An American Writer's Thoughts on Japanese Animation

Category: Seasonal Episodes

Seasonal Selection – 86 Episode 8

So, this episode is all pretty much ‘gearing up’ for what would seem to be a final confrontation. The Spearhead is down to five, and they’re being sent on one last suicide mission, while Lena is having to face being trapped, alone and powerless.

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Seasonal Selection – 86 Episode 7

The pace of 86, at times, makes it difficult to talk about, or at least to start with. At the bare minimum for the week’s episode we saw some downtime and then got told what perceptive viewers already fully expected: the Spearhead is meant to kill those sent to it, a surprise to Lena but not really to us. And? And lots of development of the characters and time spent building the important emotions.

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Seasonal Selection – 86 Episode 6

We spend most of this episode with Spearhead, oddly enough including an extended flashback scene to when the formation was first formed, having a fun cookout together. One of the things the show does well is when it shows the 86 coping with their lives. Its very human; even in an objectively awful situation, people are going to seek happiness and ultimately cope with the horrors around them. It is, especially, thrown into stark relief when we see what the group started out as and then what they’re reduced to now, with two more deaths this episode.

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Seasonal Selection – 86 Episode 5

So, to an extent, I was wrong. Shin’s brother got a more detailed address than I was expecting, even if, no, it wasn’t the crux of another transformation. On the other hand, we did in fact get a new movement in the major plot, and it is a hell of a big one.

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Seasonal Selection – 86 Episode 4

86 continues to impress with its humanity, but to an extent much of what was had and needed this episode was highly predictable from the last. That’s not a bad thing; there are an infinite number of ways to tell a story, and only a finite subset of them actually work. Because of this, it’s not a necessary bad thing when elements of a story are predictable, especially from what immediately precedes them.

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Seasonal Selection – 86 Episode 3

I hope you enjoy slow burn drama over any general expectation of action. Frankly, I kind of appreciate the approach… at least when there’s been a second cour announced. If we were only getting a single ordinary-sized season I would be a little bit concerned about the pacing. That said, I do think it serves a solid purpose for what I believe the show is trying to accomplish.

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Seasonal Selection – 86 Episode 2

Plot 101: Introducing some more of our main story. Honestly, one thing I’m enjoying about 86 is how it’s been building up the world. In the first episode, we got hints and questions. Here we get answers, but also more hints to hook into for the future.

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Don’t Toy With Me, Miss Nagatoro, Episode 1

So, every season, I try to watch one show and report on it, episode by episode. Sometimes these shows have been pretty decent, other times they’ve been bloody terrible. The main qualification is that the show has to be something new, not a second season, sequel, or anything like that. I’ve tried to reach for originals sometimes, but I’ve also done adaptations. This season, I said to myself “Well, I got through Ex-Arm, one of the worst shows I’ve ever seen, clearly I can take on anything.”

I was wrong. I was so, so wrong. Suffice to say, I will NOT be watching through “Don’t Toy With Me, Miss Nagatoro” as my Seasonal Selection for Spring 2021, but having watched the first episode with the intent of doing so, I feel I would be remiss if I did not at least report on what I’d seen.

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