Tomorrow, a brand new light novel that involves politics, war, robots, and a host of other topics will make its debut – that would be Asato Asato’s 86 (Eighty-Six). But what about this particular title makes it worth a look? Payton Campbell, an editorial assistant at Yen Press, answers 5 questions on what this series is about and some of the surprises in this work:
TheOASG: In one sentence, how would you describe what Asato Asato’s 86 is all about?
Payton Campbell: Asato Asato-Sensei’s 86—Eighty-Six is a gritty-yet-heartening sci-fi war epic about a dehumanized people fighting for their right to exist.
It seems like this light novel will touch upon the military, people piloting robots, etc — how much military knowledge or references did you have to know to work on this, or because the world is fictional, it wasn’t completely necessary?
Working with the military and mech terminology was both challenging and very fun. Because the world was fictional, I didn’t need an expansive knowledge of real-world military history, but there were several moments where prior knowledge came in handy. From the historical perspective, this book shares quite a few parallels with World War II. From the technical perspective, although the Juggernauts and the unmanned drones of the Legion are fictional robots, their various weapons and attachments were designed with real-world technology in mind. For example, having an understanding of how an EMP works made it easy to understand the Eintagsfliege: the mayfly robots that travel in swarms and have the ability to electronically disrupt the processes of enemy units.
Out of what you’ve worked on so far, what characters have gotten your attention due to what they’ve done so far in the story?
Having worked on the first volume, I would say that one character that really stood out to me was Lena (Vladilena Milizé.) I’m a sucker for character growth and she definitely gets the royal treatment in that regard. Though she’s introduced to us as the latest Alba that gets to sit pretty in San Magnolia and command the Eighty-Six fighting for their lives on the eastern front, Asato Asato-Sensei’s writing is able to convince us that she really wants to make a difference, not just with her squadron, but with the treatment of all Eighty-Six.
And it doesn’t feel clichéd, which is its own blessing. Through her interactions with the members of the Spearhead squadron, and even her own friends and family back in San Magnolia, Lena is forced to confront the fact that her privileged position in life was bought with the blood of millions. The way this confrontation fuels Lena’s growth as one of the story’s two protagonists is nothing short of satisfying.
What’s surprised you the most as you’ve worked on this?
What surprised me most about this light novel was how honest and unreserved the writing was when it came to the horrors of genocide, particularly in the areas of racism, hatred, and persecution. This is a book about war, and one unfortunate truth about war is that far too often, hatred is used as a tool to achieve one’s goals. In this case, the goal was to dehumanize a massive chunk of the population so that no one would bat an eyelash as they died by the millions fighting an impossible war. 86—Eighty-Six is a very emotional book and Asato Asato-Sensei wants you to feel every ounce of hatred that the Eighty-Six have for the Alba with the same intensity that you process the Alba’s apathy towards their struggle.
Finally, what should readers expect when they check out 86?
When readers pick up 86—Eighty-Six, they should expect something different. This is nothing like the Isekai, Slice-of-life, RomCom, Fantasy/Adventure stories many of our light novel readers are used to, and I mean that in a good way. In a word, it’s refreshing. You’ll laugh, you’ll gasp, and you may even shed a tear (or several) but one thing I can guarantee is that you won’t be able to put it down.
You can check out a free preview of the LN on Yen Press’ site: https://yenpress.com/2019/03/free-preview-86-eighty-six/