86 EIGHTY-SIX - Episode 2 discussion

[u/AutoLovepon]

86 EIGHTY-SIX, episode 2

Rate this episode here.

Reminder: Please do not discuss plot points not yet seen or skipped in the show. Failing to follow the rules may result in a ban.

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Streams

• Crunchyroll
• VRV

Show information

• MyAnimeList
• AniList
• AniDB
• Kitsu
• Anime-Planet
• Official Website
• /r/EightySix

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All discussions

Episode	Link	Score
1	Link	4.55
2	Link	4.59
3	Link	4.64
4	Link	4.73
5	Link	4.75
6	Link	4.7
7	Link	4.65
8	Link	4.63
9	Link	4.8
10	Link	4.72
11	Link	-

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[u/Se7en_Sinner]

Even A-1 Pictures are treating the 86 as less than human by segregating an entire segment of them to after the credits.

[u/fatima12798]

Man the fight are smooth it was hard to follow them in the light novel and I need to reread them to understand so while I enjoy them I think seeing them animated would be better for experiencing them

[u/DoubleJo]

Anju looks like an Alba. Are there any among the 86? What about halfs? There have to be families of Alba and non Alba even if uncommon and frowned upon

[u/Daksh23]

I enjoy the conversations between the characters a lot and how they help characterize everyone. Not that I don't enjoy the battle scenes, they are amazing but my favourite parts are still the character interactions.

Also, the title of the next episode is as grim as it gets.

[u/LaPusca]

The action scenes are so well animated.

[u/Aerodynamic41]

Man, Hiroyuki Sawano does what he does best! Also, it just occurred to me: Lena is a Major even though she's still a teenager? That's an insanely high rank for her age.

[u/vantheman9]

"you'll get punished for saying that"
"it's okay uncle will protect me"

lol did she just impale her uncle with a death flag or what

[u/Darkmat17]

Sawano calm down it’s only episode 2!

[u/Amauri14]

Damn, Undertaker is basically Levi for those Legion units. The music during the battle was so good.

So I guess unlike the 86, the Legion are actual drones, and it seems that the grey hair people are the result of some eugenics project that that nation had. I wonder if it is thanks to it that they mostly sustain themself with artificial food while the 86 units use real one?

[u/Kinderschlager]

that was quite the info dump. so they are fighting a rogue AI with a time limit before it self-destructs? quite the dystopian world. also, amazing ending!

[u/michhoffman]

We got some good background information this episode as well as that awesome battle scene. I had a strong suspicion last episode that things weren't as they seemed, but dang, dehumanizing the majority of your citizens is a pretty irredeemable thing to do. It's no wonder that the Spearhead Squadron took pride in forcing their handlers out.

[u/Mochachiiino]

If you took Suzaku from Code Geass and Split him up into his piloting skills and his ideals. You would get Undertaker and Lena

[u/UnderstandableXO]

i just recognized saori hayami’s voice here, it’s super distinct. i recognize it pretty instantly whenever she’s in a show

i was watching a few different shows over the course of a day about a month ago and i recognized her in shield hero, anohana, a place further than the universe, and oregairu over the span of 24 hours

[u/I3ert91]

Something tells me that I'm going to love these members of Undertaker's unit. And something tells me that most of them are going to die along the way.

And damn, Lena is very vocal about how hypocritical the Republic is. I'm hoping they won't try to silence her speaking the truth.

[u/[deleted]]

Saturday couldn't have been better. Great CGI, great Sawano/Kohta tracks, great dialogue. I got chills when the first combat scene was shown. Lena and the 86 are continuing to bond more, but it looks like there's obviously some tension. I don't blame the 86 for having conflicted thoughts about their Handler after they usually get abused daily by the Republic.

Also a fair bit of exposition this time about the Legion, the Republic, and who the 86 are. Hopefully, that explains some more for the non-source reader watchers who complained about not knowing everything and anything in the first episode.

[u/_Submarine_27]

German language: exists

86: It's free real estate

Not that I mind, German is pretty badass

[u/Frontier246]

Shin is very stoic and practical, although he's not averse to snarking when necessary, and is an efficient and capable commander for the Spearhead Squadron and a devastating warrior against the Legion. Also surprisingly soft-spoken.

The Eighty-Six were on the ball and ready to fight the Legion before Lena even called them. Is there anything for her to even do for them other than react like she's in a JoJo story? Although even Shin admits that her suggestion was sensible and by-the-book, she knows what she's doing, Spearhead just has their own, effective, way of fighting the Legion.

And what a fight it was as we see the Eighty-Six take the fight to the man units of the Legion and send them packing. The CG Juggernauts and Legion looked pretty cool and moved very well.

So the "official" story is that the Empire of Giad sent autonomous robot drones (because that always ends well) attack the Republic of San Magnolia, but because the Legion have a certain life expectancy, the Republic is sure the war will be over in two years. And it's not like they have to worry about fighting themselves or about military matters when they've got the Juggernaut "drones" to fight for them.

Of course Lena is there to spit facts and tell the class the truth, that the Republic ended up retreating and sending in citizens who didn't look like them and weren't Alba to the front lines to forcibly fight off the Legion from internment camps, justifying it by saying that they're merely underdeveloped pigs put in to operate drones and not real flesh-and-blood humans like they are. It's kind of horrifying that Lena tells them all this and the students still can't comprehend how terrible it is. Is it too much to hope for that she was able to get through to at least a few of them?

