#Asaura

[shazzeaslightnovels]

Lycoris Recoil: Recovery Days

Author: Asaura

Illustrator: Imigimuru

Label: Dengeki Bunko

Release Date: 8 March 2024

My Score: 4/5

This a new short story collection for Lycoris Recoil. While the title is Recovery Days, I feel like there are only a couple of stories here that really fit that theme...

In the first story, Chisato discovers that Takina doesn't understand the appeal of going to the cinemas and makes it her mission to fix that. It's short and sweet. What's not to like?

In the second story, Ito drags Chisato and Takina in to model for her new manga. I have to say, even though it's been almost two years since the anime aired, Chika Anzai's and Shion Wakayama's performances are so iconic that it was still easy for me to recall their voices while reading their lines. This one had a few fun moments, but also had a lot of descriptions of guns, which I found boring.

I've got to be honest: I did not pay much attention to the next story as it was not Takina and Chisato-centric, and focused on a character who, to my knowledge, has no connection to any existing characters or events from the series. It focuses on a man who has left a yakuza group and is intent on getting revenge on the killer of the head of the yakuza group. The best part of it is an illustration of the girls going undercover in disguises.

The fourth story more than makes up for it in ChisaTaki content. In this one, Chisato gets sick and Takina looks after her. It's so sweet and cute. It is what I imagined when I heard the words "Recovery Days" and is everything I wanted from this collection.

The next story is Fuki-centric (!) and follows Sakura and Fuki on a mission. As excited as I was to see a Fuki-centric story, I have to say this one didn't appeal to me much. A lot of it is gun battles, which isn't something that I like to read in LN format. Still, it was nice to see Fuki again and so good to finally have a story where she's the focus. I'm still shocked there hasn't been a Fuki manga spin-off or something yet.

The final story is similar to the zombie story from Ordinary Days, except this time it's playing with horror movie tropes. Takina and Chisato wake up in a lodge with no memory of how they got there and soon discover they are being chased by a man with a machete. They quickly decide that it's a dream, and discuss various horror movie tropes while trying to survive. There's a weird thing in this story: the black guy dies first trope is not mentioned here. The reason why this is weird is that Mika is in this story, and true to the trope, Mika dies first. It's not even lampshaded. Instead, Chisato and Takina reason that Mika died first because he's the sexiest. I mean, yes, he is, but it's weird that this trope is not brought up at all when it's such a well-known one. Anyway, this one was okay. I don't think it was as fun as the zombie story, but it has some good ChisaTaki moments.

The volume wraps up by going back to that first story, showing Chisato and Takina after they watch the movie. It's cute and a good way to end the volume.

This was a good collection of stories that reminded me of how much I enjoyed the anime and how much of a good pairing Chisato and Takina are. I'm not sure that a lot of the stories really fit the theme of "Recovery Days", but it was a good time regardless. Also, I really appreciated how many illustrations there were in this volume. Every chapter had at least one illustration to accompany it and they were all top quality and well placed. I recently read the Frieren light novel short story collection, where the cover was the only real illustration, so I appreciated this a lot.

[toonamisquad]

Lycoris Recoil sets up shop on Toonami on January 20, 2024

Lycoris Recoil sets up shop on Toonami on January 20, 2024.

Chisato, Takina, and the girls of “LycoRico” will be joining the Toonami lineup this January 20, 2024. Edit Revealed on Friday afternoon on Aniplex USA’s social media pages and during the Lycoris Recoil Special Event Panel at Anime NYC 2023, Aniplex would announce that Lycoris Recoil, the original anime series created by Spider Lily and Asaura and directed by Shingo Adachi, will be making its…

[mizukimatsuda]

