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Jan 12, 2025
TD;DR : in spite of its good intentions and ideas, this manga suffers from pacing and length problems that spoil the emotions that should emanate from it. Fortunately, the anime adaptation corrects all its flaws while keeping the strength of its message intact. Go watch the anime, it's a masterpiece.
Kakushigoto is a slice-of-life manga about a widowed manga artist called Kakushi raising his 10-year-old daughter Hime alone. The twist is that he's writing "dirty gag mangas", so he's worried that, if Hime knew about it, she'd think less of him or be harassed at school. So he told her that he's working as a salary
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man, and keeps the lie going on for years.
The story
Most of the stories show Kakushi in his workshop with his assistants and his editor, usually worried about something related to Hime and flying off the handle as he panicks, misunderstands or comes up with some harebrained scheme to solve a problem that, more often than not, didn't exist in the first place. So yes, it's before all else a comedy.
But it has more depth than that. First, the relationship between Kakushi and Hime is a touching and heartwarming one. He loves his daughter deeply and would do anything for her, and she's a reasonable, level-headed kid that had to grow up a bit too fast after the death of her mother. Father and daughter built a very strong unit that no drama ever threatens.
Last but not least, the manga also shows a darker face in the first few and last few pages of each volume. Drawn in color, those pages show a 18-year-old Hime discovering her father's warehouse where all his previous manga-related work is stored. Why does she seem sad? How did she find out? Did something happen to Kakushi between the time where she's 10 and the time where she's 18?
The characters
Like most slice of life, there's very little change in the characters over the course of the story. Kakushi is extremely gullible when he thinks his daughter's wellfare comes into play and that remains the main lever for most jokes in all 12 volumes.
Hime is so reasonable that she's even a bit bland, and she never expresses either anger or frustration. Although this, in itself, is a important aspect of her personality (there's something sad in seeing a child bottling up so much of her own emotions after the loss of a parent, and trying to shoulder responsabilities she's too young for), she doesn't play that much of an active role for a main character.
All other characters have very little substance and exist only to interact with Kakushi and Hime. This is really a story about two characters and no one else.
The length and pacing problems!
Seeing Kakushi and Hime interact is always a joy, in spite of Hime's relatively limited presence or impact in half the stories, and is enough to justify reading this manga. But I rated this manga 7/10, while I rated its anime adaptation 9/10. How come?
The manga is far too long for what it has to say. The characters never change, no character arc is ever solved, and most stories follow the same construction. In addition, the author heavily reuses frames, postures and faces throughout the volumes, so there's a big sense of repetition. Moreover, until the last volume you never see the "past" story (funny, heartwarming) finding its way toward the "present" story (sadder, mysterious).
All of this waters down the feelings that you could get from the manga. Sometimes I found myself bored seeing Kakushi panicking and rushing out of his workshop for the 100th time because of some worry for Hime, while I was impatiently waiting to reach the color pages to see more of what happened to 18-year-old Hime. In some volumes you can almost jump from the color pages at the beginning to those at the end without missing anything.
But the good news is that the anime adaptation solves all of those problems. It's much shorter, more compact, eliminates a lot of the gags that repeated themselves in the manga, and gets a far better sense of progression alternating between the past and present storylines.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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Dec 24, 2024
I'm going to write this review coming from the manga, a manga which I liked in spite of its flaws, in spite of its disturbing aspects.
In a nutshell, the manga tells the tumultuous relationship between two very different high school girls:
- Yuzu is a deeply kind girl, capable of selfless acts but still immature and somewhat fragile emotionally. She also has some rebellious streak and is depicted as a gyaru at school.
- Mei is a very disturbed girl, who was taught to bury her own sense of self and to always behave according to her environment's expectations. She's shown to be talented, rigid and uncaring,
...
but she's also self-loathing and cut from her own emotions.
Although some of those points aren't obvious at the beginning of the story, they explain most of the toxic aspects of their relationship: Yuzu perceives early on that Mei is in distress but the way she tries to help is often awkward, and her own feelings toward Mei tend to confuse the issue even more. Mei robotically acts according to what she believes Yuzu desires, but brutally backpedals as soon as it brushes her inner stuggle, or fails to understand the consequences of her actions. Yuzu is hurt, forgives, bouces back to action. Rince and repeat until Mei's truth is laid bare.
