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Lycoris Recoil is a mixed bag. At times I found myself thoroughly enjoying the show and some of the great qualities it had to offer - like the animation, music and the characters - but other times I found myself bored and pretty underwhelmed due to the incoherent and nonsensical plot.

To put it simple, the plot is not fleshed out. And at times, some of the stuff that happens makes barely any sense. To summarise the plot in one sentence: cute orphan girls trained to 'kill' terrorists. Here I use 'kill' vaguely, because while they are trained to 'kill' majority of them use non-lethal ... bullets to incapacitate their enemy. And while Chisato has certain motives as to why she uses these bullets, which are explained well enough and ground her as a character, it still doesn't make much sense for the others to be using these bullets if they are trained to specifically 'kill' these terrorists. And the leader of these terrorists and antagonist of the narrative, Majima, was pretty meh. I've seen his character trope too many times to know what will happen, he is predictable and while he does serve as a good antagonist for the story and directly opposing Chisato and Takina's morals and ideals, he just overall didn't feel menacing or compelling enough for me to care about him. He just takes the typical wannabe edgy character bad guy trope and doesn't do anything interesting with it in my opinion. And while at times I did like some scenes with him, particularly the scene in episode 13 where Chisato and him just sit and talk, because I'm a sucker for that, I just liked it when the writer took the time to dive into his character and not just focus on him trying to be edgy and doing some sort of fight and act overbearing towards other people. And speaking of Chisato, the heavy plot armour Chisato has makes all the fights she's in feel pretty underwhelming due to the stakes being low. To give a character the ability to dodge bullets flawlessly with no effort in almost every fight just really hinders the impact of each fight and can make it underwhelming and boring. And to conclude my negatives, the ending wasn't very satisfying, and I find it hard to believe and make any sense of how Chisato got no repercussions for just straight up leaving to go to the middle of nowhere. Like it is SO clear how much Chisato means to Takina, and for Takina not to express any sort of strong emotions to how she felt about Chisato leaving, or even Chisato letting her know that she was leaving or at least feel guilty, really annoyed me. And now that I have mentioned their relationship, I think there is some yuri bait here, and while yes the whole "cute girls doing cute things" is a nice quality of the show (even with its reputation), it made for many of the scene seem to me that there could be so much more going on, and if that was the case and it went in that direction, I honestly think it would make the show a lot stronger, especially for the conclusion. It could add more dimension to both Chisato and Takina as characters and their wonderful dynamic that filled to the brim with great chemistry. My point is, there is so much potential here among all these aspect of the show, and I think if it all was made more cohesive and grounded with what it wanted to do, the plot could be so much more stronger, make sense, and there would be a more satisfying conclusion.

Now, onto the good aspect of the show. Easily one of the best aspects of the show is its characters. Each of them have their own personalities that make them differ from each other, this is especially relative to Chisato and Takina and their dynamic. They are both literal polar opposites from each other, from personality, to the colour scheme of their uniform, appearance, and their morals. It makes for some amazing chemistry between the two and the interactions that they have draw out some of the greatest comedy in the show. Like it is seriously a great highlight from the show and i think it is on of the more grounded and compelling aspects of the show. Now I have to mentioned the voice acting, because not even going to lie, the voice acting from Chisato and Takina's voice actors are SO insanely talented! Not just from how they bring both these characters to life to make for some great chemistry, just from the little excited sounds they both make or the grunts they make in a fight really make the characters feel real. Like I saw a video on tiktok on the voice acting and it was literally the main reason why I watched this show and it did not disappoint at all. Another thing I want to mention is that I think Lycoris Recoil implements both the elements of the action genre and slice-of-life genre majority of the time well, at one point we have an action sequence that is fun and then we move onto just stuff happening around the cafe or Chisato and Takina hanging out and doing stuff, it makes a nice change of pace for the show. HOWEVER, it does make the show suffer from some pacing issues, but that's just for me. I also do have to say, the action scenes did have some good choreography, like majority of them felt enjoyable, it was just hard to get around because the stakes felt low. And the animation was actually really great from A-1 Pictures, like it is easily one of the strongest aspects considering how smooth it was, although there was CGI that was noticeable, it didn't take me out of the experience, I'm not particularly bothered by it. And the colour scheme of the whole show was very gorgeous. Now, onto the "cute girls doing cute things" aspect of the show. I am not the biggest fan of it, however, there was something about Lycoris Recoil that made me really enjoy it a lot, and I just found myself enjoying every second of it. Like I have watched anime where this aspect has taken me out of the show and just out right cringe at majority of the stuff that happened, but here, that didn't happen, and I think that is partly due to the characters. I never once found myself cringing at the cute stuff they were doing because it didn't feel out of place, because t felt pretty believable and inclined with how their characters are written, and I just overall found myself smiling alongside them.

