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.