Unfortunatly, the anime misses every mark and re-interprets all of the protagonists' actions in a simplistic way that destroys whatever depth the original story had.
Yuzu is reduced to a dumb and klutzy girl. All the complex and toxic situations that happened because of Yuzu's and Mei's clashing personalities are turned into Yuzu's mere blunders.
Mei is no longer a tortured teenager unable to cry for help, and that hurts Yuzu to avoid acknowledging her own struggle… Instead, she's just a bright girl that harasses Yuzu for no reason, or as retaliation for the other girl's blunders (or shock value, or fan service, take your pick).
In other words, anime's Mei is just a "perfect" girl and everything is anime's Yuzu's fault. And because of that, the anime loses everything that made the story interesting. In a way, it's fortunate that it cut the story short and adapted only the beginning of the manga… Otherwise it'd have quickly become obvious that it had no story to tell, nowhere to go.
If it's not too late, don't waste your time with this pathetic excuse for a yuri story and go read the original manga. It's noticeably more disturbing, but the characters have depth, evolve and converge in a well-thought ending.
Reviewer’s Rating: 3
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Aug 15, 2024
Virgin Road is a guilty pleasure. ;) See it like a B-movie: everything is over-the-top and flashy, with exagerated characters and mustache-twirling villlains, but it's obvious that it's aware of itself. But in addition to that, the author took great pains to provide in-story explanations for everything, even the apparently stupid tropes. Although you'll have to switch to the light novel to have the overall view of the story, the anime adaptation makes for a very fun, self-contained introduction. It faithfully follows the first two volumes of the novel.
The world
Power-seeking mages use the forbidden art of otherworld summoning to call upon very dangerous beings: Japanese
...
people (also called Lost Ones). But there's a catch: during their summon, those Lost Ones get imbued with rare powers, but they tend to go crazy (whole regions of this world were destroyed by them). So the Faust (some sort of Church) founded a order of executioners to track and kill those Lost Ones.
Due to the presence of those modern-era Japanese people, some technological knowledge leaked into this world, turning it into a steampunk setting with a fun technomagic. If you can, pay attention to the text that quickly scrolls off-screen during spell casting!
The characters
The author loves having characters that lie, to others and sometimes to themselves. Sometimes it's obvious from the start, sometimes not, but it makes rewatching the series quite fun. Also, some characters from the main cast are villains, or at least unsavory individuals.
Menou (the Executioner) doesn't really have a defined personality and seems a bit bland? It makes her the only level-headed person in a crazy world, but it's also explained by something that happened in her childhood and has real, even crucial, consequences in the story.
Akari (the Lost One) looks like a walking trope? She's stupid, has no survival instinct and keeps claiming to love Menou for no reason. By the end of the first arc, it's obvious that it's an act (at least part of it), and strong reasons progressively come to light.
Momo (Menou's assistant) is "annoyingly girly" and "cutely jealous"? It's quickly obvious that she's not just a tsundere, but a full-on psychopath… and a frighteningly competent one at that (only her need to please Menou keeps her under control… most of the time).
And so on.
The story
It feels like a long tabletop RPG campaign, with arcs that focus on a given place, a villain and a plot, with some continuity linking them. It's never complicated but it's a healthy blend of mystery, big combat scenes with cackling villains, and small breathers to develop the characters.
While it's technically an isekai, it's really not what the story focuses on (although Menou's recurring dream is probably a clue that it might change in the future). It's all about Menou investigating and dodging nefarious plots from the Faust (the Church) and the Noblesse (the nobility), or investigating dark secrets from the past, while getting headaches from the other characters' shenanigans.
The overall feel is more on the fun side, but sometimes the violence level jumps noticeably, especially in the second arc.
The ending (or is it?)
By the end of episode 12, the second arc is concluded but the overall plot is only starting (the original light novel is still being published), making it a satisfactory ending, if a bit open.
Since there's no second season on the horizon, my advice: go read the novel! The English translation is closely tracked by Yen Press. The story keeps getting both darker and funnier, and the author is very good at always keeping things in motion, never repeating the same tropes, coming up with new deranged behaviors for the characters, and so on. And the main cast is surprisingly interesting.
Is it yuri?
Within the scope of the 12 episodes, in spite of the all-female cast, no.
