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)
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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.
