Hello everyone, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today I’m immensely eager to dive back into 86, given how its last episode upended everything we thought we knew. First off, we at last learned the full truth regarding what happened to Lena’s father, as well as her connection with Shin’s brother Rei. The consequences of Lena’s childhood journey to the front lines basically set the course of her life until now – having lost her father, but gained a lift debt to the 86, it seems only natural that she’d attempt to live up to Rei’s example.
But as it turns out, Rei is also still guiding Shin’s actions, in the most morbid way possible. As the episode’s second half revealed, the Legion have been using the brains of dead soldiers to replace their mechs’ aging processing units, and thus prolonging their fighting capacity. As a result, the Alba’s confidence in the Legion’s obsolescence is entirely unfounded, and they’re quite likely on track to lose this war. And on a more personal level, it seems clear that Shin’s brother is serving as one of the “Shepherds” with fully working brains, directing the battle against his own former teammates.
At the moment, Shin seems determined to live only long enough to ensure his brother can rest in peace. He has no unrealistic pretensions of escaping his fate as a soldier, and no hope of this war ever ending. Shin’s perspective is frankly reasonable – but in a situation like this, you sometimes need an unreasonable person like Lena to keep you going. Her entirely unwarranted optimism and idealism are a precious resource, a hope flowering in the most inhospitable soil. With so much of their past now revealed, I’m eager to see how Lena and Shin’s relationship develops from here!