Rikorisu rikoiru

The premise of Lycoris Recoil is pretty much the typical anime idiosyncrasy: Tokyo is kept crime free by a secret agency of teenage assassin girls which are referred to as 'Lycoris'. What sounds like one of those shows with a generic plot wrapped around scantily clad characters is actually the opposite.

Lycoris Recoil tells a reasonably clever story surrounding the Lycoris agents Takina and Chisato. Takina is the quintessential no-nonsense professional that has been raised from early childhood to be the perfect agent. Chisato is her cheerful antithesis, treating life lightly. Yet neither character is as generic as they sound. Chisato especially is as joyful and wholesome as few fictional characters manage to be, reminding me a bit of Kitagawa from the romantic comedy 'My Dress-Up Darling'. This is greatly helped along by the fantastic (Japanese) voice acting of Chika Anzai who received well-deserved awards for her performance.

Besides the wonderful main character, Lycoris Recoil's greatest assets are the clean yet vibrant style of animation, the furious action, the perfect balance between lighthearted slice-of-life moments and a grim plot of secrecy and terrorism, and the charming and heartfelt interactions between the main and support characters.

For me personally, the show was a perfect fit. Kickass girls with commendable morals and a cheerful personality are always welcome, much more so than the violent psychopaths that usually fill the 'girls with guns' genre. I also quite enjoyed that there was pretty much zero fanservice. The violence might still be a bit much for a true childfriendly rating, though.

I'd be greatly enthused if Lycoris Recoil were renewed for a second season. According to Wikipedia, a second animation project has been confirmed; I can only hope that we'll get to see Chisato and Takina again!

Lycoris Recoil does a decent job of finding a middle ground between slice of life and action. The main characters are likeable and very interesting, almost every character plays a real role in the story. It wouldn't be a show about stopping crime without a villain! This anime's villain is what helps make it a successful and suspenseful story.

Now the overall concept of cute girls with guns working behind the scenes to stop crime isn't unique to this anime but Lycoris Recoil does it the best out of any show I've seen. Without any spoilers I will say however the final two episode's are lackluster and disappointing. For a anime I actually enjoy this definitely hurts the shows rating in my honest opinion. 7/10.

This is one of those shows and they do it well.

Convoluted plot? Superhuman abilities that defy belief? A lore reason to wear schoolgirl outfits? Convenient resolutions without convincing explanations? Doesn't matter. None of it matters. There could have been aliens that worship a flan god beneath a mountain made of mochi and it wouldn't have mattered. This is among the group that sits at the zenith of cute girls doing cute things and all other concerns take a back seat to that. Chisato is far too likeable as a main character for a measly nothing such as plausibility to get in the way, and her relationship with Takina is so endearing it makes you want to squeeze a stress ball. Everything else just adds flavor to that.

It's also well put together. This show really could have been about anything. The fact that we got government trained adolescent female assassins that fight terrorists/criminals while running a popular dessert shop on the side pretty much says it all. Compared to this, a tragedy, romcom, horror, or anything else is easy by comparison.

Watched only the first episode so far and honestly this is very nice !

The plot is very simple and the characters are engaging enough, I really dig the mix of genres : action, slice of life, comedy, it works really well.

This looks very promising !

Plus the end credits song is a banger ;)

All thanks to a covert organization that trains orphan girls to become Lycoris; all-girl assassins dressed in high school uniforms who ensure Tokyo stays crime-free. Stoic Lycoris sharpshooter Takina, meets the cheery Lycoris elite agent Chisato, whose remarkable trajectory insight makes her an impossible target to shoot (Neo who?). Together, their wide-ranging missions begin.

Only 3 episodes in and Lycoris Recoil is already proving itself to be one of summer 22's best original anime series. It succeeds in blending slice-of-life, comedy, and action, and its vibrant animation perfectly contrasts with the story's underlying dark aspects. The best selling point of the show besides the neat action scenes (and the occasional action movie references), is the dynamic between the main characters Chisato and Takina as they're literally each other's opposite.

If you're up for some gun-toting girl spies, foil characters, and Loli hackers, you'll certainly gonna love this one.