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EP. REVIEW: Lycoris Recoil


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kotomikun



Joined: 06 May 2013
Posts: 1205
PostPosted: Wed Sep 14, 2022 4:39 pm Reply with quote
HandofBobb wrote:
Seems to me like 'Super-Hearing' would be just about the worst power to have in an enclosed steel and concrete box filled with gunfire...

It seems to be less "can hear a mouse sneeze on the opposite side of the planet" and more "has the echolocation abilities of an entire swarm of bats." Just having ultra-sensitive hearing wouldn't suddenly give you a 3D mental map of your environment, any more than having elf-vision would automatically let you dodge bullets like Chisato. Both of them are more or less using a magic sixth sense that operates via one of their normal senses.
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dm
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Joined: 24 Sep 2010
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PostPosted: Fri Sep 16, 2022 10:21 am Reply with quote
In episode 11 there's a scene where Majima seems to be making clicking noises with his tongue or lips. I assume that's part of his echolocation ability.
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lomez



Joined: 14 Mar 2018
Posts: 24
PostPosted: Fri Sep 16, 2022 3:47 pm Reply with quote
Quote:
Majima turning out to have super-hearing powers is a mildly odd turn

I had to check the reviewer hadn't changed mid-season or something, like how do you manage to miss that? It's been shown explicitly since at least episode 8.
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Electric Wooloo



Joined: 19 Aug 2020
Posts: 307
PostPosted: Sat Sep 17, 2022 2:09 pm Reply with quote
Kusunoki's 2nd in command seemed to show particular concern for Fuki... I can't help but wonder if there's some sort of familial relationship there

I saw something like that coming involving Yoshi (Where he tries to make Chisato kill him for the heart)... but I didn't expect him to have the heart installed in himself. Though I guess that also could have been a double bluff and he just has surgery scars
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WindyFields



Joined: 17 Sep 2022
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PostPosted: Sat Sep 17, 2022 3:50 pm Reply with quote
Great cliffhanger! Now they need to play it out in Season 2. We shall see.
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Electric Wooloo



Joined: 19 Aug 2020
Posts: 307
PostPosted: Sat Sep 17, 2022 5:19 pm Reply with quote
WindyFields wrote:
Great cliffhanger! Now they need to play it out in Season 2. We shall see.


There's 1 episode left
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kotomikun



Joined: 06 May 2013
Posts: 1205
PostPosted: Sat Sep 17, 2022 6:08 pm Reply with quote
So Yoshi is like, reverse-Jigsaw now? "If you want to live, you'll have to gruesomely extract a new artificial heart from the body of... me, the villain! And to save your lov--ahem, friend, you must murder... my accomplice!" I can't comprehend why he's so dead-set on specifically making her kill people, when she was already doing secret agent stuff quite effectively with non-lethal bullets. Maybe he's just insane, but that's kind of a bland explanation.

Not sure "lol, psyche, it was all just a promo stunt for an anime" would work when at least a few people were shot to death right in front of numerous bystanders, but I guess people have believed wackier things in real life. Mainly I was hoping for an ending where, y'know, we realize the system of secret executioner-police who are themselves watched by a secreter army of secret-police-exterminators is kinda messed up and needs to end. Still possible that happens in the finale, but it looks unlikely.

Seemed like Chisato knew that her bag randomly appearing was a trap by Majima, since she was completely unsurprised to see him, though it's not clear why she walked into it anyway. Guess we'll see what those two weirdos are up to next week.
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Ruhrpottpatriot



Joined: 26 Aug 2021
Posts: 61
PostPosted: Sun Sep 18, 2022 7:31 am Reply with quote
kotomikun wrote:
I can't comprehend why he's so dead-set on specifically making her kill people, when she was already doing secret agent stuff quite effectively with non-lethal bullets. Maybe he's just insane, but that's kind of a bland explanation.

He's obsessed with "bringing talent to the world"; simple as that. Extremists do work that way.

kotomikun wrote:
Not sure "lol, psyche, it was all just a promo stunt for an anime" would work when at least a few people were shot to death right in front of numerous bystanders, but I guess people have believed wackier things in real life.

