A commander operating from a remote location, called Handler One transmits information to the front line forces, led by a black haired teenage boy nicknamed Undertaker. Handler One reports the location of various enemy crafts called Lowes and Grauwolfs. He makes an order to take out as many as possible, but chuckles over the fact that many of the pilots, called Eighty Six, will die in the process. Undertaker’s forces, made up of the Juggernaut units head forward and start fighting. Handler One starts shouting out to shut up and stay away as we see to Undertaker’s cockpit. On May 13th in the Stellar Year 2148, Major Vladilena “Lena” Milize gets out of her bed and puts on her uniform, saluting to a vase of flowers before she goes. After a quiet breakfast with her mother she heads outside, revealing a city living in relative peace, made up entirely of silver haired residents. A weather broadcast says it is a beautiful day across all 85 districts of the nation of San Magnolia. A public update on the war effort is made by Military Headquarters stating that the enemy Giadian Empire’s drone forces, known as the Legion took severe damage from San Magnolia’s Juggernaut units. Not a single human fatality or injury was suffered through their highly advanced ethically responsible unmanned crafts. Lena arrives at Military HQ where a variety of her fellow officers are goofing off or relaxing, many consuming large quantities of alcohol. She walks past a statue of San Magnolia, a founding revolutionary of the country. Lena overhears a nearby officer talking about how “pigs” were crying out in a recent battle and if they died it’s not like they were actual people. They taunt Lena, calling her a doll loving princess. Lena is about to confront them but her friend, Henrietta “Annette” Penrose steps in front of her and tells her to forget about them. Their enemy will be gone in two years and if anything Lena’s being a weirdo for taking things so seriously. Lena is about to talk about the country’s conscience but Annette says she doesn’t want to listen to one of her speeches. Nearby a couple more officers complain about their processor, a term used to describe the Eighty Six piloting the Juggernauts. Annette asks Lena why she cares so much about the Eighty Six, with Lena refusing to acknowledge them as drones. Lena receives a call on her wrist watch and heads to a monitor filled room where she acts as a handler. She attaches a collar device to her neck, the Para-RAID and uses it to contact those on the front lines. She synchronizes with her processor, nicknamed Pleiades, telling him she’s glad to be working with him today. She tells him to be careful, causing him to comment to her in a dismissive tone about how sweet she always is. Later, Lena is summoned by her commanding officer and uncle, General Jerome Karlstahl, and is told she’s going to be reassigned to another unit to take over for a retiring handler. Lena is told it’s a post defending an important base, the Defensive Line 1 in Eastern Combat District 1, known as the Spearhead squadron. It is a unit comprised of veterans across the Eastern front. As a new major, the youngest to ever make that post, Lena questions whether she is able to take on such responsibility. Jerome tells her that her father, Vaclav would be proud if he could see her today, looking at photo of them when Lena was a child. He asks about Lena’s mother, whom she says is the same as ever, and pressuring her to get married. Jerome says they can’t find anyone to take on this role. Lena questions why, as it would be an honor to command an ace unit. He says while that’s true for the unit, the handler has to deal with its processor, Undertaker, whom they’ve also nicknamed the Reaper. Undertaker destroys any handler assigned to him. Any handler assigned to his unit has either requested to retire or changed units. He tells her she is free to refuse the assignment but she agrees to take it on. Jerome tells Lena to stop interacting with the processors. He also tells her to stop putting the number of fatalities in her reports as officially there aren’t humans on the battlefield. Lena says it’s her job to know her men. Jerome says she’s just like her father. Lena is officially assigned as the handler for the Spearhead squadron. Later, Lena talks with Annette in the research wing. Annette seems annoyed that Lena accepted her assignment and calls her a weirdo. Lena says it’s an honor and assumes the stories about the unit aren’t true and its handlers simply lied to get out of the job. Annette says that one handler for the unit did in fact commit suicide. Lena asks if it’s relating to an issue with their Para-RAID device, but Annette says there was nothing wrong with it. They didn’t do further research as that would warrant bringing in Undertaker and those in the transport unit refused to give a seat on their flight to a pig. Annette says it’s not outside the realm of possibility that a Para-RAID could cause insanity; its putting pressure on the brain in sharing sensory data with a different person. They only currently share the sense of hearing as sharing sight or other senses could burn out one’s brain. Annette’s father was one of the authorities in this field of research although she says fundamental aspects of it were handled by someone else and there’s a lot she doesn’t know. Annette tells Lena she should join Research and Development; in two years her experience as a military veteran won’t mean anything. Annette says the processors are crazy and that the Eighty Six die quickly anyway and she doesn’t want this for her. Lena says to quit would be cowardly. Annette offers Lena some chiffon cake which she initially declines until hearing it’s made from real ingredients. Annette also brings her a cream puff, saying she gave it to a potential fiance the day before. Lena drops it in surprise when Annette mentions dropping it off where he lives with his mistress.
