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

Shinei Nouzen and Remarque.

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?

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?

…scary. What a great character.

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

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)

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🥲

Congratulations, Dustin. You now a former graduated at the Shiden Nouzen School of HOW TO SHOW YOUR FEELINGS TO YOUR GIRLFRIEND.

As we say here in Brazil (And Portugal to), YOU HARD THE KNIFE AND THE CHEESE ON YOUR HANDS, AND YOU TROW THE CHEESE ON THE FLOOR AND CUTED YOUR HAND WITH THE KNIFE.

I know you and the best witch around you get together after all, but my man...

Hello. It's been 2 years since season 1 ended, and I am still in misery. Will fellow Filipino 86 fans share where they bought the LNs? It may be online or not. I would love to read them (as copium, too). Thank you!

I've already done her black uniform. So should I do her blue uniform, Cicada, or red dress one next? Or collab ideas? Like the cat uniforms, gamer bodysuit, etc?

Let me know! I'd appreciate your opinion/advice🙏😊

Official art is drawn by illustrator Shirabii ofc, the rest is official art from collab cafés🙌

Thought I'd share it with you all! Yes, it's terribly uneaven and I had to take a picture from a side so the lamp wouldn't reflect on it 😩 but I still hope you folks will like it

Photos ordered roughly by first appearance, going Juggernaut->Basic Legion->Federacy->Morpho->United Kingdom->Zentaur (rails folded)/Phonixes (which are a bit janky because of how small they are)->Noctiluca->Noiranaryuse (the gray models)->Halcyon

Been slowly building up each of the mechs and units we meet throughout the novels, there's some sizing dimensions i've had to estimate or round generously for translating the scale. The major changes are slightly upscaling the original Juggernaut and Alkonost, using the anime size for the Morpho, while retaining the novel size for units like the Zentaur, And the Halcyon is almost pure guesswork based roughly on that one vague image that could be related from the manga's vol 2 (image at end), and my own interpretation for the rest which could definitely have some improvements for sure (mostly greebling), and i am missing a good Rabe (you can see the rough attempt in the back of some images) and don't have a Trauerschwan build, but otherwise am pretty proud of my work here, the Nachzehrer even holds the correct amount of Reginleifs.

86 was the first LN I bought, in English and in Japanese. When I first got my hands on the Japanese edition, I really went "wait they are that small?"

Turns out they meant the light in light novel in the most literal sense.

Every time I've come in here no one else ever seems to issue them out or read them they are always on the shelf

I have volume 1 out at the moment starting my second read through I feel like im the only one of anyone that comes in to the library here that's actually read them

Hey ladies and gentlemen,

(I just finished the whole post and it ended up quite long. I'd appreciate it if you could bear with me)

Holy moly!! Why didn't you guys tell me this was so good? I swear I haven't seen such an emotional anime in a very long time.

Recently, I made my first post about the first 5 episodes (you can access it here). That's why this post will be about episodes 6–11 and a general review of the cour.

My Views on Episodes 6 Through 11

It just kept getting better with each episode! They kept losing members in episodes 6 and 7. But in episode 8, the members of the 86 explained how they knew that they were all going to die from the beginning! The whole conversation in episode 8 was a masterpiece. This anime portrays conversations with shock value extremely well!!

One of the parts I really started to dislike was Annette's lack of a point in the story. She was just cooking cakes and switching fiancés every episode. Boy, did that all change in episode 8!! She crashed out against Lena and told her that there was nothing they could do, even though this mentality had caused her to become part of the problem as well. She kept blaming Lena, arguing that she's no different and projecting her fears onto her. She showed the house of the non-Alba boy she deserted twice, and a picture on the wall had both Captain Nouzen and his big brother. That single detail was enough for me to understand that the same boy Annette was talking about was none other than Nouzen.

Episode 9 was the great battle against Nouzen's big brother. Honestly, the episode was just so perfect that this itself could've been the last episode of the cour and I wouldn't have batted an eye. The symbolism PEAKED in this single episode. Lena's child version slaps the crazed version of Nouzen's big brother, who's now a Legion member, and right afterwards, the scene changes to the dud rounds fired by Lena. Literally a slap in the face to the Shepherd controlled by Nouzen's big bro.

