-1 in of making solid plot series. They did a fairly good job of pulling off a relatively ambitious plot, though they skimped out on a lot of the lore.