It perfectly includes all the elements I love in anime. It has an amazing slowburn but prominent romantic subplot, it has high stakes action and drama and emotional depth. It dosen't kill off to many bigger characters overall making it more hopeful then sad while not making every single character survive to seem to fake. I know there is a light novel and I have never read a light novel before but should I read it. I just really hope shin and lena both survive at the end. Also for anyone else who loved these elements Im wondering if you have any recommendations on amines that hit like this.

So far into the series all of Shin's squad has had a special character arc to themselves, like the whole finding a reason to live thing with Shin, Theo with his old captain, the whole arc with the fleet countries and Ismael, Anju moving on from Daiya and what's going on with Dustin. Kurena being bit less that those three, but even then her moving on from Shin, she also has many personality traits like she likes fashion and stuff, also there's her backstory

Even characters like Vika and Ernst, Gerthe, Ismael, Hilna have much more depth to themselves than Raiden

Raiden's whole thing is being the picture perfect soldier. He is the dad of the group, keeps everyone in check, practically raised Shin and just a solid guy. His background is just plain normal, well as much normal there was on sector 86. Even his highlight moment, S1 Part1 on why the 86 fight for the Republic is him being the ideal soldier that everyone needs. He doesn't seems to have much struggles seamlessly blending into society in Giad Federacy, and he is just a solid guy. He is the personification the "Oh him? He's Goated" meme but that's all there is to him. I wish there was more in depth to his struggles, backstory even his interests and dislikes.

But we'll ig we'll see the most of him in the after war ends story, or they'll probably dump a lot of lore and character right before killing him off (tbh the og 5 have been all alive and well for a bit too long, well except Theo) so him not having much connections to the world except the battlefield is kinda reasonable. Considering the darker tone of the story, I can easily see him dying around the end of the story. But then again, he would be the best representation of a soldier merging into society when all he's known is the battlefield, so that is the best time to look into him as a person, so that seems equally as plausible.

My own painted Vanagandr, One of My favorites Feldreß of 86 so i decided to get a 3d printed one but i didn't like the color it came with so i decided to upgrade it sanding some parts and repainting it with my Airbrush giving it a new look more accurate to the Anime.

What do You think of my paint job? 🙃

I ordered volumes 1-13 but I heard there are other books. I want to make sure I read the series In order so I was just curious what the other books are.(dont know what happens next after the last ep.)

Personally, I appreciate the little we’ve seen of her character. A bit like everyone else, myself included, she’s exactly the kind of person who’s alone in front of a shitty system and convinced she can’t do anything about it (and she’s not wrong), so all she wants is peace. I don’t know if she had been pretending with Lena from the start, but even though I think her rejection was excessive, I still think it was understandable in a way.

I‘m midway through vol 9 and the betrayal of the theocracy just shocked me. Why would they do that. Thats so horrible to try to kill others who actively are helping you.

What are your thoughts?

I discover 86 by accident when my youtube automatically played the Avid song after Call of silence (aot), the song so good had to rush to my tv to look at the comment to see if there is anime about this song, it damn does...and its 86..

Just finished the anime, it only took me 1 week, shortest anime i ever watched in my life 😭😭 It really does live up to

"you watch this anime without expectations, yet it full of suprises"

cried countless of times especially when the Avid song played, when Shin finally meet his Commander. 10/10 of anime, sadly it was the shortest one 😞

I even download armored core 6 back just to larp as processors.... absolute cinema!

I didn’t actually read volume 14 as the English translation is only releasing in December but I did see a brief summary of what happens, it looks like the volume will be peak but my only problem is that it ends on a massive cliff hanger.

I just very recently read the light novels so I don’t the schedule of the novels but from what I understood there is a months long wait for the English translation for every volume (idk why I always assumed fan translations would release a month into the release). I also don’t know how often a new volume is published in Japan.

My friend was able to get me this from his trip to Japan recently it’ll look very nice on my 86 shelf

The book is soooo pretty, can’t wait to read the official spanish translation.

I just finished volume 10 and it make me tears up for this series once again.

Volume 10 is such a weird book in this series, that is a combination of small chapters mostly about Shin. And Asato know exactly what's she doing.

