The following contains minor spoilers for Episodes 1-5 of Lycoris Recoil, now streaming on Crunchyroll.
Lycoris Recoil is a Summer 2022 anime starring Chisato Nishikigi and Takina Inoue, two teenage assassins who reject their proficiency for killing in favor of helping people with various problems. Lycoris Recoil's fake-out promotional campaign made the violent series look more like a slice-of-life comedy set in an ordinary café. However, the show's balance of cutthroat assassin action and lighthearted character drama show that the juxtaposition foreshadowed by the misleading preview is more than just a gimmick.
The A-1 Pictures series is directed by Shingo Adachi of Sword Art Online fame, with Yusuke Maruyama as assistant director. The same high standard of animation in the series is maintained for both fight scenes and more subtle moments of personality. It is realistic yet highly expressive, capturing both understated and exaggerated emotional expressions.
Lycoris Recoil's animation quality might be most noticeable during its trademark fight scenes. Consider the practice battle between Chisato and Takina and their designated rivals Fuki and Sakura in Episode 3. Multiple background drawings show the "camera" swooping as Fuki approaches Chisato in the corridor, interrupted by a smear frame to show Chisato's supernaturally fast counterattack. When Fuki's overeager partner Sakura shoots at Chisato from behind a stack of crates, Chisato's confident smile grows into a toothy smirk with each dodge as she runs toward her, showing how even she is surprised at her opponent's skill.
Takina's forward roll upon her belated arrival is a fast-paced, acrobatic scene that creates momentum by showing a few very different frames in quick succession. This is immediately contrasted by a slow-motion shot of Takina aiming her paint gun, achieved with a higher number of frames showing less movement. The scene has plenty of other details that create a visceral feeling, even in this training exercise. These include the shaking screen which creates a live-action freehand camera effect, the slow-motion close-up on the casing leaving the gun when Takina shoots Fuki, and Fuki's hair bouncing as she jerks her head, cursing in indignation.
The animation quailty extends to more down-to-Earth moments as well. In Episode 5, Mizuki Nakahara was held back and had to catch up with Chisato. No longer a Lycoris agent herself, Mizuki was out of breath when she arrived to meet her. Even this short walk cycle shows off the animators' capabilities: the way Mizuki's glasses bounce on her face as her hair flops around her head, her hands pawing at the air as she runs out of energy, is endearingly awkward. The weight of her movements shows how slowly Mizuki is running, which makes her come across as more realistically human than her ace Lycoris counterparts.
Another way Lycoris Recoil explores the characters' personalities through animation is in the anime's opening sequence: Chisato playfully kicks Takina from behind, who responds by kicking back a little too hard in annoyance -- but Chisato laughs anyway. There is anticipation as Takina prepares for a stronger kick, and a smear frame to show the speed of her foot.
Takina's aggression and Chisato's forgiveness foreshadow their respective approaches on the battlefield, as well as the way Takina eventually warms to Chisato's more enjoyable approach to her work. This is a great example of character storytelling without dialogue, and it only works because the animation clearly shows the relative impact of each kick, as well as each character's subtle expressions and reactions.
These are examples of relatable moments realized by detailed, realistic animation, but Lycoris Recoil doesn't miss out on more stylized, caricatured scenes either. In Episode 2, Chisato was excited about a bodyguard mission involving vehicular transport. When Takina announced that she would be driving, Chisato transformed into a simplified chibi version of herself driving a car, a traditional way of showing exaggerated emotions in anime. This emphasized her unbridled, almost childish enthusiasm for the job, and the animators' proven ability to convey emotion with detailed animation reinforces that this was simply the right style for the scene.
The fantastic animation in Lycoris Recoil shows that the series is not just a slice-of-life anime in the style of an action show or vice-versa; it uses a variety of striking animation techniques to exemplify the best of both genres. The anime's official English language website lists the animators responsible for the series, including Weapon and Action Supervisor Kenji Sawada, CG Director Toshitaka Morioka, and four animation directors -- Yumiko Yamamoto, Go Suzuki, Yukari Takeuchi and Kouji Shoki -- with Anime News Network listing Rina Morita as an animation director for Episode 1. The animators listed and many more key frame and in-between artists deserve recognition for their incredible contribution to animation.