86: Staging depression since 2021

 

Aiyo, it's your boi again. I have a confession to make. Since the end of episode 10, I have been fangirling and been trying to cook up the ultimate essay. This essay will be so meaty that I was planning to sleep like 10 hours before this Sunday, so that when the last episode of 86 drops, I will power through all the way to next morning to finish and publish it. But I ran into a problem. There was actually so many things I want to talk about in each episode, that if I crammed it all into a single post, this will probably be twice the length of my last one. So 86 has forced my hand. The show is literally so good that I can't praise it enough.

So there you have it: This essay is the literal build up to the final theme I am exploring this coming Sunday. This essay will be more technique based, similar to my first essay on dramatic irony and will focus only on episode 7 and 8 of the series.

P.S: The following points I will make is not directly relevant, but is still loosely build upon many ideas that is established in the first seven episodes of the show. And thus, if you have extra time on your hands, you can give my first two essays a read (especially my essay on ideals as it is built upon it heavily in these two episodes).

Dramatic irony (Episode 1-3): https://zxcaderu.blogspot.com/2021/05/86-have-you-ever-heard-of-my-friend.html

When do ideals become more than empty words (Episode 1-7): https://zxcaderu.blogspot.com/2021/05/86-when-do-ideals-become-more-than.html

Staging

The technique I'll be exploring this essay is staging. Staging means to pay attention to the setting of the show in context to its other elements. One should take note that staging is not setting. Setting is something more set in stone like the white high rises of the Republic or the arboreal quarters of the Spearhead squadron. Staging is what happens when you take that setting and you imbue it with a specific mood or a specific idea. So a quick example will be this:

https://www.reddit.com/r/EightySix/comments/n2z9ih/an_interesting_parallel_between_episode_1_and_4/

This picture is taken courtesy of u/Saturn_Ecplise who noticed an interesting parallel in staging. And a nice interpretation of it is done courtesy of u/Zeus67 who states that this parallel is an allegory of Lena's state of mind; Being a contrast of naivety and enlightenment. Many anime actually love to use staging to reflect its character's emotions. The most common example will probably be when characters are sad and desperate, the show would wring out even more emotion by throwing them into a torrential rain where they fall face first into the mud. 86 however does something more. Instead of just reflecting emotions through their weather, it uses lighting to reflect the ideals and the beliefs of specific characters. That my friend, is the creme de la creme that we love to cream our pants over; Symbolism via --

I think the strongest example would be its lighting work. In episode 7, the writers made a lot of effort setting gold and dark blue as its motif. Gold would be used exclusively to portray the Republic/Lena while dark blue would be used to represent the spearhead squadron. These two colors itself would already be enough to set a mood. Gold is often used for grandiosity, nobility, the symbolic color of the rich while dark blue conveys a sense of sadness, and yet strangely tranquility, being the symbolic color of the night sky. This juxtaposition would be brought front and center at the revolution festival itself.

Both sides are celebrating the festival with equal spectacle, with the Republic filling their streets with luxury while the spearhead squadron lit up their night sky with flamboyancy. The symbolic meaning then comes through in how the scene is portrayed. Lena vomits in the gold festival, having bloody descriptions of death from Kurena be contrasted with the red sauces of meat from the Albas. It is disturbing, almost implying that the Alba feeds off of the flesh of the 86. The spearhead's end however, takes place under a mournful night sky, especially after the losses we experienced last episode. Despite all that, we aren't shown despair. Instead, we are treated to a moment of beauty, with the fireworks bringing not just child-like glee for our spearhead members, but also an opportunity to cry for Anju. The gold of the fireworks then is seen as dignified as compared to the twisted and voracious gold of the Alba's.

You can also see this when Lena quite literally escapes the gold party out to the open night sky, where she shares in an intimate conversation with Shin. It characterizes her, being someone who would much rather be free with the 86, "where the night is dark and the air is clean" then to be confined inside the city walls. Mellifluous piano aside, this is how effective staging looks like. At minimal it reflects the emotions of a character, but at its best, it tells a story. And I am not even close to being done with half of it.

The moon itself is one of the major stage pieces. It has been used to characterize Shin many times from episode 1 all the way to episode 11, with one of the best examples being this --

In these two shots, the moon is cut in half just like how Shin has a scar across his neck. The light of the moon and their charismatic leader, is thus always radiant for the Spearhead squadron, shining a path in the dark. But it itself carries sadness from past trauma, something that many members of the Spearhead relates to as well. And thus with just one image of the moon, the faith and despair of the Spearhead squadron is dichotomized. Any Tom, Dick and Harry can be edgy like that though, but when it truly becomes beautiful is when the show uses that motif to tell a story; The phase of the moon being one such example.

