This review may contain spoilers
Hello everyone, I think that after some time I stopped to think and let the euphoria pass so I could write about this second cour of 86. It is worth remembering that it will be 1 year since the last epic episode aired. 1 year is a lot, right?
Talking about 86 is always something that makes me very happy, I don't say that just because I'm a big fan of the work but I also talk about how important it has become in my life. And also on the question of how other fans of the work were appearing on this journey, not only in relation to the anime and the light novel as well.
This 2°cour shows a Republic with a sky full of black clouds, at that moment nothing would be possible to prevent the fall of the Republic.
The crack in the image shows that everything hangs by a thread, the propaganda still showing that the Republic did not even have any casualties on the battlefield is just a lie so that the citizens do not know about the great catastrophe that awaits them.
It's funny to think that they really thought that Spearheaded had gone on a special mission, but in fact the impression that is left is that they really died (only that's not what happened) and all that air of mystery around let everything stay even better.
I just really love the fact that they paid even more attention to the new characters that were introduced and one of them is the case of Shiden Lida who is undoubtedly one of the standouts in this second cour, and no, she had not yet met the Shin until this time of events. She had only heard stories about Shin and how much he was one of the most outstanding among all the other (squads) he went through.
If some characters changed in terms of personality during this 1°cour, one of them was Lena herself, who had her great peak (screen time) more focused on Partl. And yes, Lena unquestionably changed, that saintly character was no longer there, I mean in the sense of not seeing everything as a sea of flowers. The nickname BloodyRegina suited Lena very well and the strands of red hair are the blood of all those oppressed and killed by the Republic itself.
As much as they got used to the Republic of Giad, they knew that even with everything that was happening at that moment, it would not satisfy the desire to return to the battlefield once again, having a normal life like that would be the same as being birds trapped in cages, and could be dishonoring all the comrades who lost their lives on the battlefield. Shin already showed signs that it wasn't for them.
I never imagined that I would cry again because of Fido, and this time they were tears of happiness to see a mecha pet back in action and next to those in which many moments were shared, whether moments of pain or happiness. Fido is very important for the historical context of the characters.
(The Death of Eugene) Anime/Light Novel
To be honest, this scene of Eugene's death in the anime manages to be as good as the one in the light novel, Eugene may have been a character that was introduced very early in the story, but he managed to make an impression. Undoubtedly one of the few Albas who didn't count on luck and had a tragic ending. Eugene only had one mission, which was nothing more than being able to get money so that his younger sister could have a good education.
Yes, Eugene was part of a minor noble clan of the Giadian Empire. After the revolution they lost their social status and tax privileges. As a result, the Rantz family became even poorer than ordinary workers, as they did not have enough assets to support themselves, unlike the higher nobles.
Six years ago, Eugene's family had to evacuate their village after the war with the Legion intensified. Painfully, Eugene and Nina had to leave their parents behind, as the evacuation was limited in scale and not everyone could fit. They didn't even have time to take family pictures with them.
The only photo that Eugene had was precisely the photo that Frederica took of him with Shin. Frederica herself mentions that Eugene's room only had a picture of her sister.
•(Frederica and her “two” knights)
One of Frederica's biggest fears was losing Shin just like she lost Kiri, the only difference between them is that Shin didn't go completely crazy every time he went through bad times on the battlefield, Kiri already was gone the opposite of Shin. According to Frederica herself, Kiri was a serious young man.
In contrast to his distant cousin, Shinei Nouzen, who frequently ignores customs and regulations, Kiri was a rule-abiding person and didn't take kindly to violators. He was also stubbornly and fiercely loyal to his princess, Frederica, and continued to fight for her despite the desperate situation of the imperial royalists.
However, after losing his family and friends during the war, Kiri began to descend into madness. With Frederica's apparent death, Kiri went insane and couldn't stop himself from being assimilated. He was willing to become a shepherd for the Legion and swore to destroy all of his princess's enemies.
During the civil war between the imperial loyalists and the revolutionaries,Kiri was the leader of Augusta Frederica's royal guard. As the revolutionaries hoped to shut down the Legion by capturing the empress, Kiri and other royal guards were often sent to the battlefield. As the war wore on and the Loyalists' situation continued to deteriorate, Kiri began to lose his sanity. He became obsessed with protecting Frederica and increasingly enjoyed killing his enemies.
The penultimate episode of 86 was one of the most beautiful things I've seen during all these years that I've been following the anime industry, and without a doubt this one is on the list of those who made the internet go crazy, the direction of this episode is a masterpiece, finding the right words to describe everything that happened in this episode is difficult. The soundtrack made by Sawano and Kohta made everything even more perfect and it was kind of hard not to hold back tears.
The postponement of episodes 22 and 23 was already expected, since at that moment the staff and the anime schedule were already tight, and despite this delay, we fans were rewarded with it.
This episode was just a warm-up for what would come in the last one at the end of this 2nd cour, just this pre-meeting between Shin and Lena was much more than I expected.
Anyway, episode 23 came and at that moment I didn't know how to contain the tears again, Lilas fell like a glove in this ending and made everything even more melancholy..
Final thoughts: I will never forget this peak adaptation.