Akari and Momo keep saying that they're in love with Menou, but there's no romance. Menou never shows any sign of reciprocating (remember that her defining trait is… not to have a defined personality of her own). She cares for Momo and is grateful for her service, but nothing else. She's troubled by Akari, due to unclear dreams that may or may not be memories, but she mostly sticks to the persona she fabricated to befriend her, and protects her so that her power doesn't fall into the wrong hands.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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Aug 10, 2024
If I had to sum it up: Hinamatsuri is the art of spending 19 volumes with almost no story, like a huge slice-of-life manga, and letting most important moments happen off-screen. It's a frustrating read, because all the ingredients for a great manga were there. But the art is beautiful and expressive, and a few of the characters are really admirable (not the main, though).
The background, explaining where some of the main characters come from? Completely glossed over, just a few words near the end of the story, to provide motivation for the finale scene. No character is ever curious or asks questions.
The reason for
...
the "psychic girls" and friends to have been sent here? Forgotten immediately. Understandable for Hina herself, but the others conveniently arrived in circumstances that allow them to drop their mission and focus on ordinary life.
The yakuza? Mostly used for jokes. What little story there is absolutely does not require them.
The psychic powers? Serve no purpose whatsoever. Just a few running jokes, and one-off stories with no repercussion.
The characters
First, the main ones: Hina and Nitta. They're arguably the worst of the bunch. Nitta is weak and incompetent as a yakuza, indifferent as a father, and has no evolution whatsoever. Hina is passive and lazy. In the first half where she's of middle-school age, she spends her days in a couch, doing nothing, feeling nothing and wanting nothing. It's a bit better in the second half, where she's three years older, as she has some agency, takes some initiative and worries about others, but it doesn't amount to much.
I still fail to understand the point of Hina as a main character. She barely does anything, has almost no emotion good or bad. Her only defining element is her very strong psychic power… which has no use in the story. The "father and daughter' dynamic with Nitta never goes anywhere. So what's the point?
Where Hinamatsuri shines, it's with the rest of the cast. Hinamatsuri is, at heart, a slife of life manga about life choices and trajectories. Hitomi, Anzu and Mao do have remarkable trajectories. All three start with no agency, either because of their age (Hitomi) or because they don't have anything (Anzu and Mao). Opportunities come their way, and they're good enough to grab them, leading them on unexpected paths.
The manga doesn't lack in variety: Hitomi's achievements are all about money and business, Anzu's are about family and having pride in her own accomplishments, Mao's are about martial arts and devotion to a cause.
The story
As I said above, there's very little story to speak of. The manga tries to come up with one near the end, in order to have a conclusion, but it lacks any punch, both because of the lack of build-up and because nothing is changed for the main characters afterwards (they just keep living their lives as before).
But what's most annoying is that the most pivotal moments tend to happen off screen. A character has a crisis-of-faith moment where they have an important decision to make? Off screen. A important discussion happens? Off screen. That happens far too many times.
Conclusion
On one hand, the manga is far too long for what little story it has to offer. It's just slice of life, a bunch of kids finding their own paths in modern Japan in spite of incompetent adults.
On the other hand, once you cast aside the two useless main characters, you keep coming back to see Hitomi, Anzu and Mao grow and evolve. The three-year timeskip is a godsent, making them older and having more agency.
I'd love to see someone edit and trim down the 19 volumes by removing all those pointless elements. At least half of the manga would be gone, and we'd have a focused story on three girls crafting their own success stories. As slice of life go, there are few characters that I came to like more than Hitomi and Anzu!
Reviewer’s Rating: 5
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Jul 12, 2024
The same author as Aritoto, using the same dynamics in a yuri story: some sort of wager/competition between a normal/average girl (Renako) and a seemingly bright and untouchable girl (Mai), written from the point of view of the former, and with the latter trying to make her fall in love. But the similarities end with volume 1. Starting with volume 2, it throws romance away with the garbage, goes straight into harem territory, and all chararacter buildup flies out the window.
The first volume is mostly standalone, since it has all the features of a complete story: a premise, a development, a crisis and a resolution.
...
On its own, although it gives any sort of serious topic a wide berth, it's actually quite a nice read. The romance isn't firmly established at the end, but it closes all plot lines.