That would actually work for most of the people, because suspension of disbelief and confirmation bias.

I have written this before, that they should just change the Lycoris uniforms, put out news and other stuff to spin the whole story a different way and reap the benefits. After all, who in their right mind would see a schoolgirl an think: "Ah yes! a clandestine government organization that uses underage girls to kill terrorists and other criminals to keep me safe." Sounds BS, right?

The approach of "was just a promo" simply was certainly a different way, but it works even better. Because it puts the Lycoris into public perception, thus they don't need to keep everything secret anymore (which would be impossible), but they can just deflect rumours with: "was just a promo tour for a new limited attraction across the country" and then put some Lycoris there to keep the perception up for some time.


kotomikun wrote:

Mainly I was hoping for an ending where, y'know, we realize the system of secret executioner-police who are themselves watched by a secreter army of secret-police-exterminators is kinda messed up and needs to end. Still possible that happens in the finale, but it looks unlikely.

In this anime? No, highly unlikely. With Ep.11 we have gotten even more hooks for a potential Season 2 and the whole anime just oozes "Happy Ending".




All in all, most of my predictions have come true. The only thing I didn't see coming was the random open heart surgery. I mean, really? Have fun dying from all the infections you contracted from the unsanitary environment. However, we still don't know what's in the suitcase. Sure, Shinji, said that a hear was in there. But can we really trust him. Even if that'd be the case, we know that Kurumi knows who the scientist is that made the heart, so there's still this avenue.

Predictions for the next episode?
I'm pretty sure Takina will jump out the elevator and try getting to Chisato and help her. Maybe Majima has the suitcase. He seems hellbent on pissing off Alan and just giving out the case would fit his M.O.
Shinji knew that Chisato wouldn't kill him, so no point in transplanting the heart; and should she kill him despite all that he also would get his way because this essentially breaks Chisato and puts her on the path of killing even more, after all she has killed needlessly, what are a few more criminals, right?

However, there's only one big question remaining: Will Sakura finally get her Parfait?



This series, as an anime original could be the starting point for a wider franchise. We're already getting some Manga adaptations. And there are tons of hooks for a potential Season 2 and a wider franchise. I can totally see spin-offs for Mika, Fuki and LilyBell.
Especially the latter has some potential, since they seem to be the more action oriented heavy hitters with their assault rifles, and whatnot.
So where the Lycoris run around like Altair, the LillyBell are more Seal Team 6. Now that I think of it, a computer game in this franchise sounds really great. I'd title it: "Lycoris -- Tomorrow's Pandora"
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Florete



Joined: 21 Jan 2018
Posts: 363
PostPosted: Sun Sep 18, 2022 10:55 am Reply with quote
The introduction of LilyBell really could have been done better (or preferably, not at all). Sending agents out to gun down a bunch of teenage girls is a pretty damn big deal, but they seemed to treat it so nonchalantly. And then it was just...done. Makes me wonder why they bothered in the first place.
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JintoLin



Joined: 29 Sep 2020
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PostPosted: Sun Sep 18, 2022 11:06 am Reply with quote
Quote:
the resolution of this life-or-death situation hinges on the improbable task of correctly plugging in a USB drive on the first try.

Especially since that is impossible:
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darkchibi07



Joined: 15 Oct 2003
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PostPosted: Sun Sep 18, 2022 12:02 pm Reply with quote
Florete wrote:
The introduction of LilyBell really could have been done better (or preferably, not at all). Sending agents out to gun down a bunch of teenage girls is a pretty damn big deal, but they seemed to treat it so nonchalantly. And then it was just...done. Makes me wonder why they bothered in the first place.


I felt like that was done as a tease for a potential spinoff about them. I hope the creators realize that one of Lycoris Recoil's biggest selling points is Chisato's and Takina's relationship and their gunfights and not so much the overall grand plot and setting. Because it's very apparent now they just use that as a mere excuse to have these girls get into cool action scenes despite having these complicated shady society and organization dealings. And frankly, I really want to see more adventures with those 2 than anything else.
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Ruhrpottpatriot



Joined: 26 Aug 2021
Posts: 61
PostPosted: Sun Sep 18, 2022 1:03 pm Reply with quote
Florete wrote:
The introduction of LilyBell really could have been done better (or preferably, not at all).

