Lycoris Recoil – 11

“Diamond cut diamond”

Episode 11 of Lycoris Recoil begs to question of what would happen if private contractors were exposed for making criminals disappear to artificially lower crime numbers. But while the Lycoris are scrambling to gather themselves after being caught in 4K, Chisato seeks out answers directly from Majima himself, whether they’re given to her through words or action.

KEYSTONE KAPERS

I’ve been more and more bothered by the logic behind the DA and the Lycoris’ operation. Namely, the fact that you could have people just assume crime numbers are nonexistent because the average person who decides to steal or commit a crime is disposed of by Lycoris who have somehow never had any witnesses or anything.

Like you have this organized, well-greased machine for handling criminals on the street level, but the organization is run by some of the silliest people on the planet. How has the DA gotten away with covering up so many “disappearances” if they fall for the easiest traps? And who is the doofus who decided the undercover police force needed matching uniforms?

It’s these kinds of silly decisions that make it twice as easy for Majima to set them up for being exposed. It wouldn’t matter if the abandoned building being bloodied was them or Majima. All he had to do was get footage of Lycoris and say “Hey, see these girls? They’re the reason your work friend went missing forever!” Do you mean to tell me they had no precautionary measure in case they’d be exposed so that the Lycoris wouldn’t be picked off like sitting ducks by an angry populace?

GUN-FU

Many of my misgivings with this episode, however, washed away quickly once Chisato and Majima started fighting. The choreography for their fight was awe-inspiring, given how they had already set the bar high with the gunfight Chisato had earlier while she was scaling the ruined tower.

Compared to the fights where Chisato or Takina have the upper hand, it’s neat to watch a bout where everyone is on an equal playing field. Rather than having it be a one-sided gunfight, they placed Chisato and Majima on equal footing so that every dodge, flip, kick, and shot could sway the direction the fight heads towards. With Takina jumping into the fray, it was a little sad to see the episode ended before we got to see how she handles the fight.