86 – Eighty Six | Episode 9 Review

Episode Nine THoughts

Episode Nine is by far, the best episode of the series. Oh my goodness, this episode was just perfect. Everything about it was wonderful, it’s climax, the major fight scene, all the emotions that were shown throughout the anime, and most importantly, how this episode ended. Everything was just perfect. As a matter of fact, if episode nine was the eleventh episode of the “86 – Eighty Six” series, it would have been the perfect end to the anime.

The fight between Shin and this brother gave me major Sasuke v. Itachi vibes. Simply because of how everything played out. The younger brother in both instances wanted to kill their older brother. The older brother only really wanted to protect their younger brother and finally, the older brother is at peace before they died. The duel between them was so cool and was also beautifully animated. I’ve longed for a fight scene like this in the anime it’s a shame that this anime isn’t filled with as many fights like this one. I also wished that the battle itself took more than one episode, but that’s neither here nor there.

Another thing that I absolutely adored about the episode was how it ended. While I personally didn’t understand why Lena broke down in tears when the Spearhead went on to continue their mission. But from what was implied, they (the Spearhead) were about to enter an area where she would no longer have constant communication with them, and in that regard I understand why she broke down in tears (so please ignore what I wrote at the start of this paragraph). Over the course of the anime, we’ve seen Lena try to build a connection with the 86, always wanted to call them by their names and always cared for their wellbeing on and off the battlefield. They’ve already been through so much together. Knowing that they’ll be continuing on with their death mission, without conversation between her and her squadron must have ben pretty traumatic for Lena.

Something else I would like to mention with regards to how the episode ended was how symbolic everything was. As we know now, there are only 5 people remaining from the Spearhead, and these five people were represented by five seagulls flying off to the sunset never to be seen again. Which could be seen as the members of the Spearhead venturing on into an area where Lena will lose connection with them, never to be seen of heard from again, or them accepting their fate choosing to leave together and to follow each other until the end. Whatever the meaning was behind that scene, I thought it was just wonderful.

Episode nine is a solid A, a solid 9/10 from me. I hope that all the remaining episodes will be similar to this one.