“Masterpiece” anime from Solo Leveling studio is streaming now

A lot of anime shows debut in any given year, and one release that went under the radar in 2022 is garnering praise for being a lowkey highlight.

86 has been shouted out as one of the best anime of recent times, with one viewer placing it higher than Demon Slayer.

A war story using a historic aesthetic, 86 looks at an oppressed society’s uprising using remotely operated mechs, and the discovery of the conflict isn’t black and white. The title comes from the number of pilots and the sector that’s leading the rebellion.

There are two lead characters, Lena and Shinei, one from either side, who make this realization as they become sympathetic towards the other. Originally a popular visual novel by Asato Asato and Shirabii, 86 became a manga before being adapted for screen.

A-1 Pictures, the studio behind Solo Leveling, Black Butler, and Fairy Tail, made the anime, which ran from 2021 to 2022, and word of mouth on the production is spreading.

“God damn this show was a masterpiece. It was a rollercoaster of emotions from start to finish, and the ending of Season 2 was perfect. Idk if we’re getting a third season, but I would be perfectly happy if it is left like this,” said a Redditor, whose thread has attracted a slew of comments.

“For me it felt like there was so much love and thought put into adapting it properly from the production side,” another commenter added. “Light novels generally are adapted quite poorly due to the amount of content needed to be covered/content skipped, and while it did happen to an extent in 86 I think they overall did a great job.”

86 was released as two cours, so really we’ve only had one season. At the time, there wasn’t quite enough material to justify another season, but now the light novels have progressed to 13 volumes, so the story is there, though viewers are happy with what we have.

“If I ever need to check if I still have emotions I will just put on the last two episodes,” another comment stated. You can check if you’re still emotionally available by watching 86 on Crunchyroll.

Our upcoming anime list will tell you what other highlights you should keep an eye out for.