86

According to the Republic of San Magnolia, their ongoing war against the Giadian Empire has no casualties—however, that is mere propaganda. While the silver-haired Alba of the Republic's eighty-five sectors live safely behind protective walls, those of different appearances are interned in a secret eighty-sixth faction. Known within the military as the Eighty-Six, they are forced to fight against the Empire's autonomous Legion under the command of the Republican "Handlers."

Vladilena Milizé is assigned to the Spearhead squadron to replace their previous Handler. Shunned by her peers for being a fellow Eighty-Six supporter, she continues to fight against their inhumane discrimination. Shinei Nouzen is the captain of the Spearhead squadron. Infamous for being the sole survivor of every squadron he's been in, he insists on shouldering the names and wishes of his fallen comrades. When the fates of these young souls from two different worlds collide, will it ignite the spark that lights their path to salvation, or will they burn themselves in the flames of despair?

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Milizé, Vladilena Main

Hasegawa, Ikumi Japanese

Nouzen, Shinei Main

Chiba, Shouya Japanese

Emma, Anju Supporting

Hayami, Saori Japanese

Kukumila, Kurena Supporting

Suzushiro, Sayumi Japanese

Rikka, Theoto Supporting

Fujiwara, Natsumi Japanese

Shuga, Raiden Supporting

Yamashita, Seiichirou Japanese

Taniya, Kaie Supporting

Shiraishi, Haruka Japanese

Keats, Haruto Supporting

Yamashita, Daiki Japanese

Penrose, Henrietta Supporting

Sugiyama, Riho Japanese

Nouzen, Kiriya Supporting

Uemura, Yuuto Japanese

Nakayama, Nobuhiro Producer

Fujii, Shouta Producer

Ishii, Toshimasa Director, Episode Director, Storyboard

Aketagawa, Jin Sound Director

Reviews

Jun 19, 2021

Marinate1016

Recommended

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 anime ... adaptation, 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.

Reviewer’s Rating: 10

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Jun 19, 2021

NextUniverse

Mixed Feelings

(TLDR Review at the bottom, as usual, thanks for reading)

86 is literally Girls' Last Tour meets military anime, all directed by Dhar Mann.

As much as I'd like to say that this is not some sort of figure of speech, as well as being a 100% factual statement. It may get my review removed, which would render my efforts futile...

Anyways, in seriousness, my earlier statement actually holds some water, maybe not to that extreme length, but that is what this review is for, explaining why. 86 was ultimately a major disappointment in my eyes, being incredibly ambitious in telling what it must, but missed out on ... the very basics to make itself work. It would have been so good in my eyes if it didn't act so pompous. I mean, with the themes that are in this story, you can only really praise the idea, but the execution leads to an untimely downfall, as for why? Let's have a look.


Narrative:
I would be a liar if I said I remember the beginning of 86. I don't really want to check Wikipedia or some other place too as well. But there isn't a need to worry, I don't have to explain the beginning since the synopsis does it for you. All I will say is that 86's beginning (from what I remember) seemed really good, a bunch of things are thrown at you and you have to make do as the anime progresses, you are not really given enough time to make do, however, with a full-blown world already in your face not even halfway past the first episode, it makes for some unnecessary struggle in understanding exactly what is happening. Once you do understand though, there are many fundamental problems that make for this anime to be more flawed than meets the eyes. Now, I don't want to sound like some kind of astute intelligent oh so great myanimelist.net reviewer. But usually, when I see stories that do not work on the most basic levels, there has to be a shout for problems. Usually, I brush off any kind of side plot superficial illogical mess as something literally no one will care about, because no one will care about it. But when the fundamentals are broken, there is an easy problem to say something about. Which is what I see in 86.

