86 - Episode 17 Review - Shin and the 86 Are Ordered on a Suicide Mission
Warning: Spoilers ahead.
Following 86 - Episode 16, we see a montage of Lena defending San Magnolia from the Legion’s assault. The city looks on fire. It doesn’t look good.
Meanwhile, the Federacy has just been struck with a devastating artillery attack. It leaves over 20,000 dead. Bodies and limbs are everywhere. But Shin threw himself in front of Frederica, so she survives without a scratch. How convenient.
Frederica believes Kiri executed this massive attack. And the first thing she worries about… is if Shin will do something like that, too. Okay, Frederica, but the Legion aren’t alive. Not like these people used to be. So who cares if Shin goes crazy on Legion? Sigh.
The attack wiped out all of the FOBs. It was done by a new railgun cannon that has been codenamed Morpho.
President Ernst Zimerman has a meeting with leaders of neighboring countries. They’re planning a joint operation to retaliate against Legion. If there’s any surviving this, the countries have to work together.
Anyways, the Morpho can run on railway tracks and reach pretty much any country’s capital and destroy it. It’s been damaged in a counterattack, but the eggheads estimate it will be back online in eight weeks. So it has to be destroyed before then. On top of that, the Legion are so countless. And their manufacturing plants are just producing more and more Legion.
In the end, you already know what this means. The Federacy brass is going to order the 86 to fight the enemy in a suicide mission.
Shin, Theo, Kurena, Raiden, Anju, and Frederica have a meal together. The discuss how odd Shin is behaving, going over his battle craziness. And tiptoe around the probability that Lena and all of San Magnolia are dead.
Oh, and the soldiers in the mess hall around them all seem to hate them. Um… why? That doesn’t make sense. They saved countless lives by preemptively fighting against Legion in the surprise attack recently.
Later on, Marcel helps deliver an angry letter to Shin from Eugene’s sister. Should I care about this ignorant little girl? I didn’t think we’d ever see her again. Shin was triggered again by her words, but I wasn’t moved in the slightest.
Shin thinks he hears Lena’s voice. Which would mean she’s dead. But I ain’t falling for that.
Shin then proves to General Richard that his power allows him to know the enemy’s location. So Richard sends him on the mission. Wenzel objects because they’re kids, blah blah blah. It doesn’t matter. Shin wants to go on the mission. The 86 don’t want to be pitied. They don’t want to act like the people of San Magnolia and have someone else fight for them. Which is all such convenient BS for the story.