In a nutshell, each following book is about Renako cheating on Mai (or being coerced to do so) with another girl from their own group of friends. Of course you can argue that it's not cheating since the romance isn't official (it's even the point of the story), but the novel still tries to sell the relationship between Renako and Mai as a budding romance, and has to rely on twisted logic to justify each situation using Renako's "kindness" and Mai's "tolerance".
A harem story is, by essence, incompatible with any form of empathy or trust between characters, and has to rely on contrived comedy to make the characters behave the way they do. Renako is supposed to be kind, if grumpy, but there's no way someone kind would do what she does for any extended amount of time. And the same goes for the other girls. What the novel says is kindness, is in fact a mix of cruelty, spite and selfishness.
Of course, if you like a full-on harem story, why not, switch off any reasoning or emotional centers in your brain and enjoy the ride. But if you like a romance story, stop at the end of volume 1. The author shows, just like with Arioto, that they don't have any skill to write a long-running story with any semblance of consistency. Arioto's follow-up volumes are still at least nice to read because we see the romance alive and developing, but WataWake is just piling up inconsistent behaviors to conveniently generate drama and harem situations.
Reviewer’s Rating: 4
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Jul 9, 2024
I had some hopes with this manga, because it really tries to have both a developed story and a romance that starts early. Unfortunately, it's marred with extremely toxic behavior from both protagonists that makes their relationship's development unrelatable as well as unrealistic. The problem is that the manga tries to cast a positive light on those behaviors.
The protagonists
On one side, there's Chiwa. She's supposed to be an adult, but she has the emotional maturity of a grade schooler. Every meaningful interaction she has is done through crying or shouting. When there's an important discussion to be had she either runs away or refuses to
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talk. She handles every situation badly, and never learns. In many occasions, her behavior with her husband borders on emotional blackmail.
On the other side, there's Hokuto. He's a successful businessman, with a cold and calculating demeanor. Some tragic events in his past do explain his emotional immaturity, but the main problem is that, although he keeps telling Chiwa that he loves her, he keeps mistreating her, both physically and psychologically. He's always forcing his decisions on her without a hint of empathy… decisions about jobs, but also about their couple and even about their sex life. He's borderline sociopathic.
That last point is one that poisons the whole story. In almost every bed scene, he forces himself on her, it's shown to be painful for her (but she has to "get over it" because she loves him). And by the end of the story, there's a secondary character that reflects that he's still single because he's gentle with women. Are we supposed to understand that mistreating women is acceptable? This manga certainly seems to think so.
By the end of the manga their relationship clears up, but the author still has no idea how to depict a working relationship, so she resorts to the old cliché: they're always arguing, so they must be in love.
Conclusion
As for the plot itself, well, it's based on good ideas, but the author certainly bit more than she could chew. Many important developments happen off screen, and on several occasions a mystery is claimed to be solved… but the details aren't given.
Overall, I'd call this manga "toxic marriage" instead of "happy marriage". It's very painful to watch those two characters hurting each other every time, never communicating (otherwise most of the artificial drama would vanish!) and unable to make their good intentions a reality. Which makes the ending all the more difficult to believe.
Reviewer’s Rating: 3
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Jun 14, 2024
This review is written from the point of view of someone who came to the novels from the manga adaptation. The spoilers will mostly be about volume 1 of the novel.
The light novel really has volume 1 on one side, and the other volumes on the other side. Volume 1, just like the manga, has a strong, well-thought story that mixes romance, social commentary and sex. Starting with volume 2, it mostly turns slice of life where you're happy to see the protagonists living a happy life but very little meaningful happens. It's still a good read, since the relationship between the two main characters
...
is healthy and balanced (especially after their tumultuous beginning in volume 1).
Volume 1
In a nutshell, it's the story of two high school girls whose lives are on the verge of going badly. Marika is seriously considering going down the "JK business" slope with a teenage escort job, while Aya is a young lesbian that, while looking for acceptance, found a lesbian bar with a highly questionable owner, and learned too much about sex for such a young age.
Under the pretense of a wager to convince Marika that love between girls is acceptable, Aya effectively prevents Marika from getting that teenage escort job by paying her an equivalent daily amount. In return, Marika has to give Aya some of her time every day.