The first problem is representations of themes, like racism and the "hell of the outside world". Starting with the "racism". There is barely any that made it liable to a theme I even cared about, seriously. The racism here is also used slightly ambiguous words like "pig" which is used by both parties, so it makes it seem like kids screaming racial slurs after losing a game on Rocket League, in other words, something to not take seriously. I don't remember too much on racism in this story, though, it isn't like it doesn't exist, it does show up, but with 86 being ambitious as it was, it didn't really dive into it and it became a side topic to not care about. This also leads me to the "oppression" that kinda stems off. It's honestly a joke. Hence why I said it is like Girls Last Tour. One moment the Eighty-Sixers are reincarnating scenes from beach episode #41457, then next they want to shame the Alba for oppressing them and dehumanising them. Are these people joking? Because it makes it seem like some deranged mess that doesn't even take itself seriously. I am quite lost with how anything in the presentation of "racism" was anything good for its kind. Maybe that is me being too harsh, but I didn't think it was anything to actively tell people is good. With "hell of the outside world", basically what I just said just before, though I need to talk about the Legion and death in this anime. The Legion is a good idea, I will give the anime that, however it isn't as hellish as meets the eyes, I won't complain about plot armour of some characters, hell, if there is any, but the Legion and death work hand in hand for this idea that they are some kind of demonic force only made to enforce to the tragic life of the Eighty-Sixers. Well, that is true to some extent. However, death is an important factor. Considering how most character deaths are irrelevant people who have little development, it suddenly becomes harder to take the Legion as seriously as you should. They are a very harsh force, yet the damage doesn't really hit the viewer, I suppose it does for the actual characters, but they aren't real-life people. At the end of it, it's just these mad robots killing, well, the wrong people. It is like if Attack On Titan or Akame Ga Kill went and annihilated every undeveloped character, it suddenly becomes harder to take titans or the empire seriously, as you know what to expect.

Now, I talked too much about the themes, the story in itself is quite interesting, there isn't a lot to glorify with it, especially with a lacking world-building, but for the most part, the writing was decent, and the story carried itself with sufficient pacing. If they had just stopped with the random people coming and going, it would have made for a more fun anime to watch.

As for characters, the only one to praise is Lena. She is someone I can't take seriously though, because one moment she is waifu bait #104039 the other she is a serious general I can actually respect. Not sure why 86 loves these on and off switches, but they do I guess. I do think that her development was pretty good on the whole, but considering how at the end of this season, this is nowhere near finished, it does seem like she has ways to go. Being the only person with a high position actively going against her own country's values can make for some interesting battles and development to invest into. As of now, she is probably the best character this show has to offer. Looking past some of her melodramatic moments I quite like her and I would imagine most people watching would be the same. Now Shin, at first, this dude is like the star of the show, something about him screams secrets and "that man to change everything". I legit thought he would pull a Tombstone Piledriver or a Death Blossom at one point. Man did I get my hopes too high up. I won't complain and dislike him for not being what I would have liked, but this man doesn't really hold himself up too high and ends up being a little mid. Having a somewhat dramatic background to his name and a very simple inside job. There isn't too much to go on with him, kinda wasted potential. But this is just the beginning and maybe something big will happen. Who knows. Overall, he is fine as he is, but more would be nice.

Other characters here are generally something I don't find myself caring about, and I don't have a vivid memory of some of the actions they have committed, though from what I remember, I will give them the praise that they do have a human feel to them, they aren't completely generic and I do also believe that a few have their own individual backgrounds to show off. Overall, could be way better for sure, though nothing shocking or awful.


Audiovisuals:
For A-1, this is fine stuff really, not as best as other works they have produced, but fine. I must say, this could be better, especially with the years being 2021 as of this review, this looked like something out of 2015-ish times. I suppose we just need to wait for the generation change in average style thought, but the CGI was really good, I will give it that. Maybe not as good as something out of Trigger or Shaft or some S-tier studio like those. But it isn't anything that would make you dread the action. So good stuff basically.

As for audio. Very good, probably the best thing in this series. Quite a bit of great OSTs to remember from though none really stuck to me. As for OP and ED, OP was really good, not so much ED though, it varied as well so ended up not caring. Voice acting was really good here and the characters were conveyed well in that fashion. Nothing more to report.