We already got hints a few episodes ago, where Chisato made a short quip about them.

Florete wrote:
Makes me wonder why they bothered in the first place.

Because they lost control over their communication manipulation tech phlebotinum and needed the Lycoris to vanish. It was planned to gun them down one by one or in small groups, but Fuki threw somewhat of a wrench in that.

darkchibi07 wrote:
despite having these complicated shady society and organization dealings

From the first minute we knew that DA was a shady organization. I mean, sanctioned killings without due process carried out by teenage girls. Where exactly doesn't it ooze "totally not shady"?
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Electric Wooloo



Joined: 19 Aug 2020
Posts: 307
PostPosted: Sun Sep 18, 2022 3:28 pm Reply with quote
Ruhrpottpatriot wrote:

darkchibi07 wrote:
despite having these complicated shady society and organization dealings

From the first minute we knew that DA was a shady organization. I mean, sanctioned killings without due process carried out by teenage girls. Where exactly doesn't it ooze "totally not shady"?


Yes... but from the first minute we didn't know whether that aspect of the narrative would be explored or simply used as a vehicle for gunplay. For a minute last episode it seemed as though they were going to address the fact that having an authoritarian secret society extra judicially murdering civilians was, in fact, a bad thing. So having it just be largely hand waved away with Kurumi hacking a vTuber skin to fake TV announcement was a bit of a disappointment, regardless of of hard I broke into laughter when that scene played.
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Ruhrpottpatriot



Joined: 26 Aug 2021
Posts: 61
PostPosted: Sun Sep 18, 2022 4:33 pm Reply with quote
Electric Wooloo wrote:
So having it just be largely hand waved away with Kurumi hacking a vTuber skin to fake TV announcement was a bit of a disappointment, regardless of of hard I broke into laughter when that scene played.

You know what? That's actually very believable. You don't even have to look at current political events, but just 70 years ago in the short years after WWII and how much of a 180 the western and eastern allies did for their respective parts of Germany and how fast the populace went with it.

You can very easily form public opinion through propaganda (which only in the years of WWII has become a negative connotation) and "spinning a story".

Keep people in their comfort zone ("there's no terrorist attack"), split up the story and with either outright, but believable lies ("no, there are no schoolgirls involved in extralegal killings") or leave out bits and pieces that might question your spin ("sure there were some people with guns, but the police dealt with those criminals, sadly they were shot and so the origin of the guns will probably remain a mystery; but of course we'll do anything to get to the bottom of this") and further reinforce preconceived notions ("did you know how much our new attraction rocks? Here's how you can live out your fantasy of getting in a shootout with assassin schoolgirls!")

The only "unbelievable" part in this was how quick this went with just a few scenes. However, given that the focus of the whole season was the interactions (and all but said love-story) between Takina and Chisato, I can get that they wanted to get back to the two protagonists as soon as possible. Especially given that this episode was already packed and you can only get so much in 20 minutes runtime.



If there's really one thing that Lycoris got wrong, it was sometimes the fast pacing; but that's a thing that many anime struggle with since a season not being 12 or 13 episodes long is almost unheard of. Which is a shame, many series would benefit greatly from 15 or 16 episodes.


Last edited by Ruhrpottpatriot on Sun Sep 18, 2022 5:07 pm; edited 1 time in total
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Yttrbio
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Joined: 09 Jun 2011
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PostPosted: Sun Sep 18, 2022 4:59 pm Reply with quote
"Believable" isn't the same as compelling storytelling. The end for the broader setting is basically asking us to breathe a sigh of relief at "the government keeps murdering its citizens and everyone lived happily ever after."

It reminds me a lot of Library War. When focused on the leads and their interaction, it's fun, but once they start trying to lean into the setting they built, it really suffers.
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