A little while ago, we shouted out Crunchyroll’s banner mecha-political anime 86 Eighty-Six on our shortlist of sixteen underrated shows that deserve more love. Then, the series unceremoniously vanished from Crunchyroll, and its Blu-ray sold out on Amazon just as quickly, with no explanation or announcement that it’d been removed. Womp womp for anyone hoping to watch it. Instead of taking to the high seas as this phenomenon is wont to make anime fans do, we suggest checking out Yen Press’ audiobook, which feels more intimate and immersive than the anime ever could. Admittedly, this recommendation didn’t come out of nowhere. The idea actually sprang from anime voice actor Suzie Yeung, who nudged fans on X/Twitter toward an audiobook narrated by her and fellow voice actor Alejandro Saab. Not as a consolation prize, but as an alternative for fans who wanted to experience the story. Taking her up on it, I bought the first volume and listened to it sporadically throughout my week—on walks in the park after work and while grocery shopping. Basically, whenever I had a spare moment, I was giving the book a listen. After finishing the first volume (and immediately downloading the second), I was left with an experience that felt arguably more apropos than rewatching the show’s first season. 86 Eighty-Six, written by Asato Asato and illustrated by Shirabii, unfolds in a dystopian world where a naively optimistic young woman, Vladilena Milizé (Yeung), dispatches a squadron of mechs from the safety of her empire’s fortified walls. To the privileged public, comprising 85 diverse nations, this war is a proxy war in which mechs fight other rogue mechs, like playing Battleship via Zoom isn’t a biggie. In fact, it could end any day now with no fanfare to be had. But in reality, those drones are piloted by a sequestered group of child soldiers known as the Eighty-Six, forced into an internment camp and treated as subhuman loophole to its war crimes. Their leader, the stoic Shinei Nouzen, aka Undertaker (Saab), commands them through countless battles as the rest of the world either ignores or refuses to acknowledge their obvious war crimes, hoping they’ll all die out eventually.