I'll spare you endless images of the moon and leave you to explore them in your own re-watch. Instead, I'll choose to talk about one of my favorite usages of this motif at the end of episode 7. 

When many members of the squadron is wiped out and all hopes seems loss, the night is moonless and we simply stare into the dark ditch. We are confronted with the truth there, where the entire spearhead squadron is revealed to be destined to die; It is symbolic despair of the Spearhead squadron. However when Raiden steps up and declares their pride in continuing to fight, the moon lets up and we see them gazing out into the open sky, basking under its radiance; It is symbolic faith of the Spearheads. Quite literally this is the show telling us: Where the moon shines brightest, is where faith is found. With all that staging in episode 7 in mind, let us explore the hidden meanings in episode 8.

This scene with Annette is extremely interesting as the conflict first takes place in the gold-lit room and yet transitions to the moon-lit room at night. At first it is fitting. Annette is someone who constantly tells herself that nothing she does would matter and thus she shouldn't give a rat-ass about the 86; It is the kind of twisted belief befitting of the color gold. However, why then is she moved to a moon-lit room? It wasn't as if Annette changed her beliefs for the better. Instead she straight up berated Lena for prolonging the death sentences of the Spearheads. That's some gaslighting shenanigans right there. But I do think the characterization here is intentional. Annette is in the wrong for berating the beliefs of Lena but she herself is not a bad person. In fact she even stated that she made her own attempts to try. 

"If I had them bring the processor (Shin) that was the cause (for the dead handlers), I might've been able to save him, if nobody else. But that's just hypocrisy. I am glad those shitheads in Transport refused. See, nothing we can do. I can't save anymore."

Imagine being mocked at school for just associating with someone, imagine having to live with your racist remarks that you unknowingly made as a naive child; Well, that's Annette. Except, she constantly gets guilt-tripped for it for the next couple of years by her best friend. Talk about suffering. But despite all of that she did harbor a little faith when she wished to help the Undertaker. And regardless of the unfortunate outcome, that sentiment shouldn't lose out to Lena's sentiment as well. How then, do you characterize such a complicated emotion? 

Having her lit by gold would be an insult for the guilt that Annette has cursed herself with for so long, but having her lit by the moon wouldn't be right either. Thus, she is shown to be in the grey-area, turning her back against the moonlight and being unable to face it. All of her words have a tinge of irony now, does she truly mean what she is saying, or is she just lashing out from the guilt that she no longer can swallow? I don't know, but that is the beauty of it. You are able to use established motifs to hide and explore complexities in something that shouldn't just be black-or-white. It allows you to question, to theorize, to ironicize. And all of that, with just a flash of the full moon. Lena herself cannot escape this irony as well.

Lena has always been someone who is plagued by the by-stander effect. She is much better than Annette however making gestures such as providing map data and gifting fireworks. But what does her actions amount to? She fails to stop many deaths (like any at all), she fails to mobilize either the mortars or the reinforcements and she fails to stop the Spearhead's death march. So what right does she have to mouth off Annette? 

Her gold light is not just her failures as well, but also in her reliance to the broken system. Every single time she wants change, she doesn't act on it herself but instead chooses to beg her uncle for it; It was the same with the mortars, with the reinforcements and it happened again in episode 7 where she begged for the suicide mission to be called off. It is for that reason why the final confrontation with her uncle has her cowering beneath the faux statue and beneath the gold light; Ideals that are empty words.

This is the reason why the primary staging of Lena, is always in her own room. Watch this next scene with all the symbolic lighting in mind.

Every single emotion, every crack of her ideals, is carefully framed around the lighting. Why was Lena framed in front of the gold light when she begged for the Spearheads to stop fighting?

It is because she is making the same mistakes she did with her uncle; She has her own ideals of righteousness and she begs for others to follow it when she herself doesn't. The 86 constantly fights for what they believe in, but what tangible actions has she ever taken to help them? Thus, these ideals Lena tries to push onto others is no more than hypocrisy; Gold Light. We also have this money shot. 

