English Dub Review: Lycoris Recoil “Time will tell”

Overview

Mika received a text that Chisato just so happened to peek at and said text and makes a huge fuss when she suspects that Kusunoki is trying to bring her back to DA! To prevent their plans, the four members of LycoReco join forces to rush towards the bar where Mika has a secret rendezvous!

Our Take

This time around there’s zero action, but this is mostly a heavy Info-dump episode as we get to know a bit about Chisato’s past mostly through different points of view, and in the process, we even learn about Chisato’s mentor Mika and his unexpected relationship with Yoshimatsu which is something even I wasn’t expecting in an Anime like this. Weirdly, Mika’s uneasy relationship, with Yoshimatsu kinda mirrors Dumbledore and Grindelwald’s relationship as ex-lovers (Yes Mika is gay) along with their clashing philosophies, only the show isn’t subtle about how close they are and feels like a potential conflict of interest that could force them to clash somewhere down the line.

I also liked the conversation between Chisato and Mika later on. It’s very obvious from the tone and dialogue that Chisato feels betrayed, even when she’s smiling. And Mika apologizes to Chisato twice probably because he can’t “give her more time” which could further imply there are limitations to her artificial Heart. As for the Majima subplot, It’s clear he’s taking extreme measures to grab the D.A’s. Attention, but I guess he sort of shares a past with Chisato when he was very young and was the only one who was at the tower and the only one to stop all the terrorists which are somewhat vague yet implied in Majima’s flashback.

Overall, an engaging episode even if it lacked action. It feels like all these subplots are going to play significant roles in later storylines within this Season. It’s also heavily implied that Yoshimatsu and by-extension the Alan Institute have personal plans for Chisato even if Mika isn’t on board with them, and Chisato has no idea what their intentions are other than they were her benefactors who gave her an artificial heart. As for Majima who’s now taken an interest in Chisato, the post-credits scene shows how far Majima and his new Hacker robot-headed friend are starting to make their move and I can’t wait to see what direction it’ll take!