アイナ・ジ・エンド × 坂東祐大 - 創造

一部衣装制作させていただきました

---

AiNA THE END

Creative Director / Kota Tohata

Planner / Mami Koyama

Art Director / Yasunari Abe

Director / Kyotaro Hayashi

Assistant Director / Toshimasa Kumagai , Yuzuha Kashihara , Masaru Ito

Steadicam Operator / Yasutomo Kevin Yoshida

1st Camera Assistant / Mayu Miyahara

2nd Camera Assistant / Megu Ishihara

Focus Puller / Shingo Ito

Key Grip / Tetsuya Tomohisa

Assistant Grip / Kazuhito Ohtsubo , Soichiro Kawase , Miyabi Tanaka

DIT / Seiji Kogami

Lighting Director / Naoto Tanoue

1st Lighting Assistant / Ryoichi Kurihara

Lighting Assistant /

Shimizu Kenichi , Isamu Suzuki , Satoshi Ikai , Kento Fuda ,

Masayuki Kawata , Kenichi Asaura , Morikawa Hisashi , Masateru Furukawa ,

Takashi Yamaguchi , Takashi Goda , Kei Katsuma , Shinozaki Seiji

Light Board Operator / Kanako Shida

Assistant Operator / Sara Yamada , Hiroki Kodama

Production Designer・Costume Design / Chihiro Matsumoto

Production Design Chief / Masayuki Nakayama

Production Design Assistant / Takumu Ishii , Momo Kawasaki , Ayaka Mori , Nono Saito   

Costume Work / Yuko Makino

Set Carpenter / Koyuki Matsuo , Mei Inoue , Akihito Mineyama , Nozomi Sekiguchi

Special Effect / Keiichi Nishioka , Kineko Sasamori , Hiroto Suzuki

Hair & Makeup <AiNA THE END> / Tamayo Yamamoto

Hair & Makeup <dancer> / Yurika Ichihashi

Hair & Makeup Assistant / Misaki Oka , Honoka Fuse , Kanematsu , Hina Nagamoto

Stylist <AiNA THE END> / Ai Suganuma

Stylist <dancer> / Koji Oyamada

Stylist Assistant / Ayane Saito , Ayumi Takahashi , Reki Tanaka

Costume Design /

KANEHIRO , Tsukasa Koyama , Syo Nomura Sachiko Tahara (Lazy Hours) , Mizuki Matsuda

Choreographer / YOH UENO

Assistant Choreographer / KAYAKO

Dancer / Doto Saya , Yamato Yoshida , Wait(Taiki) , Yuka Otani , isono , miu__________ ,

isa , Yumi , Tokiwa , YU-NA , Sassy , Yumiho , Haru , YOULI , SAYA , Ayaka Matsumoto , ninaricci , chihiro , Mizuka Imanishi , Nao Oishi , Mei , Saki Kato , Hikari , Shin , hinano , calpas , KIM SAYA , Anzu , Miyuu , Ami

Offline Editor/ Masayuki Kubo

Online Editor / Yoshihumi Hashimoto

Mixer / Showsuke Asada

#commissioned

[ljaesch]

Yen Press Announces New Licenses

Yen Press has announced new licenses for release in January 2025. Title: Lycoris Recoil: Ordinary Days novels Creators: Asaura (adaptation), Spider Lily (original story), imigimur (illustration) Summary: Located on the east side of Tokyo, overlooking the old, destroyed radio tower, Café LycoReco is a stylish and delicious place to relax. And this is a story depicting the everyday, extraordinary…

[sarkos]

In apology for the chunk of LycoReco posts in my Queue, and the series nearing the end on Toonami, I've been trying to gather my thoughts (until season 2 hits...)

I'm not the only person who remembers Noir T-T

Mostly, I've been trying to find more about Asaura and Spider-LIly, and not having much luck (the Manga "Death Need Round", and a good writeup on Ohigan / Higanbana, which would explain the "darker initial tone" comments).

The reason I've been looking is because I'm a comics nerd, and there are some bits that make me think of the most common fan interactions, ie "if Superman can *, then why..."

I remember reblogging this before I ever watched the series, because it whips

So we start with Chisato being the Strongest Saiyan Lycoris, which means she's going to break Zod's neck to be hard to beat without also breaking immersion right? There's a part in almost every series where you have a "Strongest Guy" where they get sandbagged for plot convenience, because Toriyama was about the only one to understand how to write Superman (No-one but a Supes fan uses Nam-Ek as a name).