On May 20th Lena is back in an operation with her team, squadron 3. She asks Pleiades what is wrong and is told by another Eighty Six that he’s dead. We quickly see on the screen before her that several more have been killed. Lena tells the squad that the enemy is retreating and that they can hold back as another unit will head after them. Lena tears up and says she’s sorry for those in the unit that died. The Eighty Six on the other end tells her thank you in dismissive tone and continues to have that attitude after Lena announces that she’s leaving to command the Spearhead squadron. The Eighty Six tells her to tell hello to the Reaper as the signal cuts off. On May 22nd Lena sits in her room, turning the page on a diary where she’s recording information about what she’s going each day. She turns on her Para-RAID and asks for the Spearhead processor. Back on May 12th at the Spearhead squadron’s outpost, Undertaker departs his shabby looking room filled with books. A number of his squadmates goof off in a large room as they clean, tossing around a wet face cloth until it hits one of them, Raiden, in the face. Outside, a girl named Kaie waters some flowers, saying they’re having a good time. Another girl, Kurena chases a rooster. Later on she bursts into a dining hall where several of the squad including ones named Anju and Daiya are cleaning. In the hall, Theoto, an artist, crosses off a drawing of their recently resigned handler, showing him to have been the fifth one. Several more squad members greet each other in a hangar. A black cat rests upon a bulky four legged orange craft called Fido which stands before Undertaker, who is on a bench, reading. A soldier banging on his pans runs around saying its breakfast time. We see a painting of San Magnolia on the outside wall nearby with a dead soldier underneath her, the word pig written across his chest. The Spearhead squadron start their meal, filling up only around a quarter of the available tables in the room. One of them brings up the fact that their handler went crazy. Another says they aren’t coming back. One of them mocks him. Kurena says to knock it off. Theo says a white pig always does that and the same will happen with the next one. Undertaker, revealed to be named Shin by one of his colleague confirms that everyone was able to go. Another squad member, Kujo, says if they are going to die they’d rather have their Reaper guide them. The cat stares silently at him and jumps at him when he holds out some food for it. We cut to May 22nd as a battle rages between the Spearhead squadron and a group of Legion. Theo aims at a Lowe. Blasts are shot by both sides. Kujo’s cockpit is revealed to have been shot up with his blood seeping out of it. Various squadmates hear his anguish. Shin gets out of his Juggernaut, carrying a pistol and shoots Kujo after he tells him not to forget. Raiden comes up to Shin asking him if Kujo was able to go and Shin says yes. Raiden asks Shin about his brother’s voice and he says no. Shin tears off part of the Juggernaut to take with him. We cut to later as various squadmates clean the mess hall. Others fool around in a recreation room and the hangar. A chalkboard says it is 129 days until their service is over. In his room Shin carves Kujo’s name on the piece of Juggernaut he took with him. Suddenly Lena calls out to all of them via the Para-RAID and introduces herself as their new commanding officer. Shin says hello to her and says they look forward to working with her. Theo has already done a drawing of her, portraying her as a pig in women’s clothes. Lena says it is nice to meet him.
Eighty Six has a lot of world building to do in its first episode, and while there may be some confirmation bias from me here as someone who has also read the light novel, I think it does a fairly good job establishing the state of the world. We find ourselves in a dystopian ethno-state where those with silver hair, (although not mentioned by this term in the episode, known as the Alba) live a calm, peaceful life, while those who don’t share those characteristics, called the Eighty Six are the front line soldiers. Beyond establishing the premise, the show immediately puts in effort to get us hating the Albas by showing many of them as incompetent drunks, which is quite the contrast with our heroine Lena, who appears to be the only one among the Alba to actually care about the well being of the Eighty Six. In addition to the core premise the episode establishes various other things such as the Para-RAID technology that enables handlers like Lena to be able to communicate with those on the front line, as well as the fact that the war will be over in two years although we don’t know yet why. While the Eighty Six don’t get as much focus in this episode, the time we do spend with them is valuable, showing us a fairly likable group of soldiers, made up entirely of teenagers. While the Spearhead squadron is known as an ace unit, we see one of them already die in this episode. It was rather noticeable to me how old and used the Juggernaut units the Spearhead squadron were using in comparison with the shiny, brand new looking units the enemy has. While most shows in this genre feature mechs in humanoid form, Eighty Six does a good job in providing some more unique looking non-human designs. The episode also establishes that any handler who works with Shin, who is known as both Undertaker and Reaper, has a horrible experience, causing them to quit or in one case kill themselves. Overall a strong way to kick off the show and I’m absolutely looking forward to more.
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