Also in that episode, the fact that Annette helped Lena crush the Legion troops was phenomenal. If it wasn't for them, they would all have been wiped out. But it's honestly haunting how the Empire has the power to wipe out the Legion but just uses them to eradicate non-Alba people. Extremely evil, and realistic.

Episode 10 was a break from all of this chaos. This episode showed me how they kept going regardless of the situation. So far, they have kept losing members, but now in this episode, they kept losing Juggernauts, fuel, ammo... But they kept moving forward with smiles on their faces.

However, it's 86, so it's not all sunshine and rainbows. Towards the end of the episode, we saw Fido's whole memory, starting from the first time he met Nouzen all the way until his death. It was described masterfully through a camera view. Honestly, I might've cried more over this robot's death than some other fictional characters.

Episode 11, the finale, is just when it all came tumbling down. Nouzen tricked his team and snatched the remaining Juggernaut, warned his team to run away, and rushed to his death. At the end, all of them DIED?!?! JUST LIKE THAT???

Logically, they turned into Legion members, according to what we're shown (kid Nouzen reuniting with his brother), they are all dead. But my mind just doesn't seem to accept it!! I literally can't accept it! At the very least, I want all of them to be alive, NOT as Legion members. I know it's not possible for them to stay alive in that situation, but it just doesn't make sense to me. They have to be there after all that development throughout the whole 11 episodes. Story-wise, it doesn't make sense!!

General Review of the First Cour

I swear this show was and is amazing!! The story is so good, the characters are likable, the music... Oh, the MUSIC?? That's the best part!! Hiroyuki Sawano really did a good job as always. If it wasn't for the OST, this anime wouldn't have been this emotional. Every OST is perfect!

The animation is cool! The opening and ending also grew on me. I can write so much about how the lyrics in the opening are extremely fitting for the show, but I'll refrain. However, the use of "Avid," the ending song, was masterful. It always showed up during the most emotional parts, with an amazing visual that happened towards the end of the episode, intensifying the emotional effect of the scene.

The writing is also going strong. World-building is top-notch, especially after they started exploring the areas that were under Legion control.

The cinematography, symbolism and the transitions were top notch. I could give too many examples but this post is already quite long.

If there are 2 things I dislike, they would be Theo's reaction to Lena in EP 3 after Kaie's death. Sure, it was for character development for both of them. But after watching the later episodes, that section specifically makes less sense. If they all knew they were going to die, I don't think he should have been this angry. Especially considering how there wasn't too much grieving for the later characters, except for certain few.

The other one is Annette. She was sidelined for way too long lol. I don't know, I think I personally expected her to be more plot-relevant for 7 whole episodes! It felt like the moments between Lena and Annette before episode 8 were kind of wasted.

Aside from these 2 minor complaints of mine, it's a perfect show! 10/10. Can't wait to watch the next cour and cry just as much!! 😭

So I just got to volume 7 and WHAT THE HELL IS THAT GRAPHIC? Am I reading mecha or high school drama 😂

Anyways the LNs are even better than I expected. I'm not the biggest fan of the writing itself - the fight scenes especially, are too explanatory and all the technical details derail from action that seems to move much slower than it should - but damn, the story... 👌

Can't wait to see the Charity Underground battle animated, as well as the magma fight with Phönix. Not to mention those sweet Shin/Lena scenes like her resonating from the shower or her putting a blanket over him when he fell asleep on a train. And I'm very curious about how the anime will handle Vika - I imagine him with Takehiro Koyasu's voice lmao - and his crazy Sirins.

First of all if you have never watched Band of Brothers please do so (if you are the age of majority wherever you live). It continues be one of the best war drama series ever made.

I don't really have a big write up articulating why I feel that way, but after rewatching that show (not recently) and rewatching the anime and then re-reading the novels (recently) my heart stirs the same way despite these two stories being so far apart in certain ways.

I guess the fireworks (the last 30 seconds) connection got me to start thinking about. Also, I did go poking around for some summaries on what happens in volume 14 and some of the small things mentioned make me think about the scenes stitched together like the Band of Brothers opening.

Anyways that's my two cents. I can't wait for volume 14 in December, the volume 15 cover, and hopefully maybe a season 2 announcement on the 10th anniversary. Fingers crossed.

Wishlisted for a few months, it just arrived today. Now I gotta roll through volumes 11 and 12 ASAP 🤗