Hello everyone and welcome to the last Eighty Six post of the year. In fact this is the last Eighty Six post until March! That’s right, the production issues have gotten so bad that it can’t actually end this season and so has to somehow fit into the next. It’s Wonder Egg Priority all over again, except Eighty Six doesn’t look near as good. Enough about me lampooning the shows production schedule though, lets jump into lampooning its narrative!
By and large this episode felt like a giant “meh” to me. Like… like a waste of my time if I’m being honest. Yes yes, it’s the big climactic battle. Bullets are flying, mechs are running, Kiri/Morpho is being confronted and its hype! Except I don’t really give a shit about Kiri nor do I find this confrontation to be in any way interesting. It’s like… We all knew who was going to win. We always know who is going to win, thats how these things go. Yet despite knowing the good guy is going to win the entire Shounen genre has still found a way to make these things work. And the best ones do it by making us understand, by making us care about, the villain we are fighting. And Eighty Six just hasn’t invested me in this Shin-knockoff Knight of a character.
Eighty Six tries to make up for this, it really does. It goes for the whole “Everyone dies in a series of self-sacrifices to get here” thing. And under normal circumstances? I think I could let this go, its a pretty standard trope. But it’s a trope we see in battle shounen. Not in what’s trying to be a sci-fi war drama. This kind of thing just doesn’t play in a series where I’m supposed to take death seriously. Where it’s supposed to be an ever present thing for our characters, and thus the audience. Like… I’m not overreacting here am I? Does anyone actually believe these characters are dead, or think that we were supposed to think they were dead? Maybe I’m just over Eighty Six and this is just me venting… I dunno. Regardless, it just didn’t land for me. And you know what else didn’t land?
You guessed it, it’s time to talk about our favorite Loli, Frederica! I was really bored by her whole “I’m gonna shoot myself! Just you watch” thing. Now I don’t want to be to harsh here, as my issues with the scene are but consequences of things I’ve already mentioned before. I’m talking about how Frederica is just a replacement Lena, we have no emotional investment in the Knight, etc etc. And I kind of understand what Eighty Six wanted to do here! As far as weaknesses in bad guys go, the “Humanity is the flaw in the Legion’s systems” is a good one. I think the thought process that got Eighty Six here was fine. But when I think about all the other ways Eighty Six could have presented that I can’t help but find this scene… lacking. So I have to ask, is it just me feeling this?
Finally we need to talk about something that does get me excited: The missiles. Where did they come from? Who fired them? Was it Lena? Please dear god let it be Lena reentering the story, kicking in the door and bringing us back to something good. Personally I’m expecting them to be from Anju or Kurena, one of those left behind with the ability to fire long range shells. After all we know they aren’t dead. But if it does turn out to be Lena then my hope is that we get a sort of flashback to her time defending San Magnolia. I really, really wanna see how she coordinates and leads the 86 forces there. I want to see how they push back the Legion, how they escaped, etc. No doubt that would be a far more interesting story and a great way to end the season.
So yeah all in all this episode didn’t resonate with me. There are hints of good things to come, most of them involving Lena, but aside from that this was the climax to a story that I never cared for. If Frederica and the Knight were good for you, I imagine this was a great episode. We saw both of their stories conclude just like we did with Shin and his brother in season 1. On top of that there was some pretty good action set pieces as Shin fights one on one against a giant robot. For me though… I prefer the snappy editing to the bombastic action, Lena’s internal conflict to Frederica’s whining, Shin’s relationship to his brother instead of the “Chosen Nouzen clan”. And I didn’t really get that this week. I probably won’t for the rest of the season, sadly.
I’ve finally caught up with this. My feelings are pretty much the same as yours. What’s the stakes here? I don’t feel them. Are they really gonna kill off Shin? Of course not. Are they gonna kill off any of the other four 86ers? Doubtful. Will this victory topple the Legion? Doubtful. Will it even topple that weapon for more than a temporary period of time after they swap in another consciousness? Doubtful. Was Frederica ever gonna really shoot herself? Of course not.
An “eh” season for me for sure, especially disappointing after I purposely waited until it was done airing and anticipated things for several months to get here. Oh, and that’s the cliffhanger they leave us on for the next few months? Ugh.
Hopes for season 3 of 86, if it ever happens (not having any knowledge of where things go in the light novels it is based on):
-Return to giving us more of Lena, not a couple of scenes for the entire season.
-With Kiri now gone release us from Frederica
-Give us a concluding battle with the Legion or introduce a new enemy for us
-I’ll probably miss them (especially Anju), but strongly consider giving us a new cast to focus on. Either other 86ers or some other faction from within the war.
I don’t need all of these, heck, just a few of them are fine. But this show really needs to mix up the formula as this season didn’t work.
We’ll see if the last 2 episodes redeem things… lol, that’s not happening.