Comparisons

Don't get me wrong, Lycoris Recoil is an enjoyable show, and in fact I kind of enjoyed it. But the main problem of LR is still there, it remembers me too much of other animes (with their strong points and flaws) and it irremediably falls short to what both of them did (imo) right.

The first one it came to my mind (unsurprisingly) was PSYCHO-PASS. If you've watched it you may see why I establish this comparison: Majima is clearly Makishima, the anarchist thrieving for the liberation of people that will kill without hesitation and with a sarchastic humour, the Lycoris are the "hunt dogs" (though they are a fucking lot, contrary to the limited staff in PSYCHO-PASS) and our two main protagonists Takina and Chisato are the counterpart of Akane and Kougami. Akane, the idealist, would be Chisato with her "not killing anyone" ideals and Takina would be Kogami, willing to kill but deep into their thoughts they think what Akane (Chisato) does is the right thing. A clearly similar set in terms of characters.

But contrary to what PSYCHO-PASS' approach was, Lycoris Recoil is, instead, infinitely more light-hearted and "anti-gore". And that's not by itself a bad thing, but that will irremediably conduct you to not having the same power in terms of social complaint. Where PSYCHO-PASS shined, the philosophical exploration of good and evil, liberty... Lycoris Recoil does not, and then I expect it to be compensed with the other items of the story. And there is where Railgun enters the chat.

Toaru Kagaku no Railgun is an action-based story of a group of girls, just as Lycoris Recoil is. But while at Railgun that was it (apart from the forced romance they included in there), here it tries to mix that nature with the core part of PSYCHO-PASS and, if it wasn't enough, the light-hearted part of a slice of life. All of this in just 12 episodes. And that's my main problem with this series.

They coul've gone more PSYCHO-PASS in terms of phiolosphy or social complaint, or maybe resign to some of it to include a more pacey story without long dialogues about french philosophers, or maybe include a little bit of slice of life in that premise. But doing all of it in just 12 episodes was, to me, a big mistake.

Lycoris Recoil by itself

And let me now talk about Lycoris Recoil in its own. As I said, I feel it falls short in most of its premises. The philosophical exploration of good, evil and liberty is at a very surface level, the action (esper-like) part doesn't really engage me and the slice of life part just seems a little bit forced. I will repeat myself once again saying that, the mix of the 3 things could have been an amazing show... if done with the right amount of episodes.

The ending left me pretty cold; anyone (who us spectators cared about) died, all seemed to be the same after all the incidents and the story could, nearly scene by scene, be repeated after all of that. I mean, the Lycoris are safe again, Majima is still alive and ploting how to make people "awake" and, in general, the plot is the exact same as episode 1. So disappointing, if you ask me.

But it's not all bad. The characters have its charisma and their relations engage you quite enough to continue watching it. Is just the mix between "ligh-hearted" and "serious-themed" that is not well done and weighs done the whole show. In fact, I've enjoyed the watch while I've been concerned all the time about the issues I commented. But, maybe, if you haven't watched neither PSYCHO-PASS nor Railgun you may enjoy it as I did enjoy these shows. Or, maybe, if you enjoyed Lycoris Recoil you could watch these shows and compare them as I did with LR. I, in fact, recommend you both if you enjoyed it, and depending on what part of LR you did enjoy the most go for PSYCHO-PASS or go for Railgun.

I wanted to leave for the last the part that I enjoyed the most, the visuals. Pretty clean drawings, with good animation that did not fall short at any time, even when Chisato "matrixed" the bullets. Not a single complaint about them, they were not superb but still pretty decent and a solid 8.5/10 if you ask me.

That's it! Maybe a little bit saltier than my usual reviews (but well, I only made reviews of my all-time favorites before...), but if you difer from my opinion we can discuss it if you want, always being respectful of course. I'd love to discuss with you about Lycoris Recoil, PSYCHO-PASS, Railgun or anything related to them. Hope you enjoyed my review, sorry for my english, and 'til another one!