The season premiere of Lycoris Recoil aired on Saturday and it left a lasting impact. Among the other seasonal premieres we’ve received in the past week, Lycoris Recoil decided to kickstart everything from the jump rather than give a slow introduction to everything and everyone. Unlike Engage Kiss, the other original anime by A-1 Pictures airing this season, Lycoris Recoil provided us with wonderful character exposition and plot development. The bad-ass action scenes were just the cherry on top of it all.
Lycoris Recoil – Making an Impact
Surprisingly enough, the story for Lycoris Recoil was created by Asaura, the same author for the hard-hitting, action-comedy Ben-To. But this season’s premiere was anything but comedy. While it does have its moments that’ll make you chuckle, the series didn’t waste any time developing an intriguing plot shrouded in corruption and mystery that completely overshadowed the “cute girls doing awesome stuff” schtick in the best ways possible.
In just the first episode of the series, we managed to receive a plot under a plot that’s under that plot. While that may sound confusing at first, after watching the season premiere, it was actually all made clear as day. Shingo Adachi, director for Lycoris Recoil and chief animator director for Sword Art Online, did a wonderful job of laying the groundwork and not wasting any time in getting the story underway.
While the episode wasn’t as “pretty” as other seasonal premieres, it didn’t have to be. The composition, storyboard, exposition, animations, and plot development were second to none. An original story about agents called Lycoris that handle any request to make Japan the safest place on earth by any means necessary? Sign me up.
Incredible Character Exposition
The story behind the main character Chisato Nishikigi is already becoming one that would make you want to tune in every week for new episodes. A happy-go-lucky girl with a dark, hidden past as a Lycoris that’s extremely skilled but refuses to kill her enemies. Sound familiar? Some might find that her character is quite similar to the one of Vash The Stampede from the iconic anime Trigun.
Doesn’t fight to kill. Experienced in combat. Can dodge bullets at point-blank range. Has an over-the-top joyous personality despite a dark, hidden past that she wants to escape from? The only difference is one is a man who is thousands of years old and can destroy planets if needed, the other is a 17-year-old girl who works in a small cafe handling any request that’s brought to her, even something as simple as delivering coffee beans to a yakuza boss. But the similarities are indeed there.
Then incomes her new partner, Takina Inoue, a Lycoris who we are actually introduced to first when the episode begins as she picks up a weapon twice her size and completely levels an entire floor of a high-rise building. The more reserved personality of hers works in perfect contrast with Chisato’s. She has her own goals in mind that we’re made aware of from the get-go and even says that Chisato makes her uneasy seeing how her personality and skills don’t align—leaving us even more intrigued by who these characters really are and what will eventually happen between the two.
Takina’s rather cold nature and dedication to playing by the rules of the agency could end up making her a favorite character among fans. And with her sharp eye for spotting stuff that’s out of place, her being Chisato’s new right hand could make for some very interesting developments in the story. Part of great character exposition is proving to the viewer that a character is, for one, interesting but also has room to grow. While Chisato seems to be the type of character that will remain the same throughout, Takina is “character development potential” personified.
Deep Plot Development
Usually, season premieres are keen to be relatively slow so the viewers have enough time to grasp who is who before diving into anything deeper story-wise. But Lycoris Recoil goes against the grain and delivers action-packed moments straight out of the gate to introduce the main characters and wasted no time diving into the deeper elements of the story.
What was previewed as a chill anime with some possible cool moments, the season premiere showed us that not only will Lycoris Recoil provide both, but way much more. The ending leaving us with the feeling of “what is going to happen next?” is already part of the allure that makes this series downright amazing already. Mystery, hacking, and agency cover-ups only made the Lycoris Recoil season premiere stand out that much more from the rest of this Summer 2022 lineup.
Episode 2 of Lycoris Recoil will air on Saturday, June 9, on Crunchyroll. Make sure to vote for this episode of Lycoris Recoil in our first weekly poll for the Summer 2022 season!
Screenshot: Crunchyroll
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