Lycoris Recoil – Ep. 11

I figured Mizuki and Kurumi would still be around. No way they were gone for good. The fact that these two are stuck in the airport because Majima’s act of terrorism has caused all the planes to be grounded is both the perfect excuse and a funny reason for why these two are still in Japan.

Since she’s got nothing better to do, Kurumi decides to use her (frankly unrealistic) hacking skills to investigate Chisato’s artificial heart. This eventually leads her to discover that the person who developed that heart had later developed an improved version of it and left it in Yoshimatsu’s care. In other words, the gang can save Chisato’s life if they can get the new heart. I’m guessing Yoshimatsu has been holding onto the heart as a sort of incentive to encourage Chisato to break her no kill rule. Like, if she finally kills someone, she’ll be rewarded with the heart like it’s a gold star a parent would give to their kid. Kind of funny that Yoshimatsu never telegraphed this. I know he got kidnapped but you’d think he’d have Himegama leave a note when she sabotaged Chisato’s current heart.

The Lycoris are planning an assault on Enkuboku to capture or kill Majima. During the debriefing, Takina learns about Chisato’s disappearance from Kusunoki, who apparently didn’t find it the least bit odd at first. At first, Takina stays with the Lycoris to find Majima but on her way to the top of Enkuboku, Kurumi contacts her and reveals that Yoshimatsu is being held captive at the old radio tower. Realizing that this could be a trap for Chisato, Takina willingly abandons the mission to help her friend. It’s a good scene that highlights Takina’s arc. Fuki warns Takina that doing so will likely get her kicked out of the main forces again but Takina doesn’t care. She’s stopped caring about being a Lycoris a long time ago. What matters to her more is Chisato.

Frankly, I completely forgot about Erika. Can you blame me? Her last major appearance was the third episode. I suppose she had to show up again. After all, she never did apologize for Takina for getting her kicked out. The best opportunity probably would’ve been when Takina returned to the HQ, back when the incident was fresh in everyone’s minds. Still, it’s nice that Erika got to apologize at all. Her offering to take Takina’s position is also a neat way for her to redeem herself for what happened in Episode 1.

How interesting that Fuki lets Takina go and accepts responsibility for doing so. I take that as her begrudgingly acknowledging that Takina has changed since they last worked together. She still doesn’t like Takina but she recognizes that Takina isn’t as stone cold as she once was and that she cares a great deal about Chisato.

You’d think with Majima giving civilians a bunch of guns, there’d be mass panic across Tokyo. But no, the DA enacts a ceasefire and everyone seemingly agrees to not fire their guns. It makes sense for some people not to follow it, they don’t want to get confused for the terrorists, but you’d think there’d at least be one psycho out there to ignore and break the rule.

Majima gets the ball rolling again when the Lycoris reach the top of Enkuboku. He reveals that he isn’t at the tower and he has Robota hack Radiata and broadcast the Lycoris live for all of Japan to see. The cameras are bulletproof so when the Lycoris shoot at them, they further expose their use of lethal force to the public. As Majima points out, it’s extremely easy to spot Lycoris once you know the general design of their uniforms, resulting in a few people impulsively attacking the few Lycoris that are still patrolling the streets. Having succeeded in exposing the Lycoris and DA, Majima sets off a bomb in Enkuboku, in the hopes of eliminating the Lycoris there. Suffice to say, the dude played everyone like a damn fiddle.

Honest question: is Kusunoki an idiot? I really like all the different schemes Majima concocts here but I can’t help but think that he partly gets the upper hand because Kusunoki has no idea what the hell she’s doing. Like, you’d think after Majima proved that he and Robota can manipulate Radiata, Kusunoki would maybe have her team upgrade the AI’s defenses. Hell, you’d think she’d do that after Walnut hacked Radiata way back in Episode 1. Problem is, there is no scene suggesting that she did so Robota is free to hack into the AI. There’s also the Lycoris’ mission. Every top agent is sent to the top of the tower. I don’t care how good these girls are. They primarily serve as assassins. It doesn’t make much sense for all of them them go in at full force. It’s also asinine that there isn’t anyone tasked with scouting the tower to make sure Majima doesn’t have any tricks up his sleeve, such as a freaking bomb. Frankly, it’s hilarious when Kusunoki gets angry that Majima outplayed her when. It feels like she had no idea she was playing a game at all.

I would care about the poor Lycoris who got caught in the explosion but that’s suggesting that I care about any of them besides our two main protagonists. Fact of the matter is that a lot of them are a bunch of nobodies to the viewer. As for the few auxiliary Lycoris that we would know by name, they’re really not that much better. Fuki is mostly a jerk. Sakura is annoying. If either of them died, I’d be like whatever. About the only one I could maybe care about is Erika, as it would suck to see her die after her reconciliation with Takina.

At long last, we see Chisato head into the old radio tower. I get that this fight is between her and Majima but it is silly that Mika heads back to LycoReco. Was he really just there to drive Chisato to the location? Considering Majima has his henchmen fire at Chisato, I’d argue it’s fair game to have Mika help out. We haven’t really seen Mika fight anyway so why not? Still, it’s fun seeing Chisato (non-lethally) gun her way up the tower. I especially like when she has to jump around and hang onto the ruined exterior of the tower, all while dodging enemy fire no less.

From a symbolic standpoint, the old radio tower is the perfect place for Chisato and Majima to have their final battle. Not only did this place establish Chisato as a legendary Lycoris, it’s also where she and Majima faced off for the first time. Their battle started here so it may as well end here as well. I really like Majima’s counterstrategy against Chisato. The area they’re fighting is closed off and it has no light. It effectively prevents Chisato from accurately predicting Majima’s attacks. Meanwhile, this has no effect on Majima’s super-hearing so he’s able to navigate the room and beat Chisato up just fine. Not only is this setup clever on Majima’s part, it also makes the fight more intense than usual. For once, Chisato seems vulnerable and it feels like she might actually lose. It doesn’t help that the show has already entertained the idea that Chisato might die no matter what for a couple episodes.

Of course, this is where Takina comes to the rescue. It’s pretty darn silly how she goes about it, though. The girl busts in like she’s the Kool-Aid Man. I guess she shot into the wall and weakened it enough to break through but my head canon is that she actually has superstrength. The Alan Institute might want to look into this. Don’t get me wrong, this scene is awesome but I honestly did laugh for a good minute when Takina went, “Oh yeah!”.

I’m curious as to how this fight will play out in the next episode. Takina isn’t as strong as Chisato, she lacks a superpower for starters, but those two are a force to be reckoned with when they work together. Add onto the fact that Takina’s entrance allows light to enter the room and the odds feel a lot more even now. I also wonder about the aftermath. In the middle of the action, Yoshimatsu manages to escape and that feels extremely intentional to me. Assuming Chisato defeats Majima, I think Yoshimatsu will show up with the improved heart and try one more time to entice his daughter to finally break her one rule.

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