Vladilena Milizé

Vladilena Milizé is the main female protagonist of the light novel 86: Eighty-Six. Nicknamed "Lena" for short, Vladilena is a young but brilliant military officer of San Magnolia, a country at war with enemy unmanned spider tanks called the "Legion". Having seen the battlefield herself when she was a child, Lena has grown to dislike the republic's racist policies and incompetent staff, and is aware that the country secretly conscripts its citizens from other races — the eponymous "Eighty-Sixers" — to fight the Legion to their deaths. She becomes the "Handler" of an elite squad of young Eighty-Sixer pilots called the "Spearhead Squadron" led by Shinei Nouzen, and actively attempts to communicate with them through a wireless device known as "Para-Raid".

As the story progresses, Lena is exposed to the harsh realities of war when she experiences guilt and grief over the deaths of her squadmates. She also discovers the reason why Nouzen is feared: he has the ability to hear the voices of the Legion: screams of dying people coming from the unmanned enemy drones, which has caused many Handlers to suffer psychological trauma. In spite of these dangers, the officer is determined to help the Spearhead Squadron survive by any means necessary, even if it means going against her superiors and breaking the country's laws in the process.

Judging from the series' mostly positive reception in the light novel community, the anime adaptation has the potential to become massively popular, which will directly affect the performance of its two main leads in the saimoe tournaments.

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r/anime
The Eighty-Six anime is well-received in the r/anime subreddit. Its strong points are detailed cinematography, soundtrack composed by the famed Sawano-Yamamoto duo, and faithfulness to the source material. Vladilena's characterization is also praised by fans as she goes from being a naive idealist to becoming a competent and resolute commander in later episodes. Her military uniform is noted for its "cultured" garter belt thigh-highs, which according to an afterword is a deliberate choice by the author because she likes garter belts.

Lena placed 2nd in the Spring 2021 contest, losing to Vivy in the final match. Many months later, the last two episodes of 86's second cour were delayed to March 2022 due to production conflicts. The delay turned out to be worth the wait as the finale showed a highly emotional moment between Lena and Shin, leaving a very impactful impression on many watchers. As a result, the Handler experienced renewed popularity coming into the Best Girl of 2021 contest, which happened in April 2022. She garnered the loudest vocal support in the contest threads, with members from the show's official subreddit even joining in during the latter rounds. This support has enabled her to overcome the #1 seed Kyouko Hori in the semi-finals, and later the #2 seed Roxy Migurdia in the final, to become the bracket's champion and the second girl to do so without winning a seasonal title (after Tsukasa Yuzaki last year).

The officer will next appear in r/anime's Best Girl 9 in 2022 as a pre-tournament newcomer favorite, where she will attempt to take advantage of her newfound loyal following to make a deep tournament run.

Matches
Seasonal Salt

ISML
Vladilena also appeared in ISML 2021's spring seasonal and became one of only two debutantes to emerge out of the group stage alongside Sayu Ogiwara. She then placed 2nd in the diadem round behind Kaguya-sama's Miko Iino, which was considered unexpected because Nezuko Kamado was supposed to win the diadem, or finish 2nd at least. In the playoffs however, Lena had little presence and immediately lost to contest regular Ram in the first round.

ISML 2021: Spring
 * Elim. round (Approval, max 18): 1668 votes — 6th / 30th, Advanced (Aqua Gem)
 * Group Stage - 4W 1L, 2nd
 * Vivy @ Vivy: Fluorite Eye's Song — 1465 - 859
 * Kuroha Shida @ OsaMake — 921 - 607
 * Nezuko Kamado @ Demon Slayer: Mugen Train — 1197 - 1585
 * Nadeshiko Kagamihara @ Yuru Camp (S2) — 2198 - 1289
 * Nagatoro-san @ Don't Bully Me, Nagatoro-san — 1414 - 808
 * Diadem round (Range, Max. 4): 37,570.1 (2nd, Qualified)
 * Circlet Playoffs - seed 8
 * Season Rank: 2nd, Wins: 4, Group CVP: 5.223
 * (9) Ram @ Re:Zero (S2 cour 2) — 1591 - 3110

Aniplus Character Tournament
Aniplus Character Tournament 2021
 * Anime: 86 season 1 cour 2 (Fall) - 1st
 * (Max 4): 602 votes (2nd / 13th)
 * (Max 2): 667 votes (1st / 6th)
 * (Max 2): Nino >  Asuna >  Lena >  Nagatoro-san (917 - 842 - 468 - 430)

Honours
Wins: 1
 * r/anime's Best Girl of 2021 - Winner

Non-contest honours

 * Kono Light Novel ga Sugoi! 2019 edition - 2nd place

Navigation
References

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 * 86 Wikia
 * MyAnimeList
 * Baike Baidu (Chinese)
 * Moegirl (Chinese)
 * NamuWiki (Korean)