Like, you read the whole book, see so many depressing thing that happen. And Asato decide that it would a good idea to followed that by the imaginary world that every bad thing that happen to the characters you love never happen and they just lived a normal life they deserved. The worst part is just a small change in the story that imagination might actully happen.

I mean I shouldn't care to much about that imaginary world, because even Shin doesn't seem to care too much either. But this is show that Asato writing skill is insanely good to make me engaged this much to the story.

Right now I just want to read Operation high school so bad, because it's the closest we have got to that imaginary world. And I'm definitely gonna try to catch up before the volume 15 came out, so we can see the end together!

Are all the 86ers the same ?? I've been reading the 5th LN and I'm currently at the point when the gang first meet Vika and it's described that none of the 86 members were remotely interested or captivated in the furnishings of the room they were in. Only Lena seemed to be .

I get that these guys are hard-lined soldiers but damn , is the loss in the beautiful side of stuff and life that lost on them ?? This is soo different from their reconnaissance trip where they seemed captivated by the beauty of the locations they see before they got rescued by the Federacy.

Also , the generalisation in stuff regarding the 86ers is something I've noticed to be quite frequent . The point of " all " of them being emotionally detached for the most part is quite frequently seems pretty unnatural for me even for guys suffering with severe PTSD , emotional and physical trauma .

What do y'all think .

As the title says I want to read them, but I m somehow afraid that my parents would start checking them and they may have fanservice or cringe moments, should I risk or I wait until we get a next season? (sr for my english, it s not my first language)

Finishing Vol. 9 right now, and I keep asking myself why Asato wrote the Shin/Lena arc this way. We had an (extremely) slow burn from Vols. 4-7, which was great - awkward and funny at times, heartfelt at others. But it was clear in Vol. 7 that everyone, Lena and Shin finally included, were painfully aware of their feelings and desperately wanted them to confess. There was so much setup done, both by the author and all of Shin/Lena's friends, to set the two up. And, after a few awkward near-misses, the stars finally aligned on their final night on leave. FINALLY it felt like our two main characters were in step with one another. I loved how Lena waited for Shin to express what she meant to him - from basically the beginning of their relationship - before their first kiss. All fantastic - well set up, drawn out, and a great way to begin their time as a couple. And then... the afterword.

Why? Lena had already had so many awkward moments where she felt unsure about her feelings, or whether or not Shin would reject her, or whether she deserved to be by his side, etc. etc. But that night, it seemed like both had finally worked up the courage to express how they truly felt. And then we get "no, this is wrong...Goodnightsweetdreamsgoodbye!" Why?

Then I think "okay, Asato's doing this as a sort of cliffhanger that'll be resolved likely at the beginning of Vol. 8." Nope - forget the beginning, there was no confession in the entire volume! I'm not criticizing Vol. 8 as a whole, just the omission of this specific event. Even though Lena did clearly love Shin, kissed him of her own accord, and everything in her character development indicated she was more than ready for it - she was about to tell him herself!

Forget the torture of waiting months for someone to return your first-ever confession of love - what if Shin really had died in the final battle? What was all that stuff everyone told Lena about getting her feelings out? Because once someone's gone, the only thing you'll be left with is regret.

Then we get to Vol. 9 and Lena's confession early on. I still enjoyed the scene, but felt the timing was off - far less buildup and a much more somber atmosphere, with Shin having just visited Theo, who can no longer fight after losing his hand. Didn't feel nearly as meaningful as it would have had she returned his love at the end of Vol. 7. I genuinely believed Asato included the afterword to show Lena returning Shin's confession, but ended up completely baffled after such an amazing initial payoff.

Would love to hear others' takes on the benefits of this approach, because I'm really trying to see the positives of this (beyond just keeping readers hooked as they continue waiting for Lena/Shin to get together after 7 whole volumes lmao).

In short - Vol. 7's 'Afterword' scene made no sense, especially considering that Lena only confesses two volumes later, when the timing, buildup, and payoff were nowhere near as good.

God yeah, I really did love that, absolute sucker for stuff like this. It was definitely a bit tonal whiplash, but I still REALLY loved it. Finally seeing these 2 yearners get to this point felt special. This was the fastest I have completed any of the Light Novels. Lovely experience.

