Welcome all to the finale of Eighty Six! Or at least the finale of the first half since it sort of has a second cour? But it doesn’t have a release date so its in a weird place. Regardless, how about we jump right into it because I have a review to write after this!
So my immediate thoughts after this episode are… why? Why does this episode have to exist? Why could we not have ended last week, or the week before? It feels like Eighty Six added this episode, and the big fight with the 86ers, purely to have a “finale” filler episode. Specifically one with a cliffhanger for the next season. Despite the fact that we already had a finale and an epilogue to boot! About the only thing of value in this weeks episode was the second half regarding Lena. All of the first half, with the 86ers? That’s just repeating more “feel good” scenes that we got last week. It’s almost like it was supposed to be an hour long special instead of 2 individual episodes, so closely do they match. And as for the cliffhanger? Well… since the sequel season exists no one believes that, right?
I am of course talking about all of their “deaths”. I say “deaths” because I don’t actually believe it. The whole scene, the shtick, the way its setup with their bodies whole but unconscious? It’s so clearly a setup for the 2nd season and a last minute rescue that it makes me sick. Even the Shepherd they were fighting mentions a “Princess” who is probably still alive and leading a country, the country that will come to save them at the start of the next season. I don’t see the point in it to be frank. We don’t need a cliffhanger ending, the 86ers story for this season was already complete. Why drop this stuff at the end and refuse to give us answers for any other reason than sequel bait?
And that’s one of Eighty Six’s biggest problems I think. The fact that it’s a long running, ongoing Light Novel series. Were this season just a glimpse into a larger war, following a single squad of 86ers and a contentious objector, rather than a large “save the world” plot I think this sort of ending would work a lot better. It would give the author freedom to kill off all the characters, to reset the story with another squad, to show how the contributions of many individuals build up to a single resolution. Think something like the first mission of Battlefield 1 where you jump around the front as your character dies. Instead we know Shin isn’t dead. We know Lena is going to meet up with them again and eventually defeat the Legion, etc. Because they are the main characters. And that’s how these kind of war anime go.
Of course Eighty Six tries really hard to sell us on this not being a cliffhanger. They show a decapitated doll at the base trying to imply Shin is dead. They have the whole ending dream sequence with the scuffed out neck stump of Shin’s body, etc. It goes through a lot of effort to convince us that the 86ers and Shin are dead! But you know what? I don’t believe it. Maybe that’s just me being a pessimist but with the knowledge that there is another cour and 10 total Light Novels, and that Shin and Lena haven’t yet met, I don’t think Eighty Six has the balls to kill its male lead. Maybe Season 2 will surprise and if it does I will come back and change my score on the final review to reflect that. But for now? Get outta heeeeere.
Finally lets talk about Lena, the only good part of the episode. This bit was actually kind of sweet. I wish we had gotten to see more of her consequences of course, house arrest ain’t good enough. But seeing her visit the base? To walk around in the empty hallways, see where they lived, find their picture and names and messages for her? That was a good way to end the season. It was a culmination of her arc where she started not knowing, not caring, about even their names and ended dedicating herself to them and the cause. Where once she was a princess in the capital now she is legitimately out in the rough, seeing things first hand. It’s not something we haven’t seen before but that doesn’t mean its a bad arc.
All in all I would say this was a disappointing finale considering the two we already got, but the final scene was nice enough. Is there a lot I didn’t mention? Thoughts I could have expanded on? Is this a short post? Yes, yes and yes. But I have to leave some stuff for the final review that’s going to be coming out sometime next week so you animals will have to wait.
In the mean time, what did you think of the series? Did it improve? One commenter from last week definitely isn’t a fan and I can’t really fault them for that. Personally though while the story and characters were subpar I couldn’t help but enjoy each week with how good the direction was. Whatever you feel, let me know down below! See you for the final review in a few days.
Series isn’t finished yet since there is a special episode airing next week that will most likely answer the questions and show the little rest of vol. 1 (I hope).
Technically, the existence of other volumes isn’t even necessarily confirming everybody’s survival, since most of the volumes will take place in a whole other nation like the Giad empire, among others, and tell the story of different people.
Personally I liked the episode quite a lot, though episode 10 remains the winner. I hope the special won’t be partly recap or anything because I want to see how this actually ends before the hiatus and Giad Empire in autumn.
Fair enough. I’m still going to write the review without the special because its being marketed as a separate thing but if it changes much I can always come back and edit the original. The joys of not being restricted to print I suppose.
For me I’m just very pessimistic about Light Novels. I don’t doubt for a second that Shin is still alive. Maybe I could wait for the second season to confirm that? But we don’t have a release date for that and I don’t want to let this languish until the.
Worst case I figure I update the final review if I’m proven wrong. But I highly doubt I will be.
I’m not a novel reader, but I think you’re taking a big risk in assuming that Shin is still alive.Of note is that the Giad Empire has long fallen, and if that long range unit has the head of a fallen Giad soldier, it’s likely that the princess of Giad he is screaming about always protecting is also dead, and the scream could have happened in particular because Shin and co. were near a base of Legion where a unit with the princess’s head could have been, meaning it was firing to prevent Shin from getting to the base and killing the boss unit of the area.
I give it a greater than 50% chance that all five of those guys have passed on. I believe that scene with a young Shin and his brother taking him away was meant to depict that he was delivering Shin to salvation and that both of them are now dead.
If I am I will take that L. But I am confident, nay certain, that he lives. Eighty Six hasn’t been shy about its portrayal of death until now. People have gotten shot, blown up, beheaded, hung from robots to bleed out, etc. Yet here all 5 bodies are whole with no clear wounds, it’s a blatant cliffhanger and perhaps most damning of all: The official 86 anime website (Which has updated on time every week even for Fido) still has them listed as active.
https://anime-86.com/character/
Combine that with 10 light novels and another season, along with how Lena has yet to meet Shin in person, and I am 99.9% certain they are alive. If Season 2 changes that then I will come back and I will say I was wrong. But I don’t think I am and I’m willing to make a public bet on it right here.