⚠️ Spoilers for 86 Cour 1 ⚠️
If you have not watched the series' first cour, skip to the "Would I recommend this?" section.

Hi! This is my 2nd review on AniList, so again, I might make some mistakes.

This is part of a 2-part review, with the first review covering the first cour, and the second covering the second cour. Part 1 | ~~Part 2~~img100%(https://i.imgur.com/Gqq6KYv.png) 86 Eighty-Six Cour 1

Contents

• Background
• Story
• Characters
• Visuals
• OST
• Flaws
• Final Thoughts
• Would I recommend this? (Spoiler-free)

Background

img100%(https://i.imgur.com/sQFeJhD.png) I heard about 86 for the first time a few months ago from one of my classmates, having heard about it, I decided to check out the synopsis and first episode,

I wasn't impressed if I'm being honest, and paused it as I was under the impression that it was a generic war mecha anime with elements of racism and discrimination thrown in.

Nonetheless, I paused it indefinitely, for a few months.

Of course, I wouldn't have a Lena profile picture at the time of writing this if I still had that view of the show.

img100%(https://i.imgur.com/7orZSDL.png)

After one meeting for school, I decided to scroll around Netflix as I sometimes do, I end up coming across 86. And after rewatching episode 1 and watching episode 2, I saw something more in this anime than just a generic war mecha anime, it is a story that goes much deeper than that.

Story

img100%(https://i.imgur.com/1ClYcxB.png)

The Republic of San Magnolia has been at war with the Empire of Giad's creations, the "Legion", for years. The "Legion" are autonomous drones developed by the Empire of Giad. In response to this, the Republic has developed their own autonomous drones, the "Juggernauts".

img100%(https://i.imgur.com/a4Py4j9.png)

The Republic boasts to their citizens, their achievements in the battlefield, and the superiority of their autonomous drones.

There's one catch, all of this is propaganda. The "Juggernauts" of the Republic that are supposedly autonomous and unmanned aren't actually that.

img100%(https://i.imgur.com/ze0MDEw.png)

The Republic of San Magnolia is home to a race of people called the "Alba" with their signature silver hair.

img100%(https://i.imgur.com/aDEBBta.png)

That begs the question, where are the other races? All people who are not of the "Alba" race, are placed into the 86th district of the Republic, essentially an internment camp. They are discriminated by the Alba people as being "pigs who failed to evolve" and they are not considered as human.

img100%(https://i.imgur.com/XPwDKVp.png)

These people, called the "Eighty-Six" are sent to war with the autonomous "Legion" of the empire, because of their designation as "non-human" by the Alba, and by extension, the Republic, the drones they operate are considered "unmanned".

Another part of the lie of the Republic, is their so-called "achievements" against the Legion, in battles against the Legion, the Juggernauts typically lose more "units" than the Legion.

The Republic expects the war to end in a few years time due to the hard-coded time limit on the Legion units, although one thing they don't know is that the Legion can use the brains of the deceased to get around that, as the Legion replicated the human brain structure in order to create an autonomous war machine, it was theoretically possible for them to use actual brains.

img100%(https://i.imgur.com/xXADHGu.png)

Given the usage of the Eighty-Six for war, it begs the question, where is the real army of the Republic? They have none that is functioning, they force the Eighty-Six to do their bidding in the war. Their so-called Republic "soldiers" serve as "Handlers" commanding the Eighty-Six in battles against the Legion, these Republic soldiers however work in the safety of the first district, that is commanding the Eighty-Six remotely.

Aside from Handlers, the Eighty-Six in war are split into squadrons, each squadron has a commander.

img100%(https://i.imgur.com/56Aq9g4.png)

img100%(https://i.imgur.com/xDHILOa.png)

That brings us to this story's main characters, Shinei Nouzen, and Vladilena Milizé

Characters

img100%(https://i.imgur.com/PoMvRiS.png)

Shinei Nouzen
Spearhead Squadron's combat commander, nicknamed "Shin", personal name "Undertaker"

Arguably my most favorite character, although not due to the first cour of 86, arguably I didn't think he got his character fleshed out much in this cour, so I can't really say much about his character here. He's interesting to say the least, as while being the Spearhead Squadron's combat commander, he has the ability to hear the voices of the Legion, allowing him to know of an attack in advance, as well as hearing the words they speak.

img100%(https://i.imgur.com/lbogu98.png)

Vladilena Milizé
A soldier of the Republic, Spearhead Squadron's Handler, nicknamed "Lena".
~~shin's discord girlfriend~~

Lena is an Alba, as evident by her status in the Republic as a "Soldier", but unlike the Alba populace, she has sympathy for the people of the 86th district, those who aren't of the "Alba" race. Ultimately, she is the most developed character of the first cour, coming to understand the feelings of the Eighty-Six much deeply than before.

While there are a lot more characters who I do think deserve some attention, that would make this a review too long, and I'm honestly too lazy. I'll settle with the two main characters, as they are also my favorites in the series.
# Visuals Now on the visuals, the visuals are actually excellent, it captures the beauty of the series perfectly.

img100%(https://i.imgur.com/W4JmdRk.png)

The environment, the movements of the characters, the character designs themselves, when they all fit together, it gives the series an aspect of beauty

OST

The OST is BEAUTIFUL, it was one of the most impressive aspects of the series for me, lets take the ED "Avid" for example.

▶ Video
Credits to Harthlock for the audio visualizer for Avid

Beautiful, right? That's only one. Trust me, the entire OST is beautiful.

Flaws

As much as I adore 86 for it's story, it's OST, there is notable flaws. The biggest of flaws was in well, the first episode. I think the show only found its footing in the second episode, the first episode blasted us with terms we didn't understand "Eighty-Six" "Para-RAID", and confusing us with the actual premise.

Because of that flaw, I paused/kind of soft-dropped it after the first episode, it was only after I gave it a second chance that I was able to look past that flaw.

Another you could say "flaw", is that they kill off way too much people without even making you care about them, their deaths didn't resonate with the watcher as much as they would have had they fleshed out the characters more before killing them off. It makes them seem like a pretext for the story, just a plot device.

Final Thoughts

86 is the first mecha anime I've watched so I'm not really familiar with the genre, but in terms of anime, the story is fairly unique, in terms of how it presents themes of racism, oppression, and war in the face of a common enemy, sure it has been done before, but 86 did it really well.

As for how much I enjoyed the series, quite a lot, in addition to the story, there's also the OST and visuals, which when combined with the story makes the series emotional to the watcher.

I wouldn't call the first cour a masterpiece in on itself. The whole series tho? Definitely a masterpiece, to find out why, check out the second cour.

Would I recommend this?

Yes, very much.

My advice, don't get turned off by the first episode, it's an awesome series, the OST, visuals, it's banger dude.

Go watch it!!

img100%(https://i.imgur.com/nYvAueE.png)
img100%(https://i.imgur.com/Y2MbzQU.png)

P.S: not really proud of this review tbh, i feel like i wasn't able to get out what i feel about 86 to the fullest extent, but this is as much as i can manage. i'll work on my review for the second cour soon, hopefully it's a review i would actually be proud of