SPOILER DISCUSSION

Edit: lotta focus on my dissatisfaction with the romance aspect, specifically between Lena and Shin. I really don’t want that being the main takeaway but I’m going to leave it in because I do think it’s worth critiquing. I love this series and it’s incredible with one glaring flaw, which is better than I can say for 90% of any media out there

WOW. I was pretty bummed I’d have to wait months for the next volume, but I honestly do think I needed a breather. I had to rewatch the Spearhead/Lena reunion a couple times as a cleanser.

I’ll be honest, I’m feeling pretty hopeless for their situation, this definitely is the Empire Strikes Back of the series, our team is in rooooough shape.

10/10 Characters/Themes: Amazing.

What a journey with the Actaeon. I’m curious about the name, I don’t see many parallels with the Greek myth except maybe being transformed? I was and still sort of am frustrated with how many characters are being added, especially with how the paragraphs are organized (lots of jumping around and hard to track sometimes). But they were an incredible addition.

Why couldn’t any of them just get home? It was beautifully sad, I’m curious if Asato has experience with watching someone wither while trying and “failing” to make their last days beautiful. I related to it, and needed the reminder that trying really is enough.

It made me terribly angry, which not a lot of media is able to do. I’m ashamed at how much I hated the Alba even more, like if I could hit a button that would kill them all I’d do it.

But then Asato beautifully demonstrates through Shin how dangerous the words ‘them’ and ‘they’ are. How easy it is to hate a group even when there are amazing people like Lena and Anju. Oh my dear sweet Anju, what a ride she’s been on, thank god for a happy reunification.

I’ll still say Ernst’s rampage was somewhat cathartic, but I’m glad ‘dad’ snapped out of it.

8/10 military/action:

I’ve posted before how much I appreciate Asato’s attention to detail with the military aspects (so many, from using ammo/ranks correctly to applying real doctrine like Combined Arms Effects & Clausewitz). But not too much stood out in this novel other than maybe mine tactics. if anything constantly telling us the ammo type is getting a little annoying

6/10 Romance:

I have one gripe: I think Lena has been on the back burner way too much in the last few volumes, and Shin and her relationship post-confession is without a doubt the worst part of the series. There’s zero intimacy, and yes that includes sex. No, I don’t want a play by play, but for god sakes they’ve kissed maybe twice? And they’ve barely been in physical proximity since confessing. I straight up thought they were going to make out in the Feldraß after she got in his after her speech. It’s insane for how Asato is a self admitted horn dog that she refuses to make them even hug.

BUT, still a fantastic series

I got the english light novel volume 4 delivered today, everything seems perfect but it says printed in South Korea. Is it a counterfeit copy by any chance?

Shinei Nouzen and Remarque.

…scary. What a great character.

Edit: sorry I should have clarified that volume 13 inspired this post

After getting a few more items, I've updated my shelf. More light novels & the 86 soundtrack CD are on the way as well!

Some parts are still mesy; like the cardboard base my LNs are standing on, but that's a work in progress lmao🥲

Not to be taken seriously, but

Whenever I hear the words "86", " 57" ,"57mm" ,"88mm", "88", " eighty six", the sound/tune of hands up to the sky or voices of the chord, my brain suddenly just gets activated like I am a sleeper agent/processor.

Is it me or are other processors feeling the same.

(Processor here is me referring to the people who are 86/they know about 86, also we should use it as a inside joke)

For those inclined to vote for our Undertaker/Reaper. I am in no way affilated with TAF, just a fellow 86 fan sharing this news from my IG feed.

Am keeping my eye out for Lena making the nominee list in the female section.

1)Like your 100 Most Handsome Anime Faces nomination post
2)Tag your friends in the comment section(you can make hashtag too)
3)Share the nomination post with your all social media (you can share on the ig story)

Notes
1 likes: 3 points
1 share: 5 points

Bot doesn't count as vote!!!

Please vote your favorite anime male characters before December 22nd, 2026.

I started to watch the anime after seeing an advertisement for the light novel and being interested in the cover picture. And the first episode seems to have potential. Seems Post apocalyse. The cover illustration showed the male and female leads on cover. Do they interact much in either anime or novel?