So how do you go from the Firefight in Ep 3 to the beatdown in Ep6?

Well, they explain it in that episode, by setting up the Rock/Scissor/Paper scene. Chisato beats Takina, it's explained, by predicting her movements, so if she's caught by surprise or can't predict the enemy's actions she's helpless (as Kusunoki put it, "she's still a girl", no matter how unshootable she is, she's still mortal), also setting up chaotic asshole Majima as a foil.

Likewise, before the "Heart Attack" she has a run-in with Majima, and Takina gives her an ultimatum about answering her phone that, minutes later comes into play.

And it's not like I'm saying it's the clockwork plan from Where Eagles Dare by mentioning something a couple minutes before that thing happens, but it seems so naturalistic you don't have to bring in over the top Lupin III antagonists when you can turn out the lights or pop a flashbang. Or at least as naturalistic as a world full of orphan girl John Wicks run by the Driest Lesbian and her magical crime predicting computer.

[gonagaiworld]

Il creatore di Lycoris Recoil, Asaura, lancia il manga Double Helix Blossom Gomeyuki Nishima disegna una storia d'azione del futuro prossimo basata sul gioco da tavolo in uscita. Info:--> https://www.gonagaiworld.com/il-creatore-di-lycoris-recoil-asaura-lancia-il-manga-double-helix-blossom/?feed_id=422661&_unique_id=65a4cdf42e0ff #DoubleHelixBlossom #LycorisRecoil #Manga

[nerdgeekfeelings]

[ANIME] Ben-To - A "Marmita".

[ANIME] Ben-To – A “Marmita”.

Eu sempre preferi os animes mais sangrentos, puxados para o gore. (more…)

[shazzeaslightnovels]

Lycoris Recoil: Ordinary Days

Author: Asaura

Illustrator: Imigimuru

Label: Dengeki Bunko

Release Date: 9 September 2022

My Score: 4/5

Content warnings: parts of the book are told from the POVs of the customers of LycoReco. Most of them are adult men and this leads to some of the descriptions of the girls feeling a bit icky. There’s a particular part where Takina and Chisato mention that they have night work leading to the customers wondering if they are engaging in sex work and Chisato’s chest is mentioned in relation this. This is a fairly minor problem but I thought it worth mentioning because gross. Also, the final story is very dark with depictions of bullying and attempted sexual assault.

This is a short story collection for the recent anime Lycoris Recoil. I really enjoyed the anime so I was eager to read this and, for the most part, it didn’t disappoint. The short stories here are intended to show the daily lives of the main characters and there’s a good variety of tones and themes explored. While I didn’t like every story, I did enjoy seeing more of the characters and the simple writing style made it a breeze to get through. The focus of this volume is purely on Chisato and Takina. The other staff members of LycoReco do appear but they’re not given much focus and characters like Fuki are only mentioned in passing. I thought this was a shame as I was hoping for a story about Mizuki or Fuki to give them more exploration that they were missing in the anime. That being said, I love Chisato and Takina and this book definitely delivered on the ChisaTaki moments. At first, I thought it was a bit lacking but the stories get progressively gayer, especially in the third and fourth story. They are very cute and wholesome. Judging by the state of their relationship, the appearance of Kurumi and the lack of mention of Yoshi or Majima, I’d say these stories take place after episode 4, with the aquarium, and before episode 6 as that’s when they first directly encounter Majima. Overall, I thought this was a good short story collection that was easy to read and gave some satisfying fan service. I don’t recommend it if you haven’t seen or enjoyed the anime but if you have then it’s a real good time.

Now I’m going to go into further details on each of the stories and my opinions on them below the cut. There will be spoilers, especially for the last story so be warned.

