So for a bit of commentary, I'm not usually a person who likes slice of life moe. I also don't usually go for gun fighting action, I prefer powers and swords. Normally I'd only note Lycoris from positive commentary by others, but their guest appearance in Magia Record drew my attention, and I must admit, I like what I saw of the series.
The personalities of Chisato and Takina are just a lot of fun as a duo, and Chisato in particular is the sort of character I need to like a story like this. She's basically a superhero, less the John Wick everyone compares her to and a Paragon whose attitude makes the parts of the story I don't normally care for work well. Takina meanwhile is a nice contrast and helps make it clear what makes Chisato so special and her own character growth as a result is quite accurate.
And the narrative is rather nice about how showing that, while Chisato's methods aren't always the best, they actually do work in a lot of places. Sometimes its in the small things, like how she's probably tamed a Yakuza group with kindness instead of violence. Sometimes its in seeing how dangerous killers, like the thugs in episode 2 or more prominently Mika, are changed for the better by her. In a longer series we'd probably see more of this, even as it is also shown it doesn't work on everyone.
Speaking of everyone, I'd like to give a shout out to the two main villains in Shinji and Majima. I don't usually care for villains, and I'm hardly going to call them heroes either, but they both stand out in good ways to me. Shinji for one is probably the most disturbing character in a story with a superhuman terrorist and child soldiers. His thought process on geniuses is so alien that he borders on uncanny, a force that operates on a ideology that is perhaps more alien and odd than even Chisato's in-universe. Meanwhile Majima reminds me of several MHA villains, the sort of bad guy who would come about in the world of Quirks as much as the world of Lycoris with his views of false peaces and society shaking chaos. He never comes off as being the guy who want to have beat the heroines, but you can get his point, unlike the completely inhuman Shinji. Having his own superhuman ability like Chisato also makes him a more effective final boss.
I do have to critique how the series ended, at least in the first season. I'm not sure the Chisato vanishing to Okinawa (?) first before going to Hawaii was necessary. I feel like you could have done the heart bit, and new life bit, entirely in Tokyo. I like the new life away from DA angle, doing their own thing far away, but the turtle cafe part was a funky step to get there IMO. I also am aware that many would have rather seen DA exposed instead of managing a partial cover up, though I think that in context it was the only way to prevent the Lycoris agents from being massacred. There were probably other narrative options, but in the time and place it was probably the best solution in-universe for saving lives. I do hope that in future media we do see DA dismantled though.
Still it was quite enjoyable to watch. Hope to see more of these girls beyond Magia Record (where they probably won't do what we all want to see, which is put Takina and Homura in a room and have Chisato go 'Sisters!?')
Anime These Girls with Guns are fine
So for a bit of commentary, I'm not usually a person who likes slice of life moe. I also don't usually go for gun fighting action, I prefer powers and swords. Normally I'd only note Lycoris from positive commentary by others, but their guest appearance in Magia Record drew my attention, and I must admit, I like what I saw of the series.
The personalities of Chisato and Takina are just a lot of fun as a duo, and Chisato in particular is the sort of character I need to like a story like this. She's basically a superhero, less the John Wick everyone compares her to and a Paragon whose attitude makes the parts of the story I don't normally care for work well. Takina meanwhile is a nice contrast and helps make it clear what makes Chisato so special and her own character growth as a result is quite accurate.
And the narrative is rather nice about how showing that, while Chisato's methods aren't always the best, they actually do work in a lot of places. Sometimes its in the small things, like how she's probably tamed a Yakuza group with kindness instead of violence. Sometimes its in seeing how dangerous killers, like the thugs in episode 2 or more prominently Mika, are changed for the better by her. In a longer series we'd probably see more of this, even as it is also shown it doesn't work on everyone.
Speaking of everyone, I'd like to give a shout out to the two main villains in Shinji and Majima. I don't usually care for villains, and I'm hardly going to call them heroes either, but they both stand out in good ways to me. Shinji for one is probably the most disturbing character in a story with a superhuman terrorist and child soldiers. His thought process on geniuses is so alien that he borders on uncanny, a force that operates on a ideology that is perhaps more alien and odd than even Chisato's in-universe. Meanwhile Majima reminds me of several MHA villains, the sort of bad guy who would come about in the world of Quirks as much as the world of Lycoris with his views of false peaces and society shaking chaos. He never comes off as being the guy who want to have beat the heroines, but you can get his point, unlike the completely inhuman Shinji. Having his own superhuman ability like Chisato also makes him a more effective final boss.
I do have to critique how the series ended, at least in the first season. I'm not sure the Chisato vanishing to Okinawa (?) first before going to Hawaii was necessary. I feel like you could have done the heart bit, and new life bit, entirely in Tokyo. I like the new life away from DA angle, doing their own thing far away, but the turtle cafe part was a funky step to get there IMO. I also am aware that many would have rather seen DA exposed instead of managing a partial cover up, though I think that in context it was the only way to prevent the Lycoris agents from being massacred. There were probably other narrative options, but in the time and place it was probably the best solution in-universe for saving lives. I do hope that in future media we do see DA dismantled though.
Still it was quite enjoyable to watch. Hope to see more of these girls beyond Magia Record (where they probably won't do what we all want to see, which is put Takina and Homura in a room and have Chisato go 'Sisters!?')