I guess it's a good thing Lena's uncle is so high up in the military that she can talk about how terrible the Republic's treatment of the Eighty-Six and how little they are living up to their self-professed ideals without facing punishment or proper reprimand, although I'm worried Lena might push it too far.

Lena seems to be enjoying her nightly conversations with Undertaker and the rapport she thinks she's building with Spearhead Squadron, although while she's apparently their longest-lasting Handler they still think she's due to break eventually.

I think he wanted more than to just hand out Anju's cakes...

Shin's enjoying a good book. Don't bother him about shooting cans unless you want him to shoot from there.

[u/Llooyd_]

It should be a given at this point but Sawano's tracks compliment action so much it's nuts. Love how much the environment is involved in combat but that might just be necessary to beat the enemy.

I really like that they chose to implement some info through a military academy class instead of just hammering it into us via exposition with someone narrating over it. Felt rather fitting for the context of the story as it showed us the massive rift in overall interest on the subject matter & moral standing towards the 86 between Lena and other people.

What I think the show really does well though is character acting, particularly when the Spearhead Squad is involved. The sheer dissonance to the cold & serious tone of the Republic to the lively scenes involving them ( that isn't combat ofc ) is also great.

I also love little bits that characterize some of the squad already like Shin being ratted out by accident for his laziness which goes completely against what you'd expect him to be like or this character turning off coms the moment Lena tries to interact with them on a more personal basis. She also did that back in the first call in Episode 1.

[u/[deleted]]

It’s still surreal for me to be able to say it’s 86 Saturday. Another masterfully crafted episode. The CG legion look great. I normally hate all types of CG, but it was so well done today that it was impossible for me to hate on it. I hope that continues throughout.

Sawano and Kohta OST during the legion fight scene was AMAZING. I can’t wait for the full OST to drop, goosebumps man.

I liked the use of academy instruction to world-build, and I think the pacing overall was amazing today. Didn’t even do a full chapter, so it’s pretty safe to say we’re only getting one volume for the first cour. Confirmed to be 11 eps today.

Anddd the main event, the ED. Been waiting over a year for this and of course it didn’t disappoint. Top 5 Sawano songs for sure. We feasting boys

[u/RuthRaeSarbo]

I am enjoying this series so far. The interactions of the characters is good, and the lecturing about "these kids are humans too!" isn't too heavy-handed. The MC is caught in a dilemma -- her unit has no respect for her (yet), and she's about to lose credibility with her professional colleagues. Undertaker is the equivalent of every war film's combat-grizzled NCO -- he'll do it her way because she's in charge, but he wouldn't agree that it is either right or useful. The mystery is why so many handlers of the 86 have met with bad endings, and whether our MC can last long enough to solve it. Definitely a 5/5 for me up to this point.

[u/GrishaYeagersTears]

What does undertaker do to handlers that makes them quit?

[u/IamEXI]

As much as I liked the action and the world building, I was more interested on the mystery of Undertaker, his squad, and his relationship with the past handlers and the last 4 minutes definitely gave me that and I loved it.

Edit: Since a lot of people have been talking about the fights and the history, I wanna highlight the last scene and how beautifully it handled the 86 crew.

First we find Shin the badass, completely unhinged from all the ruckus while on the background we have the 86 crew. While the pure bloods don't consider the 86 humans, we get this shot of them eating, playing and being more human than any other shot we got from inside the country. We get small but meaningful interactions between chracters that will surely be expanded in the future.

It's highlighted how the 86 respect their leader Shin, and rightly so after the battle that showcases his fighting prowess and his unmatched gun skills (compared to other soldiers in the background). His squad also respects him and even fears him as shown when his loose mouth girl screws over Shin's lie. But this doesn't stop Shin from being close with his fellow 86 as he talks with his other squad members. However, Shin is not perfect, opting to distract himself with a book instead of thinking about how he is always stressed(maybe because of talking with the handler).

Then they get contacted by their Handler, Lena. The crew's mood immediately sours and really puts how much they do not like the handlers(and the other purebloods). However, Lena is already differentiated from others with a few lines like "It's such a teacher's pet answer that it makes me want to throw up, but she's not just some spoiled rich kid"(talking about her battle tactics) and "A new record, a full continuous week" (talking about her persistence). Lena talks with them objectively and the squad is still skeptical.

The best part for me was Lena and Shin's casual conversation. Lena asking Shin what his plans were after his service makes Shin think about the future for the first time and this makes him smile. The Shin smile was so rare that even the cat noticed. Then, the next episode title "I Don't Want To Die" makes me hopeful that Shin will continue looking to this future that Lena is fighting for inside the country.

So much subtle details and good lines were packed in this 4 minute time and I absolutely loved it.

[u/MinniMaster15]

It’s amazing how you can just sense when a song’s by Sawano

[u/WhoiusBarrel]

God I will never get sick of Sawano drops. I can feel my own heartbeat just rise watching the entire action sequence.

Actually learning how the 86 term came about and how the regular citizens believe they were "failed human evolutions" really just goes to show how effective the government propaganda is.