Welcome back to another episode of Eighty Six, now with 100% more tragic revelations! Is that statistic legitimate? Probably not but you’ll have to read on to find out. So without further ado lets dive into this weeks episode!
And what do you know, Eighty Six is once again one of the best edited/directed show of the season. Tomohiko Ito, the man behind some of the best episodes of their respective shows, did great work this week. The way the fireworks were intercut between the mortar shells, Lena’s balcony shots, Shuga’s speech, it all looked good! And you know that. So instead I want to take a moment to talk about the one thing that’s bothered me with them: Continuity. Eighty Six has this obsession with shifting around shots so that they are discontinuous. Showing scenes earlier in the episode that happen later in the timespan. Sometimes this works to great effect! But I’ve found it can also be very confusing as to the order of events. Especially without proper indication of the order between the two main areas, the 86ers and the Albas.
Still my production gripes aside, however minor they are, lets talk narrative below the break!
A lot happened this week on Eighty Six. We had big reveals, character conflicts and some nice all around progression. And I think the best place to start is with Lena. This was some good shit. I like how far Lena has come since Eighty Six began. From whining in a classroom at students to actually fighting for her squad and sacrificing to help them out, even if it’s only money out of her own pocket. It’s a big step to actually start doing something and the 86ers are taking note. Shin is taking time out of his day to call her and make sure she’s ok when she doesn’t show up for the usual times. The others are opening up and shooting the shit with her. The barrier is still there. But the more she actually tries, the more she feels like one of them, the less it matters.
Of course as Lena starts to identify more and more with the 86ers the inverse happens with the Alba. She was already a bit of a pariah before, that bleeding heart who wouldn’t shut up. But now that she’s seen and heard the true horrors of the war? Now that the 86ers are telling her how things truly are and that the Legion aren’t slowing down? I imagine it’s like a soldier returning home, or at least that is what Eighty Six is going for. The inability to assimilate back into normal society, to enjoy the peace everyone else does. I like how Eighty Six is depicting it. Not only separating her from the civilians but from her military colleagues as well. The black dress at a party, as if in mourning, was a bit on the nose. But I’ll take it over nothing at all. Plus she looked hot.
This separation brings me to the big reveal of the episode: Spearhead is a suicide squad. Just one that refuses to die. I really liked this reveal! It explains so much about Eighty Six’s story and setting. Justifying why they were never sent reinforcements and why none of the Handlers care about their Processors. It doesn’t matter if the 86ers live or not, they are just going to be replaced. Even the best are only sent on worse and worse missions, slowly bled out so that the Alba don’t have to free or recognize them.
Easily my favorite part of it though is how this knowledge informs the 86ers actions. It was always odd how they tried to find fun and had lighthearted scenes in the middle of a war zone. I figured it was just the author trying to avoid the story becoming to grimdark. Now though we learn that the 86ers are simply trying to have the best life they can. Each and every one of them knows they are going to die out here. That Shin is going to carry their sigil forward until he dies to. And so why not be irreverent? Why not waste supplies on BBQ or have lakeside parties? What are the Alba going to do, court martial them? They have already been handed a death sentence. The Alba can’t do anything worse to them than that.
It’s not like the 86ers haven’t thought about their situation either. We might try to poke holes, asking “Why not just rebel?” or “They could just let them through”. And yeah, they could. However I liked Eighty Six’s response to those question. Both the way the scene was shot and the speech itself were rather good. Each of the Spearhead Squadron have their own reasons. Maybe they think the few good Alba don’t deserve it. Or that they just want to live as long as they can, why hasten their own death? It might even be as simple as wanting to be better, of refusing to sink to the same level as the Alba. All of these are very character dependent reasons of course. If you don’t believe or enjoy the characters then they will fall flat for you. But for me? I think they work, however on-the-nose they are.
Lastly before I go I wanted to point out a few small details I enjoyed. For instance I’ve already mentioned it but I liked Lena’s black dress. Not only how it visually separated her from the rest of the Alba but also because of the connotations of grief. It reminds me of the Johnny Cash song, “Man in Black”, though in a much more… anime connotation. Another small one is the scars on Anju’s back and the words they make out. For all that Eighty Six dumped on us this week it appears that there are still mysteries to come. My hope is that some how, some way, the 86ers make into District 1 and we are allowed to confront these mysteries. Either or Lena figures out and does it for them, ostracizing herself even more. Whatever happens though I think Eighty Six is doing a good job.
So yeah, all in all I think this was another good episode of Eighty Six. Maybe a bit on the nose but they certainly doesn’t make it bad. At least not when its presented in such a strong and stunning manner with Tomohiko Ito’s direction. It’s rather surprising how much Eighty Six has brought it back to be frank. This has become a completely different show from the first 3 episodes. Gone are the action focused CGI battles, instead replaced with more character driven after-action reports. They still exist but they dont take up that much time anymore. Also gone is Lena’s naïve Starbucks preaching, replaced with what feels like an actual character. I’m still not sure just how high a score Eighty Six will earn itself but its definitely going up by the episode. Hopefully it ends this cour strong.