So overall, I would recommend this anime to someone who is after something that they can shut their brain off and just watch cute girls doing cute things, and are not after a coherent and compelling story. It's just something for fun and to see these characters interact and enjoy what they do. However, if you are after something that has a story that makes sense and the characters don't fall under tropes and clichés, then it is not for you, and if you're also after something that has CGDGT and an unsatisfying conclusion.

To say Fire Punch is an interesting manga would be an understatement.

It is not for the faint-hearted. Fire Punch is dark, personal and takes very questionable turns; at one point you think it will go down one direction to then inevitably do a 180 and fall straight off a cliff; it is unpredictable. However, I will say, there are many trigger warnings to know before reading, and while I personally was not too bothered by them and they didn't ruin my reading experience with it, still beware of them.; it gets very dark and disturbing.

Fire Punch is in simple terms about nihilism. It ... explores the theme of identity and the meaning of life with an interesting perspective. One that I think is unique. Our protagonist Agni is a complex character, to say the least, he is pitiful. He is a very pitiful man and that's what makes him genuinely relatable; you can resonate with him but at times you can also deeply question his decisions and morals, but you deeply understand his character. I think Agni is one of the strongest aspect of Fire Punch, along with the exploration of the themes of what it really means to keep on living and just how truly corrupt humanity is. I truly do love all the concepts, ideas and philosophical questions that arise throughout the narrative; the whole weirdness and unpredictable nature of this manga is what Fujimoto does best with his storytelling, but, considering this is Fujimoto's first work, it is an unpolished, unrefined yet compelling piece of storytelling.

While the second part of the narrative does go off course, I still found myself entranced by everything. I feel like some characters were introduced and then kinda disappeared halfway through - this being the bat man and spear-wielding woman characters - which kind of left me personally feeling unsatisfied, I really wanted to see more of them, and while they did drive the plot forward, it just felt like maybe they didn't hold much significance even though it seemed to set up that they would become more major characters.

Speaking of characters, Togata is honestly one of the more unique and refreshing characters I've seen recently. While there was a twist with her character that was very... questionable to say the least, it did add some depth and at first I wasn't too sure if Fujimoto was handling this twist with care or if it seemed accurate or believable, but I eventually found myself resonating with her a lot. I can't speak for the twist itself because only certain people can truly say if it is accurate or represented well, but I think from my perspective it wasn't handled too badly. Setting that part aside, on another note of Togata's character is the fourth wall breaks she has. These had me laughing my ass off so much because it makes for such a unique writing technique I rarely see. And knowing Fujimoto's love for film, I can just see him absolutely having a blast, it is obvious from these fourth wall breaks at how much freedom is allowed too get creative with his weird ideas of comedy.

