Took me a while to gather the resolve to pick up the last 3 episodes (maybe almost a year since I started watching). The reason is simple, while I did enjoy the anime while it was following the happy run trigger atmosphere, the moment they decided to sprinkle melodramatic stuff in, I felt pretty uncomfortable and did not want to ruin my impression of the anime, but it is what it is.
Now, I’m aware of the non-serious premise of this anime would give it leeway to do whatever it wants, but the fact remains unchanged that the whole third act had spiraled down a rather contrived and try-hard manner that accomplished little to “balance” out the whole story.
While I do acknowledge that the anime dares to attempt a deconstruction of the spy trope and whatnot, it still had to sacrifice a good lot of consistency to reach that desired destination, and the landing was, well, not really a smooth one as it raised more questions to me than solving the established mysteries prior.
I must give it to the production team for paying attention to a lot of detail in the making, this does not feel like a quick cash-grab move from the infamous studio A-1 as they’d normally do. The action direction is sleek, the OST delivered, and the character design is pretty much on point given the setting.
One other thing to note is how much this anime is influenced by other media, especially Western stuff, I tried not to think about it but my brain would always try to link it with Equilibrium, John Wick, Mission Impossible (and Batman?). On top of that, I think the final act sorta mirrors the whole idea behind Shinsekai Yori as well, but that’s just me.
Also what’s up with the tower premise like Vivy lol.
Overall I think Lycoris Recoil is a solid watch if you manage to turn off your brain for the last few episodes, it is certainly not a bad anime by all means, but even for someone like me who has retired from nitpicking I could not but feel quite allergic to the amount of absurdity in the concluding arc of this anime.
Of course, obligatory best girl propaganda: Chisato > Takina
Tags
- Anime
- Rambling
- Lycoris Recoil