86 – Eighty Six | Episode 11 Review

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Episode Eleven Thoughts

What’s weird is that I couldn’t help but feel a little emotional watching this episode. Seeing these characters experience things they never got to experience or re-experiencing that were stripped away from them was very powerful. It also didn’t help that I was on edge the whole time because I knew that they would all eventually die on this mission, and that was the moment I was not looking forward to.

Episode eleven was one of those bittersweet endings that everyone hates. Episode eleven sort of reminded me of the last episode of Guilty Crown. In which the one main character, in this case, Lena, continues to fight on for the sake of all those she lost and the people she made memories with.

Furthermore, you couldn’t help but get even more emotional when Lena ends up finding and reading the note her Squad had left behind if one day Lena went to their headquarters. Seeing her tear up reading the remaining messages from those I assume she considered to be friends. Along with all the names that were a part of the Spearhead before each one of them met their eventual death was extremely powerful.

Not only was I feeling a little emotional throughout the episode, but I also couldn’t help but feel a little pissed at seeing all the new ‘recruits’ being brought in to replace and replenish the Spearhead when Lena came to visit the Spearhead headquarters. Knowing that they too will throw on the frontlines to be executed really triggered me. Furthermore, knowing that Lena will probably also try and build connections with them (knowing full well that they’ll all die in the end) was also very discouraging. It makes you wonder how much longer can Lena continue to do this job. She cares so much for the 86, but she also has an obligation to protect her country as the handler. That is one big balancing act that I don’t think I could ever do, and I wonder how far and how much Lena will have to endure until it becomes too much.

Finally, I think I spotted a slight hint as to what the second season may entail. When Shin hears the voice of his brother once again fast approaching him. That voice mentioned how they will kill everyone who threatens the Princess and then shows a picture of the presumed Princess. In that scene, it also flashed a quick image of a flag emblem that I assume to be linked to the Republic of Giad. Which I presume will also have a role in the upcoming season and maybe in the special?

Anyway, episode eleven was a great episode. It was a bittersweet ending to an outcome that we all knew was to eventually come but hoped that it wouldn’t actually happen. I want more. A++