There are five short stories and between each story is an Introduction chapter. These are used to introduce the topic and tone of the following story. They also feature the plotline of a journalist who wants to write an article on the LycoReco Cafe. I thought these were good breather chapters and led to a good payoff at the end of the book but I didn’t care for the plotline much.

The first story follows a new customer who is retired early at the age of 55. Takina seems concerned about him so Chisato thinks Takina’s in love with the guy and puts all her effort into getting them closer and convincing him to see Takina as a serious romantic interest. This is of course a misunderstanding and Takina actually hates him. She hates the gloomy atmosphere he brings to the cafe and hates that he always only orders coffee and no food. While I had a bit of a chuckle at this one and it was in character, I did find myself annoyed about the misunderstanding and I didn’t care for the older man character.

The second story entitled “Gun Fight, Coffee, and Chisato’s Red ‘That’“ is the shortest one and the one that I disliked the most. It’s pretty much one big action scene with a lot of descriptions of gun that bored me to tears. It tries to explain how various gadgets in the show worked, like Chisato’s non-lethal bullets (the red “that” in question) and the parachute bag seen in the anime’s opening but I didn’t care. I forgot almost everything about it as soon as I finished it. Probably the most interesting thing about it is how Chisato’s bullets are described as looking like flowers blooming when they hit which was not how they came across in the anime. If you like guns, you might like this one more than I did.

The third story, “Takina’s Cooking”, was one of my favourites. Takina’s starting to adjust to life at the cafe but struggles when it’s her turn to cook lunch, leading to her just making protein shakes. Chisato of course makes it her mission to fix this disatrous state of affairs. The comedy in this one was great and the ending was so sweet and adorable.

The fourth story, “LicoReco of the Dead” was probably my favourite. In this one, Takina and Chisato wake up to find themselves alone at the cafe and that a zombie infection has happened while they were asleep. They quickly conclude that this is a dream and the story is about their survival. The reason why I loved this one is because of Takina’s reflection on her relationship with Chisato. Chisato asks Takina whether she would like to be together forever with her and it leads to Takina doing some overanalyzing on her question and it’s great. This is what I mean by this volume getting gayer with each story: we started with Chisato thinking that Takina was in love with an older man and we get to a story where the highlight is Takina having gay thoughts.

The fifth and final story, “What Would You Like to Order?” is very bleak. It’s about a middle schooler named Kana who has found solace at the cafe. She lives with her dad and step-mum but has complicated feelings because their relationship started before her dad and birth mum seperated. She hates her dad and step-mum for this. She’s also getting bullied at school and is blackmailed by her bully who took a nude photo of her while she was getting changed for gym. The bully blackmails her into spending her afternoon with the bully and her boyfriend who try to get Kana into sex work. When she escapes, the bully spreads the nude around and then her teacher tries to sexually assault her. To escape, she pulls out a gun that she found and was planning to use to kill her bullies and parents. Like I said, this is a very bleak story and I had to skim through most of it because it was so depressing to read. I did like that it explored why someone might be driven to the point of murder as the anime dealed with very black and white cases of terrorism and this was a more complex case but I found it a let down as the final story. It does have a happy ending but I found it unsatisfying and it didn’t give me as much catharsis as I needed after reading such a depressing story.

Thankfully, it was followed with the outroduction and a bonus very short story to end the book on a happier note. I think it’s testament to the writing that even though I only really enjoyed two out of five of the short stories, I still came out of it thinking that it was a positive experience. Despite not liking every story, I still had fun reading most of this book (except the last story) and I hope we get more spin-off novels in this vein. Maybe one focusing on other Lycoris? I can only hope. Given the popularity of the anime, I think this one has a good shot of getting an English release so here’s hoping.

[historyhermann]

Bang, Bang, Pop!: Reviewing Girls With Guns Anime

Created in Microsoft Paint.

In recent years, there have been even more anime featuring girls with guns, expanding the genre. I decided to examine this genre and offer my thoughts.

Reprinted from The Geekiary, my History Hermann WordPress blog on Feb. 17, 2023, and Wayback Machine. This was the fifty-first article I wrote for The Geekiary. This post was originally published on August 16, 2022.

