86? Why not 69?
Link to Part 2 myanimelistAfter high recommendation from people on median discord, i think i finally can find time to watch this series. To be honest, I think I should make 2 different reviews after finishing watching the series. Thus this review will be slightly different where i will talk about good / bad in each individual part before im writing conclusion at the end.
Part 1The series started with a female protagonist which is called princess who lived in sheltered Republic city. Everyone are living their fullest lives safe while actually there are huge war for humanity happening at the city border. She then became a handler for a squad of mech pilots, designated 86 which have been badly treated unlike proper military soldier. Wanting to change system, our idealist princess then oversee the battlefield while trying to get closer to each of members in the mech squad.
I made huge mistake at beginning to think that this anime will be "combat focused" anime, instead most of the time at are focused on character buildings. As watch more episode, there are many shifting perspective between the handler & leader of squad that kinda sometimes hard to follow. Combine with several time jump (usually with date & time written) as well as several flashback to tell background story. Additionally, seem like feel like there are many plot convenient / armor the main male got that make him survived many wars before.
Part 2After what happened in end of season 1, the story now revolved heavily on main male protagonist perspective. Without spoilering much of the story, lets just say that there are new battlefield where everyone have to participate with new groups & mechs. The story are still revolved around fighting mindless drone except there are another important main plot / tones than 1st season which solely focus more surviving the war. We also see more out-of-combat story among the characters showing different aspect of main characters.
Hard to say what bad about part 2 without spoiling much. One thing i notice is that there will be introduction of new loli character that is annoying but integral to the storyline. While there are many combat scenes this time around, for me there are just too many moment that being cut to battle aftermath abruptly despite many battle i considered as super important plots wise. Despite world now larger, there are many unanswered questions even at the end of part 2.
Overall I enjoyed all characters stories, especially showing their inner struggle in / out of battlefield. I made mistake a beginning with wrong expectation (especially when you design the story
expecting people dying one by one). Eventually part 2 really bring everything together for better story. If you are planned to watch this, go watch both season by to back (anime got production issue / delayed when airing).
Part 1 is good albeit character focused, Part 2 is super excellent in many aspects.