English Dub Review: 86 EIGHTY-SIX: Welcome Back”

Overview: Shin (Billy Kametz) discusses the vast amount of legion troops that are making their way to Giad to Grethe and his thoughts on the Reginleif. Later, he discovers more about Frederica (Kimberley Anne Campbell) and her relationship with a relative of his. 

Our Take: With Shinei at long last reunited with his friends in the newly formed Nordlicht Squadron, he and the team try out the new versions of the robotic weapons, Reginleif. It is intriguing to see how their assessment has determined that Giad has prioritized their performance versus the safety and wellbeing of those who are operating it. A decision that, at first, may come off as cold and heartless actually has more depth to it than may initially think in Commander Grethe praying for faster units to save her friends and soldier’s lives.

Shinei and Frederica continue to grow closer as she confides in him about her past personal trauma and how a distant relative of Shin’s, Kiriya Nouzen, protected her. Shin and Kiriya’s similarity shows just how he formed a fast bond with Frederica in their relationship mirroring one another. But it is also made apparent how they differ too with how much more of a stickler for rules Kiriya was than Shin. It also highlights how cruel the Federacy and her royal family can be and how much blood they have on their hands due to their mistreatment of their own neighboring people and personal guard, relying on soldiers like Kiriya to do their dirty work against civil unrest until, in Nouzen’s case, they reach their mental breaking point. A breaking point that wears on Frederica to this day, further breaking down her grief, as well as illuminating why Ernst had to fake Frederica’s death out of safety for her life. Frederica’s talk with Shin about considering his future incites feelings of nostalgia in a similar talk he had with Lena, further showing his feelings for her and real yearning to see a reunion between the would-be lovers. 

Raiden and Shinei share a final conversation closing out their night in which the former makes his distrust for the Federacy abundantly clear and his disdain at the Shin’s revealing how many legion forces are coming versus how many Giad believe is. While they are far from saints, Raiden’s pessimistic attitude about them also seems to be more biased than perhaps even he realizes, especially when taken into consideration how behind closed doors higher-ups were against Grethe’s use of the 86 due to their past trauma and all they have given. There is plenty of evidence to the contrary, however, that shows how fairly merciless the Federacy is, with key examples being Frederica’s past and throwing around the idea of killing the 86 when they first found them. However, all of this culminates into a general uncertainty of not only Giad moving forward, one that is anything but the black and white picture Raiden paints, but also that of the other countries discovered, Magnolia’s response to Giad and the future as a whole.