Anime Review: Lycoris Recoil
English Title: Lycoris Recoil
Japanese Title: リコリス・リコイル
Director(s): Adachi Shingo
Screenwriter(s): Adachi Shingo
Studio: A-1 Pictures
Released: 2022
Runtime: 13 episodes, ~24m each.
Starring: Anzai Chika, Wakayama Shion, Sakaki Kousuke, Koshimizu Ami, Kuno Misaki
Japan is one of the safest places because a secret organization called Direct Attack (DA) deals with problems before they become visible to the public. DA runs Lycoris, a place that takes in orphan girls and trains them to be operatives. They hide in plain sight dressed as high school girls.
A particular operation regarding an arms deal goes bad and one Lycoris operative, Takina, takes the initiative but is then punished for it. Whilst not outright expelled from DA, she is assigned outside of HQ to Café LycoReco.
This café is run by elite operative Chisato under her mentor, Mika, with a young woman named Mizuki acting as support. Chisato is somewhat an outcast but she is so elite that such an arrangement with DA that grants her more autonomy is tolerated.
Initially, the plot follows Takina settling in LycoReco. Takina is highly skilled but is the typical “cool, serious chick” who is a little uptight whilst Chisato is overtly cheerful, positive and carefree.
There is more to the arms deal than just guns. The plot follows Chisato and Takina as they deal with hackers and other highly skilled operatives with links to another secret organization.
The elements for a cool action-thriller are all there but the execution can be better. Given the setting of a café, it is also an action-comedy that is mildly slice-of-life. This is fine as Takina trying to adapt to her new situation is fitting to those sub-genres. However, there is too much “cute girls doing cute things” that are too forced; the premise naturally lends itself to that anyway so there is no need to force it.
As the series progresses, the plot does become more focused but the expositions to what is going on are a little unclear and clumsy, at least initially. Also, the conspiracy doesn’t go far enough; there is some personal history and… that’s it.
Overall, there is a decent amount of action and some cool moves, although there are more towards the latter half of the series. Whilst this is natural, there could be a little more action earlier on; as already mentioned, there is too much of “cute girls doing cute things” initially.
There are a few other silly little things, like Chisato and Takina not keeping an eye on the object they are supposed to protect just because the action sequence requires it. Chisato and Takina are way better than that.
That said, the narrative does well showing Chisato and Takina’s friendship develop. Mika is obviously the father figure to Chisato so there is a bit of a found family theme. The story also clearly shows the dangers of hacking, AI and drones, albeit simplistically, but it does show them.
Visually, it looks sleek. The linework is sharp and clean. The rendering of the environment is obviously CG but there is enough detail in the designs themselves and enough graduations so that it still looks good. The rendering of the characters is nice, the brighter tones jump out of the screen and their motion is pretty slick. In short, it generally looks good.
Given the emphasis on pistol shooting, and there are plenty of cool close-ups of firearms, there is a lack of reloading. Although not intended to be John Wick, reloading would nonetheless drastically improve the action. Also, the work would benefit from the characters using assault rifles realistically.
On balance, the series looks slick with decent action. Chisato is such a kindhearted and considerate young lady that it makes her a truly lovable main character. The plotting can be more focused and the action can be better; after all, if it is meant to be “girls with guns”, then give the audience girls with guns.
The series does end with the main conflict mostly resolved. It does not end on a cliffhanger. Of course, there is room to continue and it would be great to see a sequel series that addresses the abovementioned issues.
On a related note, Lycoris Recoil: Friends are thieves of time, released in 2025, is a 6-episode series, each about three minutes long. These are more like slice-of-life skits; nothing more, nothing less.
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