Okay, this might be a "spoiler", but first of all, the description of "Lycoris Recoil" shown on AniList is a complete and utter lie. There are no zombies or giant monsters in sight in this entire series....although I guess, in a way, the antagonists of this anime could be considered monsters. Well, it's not like the deceptive description was going to deter me from watching Lycoris Recoil, anyway. It looks as cute as you might expect from a Cute Girls Doing Cute Things anime with a gunslinging twist, and it's been well-received enough to receive two new anime projects after it aired, as well as several manga and light novel spin-offs. Now that I've seen it for myself, you might be wondering: did I like it as much as other people did, or did it cause me to recoil at how bad it is? Obviously, it's the former!
Before I get to that, however, allow me to tell you what Lycoris Recoil is really about (although I guess websites other than AniList can also tell you that). There is an organization called Direct Attack - DA for short - who is responsible for Japan's peace, thanks to them deploying assassin girls called Lycoris to take care of criminals and terrorists before they can do anything. Takina Inoue is one such Lycoris, but after a mission gone wrong, she is fired from DA and sent to work at LycoReco, a branch of DA that outwardly operates as a cafe. There, she meets Chisato Nishikigi, a Lycoris that is considered to be the best in the business; however, Chisato refuses to kill her opponents - shooting them with non-lethal bullets - and seems content to just manage the cafe and help the people in Tokyo by performing odd jobs. The serious Takina is initially eager to be reinstated into DA, but Chisato is determined to show her what a life outside of killing is like. Meanwhile, a group of terrorists threatens to upend the peace that DA upholds.
First of all, Lycoris Recoil has probably one of the best-composed stories I've seen all year. The inciting incident remains important for the entire series, most (if not all) questions that are raised are answered, and the last episode wrapped everything up in a neat little bow. Every named character also has an important role to play in the story, even if that role is a smaller one. Most of the supporting characters don't have character arcs of their own, though, so they can feel a little shallow. In fact, some of them can be kind of unlikable. For example, I found Fuki and Sakura - two of the Lycoris at DA, with one of them being Takina's ex-partner - to have annoying attitudes. I also couldn't stand Kusunoki, the commander of DA, because of the way she goes about covering up certain incidents.
Not all of the characters in Lycoris Recoil are unlikable, though. I found myself relating to Takina in a strange way - obviously, I'm not an assassin like she is, but I feel like I would do things in a similar way to her if I was - and I enjoyed seeing her character development. I also really liked Chisato, even though she didn't get quite as much development; she's just so full of positivity that it's hard not to. The relationships she forms with other characters, such as Takina and Mika, are also very sweet. Speaking of Mika, I found him, in particular, to be very compelling, especially as far as his relationship with a certain character goes. One last character I'd like to mention is the main antagonist, Majima. Honestly, I don't know whether I should like him or hate him. On one hand, he's an insane terrorist who causes a lot of chaos; on the other hand, however, his motivations are somewhat understandable, and he does pose enough of a legitimate threat to add to the excitement of the series. One thing I can say for sure, though, is that Yoshitsugu Matsuoka did a phenomenal job voicing him.
Yoshitsugu Matsuoka isn't the only good voice actor in Lycoris Recoil, though; the entire cast brought their A-game here. Particularly, I really liked Misaki Kuno as Kurumi; I really liked how she delivered her lines in certain episodes, like here. One casting decision I initially questioned was Shion Wakayama as Takina, as her voice was higher than what I would have imagined her to sound like; once I got used to the idea that this is what Takina's voice sounds like, though, I was able to appreciate her performance a lot more. The music in Lycoris Recoil was really good, too. "ALIVE" by ClariS is exactly what I'd imagine an opening theme for an action/slice-of-life anime starring cute girls to sound like - it helps that it's a legitimately good song, too - and "Hana no Tou" by Sayuri is a pretty cute ending theme. The sound design was pretty good, too, with the sounds of gunshots sounding fairly realistic.
Finally, there's the animation, which is definitely the best feature of this anime. The animation is gorgeous in both the slice-of-life parts and especially the action scenes; the action scenes are very thrilling to watch, and the smooth animation done by A-1 Pictures really helped elevate them. Shingo Adachi may have worked on several anime before this as a character designer, episode director, and other roles, but this is his first work as a director. If he ever plans on sitting in the director's chair again in the future, I can safely say that whatever project he would be directing is in good hands, if the animation in Lycoris Recoil is anything to go by. Seriously, this may be some of A-1 Pictures's best animation yet!
Overall, Lycoris Recoil is definitely a very good anime. If you like some cool action scenes with your sweet CGDCT anime, this is an easy recommendation. It's definitely a worthy thief of your time! Wait, no, this isn't a review of the ONA spin-off-
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