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I made this thread yesterday but it’s somehow still on my mind, so I figured I’d elaborate on this. So, What Are Some Real World Inspirations 86 Draws From: A thread.
This'll be a long one. https://twitter.com/TheZackZeal/status/1239479427580530688
This'll be a long one. https://twitter.com/TheZackZeal/status/1239479427580530688
Spoiler warning: This’ll feature spoilers to the general setting of 86, but most of this is revealed in the early parts of volume 1. If you wanna go into it clean, I recommend you don’t read this. Do give the series a try, though!
86’s primary setting can be summed up as thus; A country by the name of the Republic of San Magnolia is under attack by its neighboring country – the Empire of Giad. Giad’s unmanned weapons isolate and detach San Magnolia from the rest of the world.
Backed against the wall, the Republic resorts to a cruel solution. Ethnic races in 86 are divided by color. Different races have skin tones, eye colors and hair colors unique to them. And the Republic of San Magnolia is the ethnic home of the silver-haired, silver-eyed Alba race.
So, when they were overwhelmed by the enemy drones, the Republic pinned the guilt of its loss in the war on its ethnic minorities. Those descended from the Empire, and who weren’t pure-blooded Albans, were supposedly spies that leaked information and sabotaged the war effort.
The minorities were sent to internment camps in the country’s 86th sector. They were colloquially named ‘The 86’, driven to forced labor horrible conditions, and their assets and belongings were appropriated by the state to fund the war effort.
Eventually, the 86 were sent out to fight against the enemy’s killer drones in badly cobbled together combat mechs with the full intent of being canon fodder. Since they were deprived of their rights and weren't considered human beings, there was no crime against humanity here.
Now, all of this might strike you as very hamfisted. Sounds like something a caricature of a fascist country might do, right? Well, almost everything the Republic does was once perpetrated by real world countries. 86’s main influences are from the WW2 era, and they’re blatant.
The first is Executive Order 9066 – 86’s rather discreet version of it is known as ‘Presidential Order 6609’. This order, issued by President Roosevelt in 1942, lead to incarceration and internment of citizens of German, Italian and most prominently Japanese descent during WW2.
The second doesn’t require much elaboration or introduction – it’s the Holocaust. A systematic massacre perpetrated of Nazi Germany with the intent of ethnically cleansing Europe of its Jewish population.
Given how dark and uncomfortable both topics are, the story goes about presenting them by somewhat shuffling around the countries. Most countries in 86’s setting draw their aesthetic and inspiration from one country but also carries elements of other countries.
For example, the Republic of San Magnolia is very clearly based off France. This is real world discrimination presented through fantasy racism. Races are color-coded, and during the pre-modern days of 86’s setting, blood purity was stressed among these races.
Much like how the Jews were blamed for Germany’s defeat in WW1 and the ethnic minorities of the US were persecuted as spies during WW2, the Albans of the Republic blamed their minorities for espionage and pinned their losses in the current war on them.
So, all of this is very hamfisted and on the nose, and the overall message is just ‘Racism: Bad’, right? Well… Yes and no. Things are a bit more nuanced than just that. Because 86 also tackles the questions of the banality of evil and social justice.
The most challenging question when it comes to atrocities of this scale is how are entire nations driven to terrible acts. You can easily explain how a dictator or even a movement are evil, unhinged and capable of genocide.
But an entire country? Millions of people from all walks of life, as simple as you and me, simply tacitly let people perform atrocities? How could soldiers - young, educated men - agree to commit those heinous orders?
86 explores those questions through many of its personal stories where people, even oppressed people, turn on those weaker and more helpless than them in moments of weakness.
By stepping over the weak, you give yourself the illusion of strength.
By stepping over the weak, you give yourself the illusion of strength.
No one likes to be helpless and in the mercy of others or the absurdity of the world. It’s the simplest defense mechanism – shifting of guilt.
That way, you’re never weak, in the mercy of another or in the wrong. It’s *their* fault.
That way, you’re never weak, in the mercy of another or in the wrong. It’s *their* fault.
And it happens from the smallest social interactions between siblings and friends, and up to the macro level of entire countries.
How are people capable of dehumanizing others? They’re weak and afraid and helpless, and that drives them to try and divert all the malice bearing down on them on someone else. Evil, for how banal it is, is just weakness.
And everyone is capable of weakness - which means evil can happen anywhere, in every place. We might even be doing it ourselves in our little ways without knowing it.
It's a harrowing message.
It's a harrowing message.
“But surely some people in the setting realize how messed up this is!”
Right you are! In fact, one of the main characters of this story, Lena, is a young idealistic officer who hates what her own country is doing despite being a pure-blooded Alban.
Right you are! In fact, one of the main characters of this story, Lena, is a young idealistic officer who hates what her own country is doing despite being a pure-blooded Alban.
She shuns her own people’s acts and treats the Eighty-Six with compassion and request.
But while Lena is a lovely character, the story does put her through hell for all her good intentions.
But while Lena is a lovely character, the story does put her through hell for all her good intentions.
It’s easy to speak of justice and ideals when you’re in the unoppressed, privileged side of society. And over the course of the story, Lena will have to let go of everything she knows except for those ideals.
Lena’s relationship with the rest of the cast is interesting, because it sheds light on aspects of oppressor-oppressed relationships. There’s a thick wall – both a physical and metaphorical one - standing between her and them.
To overcome that wall, Lena will have to realize that sometimes you can’t really cross it. That her own good intents alone mean little in the face of systematic oppression. That she can only be as good a person as her social status allow her to be.
The book’s other protagonist, Eighty Six ace soldier Shin, touches on themes of PTSD and trauma. Of the terrors of war, of death, of coming face to face with the ghosts of the past and survivor’s guilt.
Volume 1’s cover really showcases the juxtaposition of its two main characters perfectly. They stand, each in a very differnet reality, and reach for one another, but can never really touch. They have radically different positions, and so they shed light on each other’s flaws.
I love 86, because it doesn't just point on these things and say 'this is bad'. It says 'This is bad, but this is human nature', and talks about just how complicated of a matter discrimination really is.
It doesn't boil down to just 'being a bigot is bad, and being woke and socially aware' is good. It speaks of the struggle of the oppressed, and of how changing society is a struggle one can't always achieve on the personal level.
But for all the gloom and doom - and author Asato Asato does love her blood, tears and tragedy - 86 always has a gleam of hope to it. It's an empowering tale that holds no punches.
Do give it a try - pick up the books, or watch the upcoming anime if that's more your thing. It's an amazing series, and on top of everything I posted here, it's got blood-pumping action and a legitimately cool setting.
