Lycoris Recoil

The number of terrorist acts in Japan has never been lower, thanks to the efforts of a 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 a life than just taking them.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Nishikigi, Chisato Main

Anzai, Chika Japanese

Inoue, Takina Main

Wakayama, Shion Japanese

Kurumi ing

Kuno, Misaki Japanese

Majima ing

Matsuoka, Yoshitsugu Japanese

Nakahara, Mizuki ing

Koshimizu, Ami Japanese

Mika ing

Sakaki, Kousuke Japanese

Harukawa, Fuki ing

Kawase, Maki Japanese

Otome, Sakura ing

Koichi, Makoto Japanese

Janome, Erika ing

Yagami, Yuka Japanese

Himegama ing

Ootani, Satomi Japanese

Oowada, Tomoyuki Producer

Jinguuji, Manabu Producer

Yoshida, Yoshihiro Producer

Masaki, Miyu Assistant Producer

Reviews

May 7, 2025

big_joe25

Recommended

This show is entirely character focused. The depth is not found within the plot, but the characters and the ideals they represent. They are fun, lovable, and nuanced, each with their own beliefs, philosophies and personalities, all formed from the world they live in. They are constantly challenged and put at odds with one another throughout the length of the story, and that is where the best scenes of the show are created.

If the plot was too complex, it would take focus away from what I consider to be this show's greatest strength and success. The animation, soundtrack, and voice acting are all fantastic, but ... the characters and their interactions are the real standouts. If that is your thing, then you will love this show.

Reviewer’s Rating: 10

What did you think of this review?

Nice 0

Love it 0

Funny 0

Confusing 0

Informative 0

Well-written 0

Creative 0

More reviews by big_joe25 (4)

Show all

Read more

Show less

Open

Gift

Report

Apr 25, 2025

walshc25

Mixed Feelings

Wasn't going to write a review on this, but I figured I should type out something quickly.

Despite the constant statements of shippers online, this isn't a yuri anime. The two main characters aren't physically affectionate at all, and merely have a close friendship. There isn't even any sexual tension. People on the internet will turn any same-sex friendship into boys love or girls love these days it seems.

That has nothing to do with the rating though, it's a show that does somethings right and somethings wrong. The villains are interesting, there's basically 3 of them and have their own motivations that sometimes ... come in conflict with each other. The story is somewhat captivating and I liked Chisato, her ability and the story around her. It made for an enjoyable watch.

The things they got wrong though are difficult to overlook. Lycoris' purpose isn't questioned. It's methods of using high school aged girls as assassins seems ridiculous. The protags are mostly all female while the villains are mostly all male, which while I'm not demanding a 50/50 split, does seem a bit out of place. I didn't really like the slice of life moments, I kind of found them to be pretty run of the mill and a bit like padding from the main focus of the story which should be the action.

Unlike bad anime where the author has no clue what they're doing or are just horribly executing it, Lycoris Recoil had a lot of promise to be even better than it currently was. If they made lycoris not all high school girls, if they questioned lycoris' morality, if they refused to fall back on tropes and maybe made the world a little more bloodier and dangerous (won't say why due to spoilers, think Evangelion) it could probably be a 8 or a 9 for me.

The make or break for most people will be whether or not you like Chisato. If you do you'll likely rank it higher, maybe even higher than me. If you don't you'll rank it lower. I think a 5 fits it perfectly.

Would I recommend it? Yes, provided you're looking for something decent and not something that's going to be your next favorite series.

Reviewer’s Rating: 5

What did you think of this review?

Nice 0

Love it 0

Funny 0

Confusing 0

Informative 0

Well-written 0

Creative 0

More reviews by walshc25 (19)

Show all

Read more

Show less

Open

Gift

Report

Jul 22, 2024

ScarlettSkone

Not Recommended

Funny

I wanted to like Lycoris Recoil, but I found myself disappointed.

Lycoris is a comfort show masquerading as a more complex one. The dystopia is not meaningfully examined, and the problems with it are scape-goated onto a “return to monkey” anprim idiot. For the main two characters, I could ship it, but they are a little generic, as are all the characters. The existence of Kurumi’s character, in particular, makes me want to commit hate crimes.

It’s fine to write a silly show about cute girls doing cute things, but seeing Lycoris Recoil’s set up and promises of more exciting complexities while having characters dodge bullets on ... reaction time is infuriating. Watching it, I felt like I was watching something written but someone too scared to say anything for fear that it’d be polarizing. Lycoris Recoil’s cowardice leads to two big problems: 1) pro censorship and 2) it’s not gay enough.

1) The whole dystopia setting of Lycoris Recoil is used more so as an edgy backdrop than as the pretense for any real social commentary. This ends up as a big problem when the status quo of the world is one of censorship and main character Chisato explicitly defends the status quo against main antagonist Majima. It’s pro censorship, there isn’t any other way to read it than that. To me, it seems that Lycoris Recoil is too scared to say anything meaningful against the world it creates, trying to write girls that just want to live, it refuses to comment on the dystopia and ends up approving and accepting it.

2) Lycoris Recoil isn’t gay enough. I see this anime on all these gay lists, and everyone that I see accepts this anime as a fun little gay anime. Frankly, it isn’t gay enough. Yes, I do want these characters to scream from the rooftops that they are homosexuals attracted to each other. I’m somewhat exaggerating, that was a little hyperbolic, but my sentiment is sincere.
Stories exist in the context of the world around them, and in our current world, I could fully see a homophobic idiot watching Lycoris Recoil and then coming away feeling happy about how cute these “two best friends” are together. I don’t want to get into an argument about whether this anime is supposed to be gay or not, and dammit, my subjective desire and wants tell me this anime isn’t gay enough.


If you want to write a comfort anime about gay characters being gay, sure, but don’t try to use dystopia’s for their aesthetics, and it’d better be gay, damnit. BE MORE GAY!

Reviewer’s Rating: 4

What did you think of this review?

Nice 0

Love it 0

Funny 0

Confusing 0

Informative 0

Well-written 0

Creative 0

More reviews by ScarlettSkone (10)

Show all

Read more

Show less

Open

Gift

Report

Underrated & Hidden Gems

by ManiixieTerror

50 Entries · 658 Restacks

Left an Indelible Mark

by ManiixieTerror

45 Entries · 279 Restacks

Beautiful Art / Visual Design / Graphics

by Nightflower

27 Entries · 52 Restacks

'Lycoris Recoil' Gets Short Movies

The 2nd anniversary special program for the Lycoris Recoil television anime announced six short movies on Tuesday. Different staff will be directing and stor...read more

Jul 23, 2024 10:15 AM by Discuss (50 comments)

North American Anime & Manga Releases for September

Here are the North American anime, manga, and light novel releases for September. Week 1: September 5 - 11 Anime Releases Shinobi no Ittoki Complete Season Blu-ray T...read more

Sep 5, 2023 9:22 AM by Discuss (0 comments)

	Poll: Stark700 - Sep 24, 2022	462 replies	by »» Jun 3, 6:31 PM
	Poll: Stark700 - Sep 10, 2022	251 replies	by »» Jun 2, 9:45 PM
	Poll: Stark700 - Aug 20, 2022	222 replies	by »» Jun 2, 1:47 PM
	Poll: Stark700 - Aug 13, 2022	204 replies	by »» Jun 1, 4:31 PM
	Poll: Stark700 - Jul 16, 2022	226 replies	by »» May 29, 11:38 PM