Lycoris Recoil Collector’s Edition Review

Lycoris Recoil originally aired in the summer of 2022, and the series quickly became my favourite show of the year by the time it concluded. Now it finally comes to the UK on home video, but has it been worth the wait? Let’s take a look!

Set in an alternate version of Japan, our series follows Chisato Nishikigi and Takina Inoue, who work as Lycoris. These schoolgirl assassins lurk in the shadows, preventing crime and staying unknown to the larger population. It’s during a mission to intercept an exchange of an alarming amount of firearms that Takina gets herself into trouble. After some rash actions to save a colleague which put several other Lycoris at risk, she’s sent away from headquarters.

Takina finds herself banished to a small café known as LycoReco, where Chisato spends her days working alongside several coworkers involved with the Lycoris. At first Takina sees Chisato as an example of everything she loathes. Chisato is free-spirited and spends her days helping those around the neighbourhood. Worse, when she is on a mission as a Lycoris, she refuses to kill any of her enemies and shoots them with her non-lethal rubber bullets. Despite this, she’s considered one of the very best agents.

Their approaches to life and the job couldn’t be any different. Takina vows to find a way back to headquarters as soon as possible, but maybe spending any extended period working alongside Chisato at LycoReco will give her a new perspective on life?

I’m a big fan of buddy-cop dramas, so Lycoris Recoil, with its similar setup between the two leads and plenty of mystery brewing in the background, was right up my street. The relationship between Takina and Chisato is of course front and centre of the series, but in the background there’s a terrorist organisation preparing a nefarious plot and plenty of dramatic action scenes as the Lycoris come to blows with them time and again. And on top of that, Chisato appears to have secrets of her own…

This started as an anime original project, so within the run of these 13 episodes we get to experience the whole story. But this is a popular work that quickly spread into other forms, with a manga adaptation, several manga anthologies, light novels and 6 short anime episodes. There’s also a sequel project in the works. And you know, for how many times I’ve rewatched this series since it aired, I always finish it feeling fulfilled.

You see, while this could have been a fairly dark setup, given the nature of the Lycoris and the terrorist plot, it’s actually quite light-hearted. That’s not to say it can’t have serious moments, of course, but the character interactions when they’re not fighting for their lives (and sometimes when they are!) are absolutely hilarious. I quickly came to absolutely love the whole cast. The chemistry between all the characters and the overall standard of the writing is some of the best I have seen in the last five years’ worth of anime. It’s just so much fun, and even on repeated watches, there are so many little details you notice that mean it never gets repetitive.

Lycoris Recoil is animated by A-1 Pictures, who truly bring their A-game to the work. The series is directed by Shingo Adachi, who has worked on plenty of Sword Art Online over the years at the studio and his experience there certainly shines through here. The action scenes are always a great deal of fun to watch, but they’re well thought out in terms of how they’re directed too. They’re interesting to watch, flow well and are suitably silly to suit the premise without being too unrealistic for the setting they’ve created. They’re largely gunfights, but there are some great hand-to-hand combat moments as well. The colour palette is very vibrant, which helps give the whole show a striking appearance.

Music is handled by Shuhei Mutsuki, who readers may be more familiar with as a part of the group (K)now Name (Spy x Family, Grimgar of Fantasy and Ash) and on the whole the soundtrack fits the series really well. But perhaps what’s most memorable when it comes to the music are the opening “Alive” by ClariS and the ending theme “Tower of Flower” by the late Sayuri, which I still regularly listen to several years later! The ending in particular really captures the energetic and charming nature of the whole series for me.

There’s a stellar cast of voice actors here on the Japanese side too, with Chika Anzai (Reina in Sound! Euphonium, Asuka Chitose Is in the Ramune Bottle, taking up the role of Chisato, and Shion Wakayama (Momo in Dandadan, Yukari in Zom 100: Bucket List of the Dead) as Takina. These two play off one another incredibly well; their chemistry is so important to their characters, and they absolutely nail it, which is one of the reasons this show is so engaging. There’s an English dub here as well, and although I didn’t watch the whole thing dubbed, I wasn’t as convinced by Lizzie Freeman (Tomoe in Rascal Does Not Dream of, Chizuru in Rent-A-Girlfriend) and Xanthe Huynh (Sachi in Sword Art Online, Haru in Persona 5) in the roles. I was also very happy to hear Yoshitsugu Matsuoka (Kirito in Sword Art Online, Inosuke in Demon Slayer) as one of the main villains, Majima. He does an absolutely terrific job there!

Lycoris Recoil comes to the UK in a collector’s edition from MVM Entertainment. All 13 episodes are included with both Japanese and English dub audio, and there are the usual trailers and clean opening/ ending videos included as bonuses. Physical extras include a 45-page booklet and an art case to contain the set. At the time of writing, it has been reported by members of our forum that there is a layout error with the inner case, where the L is missing from the title on the spine. MVM is having unshipped stock fixed and has advised customers affected to get in touch if they want a replacement.

Overall, Lycoris Recoil is the kind of show that doesn’t come around all that often: a well-balanced drama that doesn’t shy away from a dramatic story but that excels on the strength of its main characters and remains memorable well beyond your first viewing. Whether you’re interested in the larger narrative or simply invested in Chisato and Takina’s relationship, this is a series that juggles both despite the short amount of episodes and won’t leave you disappointed.

Our review copy was provided by MVM.