There are a lot of things I want to say about this series, but I’ll try to keep it as concise as possible. Every part of this show left me speechless. I couldn't believe I could feel this passionate about a show ever since Made In Abyss, but here we are now. 86 was a show that had a lot to offer, whether it be its in-depth story telling, the significant growth of each and every character through their trials and tribulations, the relationships shared between each of the cast and heck, even the more materialistic stuff such as animations, soundtrack, etc. Now, I haven’t watched my fair share of mecha, regardless of which I can confidently say that this is a competitor for being considered one of the best in the genre. This show genuinely gave me the feeling that everyone working on it had nothing but love and passion for this series, and that’s what made this a masterpiece in my eyes. Eighty Six has achieved heights most adaptations could only ever dream of achieving and set the bar for future light novel adaptations.
Taking inspiration from World War II Germany, 86 is a show that gives you an insight into a future where war dominates the world. A world where death on the battlefield is most significant. A world where racism & segregation is the norm, a tragic tale of being forced onto the battlefield even before getting a proper grasp on life. This show leaves you thinking a lot about such events that occur throughout, and for me personally, it has left a very lasting impression that won't falter for a very long time to come.
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Don’t leave me
. The very first thing I’m gonna get into is the animations in 86. As expected from A-1 Pictures, they did not miss in the slightest with the animations, especially in episode 11 (which I will go more into later). As for the CGI, while I was initially concerned about the use of CGI for the legion troops before I started watching the show, this easily turned out to be some of the best CGI i’ve ever seen, with amazing attention to details and fluid movement, which makes it almost impossible for me to imagine 86 without the CGI legions, which would feel worse. That is something that I would usually never say about CGI. Besides that, the show had really beautiful sceneries and many wallpaper worthy shots throughout the show.
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The second season of 86 (or part 2 at this point I don't know anymore) gave more significance to Shin and his gang in contrast to season 1, which gave almost equal significance to both Lena and the spearhead squadron. While I was initially slightly disappointed to see the lack of Lena, that disappointment soon faded to nothing as the plot began picking up its pace and I got heavily invested in the spearhead squadrons life beyond the republic.
Though with that being said, the true star of the show was Shin.
Throughout the show, we get to see Shin grow substantially as an individual, to find the meaning of life beyond killing his brother and to go from an emotionless battle machine to becoming someone that does not have to be dependent on his brother in order to keep moving forward in life, coming to appreciate several other things which he otherwise would not have before. Now we know that even though he wouldn't stop being as reckless as he is, he would atleast stop putting himself into suicidal situations, and the person mainly responsible for bringing such a change in him is none other than our queen Lena
When we talk about character development, we most certainly cannot forget about Lena. We get to observe in both seasons just how much Lena has grown. From learning how simply compassion is not enough to bring a change and realizing her own limitations in the process, refusing to let the fact that she is a minority amongst the alba stop her. Over the course of the two seasons she has time and time again proven to us how she went from a person who we could respect to a person we could truly respect AND look up to.
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I won’t forget...
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I feel like I need to dedicate one section to just episode 11, simply because of the piece of art it was. Going into a 3 month hiatus was considered to be critical damage to 86 as a show, but with its return 3 months later, it transcended all expectations and silenced all critics. The beginning parts of the episode gave us an insight into Shins mentality, using several unorthodox means particularly such as the aspect ratio (black bars) and more throughout the episode. Now, I won't be going too deep into every bit of information from the episode as that would take too long, but the episode was filled to the brim with symbolism, and i'm sure even now I still haven't found most of the things that Ishii tried to convey with this episode regardless of the countless amounts of times I rewatched this episode. As someone who's read the light novel, I can confidently say that the anime and especially this episode were way better than the light novel version of events. Though the LN is amazing, the anime took things one step further.
Another thing worth mentioning was the soundtrack used in one particular scene. The usage of the OST "Voices Of The Chord" was simply perfect for the moment and genuinely left me with tears in my eyes when the scene happened. That scene had so much impact mainly because you could tell something changed within Shin once he found out Lena was still alive and when she told him he should still be proud of himself for fighting and surviving till the end. .
I won’t forget...
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Since we are on the topic of soundtracks, I might as well give credits to the man behind the musical masterpiece himself, Hiroyuki Sawano. Those who keep up with the anime industry on a regular basis surely have heard of this name. That is because he has made the soundtrack for many popular shows such as Attack on Titan which were incredible good, and yet again he delivered in full force with his soundtrack for 86. His soundtrack added so much impact in several moments, particularly one I mentioned above and elevated my enjoyment even further, not to mention even composing the two EDs in season 1 which too were amazing. Along with that, I should give credit to Kohta Yamamoto who's also composed for popular shows such as AOT and who composed around half of the soundtracks for 86 alongside Sawano. Both of them did an incredible job. Some of my favorite 86 tracks by them are "Voices Of The Chord", "The Answer", "8SIX" and "Region".
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I won’t forget....
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In conclusion, no matter which direction you look at this show from, whether it be its story, animations or soundtrack, this show is the true definition of a masterpiece, easily the best light novel adaptation I have ever seen and a show I can confidently call the undisputed goat of 2021.
I am really grateful to the original author Asato sensei, the director Ishii Toshimasa and everyone else that was involved in creating this masterpiece, and I look forward to seeing more from them in the near future. Since the anime had a perfect conclusion, I wouldn't complain a lot if we never get a sequel but even so I really hope that one day we can see another masterpiece of a season, and I will be eagerly waiting for that day no matter how long it takes, be it 2 years or even 4.