When you think of girls with guns in popular culture, you might think of Lara Croft, Sarah Connor, Alien, Foxy Brown, or Coffy. However, there are more than just hundreds of films featuring girls with guns. In anime, there are over 20 girls with guns series.

While there are many strong anime gunslinging girls, there aren't as many anime which are truly "girls with guns". It is a genre defined by series such as the 1980s sci-fi comedy and space opera, Dirty Pair, centered on two women: Kei and Yuri.

Since then, there have been many more series, including the recently-ended Vampire in the Garden and currently airing Lycoris Recoil. There are also older series such as Gunsmith Cats, El Cazador de la Bruja, Noir, and Otherside Picnic. This article reviews these six series and four others. It is sample of a much wider array of girls with guns anime.

This post contains spoilers for the ten series that I'm writing about. So, without further ado, let me begin!

Girls with guns are stars of the show in Lycoris Recoil 

Chisato Nishikigi defends herself from those trying to kill her in the show's sixth episode

This original anime series by Spider Lily and Asaura is all the rage. The /r/yurimemes subreddit is filled with posts of Chisato (Chika Anzai) and Takina Inoue (Shion Wakayama), the show's protagonists, as is /r/wholesomeyuri. The show's yuri subtext is often noted. Furthermore, the show's subreddit, /r/LycorisRecoil, has over 4500 subscribers. The show's story, characters, animation, and dialogue make it easy to like.

The series begins when Takina brazenly uses a machine gun against criminals, threatening the life of a fellow "Lycoris", an armed intelligence agent. The covert organization, Direct Attack (DA), fires her. She is then transferred to Café LycoReco, a DA front organization, where she meets Chisato, a fellow Lycoris. She also meets a former DA member named Mizuki Nakahara (Ami Koshimizu) and an Afro-Japanese man named Mika (Kosuke Sakaki) who runs the cafe.

The series pulls you in due to Takina's struggle with fellow DA agents who resent her, and villains who attempt to take down Lycoris. The same can be said about Chisato's mysterious past and a hacker named Kurumi (Misaki Kuno) joins the show's heroes. The series often focuses on growing friendship between Takina and Chisato, arguably with romantic undertones. Unlike other anime about girls with guns, Chisato only uses rubber bullets. This means that those she does not kill anyone, a practice Takina adopts, as they work together as a team.

Momo shines through in Vampire in the Garden

Momo defends herself from a vampire girl, Alicia

This original dark fantasy net anime features many girls with guns. Front and center is Momo (Megumi Han) who runs away from home, where she is a soldier, and trainee in a war against vampires. She meets Fine (Yū Kobayashi), queen of the vampires, learning to love life and experience music all at the same time. Unfortunately, her controlling mother, Nobara (Rika Fukami) sends out a search party to find Momo. She wants to bring her "back" to "civilization" and way from the purportedly "barbaric" vampires.

In the process, Fine and Momo grow closer to one another. Like many other girls with guns anime, there are many yuri vibes in the series. In fact, neither of these protagonists gets a chance to live together. They are chased throughout the anime and do not have a chance to rest. This is because society sees relationships between humans and vampires as "unnatural" and does not accept them.

The focus on the relationship between Fine and Momo parallels those who do not accept queer relationships and those othered by society. Rather than an anime solely about girls with guns, Vampire in the Garden is a mature dark fantasy filled with blood, death, explosions, and serious injury. Even so, there are scenes with a slice-of-life feel. This five-episode anime ends positively. Momo founds a society many years later where humans and vampires can live together in peace.

Gunsmith Cats exemplifies the girls with guns genre

Irene "Rally" Vincent at the shooting range in the episode "Neutral Zone"

This adventure-crime series is based on an eight-volume manga of the same name illustrated, and written, by Kenichi Sonoda. It is different than other series in this post because it is loosely set in Chicago. It centers around Irene "Rally" Vincent (Michiko Neya), a 19-year-old woman who operates "Gunsmith Cats" gun shop. She works with 17-year-old explosives expert and former sex worker named "Minnie" May Hopkins (Kae Araki) as a bounty hunter in the underworld.