Enjoyment:
I tend to enjoy most things, but 86 was hard to take seriously, I mean, I was told this is a mecha, but why is there only like 3 episodes with actual mecha moments. The balance doesn't check out here. There is also the lack of serious moments actually holding through because some prior event would negate that making it look like something you shouldn't take too seriously. But I mean, in a universal sense, there is quite a bit to like about 86, and if I am honest, looking past everything I did, you will probably enjoy this quite a bit. What I have given out seems to be a minority opinion, but I won't say I am right or anything, because there are legitimate things to like about 86. Whilst the balance between genres isn't great. It is there for a more mixed story. I think people will enjoy that.


Overall - 5.23 (5)
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TLDR Review:
Story - 4: Doesn't handle themes well. So it is hard to appreciate what is going on. The actual writing is fine though.
Visuals - 7: Good visuals and CGI is good too.
Audio - 8: Great OST and OP. Decent ED. The good voice acting really conveyed.
Characters - 5: A little miss with some details behind them that doesn't match up to the world around them.
Enjoyment - 5: It is hard to take seriously. Balance isn't so good, but it is generally really good in a universal sense.

Overall - 5.23 (5)
----------

I tend not to rate anime low. Because I couldn't possibly imagine myself getting angry at some east Asian cartoon that didn't quite meet my oh so great standards. However, I don't have a like for stories that don't hold themselves well on a basic level. Because then it is hard to actually like what is happening because of illogical moments. At least I have Naruto.

Reviewer’s Rating: 5

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Jun 19, 2021

bulkyhog

Not Recommended

Every season, one can find countless anime adaptations of light novels or manga applauded by its dedicated fanbase as being deep, provoking, emotional, amazing, etc. Some live up to or even surpass that hype. Others are an honest adaptation, but an adaptation is all they are. Then, there are those that, quite frankly, are just straight up overrated.

And 86 is in my eyes overrated.

Before I have Milizé simps knocking at my door calling for my head, I just want to make it clear: overrated doesn’t equate to being bad. I don’t think 86 is a bad anime; it’s okay and pretty watchable. But is ... it the masterpiece that many light novel readers claim it to be? Not even close

For the record, I haven’t read the light novels nor do I plan on doing so. Biases arising from the source material shouldn’t factor in when you're scoring an anime adaptation, so rest assured this review is coming entirely from a first-time 86 material viewer.

Story: 4/10
There are things I like about 86’s story, and lots of things I dislike. Let’s get the bad news out of the way first.

I don’t like 86’s worldbuilding: it’s done very poorly and while some may claim it builds “mystery” or “suspense” for reveals, I’d argue that it’s counterproductive in a medium like anime which progresses much more slowly than readable material you can easily binge. Unless you’re inhuman and watch anime at 4x speed. We don’t learn anything about the Legion or the outside world until the final few episodes really. The only setting we know about is Magnolia, and it’s explored pretty poorly.

As displayed in the story, the “pure-blooded” race in Magnolia is highly valued over the 86, to the point where no actual soldiers exist that are from the main ethnic group. Despite this, we have no investigations or punishments handed out to the squadron responsible for the mental hospitalizations or deaths of countless officers from the ethnic majority. What? You’re also trying to tell me that of all the handlers the army has gone through, Lena was the only one who possessed a conscience to realise what’s happening is wrong? Hell, being wrong aside, any greedy motherfucker would realise the benefits of selling out how the army is abusing humans for a big special scoop from the newspaper: I refuse to believe that the Magnolia government has been able to keep a secret this big for this long without the public finding out and eventually caring. The empire is purported as being ruthless and stuff, but we never see Milizé punished for voicing the truth either. It’s all beyond unrealistic in a world that “tries” to be realistic.

And don’t even get me started on the actual war related side of things. How the Magnolia army can figure out the Legion’s supposed expiry date but can’t figure out they steal human brains, have “shepherds,” etc. beats me. Ok, I can understand getting complacent over the expiry date of the Legion, but what about the 86? We never see any countermeasures in place to stop a squadron of 86 from supposedly attacking: all we hear about is the successful 86 getting sent to the Spearhead squadron for a death sentence… but what if all these “powerful” individuals suddenly decided to rebel? You’ve literally got the cream of the crop of a group you’re trying to eradicate festering in one spot: doesn’t seem like a smart way to commit genocide to me.

