Lycoris Recoil
a review by R2R
a review by R2R
What's dubious about LycoReco is the story's direction. For the first 1-4 episodes, we have an incredibly fast paced montage of action & SoL elements going hand-in-hand to make Takina go from an emotionless, workaholic, trigger-happy, fan favorite badass bitch to 'emotionally opening up', 'not everything is work', 'not-so-trigger-happy', and a cute shitseller (Character Development, would you look at that?). And this all happens in the most charming, heart-warming, yuri-intense way that can just squeal your heart, with two cute anime girls doing counter terrorism. But the first shock we get was when we find out that Chisato, is a cyborg. This shocked me as much as it did to Takina. Like, what the hail? Why would they make such an optimistic person have a non-human heart? Are they indirectly saying pure optimistic people are not real? (Of course, she isn't). What's the meaning of this? Then the show shifts its focus to Chisato, about her past, about her artificial heart, about her two dads (the show really sells on homosexuality huh), and it gets pretentiously melancholic for a second. I mean, I feel bad for her but like it doesn't feel earned, more like manipulated. That's something fiction always does but I'm a bit disappointed. And then, there's a terrorist attack that exposes LycoReco's secret identity but ends with our girls saving the city and LycoReco's exposition and defeating the terrorists in the most baffling way I could imagine. So, let's break down those problems.
Majima, who's VA'd by your favorite isekai protagonist, so evil that he spits on Chisato's face with his own blood, mocks & beats her around his goons (That earns a lot of hate). Majima believes in, what he likes to call as, Balance and Freedom. What Freedom? The American Freedom (You'll get it). He opposes LycoReco because they're strong and hiding the truth from general public, and belives that makes them (the people) ignorant and weak. I mean, OK. The search of truth against a higher power can be inspiring, if only done right. But for most the show, Majima is just a cool terrorist, the strong male character in a cast overpowered by female characters. That gives him quite the edge to be likeable, but not fully understandable. His motivations are solely based on his half-assed philosophy about being a "Knight for the weak", or something like that. And we never got to see what made him the way he is, and we are only made sure that he'll go against Chisato and her ideals. He could've been a compelling villain, if the story gave him some focus.
The other male characters, Mika and Shinji, are something else. From the moment we were introduced to Yoshimatsu Shinji, we know that Teach Mika is not happy with his presence. In fact, we're constantly reminded that Yoshimatsu is interested in Chisato (Having a 50 yr old interested in a 16 yr old was never a good idea). In my opinion, the one who got the most unfair treatment is these two. And there is an interesting irony here.
Shinji believes in talent, that talent gives a purpose to one's life, and it needs to be protected. That's exactly what he did to Chisato, he saved her talent by replacing her weak heart with a strong artificial and gave a father figure to an orphan like her, in hope of making her a killing machine that God gifted her with. But God made Chisato a cute Batman (Imagine Batman saying uwu lol. That's nightmare stuff). And obviously he's against it. So, instead of settling things like a responsible adult that he so talks about, he supplies some 1000 guns to a desperate terrorist group who are planning to convert Tokyo into Texas and create a formidable villain that can awake the inner terminator who Chisato is born as. Let's have a small chit-chat with him for a second.
*Yes. Because talented people have a given purpose from God that many seem to lack in our society. * - Shinji Yoshimatsu
Yeah, yeah. And you believe Chisato can do it by killing terrorists and saves civilians?Yes...
And what the fuck did you do?I supplied guns to terrorists and risked thousands of civilians lives because I believed that Chisato will kill Majima...
Which never happened.*... which never happened. *
... You deserved your death.*By my best friend/homo bro. *
Of course. You could have had a broma...Getting back to Chisato and Takina for a second, and bringing back Yoshimatsu's POV for one last time, it's interesting to note how these two represents Yoshimatsu's sense of purpose in life.
Chisato is talented, God gifted her with a talent for killing and also cursed with a bad heart, to remind that talented people are also not perfect and suffer their own pains. Takina is skilled, her emotionless and workaholic demeanor tells that she's hard working, to remind me that those who suffer, and sacrifice are the ones who achieve. Now I've been on both sides, the born talented and the inspired handworker, though now I'm finding a balance. But I always welcome it when a piece of fiction (or anyone) wants to have their say, despite how flaws and wrongs they can be. But it is annoying when you hear someone desperately trying to say something and conveying it incorrectly.
Having Large Ideas in a Light-hearted setting was a massive downside for the show, but I don't pretend like this is complete trash. For all the flaws it has, I definitely enjoyed it. I mean, when I saw Chisato dodge bullets I know for a fact that this can abandon seriousness whenever it wants, if the outcome can be fun. And definitely was fun. ZNote praised in his review about the creators, so go read it for more info. There's also an AL thread explaining the amount details they took to make the guns more believable with sound and art design being their plus. The action is definitely slick, the shading during the sunset scene at the end is just... romantic! The VAs, especially Chika Anzai killed it with her cheerful performance that could be remembered and reminisced for many years to come. Many SoL moments were well done, with Takina gradually getting cuter by each episode (remember the shitseller lol), and the overall Anime just overflows with charm and cuteness that it feels wrong to ignore.
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