The anime is an original video animation (OVA), released between November 1995 and September 1996. It is only three episodes long.  Some reviewers praised the animation as colorful, fun, and a "solid piece" of filmmaking. Others praised the action, artwork, and said it sounded like a "gritty" suburb of Chicago. Moreover, there were those who described the animation as smooth, said it has the same amount of humor as the original manga, but complained that the series should have been longer.

Like Vampire of the Garden and Lycoris Recoil, yuri themes are implied. Although Yuricon's founder Erica Friedman does not write about the anime on her blog, Okazu, she did review each volume of the five-volume manga, Gunsmith Cats BURST. In her reviews, she notes the yuri subtext between Rally and Minnie. She also noted that mafia donna Goldie Musso is a stereotypical "evil" lesbian. In the manga, all three of them live together. Otherwise, the series fits within the girls with guns anime genre.

Love, amnesia, and guns in El Cazador de la Bruja

Nadie, Ellis, and nuns shelter in a basement, hiding for people out to get them, in an episode

This 2007 series, a mix of modern Western, adventure, and yuri, is a classic girls with guns anime. It centers around Ellis (Ai Shimizu), a fugitive who has amnesia, an unknown past, and powers of some kind, and a bounty hunter named Nadie (Shizuka Itō). Both travel south in hopes of finding the key to who Ellis is, where she was born, and what she did.

In a review of El Cazadar de la Bruja first episode, Friedman noted that there were clear yuri vibes. But, she worried there would be another "ambiguously yuri" relationship like other Madlax series. However, in a review at the end of the series, Friedman praised the growing romance between Nadie and Ellis. She said it is different than Noir in more ways than one.

Others were more critical of this series, especially purported "filler" episodes. They noted that even the show's gun violence is restrained. This series is unlike other anime in this genre as it is set in the Southwest United States and Mexico. As a result, it shares similarities with Western animations like Nomad of Nowhere and The Legend of Calamity Jane. Both series have gun-toting female protagonists.

Girls with guns are at the center of Noir 

Kirika and Marielle in the front, with Chloe in the background, in an image on the show's now-defunct official website in 2003

This adventure anime is as well-known as El Cazador de la Bruja. It is often noted as exemplary of the girls with guns genre in anime. It centers on two female assassins, a Corsican woman named Mireille Bouquet (Hōko Kuwashima) and a Japanese woman with amnesia, Kirika Yuumura (Kotono Mitsuishi). Both journey together to learn about their past. They ally together and assassinate "bad" people under a code name: Noir. They face a French secret organization named Les Soldats, led by Altena (Tarako), which is out to kill them, and a skilled assassin named Chloe (Aya Hisakawa).

Friedman, who I've mentioned earlier, criticized the series for weak animation at times. But, she praised the show's music, settings, and yuri vibes in the series. She added that people will put up with the series, despite absurd storylines because it has an attractive woman with a gun. TV Tropes, on a page about LGBTQ fanbase of anime and manga, stated that the series garnered a "sizable lesbian fanbase" due to the "ambiguous" relationship between Mireille and Kirika. They also noted the subtle lesbian attraction shown later.

Director Koichi Mashimo described this series, Madlax, and El Cazador de la Bruja, as his "girls-with-guns genre trilogy". Some praised the 26-episode series for redefining girls with guns series, with an elegant, and sleek story. But they criticized it for having repetitive actions sequences. Others said that Noir was an original anime which "stands out". In the end, the series changed the girls with guns genre for years to come, although no series since then has been exactly like it.