Bad stuff aside, I will praise 86 for its storyboarding and direction. I like the way episodes are structured and executed. It never feels like any time is wasted, as cliche as that sounds. I’m also a big fan of the dual-perspective we get in many episodes, either first starting with the Major’s side and then flipping over the Spearhead’s side (but from the very beginning again) or vice-versa. It’s a unique approach and I like it a lot.

Overall, 86’s worldbuilding has lots of holes, and being built on a shaky foundation means you can only accomplish so much before everything eventually comes crashing down. Who knows, maybe worldbuilding will be better in S2 now that we’re actually in the outside world, but I’ll remain a (hopeful) skeptic.

Art: 8/10
Art style and animation is very crisp and clean, CGI use doesn’t stand out at all since I can’t clearly tell when do/don’t use CGI. Best of all, this quality is consistent throughout all the episodes, so that’s a job well done. That being said, the visuals aren’t blockbuster and blow my mind suck me dry Jesus levels and the action scenes are anything to go apeshit crazy over, so I can’t give it anything higher than 8.

Sound: 8/10
VAs and sound mixing in 86 is quite good. OSTs and music are nice too, although I’m not a big fan of the OP. ED is nice though. I will say the combat sound effects are quite pleasant, reminiscent of the audio work done in Fire Force, so props to A-1 for that.

Character: 3/10
Yea, I’m gonna say it. I dislike a lot of the characters in 86.

For starters, they plopped way too many characters down at the beginning. Even now, the only fucking characters I can name off the top my head are Milizé, Shin, Raiden, Anju, Laughing Fox, and Gunslinger; notice how the last 2 aren’t even their real names but their military nicknames? Hell I don’t even know the name of the science chick, and that’s kinda sad.

Now, I get that the people I did manage to recall are basically the main cast, but why bother dumping all those expendable characters in the beginning then? I don’t even feel emotional or anything watching these expendables getting killed on and off-screen, because I literally don’t know their names: I haven’t been able to establish a connection with them. And that to me is very cheap writing and character design.

Speaking of cheap character design, practically all the expendables had plain character designs like mob characters, which made it even harder to tell them apart from each other. I guess that makes sense since they were literally designed to be killed for “emotional impact” or something like that. However, the main cast is also way too similarly designed. It’s pretty much just slight facial feature differences and hair style/color changes that you have to go off of. Like literally look at the MAL photos for Theoto and Daiya, and tell me the 2 don’t like 80-90% the same, smh.

On the other hand, I think the character design for Milizé is not bad. I like that Milizé had some wake-up calls that made her realise her virtue signaling was batshit useful. However, her angsty teen romance felt very forced and random: what reason does she have to suddenly fall for a dude who’s voice she can only hear, and who, relatively speaking, she’s barely interacted with over the course of her life.

On the note of Shin, I found certain traits and quirks about him interesting, but overall I consider him to be as generic a secondary main as you can get. Aside from bad-assery during fights, there’s really not a whole lot he’s got going. I felt that his struggles with his brotherly bond, which was his defining trait, was really underdeveloped and suddenly rushed/crammed into the episode where he confronted his brother. That final confrontation also felt pretty, idk, underwhelming? The action aspect was meh and the emotional side was alright, but felt overly forced because of the lack of sufficient prior development.

Enjoyment: 4/10
Again, overrated != bad folks! Did I enjoy watching 86? Eh, I guess? It was watchable and had a few bright spots. But I didn’t consider myself inspired or touched by anything going on in the show. Ultimately, 86 just felt like a very superficial, typical anime that you can turn on and watch for the season, but when all is said and done and you’re looking back on it, you can’t think of anything notable that actually happened. We met a few characters, watched them do stuff, some of them died, saw a "major" plot point resolved, and then watched them leave for greener pastures: everything that happened in the middle 70% of the series is basically a blur to me.

Reviewer’s Rating: 4

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