🏳️‍⚧️☭🎀

The protagonist, Lena, is one of the only citizens of her country that knows that the Eighty-Six are actually humans. The entire military are under the prevailing, eugenecist belief that they are unevolved humans more closely related to pigs, as such they are called "pigs" or "drones", and their deaths are not recognised as human casualties despite the deaths of millions during the war against the "Legion", an autonomous horde of robots/mechas. And the people they're conscripting to fight? Kids as young as 11. The majority of which don't survive their "term" (which is like five years).

Despite an idealistic belief that she can help the 86, by being a good commander/support to them, in the end, she is called out on the fact that she acts as part of a cog in the machine she supposedly detests, thinking that mere kindness and civility can distract from the fact that the 86 are actually enslaved, and subject to systemic racism (though eugenecist propaganda) which is resulting in long-term genocide.

This scene is unbearable, it's painful and awkward, it makes the idealism of one of our protagonists look pathetic - like a series of platitudes and a childish dream. She self-flagellates where all of them can hear her guilt, but they see it as disingenuous. No matter her empathy for their plight, in the end she's still a mechanism that sends them out to die. To fight for things that don't matter to them, for no reason other than that they have no other choice. The republic don't see the 86 as humans - and it doesn't seem like they ever will.

The point isn't to say that war is inevitable, or that they deserve to be treated the way that they are, but that her view of liberation and reaching equality are still formed from the comfort from her home inside the walls. Away from the battlefield, and away from the reality that her military sends millions of people out to die on purpose for no reason - all the while the military are actually getting wasted and having fun not caring about the war outside of the walls. When she goes to sleep tonight, he is right, she can just forget about it, and she doesn't have to look at the product of the war in the face. The produce of her country's sins. So it's mad easy to berate yourself, but at the end of the day you don't understand even a fraction of the weight of the pain you've inflicted on these people who used to be fully recognised citizens, that became slaves to a war they don't want any part in over night. They're treated as fodder, not as people.

Her kindness, is taken as her spitting in their faces, because when she stops issuing commands, they're still at risk of invasion. They're still at risk of death. They're still dying for a country that doesn't even recognise their humanity.

"Do you think we're out here fighting because we want to? You locked us out! Forced us to fight. You've caused the deaths of millions over the last nine years."

It's an uncomfortable confrontation that happens only three episodes into the plot because much like Ahsoka losing all of her squadron in Storm over Ryloth, Lena had to reckon with her ideals and how underdeveloped and childish they really are. You can pat yourself on the back and say you're a good and intelligent person, but don't say you want to fight for equality and spit platitudes especially to the people you're trying to help, but she is all talk at this point. An idealistic general, who is talking about how corrupt her government is, but she is as of yet, just a cog in the machine, just one that is nicer than the others who don't see the 86 as human.

If civility was enough to give them equity and freedom, then they wouldn't be so upset. They hear her as some privileged kid saying "man, injustice is so bad" and imagine her just going back to her regular life posting on IG & not giving a shit after it's no longer relevant to her. Her feelings about wanting them to be free are genuine, but the way she carries herself is self-indulgent and righteous without the development of a clear vision of how to free them from their enslavement by her government. And trust me, the journey you will go on from here is 100% worth it.

The answers they have to all the questions regarding warfare are eloquent, well thought out and they don't fall into the trappings of horrific war writing that is hardcore fascist (cough AoT). The militaries are never portrayed as fundamentally good or necessary to explain why the slavery, eugenics, racism and all the other horrible shit is necessary. No, it's more relevant to focus on the trauma and development of the soldiers, while spinning up a larger narrative surrounding the war. I'd get into it more, but please, just check it out for yourself. I recommend just watching it on CR with any adblocker and you'll never have any interruptions.

This anime has an amazing delivery that critiques so many bad writing choices around war in fiction, and especially really bad shounen manga to be honest. It doesn't justify the war that they are in, and completely critiques so many things. I would go so far as to say that the conclusion reached by the end of the series is a better answer that Eren came up with in Attack on Titan (lol).

The story isn't about righteous sanctimony about what you should think and feel, it's about the journey of the spearhead squadron and how they come to make sense of their lives in a deeply corrupt and uncaring world that has treated them like complete garbage. Moments like these aren't to lecture you about what you should think or feel, they're to develop the characters into more mature and empathetic people who can imagine creating a world where the corruption and injustice can end. They clearly have their own ideas about war, but Asato Asato actually sat down and thought about it for more than 2 minutes unlike most war stories.