While the building blocks are there to make a really compelling, complex and truly magnificent story, it's just due to the pacing and so many concepts and ideas condensed into a tight and small story doesn't allow the reader enough time to process everything going on. If Fire Punch was given more time to be fleshed out and thought upon, I'd easily say it would be a masterpiece. There is still so much value to be found in Fire Punch, although its execution is flawed, the themes are deep and really given a lot of depth, the worldbuilding is unique and feels realistic given the circumstances, the characters are extremely enjoyable and are grounded enough to seem believable, and the artwork is just absolutely beautiful with Fujimoto's style.

It has Fujimoto's style and you can easily see him experimenting with many ideas and concepts, you can also clearly see his passion and love for films, and while I think any fan of Fujimoto will enjoy Fire Punch, it is not polished. It is just his starting point, his opportunity to experiment with whatever he wants because he wants to, and while it makes for one of the most unpredictable yet one of the weirdest things I've ever read, it kind of loses itself with too many ideas that make the later half of the narrative feel incoherent.

I will eventually return for a reread of Fire Punch to really further expand my feelings and opinions on it. If you yourself want to read Fire Punch, do so with an open mind. Don't have any high expectations or overhype yourself because of Chainsaw Man or any of Fujimoto's other works; Fire Punch is best consumed with an open mind, have no expectations and just let yourself feel what you want to feel. You might end up loving it, you might end up hating it, and that's okay, just let yourself have an open mind to come up with your own interpretation of it. I think that's the best advice for reading it, I know it worked out well for my reading experience anyway.

This is possibly one of the most disturbing things I've ever read. That's the whole point, and it is not for the faint of heart, but I enjoyed majority of my time with this manga.

However, there was a sequence around chapter 80 that stopped my enjoyment, and everything just kind of fell apart with the story and it didn't feel consistent anymore. Like I feel like the author was dragging certain plot points out for the hell of it and it all could have been executed so much better and condensed down I think. And some of the stuff that happened kind of felt ... jarring and unbelievable at some points, but I kept reading because I didn't want to drop it. And although I have begun to enjoy it again in the recent chapters, it all just felt like a chore to read and get through, and I hate it when that happens.

I love a psychological thriller or horror, and this felt extremely refreshing, given the captivating premise and how these characters are feeling is portrayed to us through the beautiful artwork is all just so captivating. And whenever there is a double page panel, it just feels so satisfying to look at and they are evoking so much about these characters just through one panel. It's honestly incredible how Shuzo Oshimi can do this and I praise him for that. I love the scratchiness of the lineowork and contrast in white and dark hues the mangaka is able to utilise to create a consistent unsettling tone.

There is a lot of love about this manga and how complex it is on depicting a very toxic and abusive relationship between a son and his mother, and it was very compelling. But due to some inconsistencies later on, it kinda fell apart for me, but I still have a high appreciation for a lot in this manga. I'll probably have to let this settle for a while then return for a reread to understand everything a lot better but yeah

I think this one-shot was mainly a reflection on Fujimoto as a writer with how much power he currently holds. He knows how much people overanalyse his media and to pump out a small one-shot that reflects that was his intention. There will always over analyzation in our consumption of media. And there will always be people who will interpret Fujimoto’s stories as one of the greatest things ever and constantly overanalyse ever detail in his work. While this one shot wasn’t great, I think that was Fujimoto’s intention as a writer and it really reflected on him.

There was a set up introduced with ... a spirit person that went nowhere, but that was intentional I believe. I think he wanted this one shot to covey these themes of overanalysing and misinterpreting as a warning for Chainsaw Man Part 2, to lower our expectations and not always overanalyse – just to appreciate the thing for as it is, not what it could be.

I had some expectations when going into this, and mind you they weren't good ones; I expected this to be cliched, pretty predictable and tend to lead to the women being more sexualised when the NSFW stuff does happen. But to be honest I was quite surprised and I really enjoyed reading this. I think it did a great job with the concept and exploring the pressures and expectations of a woman in these circumstances. It made me root all the way for the couple, and their romance was really good and enjoyable to see. What I really loved was the two leads and how ... they both dealt with dealing with the affair, while it was a little predictable, I was quite surprised at how subversive it felt, particularly with Ayako.