The unfolding of the story is the same as the manga: little by little, Marika learns to let go of her preconceptions, gets a peek at Aya's real personality and past and falls in love. Of course, it helps that Aya is a beast in bed. ;) More seriously, the question of Marika's consent is tackled through the fact that she sees the situation just like any other escort job. It's not healthy for her, and the key to this is that Aya is too focused on sex to completely understand the consequences of what she's doing. Fortunately, as love between them unfolds, they learn to pull themselves out of this spiral and build a healthy relationship.
The main difference between manga and novel is the tone. The novel is written as if Marika was constantlly talking to you. She's too chatty sometimes, and obviously needs to describe everything. This doesn't play well with the mystery elements (why Aya behaves like this, and how Marika really feels about it), at least not as well as the manga, which is able to leave a bit more things unsaid for the reader to figure out.
Also, the sex scenes in the novel are short and rarely very explicit. It's still Marika speaking, so they're a bit on the descriptive side. In comparison, the manga shows a lot more and makes the reader *feel* the passion that Marika is very receptive to.
Following volumes
All volumes are short (barely above 100 pages each). Each develops a single, standalone story weaving two elements: interactions with other girls from the same school or the lesbian bar, and the development of Aya and Marika's relationship.
The part about others girls is rarely that great. It's usually your run-of-the-mill, slice-of-life, high school story, with girls falling in love with other girls and wondering what to do about it. Or, if it takes place at the bar, it's still the same sort of story, showing once again that people in that bar are nice but rather questionable. Overall, it's far less inspired than volume 1, but still entertaining to read. New characters are introduced from time to time, but in moderation, so by volume 5 the cast of secondary characters is still manageable.
The best part is still, however, Aya and Marika. I'll say this right now: those two are head over heels for each other, and no amount of external disturbance ever puts any real strain on their couple. It's all about them entering the next stage of their relationship, where sex isn't everything and they need to learn to trust and care for each other. But they're still having great sex together.^^
Now that she can drop the aloof act, Aya is struggling to make friends under Marika's comforting guidance, and seeing her (awkwardly) doing her best, even when she doesn't really get it but wants to do it anyway out of love, is very touching. She's idolazing Marika and is always trying to take her advice into account.
Marika is learning to let go of the remnants of her old obsession with "being normal". At first she doesn't want anyone to know she's dating a girl, but her love and respect for Aya pushes her to open up bit by bit, one friend at a time (and also to her mother). In addition, she learns to turn her habit of "controlling the mood" around her into simple, straightforward kindness. She effectively becomes a "lesbian advisor" to other girls, an irony that is not lost on her!
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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Jun 2, 2024
This series of novels is much better than it had any right to be. In spite of problems here and there that would be common in fanfiction, it manages to maintain a consistent cast and an engaging story over all 7 volumes (that I have read so far, more to come). It certainly has some quirks that you need to accept in order to enjoy the story, but then it mostly uses those well, and knows when to move on from them.
The world building
The world is mostly medieval, but with a steampunk flavor. The reason for it is explained right in the pitch: using the
...
forbidden art of otherworld summoning, ordinary, modern-days Japanese people are pulled into this world. Over the years, some of their technological knowledge spread and mixed with local magic. Description of this world's technomagic is fun, it feels original and really gives it flavor.
Other than that, clearly the author doesn't develop any detail about this world that isn't useful to the storytelling. It can be a bit disappointing for people who crave large, epic tales in lovingly detailed worlds, but it sure makes the narrative compact and efficient.
Most of the story revolves around one major plot point: when Japanese people (called Lost Ones) are summoned into this world, they're imbued with huge powers that will drive them mad over time. In fact, some parts of the world were utterly destroyed by Lost Ones gone mad… So there are Executioners roaming the world in order to locate and kill any summoned Japanese people, whether they've committed a crime yet or not.
The characters
As the title implies, the main protagonist, called Menou, is an executioner. She's proficient both with a dagger and with spells, in order to contain and kill Lost Ones. But that's not her most important aspect.
You may find her a bit lacking in the personality department at first. Without spoiling anything, there are very good reasons for that, related to the plot and to her past. Let's just say that it's very useful, since it makes her a "social chameleon", in order to get on friendly terms with Lost Ones, get them to talk, identify their forbidden power and devise a way to kill them.
