Lycoris Recoil Episode 10 Review – Best In Show

Quick Summary • Best Moment • Setup • Delivery • Other Posts

Lycoris Recoil Episode 10 – Quick Summary

In Lycoris Recoil episode 10, “Repay evil with evil,” Chisato wanted to spare her friends as much emotional pain as possible. So, she announced the closing of LycoReco and encouraged them to move on. Mizuki decided to leave the country. Kurumi, knowing she wasn’t safe in Japan without constant protection, went with Mizuki. That left Chisato along with Mika. Will he tell her the truth about what Shinji wanted from her? What will she do if he tells her? And how is Takina and the other Lycoris doing in the assault against Majima?

Note: This post may include spoilers, so be cautious.

Favorite Quote from Lycoris Recoil Episode 10

Takina has a very direct negotiating technique. Capture from the Crunchyroll stream.

Takina’s grown a lot since we first met her. She always showed initiative. But in the beginning, she aligned her initiative to whatever mission DA gave her. In this episode, she was on a mission of her own choosing. She intended to save Chisato.

DA had captured one of the men who had helped steal the guns in episode 1. They held the very large man in a cell. Takina tried to ask him some questions, but he deflected her attempts. All the while, he edged closer to the bars. Then he lunged.

Takina, of course, was ready for him. In fact, she had lured him into that position. In what looked like a single, graceful dance move, she avoided his grasp, grabbed and twisted his arm, and slammed him to the ground – all through the bars. Suddenly, she held her gun to his temple.

He tried to protest. But her response was my favorite quote for the episode.

“I was fired once for killing too many people,” she said (07:18). “ I did like the life outside of here, so I don’t mind getting fired again.”

To be perfectly honest: I believed her!

Best in Show Moment for Lycoris Recoil Episode 10

Things are about to get more interesting. And they were pretty interesting to begin with! Capture from the Crunchyroll stream.

Setup: Mika’s Confession

I really want to see Chisato alive and well at the end of this series. I wonder if I’ll get my wish?

Seeing how she forgave Mika for the lies he told her reminded me of a line from one of Chrome Shelled Regios’s several EDs: “You always tell me the most tender lies.” It’s an approximate translation. I’ve seen several variations. But it captures the gist.

Mika may have started out intending to turn Chisato into an assassin. Regardless of his original intention, Mika gave Chisato the space to bloom into the kind of woman she wanted to be. He protected her from Shinji. He protected her from DA. And at the end, after he had given her her coming of age kimono, he could no longer live with the lies he had told. He came clean to Chisato.

Mika’s confession was everything I could have hoped: raw, heart-felt, and real. Capture from the Crunchyroll stream.

Not for a moment did I think she would do anything but forgive him. She even said both of them, Mika and Shinji, had put her on the course her life had taken – and that course had suited her. To be honest, I was surprised she forgave Shinji. But in hindsight, I should have remembered this is Chisato. Back in episode 2, I watched her bandage a man who had just tried to blow her head off. That’s just how she is.

Robota (who I quite dislike – gives computer security practitioners like me annoyed migraines) had just told Chisato and Mika that if they obeyed DA’s orders and deployed Chisato to the new radio tower, he and his friends would kill Shinji. I wanted Chisato to answer, “Well, it was nice knowing him!” But she was determined to keep Shinji alive.

Delivery: Mika and Chisato against the World

Mika tried to talk her out of it. Defiantly, she said she didn’t doubt what he had told her about Shinji. But Chisato said she wanted to hear the truth from Shinji, in person. 

What did Mika do? Did he wallow in the guilt that had ate at him for years? Nope. He embraced Chisato’s forgiveness and told her to fetch his ammo from the basement.

“Takina and Fuki will protect Enkuboku,” he said to her (22:21). Placing his hand on top of her head, he added, “They’re both my outstanding students, just like you.”

Chisato felt happy at Mika’s praise. Capture from the Crunchyroll stream.

Clearly happy with his praise and the cooperation it promised, Chisato changed into her battle gear. We got a couple of shots of the two of them getting ready: Chisato checking the load on her pistol and Mika zipping up the carrying case for his sniper rifle. Then we see the two of them about to get things done. Together.

I admire the honesty with which this show presents its emotions. There’s nothing sappy or unearned here. The emotional beats hit hard because they are authentic and because the characters had to work hard to earn them. I really want to see Chisato alive at the end of all of this. But even if that doesn’t happen, I’m more and more confident that what the writers give us is going to be worth waiting for. Fingers crossed that I’m right!

What did you think of Takina questioning Majima while Kusunoki looked on? What were your favorite moments? Feel free to let me know in the comments!

Lycoris Recoil Episode 10: Other Posts

Other Anime Sites

• Reddit: Lycoris Recoil – Episode 10 discussion
• Chikorita157’s Anime Blog: Lycoris Recoil – Episode 10 – Majima’s True Intentions and Mika Comes Clean
• RABUJOI: Lycoris Recoil – 10 – Beyond the Tower of Lies

This Site (Crow’s World of Anime!)

• Lycoris Recoil Episode 1: Easy does it
• Lycoris Recoil Episode 2: The more the merrier
• Lycoris Recoil Episode 3: More haste, less speed
• Lycoris Recoil Episode 4: Nothing seek, nothing find
• Lycoris Recoil Episode 5: So far, so good
• Lycoris Recoil Episode 6: Opposites attract
• Lycoris Recoil Episode 7: Time will tell
• Lycoris Recoil Episode 8: Another day, another dollar
• Lycoris Recoil Episode 9: What’s done is done
• Lycoris Recoil Episode 10: Repay evil with evil
• Lycoris Recoil Episode 11: Diamond cut diamond
• Lycoris Recoil Episode 12: Nature versus nurture
• Lycoris Recoil Episode 13: Recoil of Lycoris