Lycoris Recoil

Episode 10

Last week's episode of Lycoris Recoil was definitely a 'calm before the storm' type deal, and while said storm formally kicks off in this week's entry, it still also feels like it's in something of a transitional state. This is just about the heaviest, most serious the show has ever been, dutifully moving characters into position for a coming final confrontation (or in the case of Mizuki and Kurumi, shuffling them off almost certainly temporarily before they can come back for a triumphant team-up by the end). It's also largely about getting everyone, and us, on the same page regarding the last few crucial pieces of information tying all the schemes and setup together. It means that we're left with a mostly table-setting episode of Lycoris Recoil that pointedly can't fall back on its usual cutesy charms to support that structure, and while that doesn't necessarily make for bad television, it definitely results in an entry that doesn't stand on its own as effectively as some of the other episodes.

There are still plenty of ideas and elements worth discussing, of course. The centerpiece of the exercise here is the formal Cheers finale for Cafe LycoReco. This act of saying goodbye is treated as a necessity for Chisato's own coming to terms with her extremely impending mortality, alongside everyone else still dealing with it. There's a simple, but poignant procession of patrons stopping by to make clear how much they appreciated the cafe and Chisato working in it, under the auspices of them hoping to see her again once they reopen, but as far as she's concerned, they're effectively attending her funeral while she's still standing. The idea of this fate bearing down on her also marks the opportunity for a graduation of sorts, Mika gifting her a coming-of-age kimono and, more importantly, finally telling her the truth about Yoshi that theoretically unlocks her from the childlike ideals she was previously living by.

That extremely personal, grounded proceeding effectively ripples through the episode and the show's whole story. The presentation absolutely sells how much poor Mika is being torn up at having to finally confront his deception and decisions regarding Chisato and letting her know, while Chisato's reaction to it all is pure Chisato. One really must question how naive the girl actually was that she was somehow the one person among the cast who couldn't simply deduce Shinji's deal, but there's also definitely a sense that it was a self-imposed denial for the sake of her own principles. See, the ultimate conclusion reached by Chisato and the narrative here is that, regardless of the information she was given to make it, that decision was still Chisato's to make in the end, and she's grateful that Mika still allowed her to choose her path even if he wasn't necessarily forthcoming with what led her to need to make that choice in the first place.

It's a thematic lynchpin felt in all the other parts of the episode, which must also necessarily round back to the long-neglected element of Lycoris Recoil's politics. Majima's ultimate goal turns out to be not simply taking out D.A., but exposing their existence and machinations to the broader Japanese public. One thing is that while Majima is an unrepentantly villainous psychopath, he's the sort of worst person you know who's making some great points, specifically the idea that the nationalist sense of social superiority is founded on lies of peace, and upheld by D.A.'s violent execution of whoever is technically in their own best interest to do so. The narrative has never been on D.A.'s 'side' as a structure, off in their own little corner of operations that Cafe LycoReco were, and pitting Majima against the organization seems to be shooting for a 'corrupt order versus honest chaos' both-sides-ism that at least ensures we continue to just see our main team as the 'good guys' among all this. But it also embodies that idea illustrated by Chisato on a broader level, asking the question of if the public should still be responsible for making the 'correct' choice even with purposefully flawed information.

The idea of that kind of political exploration has always been the spikiest ingredient in LycoReco's particular cocktail, and I still don't know that it's especially sticking well at this point. The moral quandary of D.A.'s existence comes off as the same sort of framing device it has been since the beginning of the show, with the 'conflict' exacerbated by the blunt, hilarious simplicity of what Majima's plan turns out to be. Though I will say I honestly think Americans on either side of the gun-control debate can, for admittedly darkly different reasons, find it funny that his scheme to unilaterally sow chaos in society was to simply distribute firearms among the populace. That said, I can see this creating an interesting conflict for the Lycoris themselves, now being put in a situation where their clandestine execution skillset is pointedly not the ideal solution (and which the anime enthusiastically illustrates police are completely incapable of handling). Dang, if only there were some super-skilled schoolgirl who specialized in non-lethal takedowns who could be called in; this would be the perfect last job for her to handle!

Of course, Lycoris Recoil's big thematic ideas and headier execution of those themes never precluded it from its enthusiastically blunt action-movie setups, so it lands as a perfectly entertaining contrivance to see Chisato and Mika head out for a final round-up against the very populace they've been working to protect the smiles of. And the incipient disaster ties into some of those other ideas, as Majima puts forth the argument that people need to experience actual tragedy occurring in order to truly appreciate any peace they're given. Again, it's salient, as we see Takina's vigor for working within D.A. only renewed on account of her time spent with Chisato and what she now sees as that tragically lost love. The strength of those themes is keeping Lycoris Recoil together this week, regardless of how clunky its setup or messily uncertain its socio-political allusions get.

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Lycoris Recoil is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.

Chris is a freewheeling Fresno-based freelancer with a love for anime and a shelf full of too many Transformers. He can be found spending way too much time on his Twitter, and irregularly updating his blog.