The second protagonist is Akari, a Japanese high school girl. Menou locates her near the beginning of the story, doesn't waste time and proceeds to killing her right away. I'll spoil only what happens at the very beginning: Akari's power is an instinctive ability to rewind time. So when Menou kills her, time immediatly goes backward, leaving Akari alive and unaware of her predicament. So Menou has no choice but to travel with Akari long enough to understand her power and come up with a way to kill her permanently. And protect her in the meantime, against factions that'd love to get their hands on a Lost One's power.
As with Menou, Akari isn't what she seems. You may find her annoying or dumb at first, and she is. She seems to fall in love frighteningly fast with Menou (who doesn't reciprocate) for no good reason, and she does. But once again, there are plot-related reasons for that, and it evolves over times. Understanding Akari's strange personality is actually central to the story.
Over the course of the novel, a few other important characters appear, but the cast remains surprisingly small for such a series; there are never more than 5 or 6 main characters. Some of them are villains, and the author is actually quite good at making them sympathetic… and completely unhinged.
Overall, most characters except Menou are a bit crazy and quirky. Even though the plot goes out of its way to provide justifications, it's a writing style that you'll have to get used to. Some have recurring behaviors that wouldn't be out of place in a twisted or dark comedy slice of life story and that are often played for laughs: one is psychotically obssessed and protective of her boss, another keeps killing herself in gruesome ways which triggers a resurrection spell, and so on.
The plot
It's quite apparent that the author makes things up as they go. Nonetheless, it works. It is a good mix of character-induced drama, political plots, dark mysteries from the past, big combat scenes involving weapons, flashy magic, horrible monsters and too-talkative-for-their-own-good, mustache-twirling villains. Like an old-school James Bond movie turned fantasy.
The first three books are mostly about setting things up. It's never boring, things are always happening, point of view regularly switch between characters, and so on. Most of the time, it's the world explained for Akari's benefit (and ours), or intrigues followed by Menou when Akari isn't looking.
Starting with the fourth book, the plot starts to break what's established to push the story forward. Big reveals keep happening, the statu quo is irreversibly broken and the author always finds new ways to make things exciting. I was extremely pleased that nothing is allowed to go stale.
By the end of book 6, there have been world-shattering changes (figuratively speaking) that make book 7 start in a new setting (but same characters, and same overall plot).
If I had to find a flaw, it'd be how explanations for mysteries or intrigues are delivered. Many times, instead of having the characters find those answers through investigation, reasoning or interrogation, the author takes the lazy way out: either it's a villain monologuing in the middle of the fight, or it's a chapter told from the point of view of a character who knows the truth and tells it straight to the reader.
Is it yuri?
Not an easy question. Sure, almost every significant character is female. Sure, almost from the start you have Akari and Momo who, in different ways, claim to love Menou (who probably uses the facepalm maneuver ten times a day because of it). But remember that Menou doesn't seem to have a personality of her own, and she sees herself as a villain since she kills innocent people for a living. So she doesn't reciprocate anything, even though she clearly sees both women as important to her.
In spite of this, I wouldn't call this yuri-bait, because things start to change (slowly) in later books. But I wouldn't expect a full-on, shoujo-style romance. When Menou and Akari's relationship starts to change, let's say that so far it's more magical than physical. ;)
You have some strange, ill-defined relationships between other characters, starting with Ashuna and Momo (also one involving Manon, one involving Flare…) So if you extend "yuri" to include friendship or rivalry, then yes, you have plenty of those. Some sane, some… not so sane.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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May 31, 2024
Lycoris Recoil is a playful series. Not because its characters are cute and playful, but because it plays with the audience, trying to confuse their sense of morale. It's a dystopy that masterfully juggles with narrative dissonance (which happens when what is shown doesn't match, or at least doesn't seem to match, what is told), a tool that is commonly seen as a fault but can be a fantastic lever in the hands of a skilled storyteller.
In this near-future, most democracies have been overrun by criminal organizations, and Japan is among the last ones standing. But it's become a democracy in name only, since it
...
closed its frontiers and created a secret program to regulate criminal activities without having to bother with due process: orphans are picked from the streets, have their official existence erased and are trained as assassins. As they become teenagers, they are sent to blend in the population and kill without warning any target that the government deems dangerous. And when the orphans approch adulthood, they are in turn eliminated, leaving no trace in society.
