A little while ago, we shouted out Crunchyroll’s banner mecha-political anime 86 Eighty-Six on our shortlist of sixteen underrated shows that deserve more love. Then, the series unceremoniously vanished from Crunchyroll, and its Blu-ray sold out on Amazon just as quickly, with no explanation or announcement that it’d been removed. Womp womp for anyone hoping to watch it. Instead of taking to the high seas as this phenomenon is wont to make anime fans do, we suggest checking out Yen Press’ audiobook, which feels more intimate and immersive than the anime ever could.
Admittedly, this recommendation didn’t come out of nowhere. The idea actually sprang from anime voice actor Suzie Yeung, who nudged fans on X/Twitter toward an audiobook narrated by her and fellow voice actor Alejandro Saab. Not as a consolation prize, but as an alternative for fans who wanted to experience the story. Taking her up on it, I bought the first volume and listened to it sporadically throughout my week—on walks in the park after work and while grocery shopping. Basically, whenever I had a spare moment, I was giving the book a listen. After finishing the first volume (and immediately downloading the second), I was left with an experience that felt arguably more apropos than rewatching the show’s first season.
86 Eighty-Six, written by Asato Asato and illustrated by Shirabii, unfolds in a dystopian world where a naively optimistic young woman, Vladilena Milizé (Yeung), dispatches a squadron of mechs from the safety of her empire’s fortified walls. To the privileged public, comprising 85 diverse nations, this war is a proxy war in which mechs fight other rogue mechs, like playing Battleship via Zoom isn’t a biggie. In fact, it could end any day now with no fanfare to be had. But in reality, those drones are piloted by a sequestered group of child soldiers known as the Eighty-Six, forced into an internment camp and treated as subhuman loophole to its war crimes. Their leader, the stoic Shinei Nouzen, aka Undertaker (Saab), commands them through countless battles as the rest of the world either ignores or refuses to acknowledge their obvious war crimes, hoping they’ll all die out eventually.
What follows is a grim, deeply intimate story where Milizé, Nouzen, and the rest of the Eighty-Six forge a bond through neural chip voice-calls (with a Pacific Rim-like ability to dive into each other’s memories should their bonds prove strong enough) that the audiobook drops you directly in the middle of, capturing the awkwardness and closeness of their burgeoning relationship in a way the anime, for all of A-1 Pictures’ merits, could never match.
One of the biggest hurdles to getting into an audiobook is the Goldilocks problem of finding the right narrator. Sometimes the vibe just isn’t vibing. But 86 Eighty-Six clears that bar with room to spare. Throughout alternating chapters telling Nouzen and Milizé’s perspectives, Yeung and Saab go all-in to the point that you feel like a member of the crew eavesdropping on their calls as you go about your day. Likewise, both actors display their incredible vocal range, seamlessly slip into impressions of each other’s cadence, and the rest of the ensemble, creating a rakugo-esque experience inside my headphones. Saab’s performance as Nouzen, in particular, was incredibly heartwarming, serving as yet another worthy successor to the late Billy Kametz‘s portrayal of the hero, handled with the utmost care.
As someone who’s hot and cold on audiobooks, I was especially struck by how hard both actors were going in the booth, delivering blood-curdling, full-throated screams (when the moment called for it). Hearing those performances while I was scanning groceries at the self-checkout aisle or watching ducks at the park made me feel like one of the oblivious citizens in Asato’s light novel, going about my day while soldiers died.
Experiencing 86 Eighty-Six via an eight-and-a-half-hour audiobook also came with the advantage of deeper world-building and richer access to its characters’ lives. And beyond the performances of Yeung and Saab, I was genuinely tickled by how Asato’s occasional Tumblr-reminiscent purple prose landed when spoken aloud. Every chapter guaranteed a colorful simile—a dry gaze “like a witch who lived a hundred years and grew tired of the world,” silence “as still as an icy pond,” or, my personal favorite, Nouzen’s curt monotone retorts after being compared to an entire arsenal of sword metaphors. Out of context, it might sound cringe, but it quickly became an endearing part of the novel’s charm.
As far as alternatives to the anime, Yen Press’ audiobook made for more than an ample substitute. In fact, the audiobook’s narration, prose, and the emotional immediacy of its vocal performances filled in the tapestry of Asato’s world in ways the show only sketched an outline to. I’m already deep into the second volume and fully intend on finishing the series via its audiobooks before looping back to the show. Hopefully, by the time I get caught up on the series, 86 Eighty-Six will have found a new streamer home.
Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.