It was rushed to the end though. I think if the page length could've been stretched out towards the end to give the characters a little more build up and more of a resolution, that would be great.

There is spice, but it's not sexualised in any way, they felt more intimate than anything which I really liked, and personally I think that's how it should be treated, but that's just my opinion.

Overall, would highly recommend for new comers to yuri or if you just would like a nice GL to read :)

I mainly picked it up because of the gender identity and exploration of it but wow... this really hit hard. This story deals with dark themes, and it doesn't shy away so be very warned, because... eesh. Now, I can't vouch for the trans representation and I would rather have someone who is trans or had a gender identity crisis to assist me in seeing if this is somewhat accurate or not. But what Arima goes through is absolutely heartbreaking, and seeing it unfold does feel believable, especially when being in a situation like that as a child and what happened to him. Still, I ... can't vouch for it, but how it was presented and what children's brains are like as they are growing up, makes it feel believable to me.

The art was absolutely so beautifully constructed and the panelling was very well done. And many of the ideas explores really reminded me of Shiminami Tasogare (Our Dreams at Dusk) which is one of my favourite mangas.

I will say that I think not everything really felt resolved. Maybe that's because I didn't want it to end, but I think if it had a longer duration or another volume, it would really give more time to flesh out the character's development further and give a rather satisfying conclusion that didn't just leave abruptly. Though I suppose with Arima's character, it made sense that by the end we didn't really know their identity, but still I don't know.

Update: After giving it more thinking, it makes me feel uncomfortable and it's now a 5/10. I don't like it much anymore

Fujimoto is an actual genius. His writing is some of the most compelling I have ever seen in fiction. As always he loves to sprinkle in something crazy and it works. He does some of my favourite panelling from a mangaka and he did not disappoint. I think this is one of the most impressive works I've seen when it comes to panelling and constructing them, it's simple but it hits like a truck. Knowing he is a film buff, and me too myself, I loved how he used it to feel so immersive with the limited amount of room he was given. It really ... felt like I was watching a film, and that's one of the main reasons I love Fujimoto's panelling as a Mangaka - particularly Chainsaw Man and Look Back.

There were some parts I thought were a little rushed, but overall the pacing was great. I loved the themes and ideas explored and it really did get me thinking about my own work that I make and about death. Towards the end, I could predict some parts that would happen and I was right, however, I didn't predict that last panel... damn.

And also Fujimoto's use of doors again. It's subtle yet so effective, especially towards the end.

There were some points within the narrative where you really couldn't tell what was being acted and what was real. It really reminded me of Perfect Blue, and considering he is a massive film buff, he possibly took inspiration from the idea in that film. Which I love because that too is also a personal favourite of mine. I really loved the panels where it was all just black, I thought that was pretty impressive and creative, even if it was just to push the 200 page mark.

Death is a cycle and we can't escape it, but how we choose to remember the people that pass in our lives is something we can decide, and in some cases we can't. People come and they go, it's a part of life and at times we want to escape to leave behind all that pain - the realisation that the person we love is gone for good. This oneshot really hit something in me.

Fujimoto is one of my favourite writers and mangakas, but after this, it's set in stone that he is one of my favourites of all time. In my top 3 for sure.

Update: After writing my analysis on it, it's now a 10/10 and is one of my favourite pieces of fiction ever!

I am speechless... this was actually fucking incredible. This right here is my avenger's endgame. I haven't been this hyped for something in such a long time and the theatrical experience was so amazing!

Everything about this film was great! Yuuta is a fucking amazing protagonist. He's so lovable and just easy to root for. All the characters were great and just ugh.... i can't bro

I loooove Geto's character so much, especially after reading the manga. It's so incredible I don't have words. Him and Gojo's dynamic is so good, and with the knowledge of the manga and their backstory makes it so much more powerful. ... I love them.

