86 - Volume 9 - Chapter Aft

AFTERWORD

I’m skirting on the very edge of my page limit, so no idle chatter this time!

Hello everyone, this is Asato Asato. Thank you for waiting as always! 86—Eighty-Six, Vol. 9: Valkyrie Has Landed is here for your reading pleasure.

This time, we cover the Theocracy arc. As you’ve likely imagined, the Teshat come from the same inspiration as the Eighty-Six. I was actually planning on writing them into another novel, but I ended up introducing them into 86 anyway.

First, a few announcements. I’m actually so limited on page space because there are so many announcements to make, which is very exciting.

Volume 1 of Somemiya’s 86—Operation High School manga is on sale! And! Bandai has also announced they’ll be selling plastic models of the Juggernauts and Lena! And Ichiban Kuji announced they’ll be releasing merchandise as well! The world of 86 just keeps expanding at an alarming rate! Please support all of those, as well as Yoshihara’s manga adaptation and the anime adaptation!

Next, some commentary.

• The Armée Furieuse

The spaceship that carries our heroes into battle is important.

Since Volume 3, I’ve been racking my brains over how to break through the Legion and ferry Shin and his group to their battle against the final boss. By Volume 6, I came to realize that they can’t really just fight their way through enemy lines.

However!

If they can’t fight their way through, they just need to fly over it. And the M551 Sheridan light tank, which served as the inspiration for the Juggernaut, is also said to be imaged after the Ghost Riders (mentioned later), so I figured, yeah, let’s make it airborne!

But aircraft can’t fly through the air because of the Eintagsfliege… So why not fire them off with a catapult?! Don’t worry, it’ll be fine—the Morpho’s right there, flinging shells that weigh several tonnes all over the place, so this can work! And Volume 5 had the Ameise being propelled using catapults, so if they can do it, the Reginleifs can figure something out, too!

So that’s how I came up with an airborne unit being propelled with a catapult.

God, I feel stupid.

• The Ghost Riders

An army of ghosts galloping across the night sky. In German and Norse mythology, Odin himself is said to lead the riders. And since Shin is already regarded as Odin, why not make the Eighty-Six the Ghost Riders, then? This was actually the original name I had in mind for the Nordlicht squadron back in the Federacy arc. But I didn’t put it to use then, so I figured I could use it for the aerial armament.

Last, some thanks.

To my editors, Kiyose and Tsuchiya. There’s not much I can say this time other than…I’m sorry…

To Shirabii. As I was writing this volume, I was seriously excited to see how you’d draw Frederica and Svenja’s showdown in Chapter 2.

To I-IV. I was really looking forward to making use of the fact that you included heat fins on all the Legion units. With Volume 9, I finally got the chance!

To Yoshihara. The Republic arc is approaching its climax in the manga at long last!

To Somemiya. Schoolboy Shin keeps teasing Lena every time. Give him some bad karma already!

To Director Ishii. The way you render Kurena is just too cute. I pretty much wrote Volume 9 out of jealousy for how adorable you made her out to be!

To Bandai. I ordered my plastic models already. Yay!

And to all of you who picked up this book. Thank you all so, so much. The tale of the Eighty-Six’s pride and scars, which has been ongoing since Volume 4, finally reaches its conclusion in this volume. From now on, they begin to fight with their eyes fixed on the future. Please watch over their story for just a while longer.

In any case, I hope that for even a short moment, I could take you to the battlefield in the farthest reaches, where ash falls like snow. To her and their side as they waver in the interstices of pride, wishes, and curses.

Music playing while writing this afterword: 

“Amusement City Veronica” by YurryCanon