Midcoris Recoil is probably one of the stupidest fucking shows I have ever watched. I would go into further detail on how absurdly lacking in intelligence this show is but I do not want this review nor my account to be reported for slur usage. It really doesn’t have an excuse for being so brainless either. It’s not a parody like Gintama, nor is it an embracement of its genre like Gurren Lagann or Heartcatch. Can cute girls participating in armed combat be considered a genre yet anyways? The only true explanation is that it’s simply stupid, which means the only way to redeem this show is through presentation. Is it a charming, exhilarating, and entertaining type of stupid? Or does it eat glue?
Artistically there is a lot to love about Midcoris Recoil. The animation, character designs, background art, sound and special effects are as polished as modern anime can get, and it retains its quality for most of its run, although not all of it. Combat choreography is on point and full of impact, great camera angles catch the action clearly yet also support the chaotic nature of armed combat. During the slower slice of life segments, body language and facial expressions are animated beautifully, adding a lot of visual insight to the character interactions and their personalities. Solid voice acting adds nuance to what the characters are saying, and the ever so satisfying sounds of reloading guns and shell casings hitting the floor is the cherry on top for the action sequences. Your eyes and ears will really like this show.
But one doesn’t think with their eyes and ears. To think while watching this show is akin to writing MAL reviews; it’ll get you nowhere. A story script as vapid and uninteresting as this one takes talent to write. That’s not to say the story is predictable, even though it is. What will happen is predictable but how it happens isn’t. Consider the story to be like the most convoluted parkour track ever. It is super obvious what Point A and Point B are, and even more obvious that the story will progress from Point A to Point B, but oh boy will there be a lot of monkeying around during that progression.
Was it obvious that the attempt to rescue the hacker Walnut from assassination would be successful? Of course! But was it obvious that it was actually Mizuki in the squirrel costume and the real Walnut was some loli hiding in the suitcase? Maybe not as much, and it was a cool “oh huh” moment during the revelation. But in the end, the thing that was gonna happen happened. To dwell solely on the result rather than the journey is not my intention, as this episode was one of my favorite ones from the show. But the parkour stunts do not get better after this my friends. Had it remained as a show with predictable outcomes through unpredictable means, it would have been quite a good watch.
Was it obvious that Chisato was going to get through pretty much every single obstacle thrown at her? No shit Sherlock, can’t have the overpowered cute girl die on us! Was it obvious that Chisato and Majima would have not one, but two friendly chit chats and chill together despite being mortal enemies? Probably not, although it makes sense since both characters are mental nutcases. But these nutcases are simply too mental for the benefit of the plot. Perhaps the intent was to invoke some entertainment by having these two dissimilar yet similar idiots have a bonding moment instead of beating each other up. Perhaps the intent was to give the community an excuse to ship the two which is truly cringe. Unfortunately I couldn’t help but facepalm at what seemed like a fever dream script making it into the story, and more fever dreams just kept showing up. How the Midcoris were able to continue hiding their organization, how the metal heart subplot was handled, the last few episodes in general were all truly nonsensical happenings that could only be explained by “everyone is really just THAT stupid.” I personally do not have a high opinion of the human race but when you paint the masses as being that incapable it really makes you wonder why the Midcoris even bother protecting them.
I am not even going to try to discuss the improbability of the setting in general. As stated earlier, the show has probably one of the stupidest “general publics” in media history. Just the idea of a secret military organization consisting of cute schoolgirls that still stand out in public despite school uniforms supposedly being good urban camouflage is idiotic enough, let alone their ability to actually stay secret. No one is gonna defend this anyways so no point.
Now that I have affirmed in my head that all the characters, including the main ones, are dimwitted imbeciles, you know what time it is! That’s right, main character reviews! You already know my opinions on the two losers, and it only makes sense that I think these two are pretty good and likeable.
Once you realize that Chisato is mentally ill, you realize just how well her weird outlook on life and decisions she makes in the story fit her. She WOULD be the type to just chillax and drink soda with the terrorist she’s trying to beat the shit out of, that’s just how she is. Her diamond clad determination to stick to her ideals 100% of the time even when we the audience would really wish she hadn’t is a testament to her messed up brain, and everything about her personality from her annoying friendliness to her “no kill pls” mentality is consistent to her character. When she denounced her talent as an Alan child even though her life was on the line and her partner was desperately trying to save her, that moment albeit frustrating was 100% in character for Chisato. You could say it means Chisato has no character development, and well you’d be correct great job!
Takina is the polar opposite of Chisato. In contrast to Chisato, an obnoxious illogical extrovert who couldn’t give a damn, Takina is the deadpan logical introvert who has a lot of damns to give. Her initial goal of rejoining DA is ever so predictably trashed due to her getting all fuzzy inside interacting with her braindead partner. Much like Chisato, her decisions throughout the story remain consistent to her character. Her quips are snappy and her tendency to make decisive decisions with results in mind is very like her. She knows what is important to her and will do what she deems to be right in order to achieve the results she wants. While this general mentality of her never changes, unlike Chisato she does go through some major development when it comes to lifestyle, everyday personality, and what she considers important to her. You could say it’s the super predictable ice queen warming up to others that we’ve seen like a bajillion times already, and well you’d be correct great job!
How does our lovely duo interact with each other? Quite well, their relationship feels genuine and progresses quite naturally. It’s a classic dynamic and it works here as well, the slow slice of life moments are a nice break from the nonsensical bullshit that is the main plot. However I really wish the show would actually focus on this rather than sprinkle it between the cracks of a broken story. I would normally say that the show was never about the plot and it was always about the interactions of Chisato and Takina but there’s simply not a high enough ratio of it compared to the story for me to convincingly say that.
The major supporting characters and the main villains? I feel like I’m a broken record at this point. They’re stupid. If they aren’t stupid it’s because they are forgettable. How can a master hacker be stupid? I dunno, ask the master hacker who does her hacking using the plane monitors and announces all her hacking commands out loud in a public space. Luckily for her, everyone else is too stupid to notice.
Overall this show was a fun enjoyable mess but critically speaking I just can’t get over how idiotic it is. This review serves as a really big disclaimer to please, PLEASE, I beg of you, do NOT turn on your brain for this show. Just have fun with the pretty colors and cool action sequences and peeposmile a bit when a funny happens.
Reviewer: Yuni
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