This was the only time in the scene in which the moon truly came through the window, and it was in this moment where Shin gives Lena an opportunity to survive. Notice the moon light was cut off by the frame, prevented from reaching Lena. That is because Lena finds the sentiment of Shin difficult to swallow. She imagines herself: Being in that same situation, despairing and begging for help just as she does now. But instead, what we have is Shin choosing to not only to fight, but to care. Shin cares about Lena's safety, prioritizing it more than himself. And in this case, he is actually shedding blood, as opposed to Lena's empty ideals -- True selflessness. 

How she feels is thus framed into this shot very well. The brilliant moon light shows how admirable she finds Shin; It getting cut off from reaching her reflects how she feels undeserving of such a concern; And lastly the gold's crushing radiance shines a literal light on her disdain. She hates herself, for all the hypocrisy she has shamelessly shown till this point.

Take note that the next time we see Lena after this scene is in episode 9 when she turns up to shower the Legion with mortar shells. This is a huge change in her character from passivity to activity. While we can somewhat fill in the blanks from her previous perseverance, such a jump may still seem like a illogical leap for a few. Well, look no further, because the show has somehow justified her entire character arc with but a single shot. Economy of scene is a term that gets thrown around nowadays, but hot damn is this scene not a gem.

The Finale

And thus we arrive at the creme de la creme of episode 8, the departure of our spearhead squadron. This is where I believe the staging of 86 truly shines, and quite literally at that. And though I personally believe that this scene doesn't even need explaining and just has to be felt. Not bringing it up however would be a crime against humanity. 

We thus begin with the rain carrying over from Lena's perspective, still leaving us locked into the despair that Lena felt. Shin himself acts stoic and the attitude of "I guess this is farewell" from Lev doesn't help as well. But this rain is different from Lena's rain. With Lena, it is used to drown out her cries, but with the Spearheads, they act matter-of-factly as if this is no different from any other day of theirs; Raiden is cool as always, Kurena acts chirpy and Anju is still optimistic. They even used this time to reminisce, talking about how they will miss the old guy's lectures, giving the entire scene a sweet nostalgic feeling.

The common interpretations of rain as something mournful doesn't apply here. Instead the rain takes on a new meaning; To transition and to cleanse. As the hopeful music plays and we see the Spearheads idle away, the sun rises next morning. And we are greeted with this -- 

This is the scene of five soldiers who are marching away to their suicide mission. For all the safety and luxury that the Albas enjoy, the past two episodes has spare no expense in characterizing Lena and Annette under the harshest atmosphere. The lighting itself constantly reveals the irony and hypocrisy of their actions and the entire atmosphere was marred with conflict, externally and internally. However for the Spearhead who is literally at the verge of death, the staging is the complete opposite of theirs; It shows them in a triumphant light. The sky is filled with a beautiful blend of blue and gold, colors that had been conflicting with each other just a few moments ago. They harmonize and they welcome. The dreary rain was even defeated, as if with god's favor, the Spearhead squadron wished for it to stop and it did. 

The Spearhead squadron themselves has always talked about reaching the final destination. For them, even death wasn't the end as they wholeheartedly believe that Shin and the others would continue carrying on their souls. And thus as they set off on their final mission, even if it is suicide, they have already transcended their own mortality. This is why the rain they defeated ended up becoming the morning dew of the plants the next morning. With not just an added effect of aesthetic points, Dew itself is a common symbol in literature, representing bountifulness, divine blessing and most importantly, rebirth. It's fitting, because even if the Spearhead members do die, they simply take another form; They simply become passengers to their final destination. 

And thus, one of the most depressing story lines of the series is delivered in the most glamorous and magical of staging, simultaneously making us smile and cry at the same time.

When staging tells a story

I have seen many shows where staging amplifies a scene, but I very rarely see it be the focal point like I do in 86. From the light that plagues Lena and Annette, to the light that welcomes the spearhead squadron, the writers have taken the time to look at each and every scene and ask themselves: "How do we maximize this emotion, how do we imbue meaning?"

I have probably watched episode 8 up to 5 times at this point. And I beg everyone: Please, please, please! Re-watch the show more than once. You are doing yourself a disservice if you enjoy the show but is satisfied with just the initial viewing. The writers have put so much thought and detail into every single episode and they are just waiting for you to discover them. I for one, would be watching this show many times for years to come.

As I have stated as well, this essay is but a build up for my final one that is coming up soon. As the final episode is still unknown to me, I have no idea how that will turn out but if I have to take a guess, the final essay will be about paradise, and discussing where paradise truly is in 86. Other than that, let us all wait patiently as we inevitably watch 86 stick its landing and become the top 10 anime on MAL.