The premise of Lycoris Recoil is pretty much the typical anime idiosyncrasy: Tokyo is kept crime free by a secret agency of teenage assassin girls which are referred to as 'Lycoris'. What sounds like one of those shows with a generic plot wrapped around scantily clad characters is actually the opposite.
Lycoris Recoil tells a reasonably clever story surrounding the Lycoris agents Takina and Chisato. Takina is the quintessential no-nonsense professional that has been raised from early childhood to be the perfect agent. Chisato is her cheerful antithesis, treating life lightly. Yet neither character is as generic as they sound. Chisato especially is as joyful and wholesome as few fictional characters manage to be, reminding me a bit of Kitagawa from the romantic comedy 'My Dress-Up Darling'. This is greatly helped along by the fantastic (Japanese) voice acting of Chika Anzai who received well-deserved awards for her performance.
Besides the wonderful main character, Lycoris Recoil's greatest assets are the clean yet vibrant style of animation, the furious action, the perfect balance between lighthearted slice-of-life moments and a grim plot of secrecy and terrorism, and the charming and heartfelt interactions between the main and support characters.
For me personally, the show was a perfect fit. Kickass girls with commendable morals and a cheerful personality are always welcome, much more so than the violent psychopaths that usually fill the 'girls with guns' genre. I also quite enjoyed that there was pretty much zero fanservice. The violence might still be a bit much for a true childfriendly rating, though.
I'd be greatly enthused if Lycoris Recoil were renewed for a second season. According to Wikipedia, a second animation project has been confirmed; I can only hope that we'll get to see Chisato and Takina again!
