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Season 1 (Part 1) - 86 (TV)
Season 1 (Part 2) - 86 (TV 2) (discussion starts here)

Source: Light Novel (ongoing @ 12 volumes, written by Asato Asato, illustrated by Shirabii)

Demographic: Seinen

Animation Studio: A-1 Pictures

Genres: action, drama, science fiction

Themes: artificial intelligence, mecha, military, politics, rebellion, tragedy, war

Plot Summary: The Republic of San Magnolia has been attacked by its neighbor, the Empire. Outside the 85 districts of the Republic there is the 'non-existent 86th district,' where young men and women continue to fight. Sheen directs the actions of young suicide bombers, while Lena is a “curator” who commands a detachment from a remote rear.

Air Date & Platform:
Season 1 (Part 1) - April 10, 2021 (Saturday)
Season 1 (Part 2) - October 2, 2021 (Saturday)
Available on: Crunchyroll

Episode Count / Runtime: 23 episodes

1:

Hmm, not bad.

San Magnolia, aka Not-Marley, is at war with Giadian Empire and their drones. San Magnolia develops their own drones, so now it's a war of the drones without any casualties, right? Wrong. People do die, but they're not considered humans so if they die, they're not part of the body count (misuse of statistics 101: if a data is not part of their parameters, they're not data).

So naturally many questions are raised:

- Why are the people in the guarded 85 districts blue-haired?
- Why is District 86 a special case? And why are the soldiers there not even classified as humans?
- Why are San Magnolia and Giadian Empire at war?

Of course we will find out why in due time. In the meantime, though clichéd, we have the odd couple made up of an idealistic Handler, and a motley crew led by the stoic Undertaker, and they believe that all Handlers (and basically the whole San Magnolia) is full of shit. Formulaic premise.

I'll stick around for now. Let's see where this goes.

My thoughts watching the first episode were the ones defined as human were reminding of the lore when I played Doom Eternal last year of the Maykr people kind of being treated as angels, being holy, with their white aesthetic. But do not even seeing humans as worth being treated as equal creatures, but just resources. Them all having white hair is what helped me think of it.

My assumption would have been that the handlers being driven to suicide would be that they would convince them who saw the pilots as less than human that they sacrificed are humans, which would break the world view. So our heroine might not be quite as affected since she already kind of sees them as human and empathises with them.

I had read the reviewers thought os this before I watched it and was not looking forward to it in anyway...yet somehow I ended up liking it more than I thought I would. It didn't seem hard to follow at all, and it's interesting enough for me to want to keep watching.

I'm also very curious why those soldiers are not considered human. Lower caste system thing? Slaves from elsewhere?

Also, the mystery of what happens to the captains over that unit, why do they all go crazy? I'm curious enough to watch.

2:

Well, the show has basically spelt out what I thought from my previous post: only people with blue hair are allowed into the 85 districts (they're called Alba), and those outside, aka District 86, are supposed to put their lives on the line for an empire who doesn't recognize their existence. Splendid, this is not-Marley!

Still doesn't really explain why only the Alba gets this preferential treatment, or even why the Alba race exists. And yes, from the setup alone I can tell that this is recipe for social commentary. A reflection of how many people risk their lives defending their thankless country, run by higher ups who have no clue what's it like being in the frontlines, or how these soldiers is never going to have peaceful lives when their own identities are basicallt nonexistent. These are deep stuff to talk about. But I'm not sure if this is the kind of show that does social commentary. For now it just looks like an war action drama, with cool battle sequences (I enjoy them so far).

I'm only looking forward to the day the Undertaker and Milize get to meet up someday and just see who they've been working with this whole time. Chemistry-wise, it would've been more interesting if the Undertaker is more bitter and caustic towards his Handler; if he indeed is, I'm not sensing enough of it. Sure, the whole gang hates their Handlers, but only circumstantially (I'd wish their hatred would be more personal).

Either way, I'm interested enough to stay on. Keep 'em coming.

You can tell that Hiroyuki Sawano is composing music in this show. For the record, the shows he has done music for are Aldnoah Zero, Attack on Titan, Kill la Kill, Re: Creators, and The Seven Deadly Sins. Some of my favourite anime soundtracks, just thinking about it is enough to make me want to listen/watch the Re:Creators OP again, and there are entire days I become obsessed with the KlK soundtrack.

