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
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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.
Sep 24, 2022
Lycoris Recoil
(Anime)
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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 ... 
Sep 17, 2022
Fire Punch
(Manga)
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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 ... 
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Chi no Wadachi
(Manga)
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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 ... 
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Futsuu ni Kiite Kure
(Manga)
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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 ... 
Apr 15, 2022
Nikurashii hodo Aishiteru
(Manga)
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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
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Apr 11, 2022
Boy Meets Maria
(Manga)
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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
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Apr 10, 2022
Sayonara Eri
(Manga)
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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
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Mar 19, 2022
Jujutsu Kaisen 0 Movie
(Anime)
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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. ... 
Jan 31, 2022
Shimanami Tasogare
(Manga)
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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 ... 
Jan 26, 2022
Ryuu to Sobakasu no Hime
(Anime)
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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 ... |