Our two protagonists are two such orphaned girls, so called Lycoris (from the name of the project that focuses on assassin-trained girls). They are cute and funny… but also frightfully skilled with firearms.
Takina is a promising Lycoris that is temporarily suspended due to a perceived error of judgment during a mission. She's sent to work with another Lycoris called Chisato, who is extremely, almost supernaturally, skilled, but for unexplained reasons (at first), is allowed to work outside the Lycoris barracks. Soon they're bumping into a terrorist organisation that seems to have a beef with the Lycoris project and is trying to expose it.
Nothing is what it seems. Most of the moral dilemma are concentrated around Chisato: she seems to have a working moral compass (she refuses to kill or even to use real bullets, and she's wary of the Lycoris project), but she's still working as a Lycoris. Perhaps the project has some leverage on her?
Takina is mostly a blank-slate character at first (a Lycoris that used to do what she was told) and she'll discover layers and layers of truth as the story goes on. The duo of girls is awfully cute and endearing, and the show even gives you falsely chill, almost slice of life-like scenes, to make sure you root for them and that you forget what the Lycoris project is actually about. It's only when the focus turns toward the terrorists (especially their leader, an unexpectedly well-written character) that the harsh reality suddenly kicks in and forces you to reevaluate your point of view.
With a compact cast (say, 4 or 5 main characters) and a short, single-season run, Lycoris Recoil doesn't waste a minute with filler. Every scene, whether it be an action scene full of gunfighting, a cute day-off at the café, or a politically-minded scene, has a role to play in the narrative that leads to a very satisfying ending. The main characters have depth and a sense of progression, the pacing is solid all the way through, and the plot is continuously trying to trick you.
Reviewer’s Rating: 10
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May 11, 2024
This is a manga that quickly grows from an okay beginning to an intense story with meaningful characters, deep plots that mix action and intrigue, and absolutely no filler. Although it differs on many aspects, I did have the same feeling as when I read Fullmetal Alchemist or Kekkaishi, with the mix of shounen-style combat and the political scheming going on with multiple factions (past or present).
The star of the show is Mina Tepes, princess of a large vampire faction and founder of the first country where vampires could exist legally and in peace (hopefully coexisting with humans). Due to events in her past, she
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stopped growing while she was still very young, so she has a child-like appearence, but rest assured that you will *never* see her act cute or girlish. She's an experienced political leader, depicted as extrememy shrewd and showing a hard edge when necessary. In spite of this rather cold exterior, Mina doesn't lack in kindness and has a lot of depth. She quickly becomes a character that you care about. A lot.
The other protagonist is Akira, a high schooler but also a member of a faction that has sworn loyalty to Mina. As such, he acts as her bodyguard, but also a very close friend. It's not really a spoiler to say that a romance between them is going on. Akira is obviously devoted to Mina, but he still has agency of his own, and he's often shown taking intiatives and investigating… in other words being competent at his job.
The largest part of the story is about politics, betrayal and manipulation, with frequent action scenes to keep things smooth and engaging.
- negociations with the closest neighbour, Japan, to get the new vampire country accepted and recognized as something other than a threat, with a bit of social commentary about accepting refugees and taking responsiblity for past atrocities
- old feuds between vampire factions, with racism among vampires based on "pure blooded-ness"
The tone of the story has a foot in heroic territory and the other one in dark fantasy; on the one hand, main characters are likable heroes that have ideals and fight for them, on the other hand the world is harsh and political schemes have ugly consequences that aren't shied away from (including when the population is the target). That's what makes it a seinen rather than a shounen.
Aside from the two main characters, you have a large, but well-managed, cast of secondary characters. Many of them are well-developed, with agenda of their own and important roles to play, resulting in a network of consistent characters that serve the story.
As for the echii tag given to this manga, it's certainly justified, but it's never thoughtless. It's infrequent and mostly consistent with the story tone and character relationships. It helps that Mina, although she has a child-like body, always behaves like the harsh, blazé politician that she really is. Even when she allows herself to show a more open side of herself, she's still an adult in control. It also helps that Akira and Mina are extremely at ease with one another, so moments when they get to touch each other are often shown as natural and "glossed over", avoiding a pointless ecchi depiction.
Reviewer’s Rating: 10
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