The second episode did show us how outspoken our heroine is, that she would probably get in trouble with what she does, and yet is relying on some personal privilege to avoid punishment. And what is the chance that the soldiers even get a retirement, it sounds like a trick, especially since the not seeing them as human seems so prevalent.

Sawano is basically the hottest anime music composer right now, and I can't argue with it. His latest work in Attack on Titan was perfectly suited for the show.

Though I miss some variety in the industry. Usually there's only 1 or 2 names in music composition for a given era, but not more than that. I miss the Yoko Kanno era.

3:

I like the camaraderie among the 86. It's nice, although a bit unrealistic to me. It feels more like something of a fraternity/sorority than that of a military platoon.

But the one problem I've had with this show as a whole is the lack of tension among them. They're on the battlefield every time, so you know there's one thing that should be a no-brainer? PTSD. I don't get it. Not sensing much of it, or at all. How do people with PTSD should look and sound like? Just look at Attack on Titan. I swear, almost everyone there is suffering from it or some kind of trauma. Here? Not much. Everyone should be more on edge, or what's how I feel...

...BUT!

The best thing I could've asked for so far happened, right after the credits. The contempt for the Handler. Another thing that should be a no-brainer. Milize thinks that establishing a good rapport with 86 is a good start. Yeah... while doing it at the comfort of her own cockpit miles away. How predictably and incredibly naive of her. I was worried that this contempt would be absent from the show, because it's indispensable. Kurena outwardly hates her, but I don't like how it's also because of jealousy when Shin is paying more attention to Milize. Plus, I don't sense strong bitterness from her.

One of the rules of life: You can't gain respect from anyone if you don't suffer with them. Theoto had to dish it out to her. If I were one of the 86, I'd hate her too... maybe even more after seeing how she tries to be nice to me. Being nice without losing anything on her end = patronization. My response would be "oh f**k you".

Good development.

God, sitting through that whole "let's go peek at the girls" chunk was painful. It's like they took out the regular writing crew and brought in the C team. Although to be fair, it would be hard for any writer to make that super tired, played out schtick work. Ugh. I also wish I had some idea which girl was "Kirshblute" but based on my single viewing, it wasn't clear and I'm not really interested enough to go back and try to suss it out.

Just before I proceed, let me make clear that I really liked the first two episodes. But some things are starting to nag at me. First, why do the 86 units need Handlers at all? I mean beyond the fact that the whole premise of the show is predicated on it? The unit seems to have its own source of information as well as a command and control function that seems to make a Handler superfluous when it comes to actually fighting.

And printed maps? Really? You've clearly got pretty sophisticated technology but you're still working from hard copy maps? Come on. And the unit that's been fighting so hard and so long isn't familiar with the terrain around its base (presumably that battlefield wasn't that far away)? Again, come on.

I think the Handlers are meant to be the team's external source of intel who can offer a bird's eye view of the battlefield. Evidently the team has so far been has been holding out very well purely because of on-ground experience, but they still haven't been able to tell if something new is incoming (and if something like that happens, they still rely on experience and quick-thinking). It makes sense; every military unit has some sort of intel giving info from the distance.

And, you'd be surprised by how obsolete the technology in military can be, regardless of country or maybe even time. Most people would argue that printed maps are horribly anicent but it still offers one advantage: they're harder to get leaked out, compared to online maps (more up-to-date, but easier to get hacked).

Not sure if this show is somewhat making commentary on militaries, though. Kinda feels like it, sometimes.

I can buy the notion of Handlers if the idea is that they are simple liaisons between the units in the field and HQ. The authorities consider the 86ers to be subhuman (because they don't have white hair - sigh) so it makes sense they'd want to keep tabs on them, remotely. In fact, you can imagine a function similar to propaganda officers embedded in Soviet Army units during times of war.

However, the show seems to be indicating that the Handlers have some sort of battlefield tactical function of actually directing units on the ground. The show itself has already shown that the unit has its own capabilities that render such command and control pointless. I guess you can argue The Handler is there as a back up if something goes wrong, but that's not really what the show is indicating.

