From the Bookshelf: 86 [Eighty-Six] 1

Had I been clear straight off the translated “light novels” of a series called Eighty-Six were a “mecha story” at least so far as the young soldiers “stripped of their humanity” on the desolate front lines of “a war without casualties” were in fact piloting machines with legs (if four rather than a more humanoid and heroic two), maybe I’d have bought them one at a time starting with their opening volume. A few simple recommendations nudging me to to the point of ordering a bundle of the first six volumes was memorable in its own way even so. For one reason or another they wound up stacked and waiting while I watched their anime adaptation, but I remained aware my own track record with long series of translated-from-Japanese novels is spotty. By the time I’d been able to see the adaptation’s last two episodes I’d added another two volumes to the stack and had two more on order, to boot. I picked up the opening volume quite soon after watching the last episode (at which point “seeing where the story goes” might have become a bit less pressing), but with genuine uncertainty.
( First impressions and afterwards )