The soundtrack omg the soundtrack was so fucking amazing and beautiful. The opening was so great in my opinion and I think I'll definitely be listing to it in my free time! The animation was so great and Mappa handing everything with so much care and it just paid off. I just hope the workers are doing okay with all the pressure and workload they are under.

The pacing was great and it was all held together with the well placed comedy and characters. One thing I will say is that the build-up of the relationship between Rika and Yuuta could've been done a lot more effectively if there was an extra scene of them, possibly in the hospital or something.

You can easily watch this without any context of the series and it's such a good introduction to the series. Even as a film alone, this is great I think. Like honestly, even if you aren't a fan of JJK you would find something to love about it. Though it all hits so harder if you have watched the series and read Gojos past arc, or the whole manga. My experience with this is something I won't be forgetting for a long time.

What I didn't expect was that my screening had it in the dub. It wasn't bad and the jokes hit but... there was one scene I cringed at because it was in dub, maybe it was a translation issue or the voice acting but it just didn't sit well. Anyway, imma rewatch it asap in sub because omg I loved this film so much. It was phenomenal!

And as always... my girl Maki fucking carried!!! And after reading the manga ughhhhhhh she hits so different like hell... her development is so great!

For a long time, us in the LGBTQ+ community have been deprived of accurate and relatable representation. And while there has been some good representation as of recently, it was always hard to put ourselves into the shoes of the characters issues and say, "Yes I have been there and I understand you." This is much harder than any words I can describe at how represented and seen I feel as a queer person.

At first, I thought it would be just about a gay boy with a sprinkle of lesbian representation, but it went beyond what I had imagined. It struggles with coming to ... grasps about yourself, your sexual identity, gender identity, the relationships and community we find ourselves in, and the struggle with the reality and unfairness of our world. We see some beautiful transgender representation that felt refreshing to me, an elderly gay couple who had my heart rooting for them, and most notably asexual and aromantic representation which I did not expect, and it felt so amazing to see it. I wouldn't know if it felt accurate for an aroace person but it was written so beautifully. Then we had our protagonist who had some great character development over the course of 4 volumes, and seeing how he comes to grips with his own sexuality, the cruelty of societies expectations and the relationships he tries to build was so good. And what I need to point out is the down to heart accurate internalised homophobia and transphobia. It was so well written that anytime it happened I needed to take a breather for a moment.

And now I need to talk about the art. Oh. My. God. I have never stopped to look at an artwork or panel for so long as much as I did whenever I each panel of this manga. It is simply beautiful and so outer-worldly. I think that's what the author was trying to go for. Whenever the panel had so much detail and symbolism behind it, I couldn't unpackage it all, but I could always tell what it was trying to say. There was so much being said without words, just the art. That's what a great manga is. The outer-worldly, or fantastical elements, I think come from Tasuku's perspective on what it means to be in the Cat Clutter, it feels like a fantasy that this could happen; that there could be other people like him out there, and a space for him to discover more about himself and others.

I don't how to feel about this... I'm like genuinely unsure how to rate this.

Did I enjoy this? Yes.
Is the music great? Yes!
Is the animation great? Yes!!!

My problem is the writing and pacing. The first quarter of the film was great in my opinion until the whole beast arc came in. There were just so many plot points going on and there really didn't need to be, for example, cut the crush confessing bit. There didn't need to be a romance thing at all, and it didn't tie well into the story, although Ruka needed to be in there for the protagonist to progress a ... little bit, it still wasn't needed. I see what it was going for with its message about grief and with the identity of our online personas and self-identity. It just wasn't executed well... and I'm still unsure about the ending. Not much was resolved and although I love endings where it is up to the audience to interpret the ending, this wasn't resolved right and left more questions than answers. Because of how many plot points were going on, nothing felt really connected and I just wasn't exactly sure about what this film was trying to say because of that.