As for the printed maps, I am bothered by the obvious contrivance. The episode required a character to be killed and decided that the reason for the death is the laughable notion that this battle experienced unit was completely ignorant of the topographical features it was fighting on. The reason it was ignorant? The authorities care so little for their lives they can't even be bothered providing them with printed maps when the level of technology in this society clearly shows they'd have their equivalent of Google Maps.

And again, does it make sense that a military organization that is requiring "subhumans" to do their fighting for it would hobble those forces to the extent of not providing maps? That's what the show is stipulating, but it's absurd. They may hate the 86ers, but surely they want them to hold off the Legion for two more years rather than have them collapse and have to deal with the Legion directly?

These are writing contrivances that could have been avoided with a just a little bit of thought, imo.

Of course, if we eventually find out that the real purpose of the "war" is to kill off the 86ers (as opposed to waiting out the two years when the Legion will cease to function) then hobbling them actually makes sense.

^ the only unit that seems to be doing their own thing fine is the one we're following. Lena herself notes that they're ready before she takes command, unlike the other units she's Handled, so we can assume she took an actual tactical leadership role in those

4:

Urgh you know, I hate how this episode begins: with the 86 shooting hoops. The last episode ended with a downer, and rightfully so. The only natural thing for me to expect is that everyone else feels down after one of their comrade died on the battefield. But no, what I see if them playing basketball like high school kids. Either they're so used to people dying (doesn't bode well with me) or people dying isn't a big deal (let's not go there).

But I like two things: 1) having ideals without risking anything is cheap, and 2) the 86 still doesn't see her as an equal. Those are the two fundamentals that the show can't skip, and it's a relief that the episode highlighted them. Milize still got her comeuppance, albeit phrased more mildly this time round, but the facts stay: she can't expect to be their friend while sitting comfortably in a mansion miles away from any kind of harm.

Just don't screw those two points, and this show would remain solid.

The episode was rather strong on the message that death is almost so normal that they have no choice but to continue on, after venting some of that frustration.

I rather liked the theme of talk being cheap, that when there is an injustice and you do little more than express misgivings, you are not really doing anything to fix the situation. She was told that her father was not able to really get past the stage of expressing some dislike. I would say that it almost puts forward the idea of if she should instead give up her current position of her part in the system to protest and try to change the popular opinion, while it might for now be a case that she could work to somehow use her position to do that. Perhaps she could document her interactions to try and do something. At this point it is a little unclear if there is a movement she could work with to gain awareness, or if there would be forces that would get in her way of doing anything that could change the current situation.

I imagine you could probably connect some analogy to real world politics. Like not to be too pushy, but I can think of things like the recent topic of police violence against black people. Such that just saying something isn't going to fix the problem, and the need for things like protests to have actual change is a necessity.

5:

Talk about a sobering plot twist.

A lot to unwrap here:

1) Giadian Empire is actually dead. The Republic is simply fighting the remnants of a dead empire, i.e. the Legion.
2) The Legion harvests fallen soldiers of 86 to use their brains (central nervous system) to make their fighting power more intelligent.
3) All the voices heard over Para-RAID are essentially 'voices of the dead' emitting from the Black Sheep, which are the superior version of the Legion. Basically Legion 2.0.
4) The Republic predicts that the war will end in two years because Legion's CPU in that timespan, out of atrophy or something. Legion's answer to that? "JUST GET A NEW ONE!" That's where the Black Sheep comes in.
5) To prevent their fallen comrades from being harvesting, the 86 basically has to torch their bodies. The Republic doesn't allow burials for them because... they knew something about this? Not sure why.
6) The Legion is evolving. The Republic thinks the Legion is dumb. This is basically a war of attrition where the Republic will lose not just because of dwindling resources. It's hubris. There's only one solution to this war: end it ASAP.
7) This "commander" at the rear of Combat District 1... it's Rei, isn't it?

Another thing I learned is how Shin used to live inside the Republic. I've always assumed that people in the 86 have always been born and raised there. Now it's confirmed that only non-Alba gets dispatched to the frontlines.

This confirmed one thing: the Republic isn't just fascist. It's also blatantly racist.

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