86 Eighty-Six

Long review because I liked it. 

There were great scenes especially those fights with the Legion but there were some cringe scenes. One of which was a scene in Ep 2 where she (the female MC) interrupted a class to talk about the real history of San Magnolia. That what's being taught to them about unmanned juggernauts are false. There are teen-agers, operating the machines, who die and are forgotten just because they are not Albas. Other than Albas, the rest are sub-humans - called Eighty Sixers. (I'm not going into detail about their races. Just watch it.) It was such a cringe because she gets away with it just because her deceased father was a medaled hero and that her uncle (dad's best friend) keeps covering up for her.

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Genre:

Sci-Fi - It was. It's Mecha.

Drama - Yep, it lived up to my expectations. It does get you crying in some scenes. Too many heartaches. It's not the same as Fairies Album. That one had sadness and love encompassing them. This has despair and painful separation.

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"I don't want to die." The line hits different. Not having the luxury of being treated as humans, 86ers are forced to fight. With no guarantee of survival everyday, there's an undeclared fear of dying. Being thrown in hellhole with no option of declining meant that death was inevitable. Now this is where this story gets heavier. The top squad, as what's proclaimed, hides an underlying reason why they are there. Grouped together to form the elite team are teenagers from different teams.

There are scenes which are truly heart-breaking. Exchanges where you learn how hard it is to be in their shoes and Ep 3 ended that with hard-to-accept truths. Ep 4 is one real tear-jerker (or maybe dali lang ko makahilak). Ep 5 was definitely not what anyone would expect. While Ep 7 hits harder.

This is the first anime series which has kept me saying "sakita ani uy". The grueling reality that dying is certain leaves one with only one question, "When?"

As stated, death is inevitable but it's flustering when they bring death to you. As what I indicated earlier, the team is composed of individuals brought together from different teams, not just because they were top fighters but rather because they were the survivors from their squad. And because they survived, they were grouped together to be sent to their graves. Why? The Republic promised them freedom after service. But placing them in the squad meant they're bound to ever not make it out alive. Those who continue to survive were led to their demise, there was no escaping. You better watch this to understand what I mean. It's not as gore as you'd think. A part of you dies when a character dies.

It's emotional and will keep you hooked. Just go beyond the first two episodes and you'll enjoy it. There may be an obvious bad directing after Ep 12 to 13 but Ep 16 returns the action-packed scenes that will keep you on the edge. It picked up the pace after a few episodes.

Some critics online find this series to lack realism. That's anime for you my friends. You can't expect everything to be realistic. Go for slice of life. A few people question why many rave about 86. Well, because for emotional people, it has stronger impact. It feels unique. The characters being emotional is understandable because these are young teens taken and separated from families, 13 to 16-year-olds neglected by society, treated as pigs for slaughter, now, how will that make one feel considering that's the age where everything else doesn't make sense and you're forced to process everything without support and survive death.

Racism was big in this series but it helped build the characters in a way that they'd be portrayed as combat monsters - well, they had to. They're 86ers.

Some characters were of course, like many others, didn't deserve to be there. Frederica is one - a character I thought can be deleted and the show will continue. It was really a bad character but hey, she's stuck in my head so that's alright. Good thing she wasn't as a annoying as that kid in Buddy Daddies. Fred, though, became helpful in the end but left no weight for the entire series aside from a special skill seeing the past and future. It could've come in handy but no, didn't work. Lena, aside from her drive and convictions, it was too much to have her confide everything in that last cour. You say those things to a stranger? No. She should've immediately helped anyone inside the juggernaut.

I'll be honest, even with all the minor misses on some characters, obvious racism, and a bad government, I felt good.  A-1 Pictures gave justice to the animation. I will always recommend this anime to anyone who would ask what they should be watching next.