English Dub Season Review: Lycoris Recoil Season One
In the not-too-distant future, the number of terrorist acts in Japan has never been lower, thanks to the efforts of a Japanese government-funded syndicate called Direct Attack (DA). The organization raises orphaned girls as killers to carry out assassinations under their “Lycoris” program. Takina Inoue is an exceptional Lycoris with a strong sense of purpose and a penchant for perfection. Unfortunately, a hostage situation tests her patience, and the resulting act of insubordination leads to her transfer out of DA. Not thrilled about losing the only place she belonged to, she reluctantly arrives at her new base of operations—LycoReco, a cafe in disguise.
Takina’s new partner, however, turns out to be quite different from what she imagined. Despite being the famed Lycoris prodigy, Chisato Nishikigi appears almost unconcerned with her duties. She drags Takina along on all kinds of odd jobs under the simple explanation of helping people in need. Takina is even more puzzled when Chisato takes down a group of armed assailants without killing any of them. Feeling like a fish out of water, Takina itches to get reinstated into DA—but Chisato is determined to prove to her that there is more to life than just taking them…
On the technical side, the series is produced by A-1 Pictures and directed by Shingo Adachi, and features an original story by Asaura, character designs by Imigimuru, and music composed by Shūhei Mutsuki. With the opening theme song is “Alive” by ClariS, while the ending theme song is “Tower of Flower” by Sayuri.
Lycoris Recoil, while at the surface, is about cute girls with guns, fighting terrorism, its true identity is trying to tell us, the viewers, how to approach living in a world where things aren’t as uplifting as they seem. At its core, it’s about how to live your best life every day, and how to live for yourself, and not for others. The story also tries to mesh together two different subgenres such as “Slice of Life” with an action movie and sometimes it works in terms of character building and not just pointless filler. And the anime delights with dynamic gun fights that decently replicate live-action movie choreography, and the series heightens the feeling of adrenaline, excitement, and fear through these exciting shots.
The main characters, Chisato and Takina, come from different walks of life, Chisato lives a positive carefree lifestyle and doesn’t care about the opinions of others, she doesn’t worry about things she can’t control. She has an interesting trait, which is valuing people’s lives. She doesn’t shoot to kill, contrary to any other Lycoris who are raised to be emotionless mean-spirited orphan girl soldiers. While some people within the DA might get frustrated over her “stubbornness” not to kill, it’s a good writing decision, as it’s a distinct personality trait that sets Chisato apart and works for good plot points. Takina, on the other hand, is a realist that desires results. She isn’t the most talkative, or the most happy-go-lucky, and certainly isn’t as carefree as Chisato. Through working with Chisato, she undergoes some changes in her lifestyle, and their chemistry develops into sort of a fun buddy cop-like dynamic.
As the series continues, we also learn that Chisato is who she is because certain people have a mission for her to complete. However, these goals come into stark contrast with what Chisato believes her goals and the means she implements them should be. While this is not a new concept, I love how Lycoris Recoil delivers this conflict of objectives by explaining why Chisato believes in what she does when fragments of her past begin to unravel.
Aside from the main two, the side characters and villains were also interesting in different ways. Kurumi and Mizuki have their comedic moments and contribute a decent amount to the action. Chisato’s Mentor Mika (who is also a former Lycoris instructor) is a complex character full of pathos and is possibly one of the few subtle gay characters who thankfully isn’t an effeminate stereotype (which is extremely rare in Anime). The villains are also quite memorable, because they all have interesting intentions and goals, and felt multi-layered as both are tied to Chisato’s past out of sheer happenstance at different points in her life.
What keeps me from giving this a higher rating than it deserves, is that it arguably comes across as a strong pro-censorship message. With how stupid the masses are and how quickly they descend into chaos in the face of truth. It’s slightly insulting to make its audience think that it’s better to keep the masses in the dark. And the fact that the show presents undercover secret organizations in such a simplified disgusting way, is hurtful. At the very least, the action is fairly dynamic and there is a good sense of danger even if the antagonists fall into pantomime villain territory at times as one of them works as a psychological threat who attempts to push Chisato’s “No Killing Rule” to her limits, while side-villains like Majima are entertaining on a different level as a physical threat who in his warped anarchistic mind, thinks he’s helping society by exposing the existence of Lycoris to the world.
Overall, I thought this was fun series, and much like Deca Dence, it’s an anomaly in today’s anime world even if it isn’t perfect. The plot of the story is interesting enough to keep watching but other than the main character having her quirks, everyone else is still a normal teenage girl, except armed to the teeth. Upon research, the Anime was also endorsed by famous videogame developer, Hideo Kojima of Metal Gear Solid and Death Stranding Fame who gave it high praise after discovering the show by accident which I think is comical but great. While it remains unclear if Season 2 ever becomes a thing, A spin-off novel story is already released in Japan but yet to be translated. But even if it isn’t published in English, this felt self-contained enough to leave things open-ended for one which is a nice way to leave it on…
I hope this turns out to be another Gravity Falls-type show with an overarching storyline.