Girls with guns are focal point of Otherside Picnic 

Sorowo aims a military-style weapon while Toriko sits next to her

This adventure sci-fi yuri series centers around two women. One is a college student named Sorawo Kamikoshi (Yumiri Hanamori) who enters parallel worlds named the Otherside. The other is the woman who saves her, a former Canadian special forces soldier named Torika Nishina (Ai Kayano). The series focuses on Nishina's quest for her friend, and their repeated attempts to return to the Otherside to gain artifacts, with the help of Kozakura (Rina Hidaka). However, the world affects them physically and mentally in ways they didn't expect.

Early last year, I began watching this series, excited to watch it since too many yuri anime are either set in schools or fantasies, with the implication that lesbian relationships will be short-lived and even replaced by heterosexuality. Unfortunately, this series did not deliver on that promise. Friedman criticizes the series for being a "children’s version of the novels". My bigger qualm is that the series did not deliver on the yuri that seemed present from the beginning, despite romantic vibes throughout.

Otherside Picnic remains within the girls with guns genre. Even in a few episodes, Sorawo and Torika save U.S. military soldiers from Okinawa who are stuck in the Otherside. Unfortunately, this becomes imperialist apologia. It glosses over problems with U.S. military occupation, and presence, in Okinawa, and Japan. It marks a low point for the entire series.

Girls with guns have an important role in Blue Drop

Yūko takes out a gun to defend Mari from harm in the show's sixth episode

This 2007 yuri sci-fi drama contains some girls with guns. On the manga cover, a girl named Shōta has a gun. On the other hand, neither of the show's protagonists, Mari or Hagino, uses a gun during the series. Instead, secondary characters like Yūko and Tsubael have guns. Yūko even confronts Hagino at gunpoint. Otherwise, there are armed sentries on the ships from another world.

Blue Drop delivers more on yuri themes than Otherside Picnic or even, arguably, Lycoris Recoil. And you don't even need on yuri goggles to see it. It is more than a "fun watch" with likable characters, some of whom are morally ambiguous. Instead, it is an enveloping story which draws you in, with its plot and animation. Even the ending is heartbreaking.

Since the series is usually put into the sci-fi and yuri genres, reviewers don't often put it into the girls with guns genre. Although there are fewer girls with guns in Blue Drop than other series noted in this article, it has positives which go beyond other series. It is a classic that can be watched over and over. The same can likely also be said about the affiliated manga which ran from 2004 to 2008.

Badass girls with guns are central to Canaan

Canaan about to fire her pistol during the show's opening

This 2009 mystery thriller is little-known, despite the fact that a Japanese game company, Type-Moon, created it. It's based on a special scenario originally outlined in 2009 game, 428: Shibuya Scramble. This anime centers on a gun-toting assassin and mercenary named Canaan (Miyuki Sawashiro). She faces a rival named Alphard Al Sheya (Maaya Sakamoto), a skilled assassin who heads a terrorist organization named Snake. Canaan also has a pretty reporter friend named Maria Ōsawa (Yoshino Nanjō).

Canaan and Alphard are both skilled at using firearms, as is ex-mercenary Siam (Akio Ōtsuka), Alphard's lieutenant, Liang Qi (Rie Tanaka), and many others. Predictably, yuri themes are spread throughout this anime. Canaan often saves Maria from sticky situations thanks to her ability to perceive people's emotions as colors. They clearly are attracted toward each other. The series ends with Canaan being, in the words of Friedman, "awarded equal status to Maria in her heart."

Otherwise, Canaan is action-packed, with fast-paced fight sequences and chases. In some ways, it makes me think of chase scenes in Carmen Sandiego, although the ones in that series are never filled with guns, but with other deadly weapons instead. This series is unique because Canaan is from an unnamed country in the Middle East, presumably Syria or Lebanon. It adds another dimension to the story.

Guns, love, and demons in Engage Kiss

Shu, Sharon, and Ayano pictured on the show's official website.

In this ongoing, and currently airing, romantic comedy, one character stands out as a girl with a gun: Ayano Yugiri (Lynn). She is the former girlfriend of Shuu Ogata (Soma Saito). He lost his memories of their relationship after partnering with a demon named Kisara (Saya Aizawa). To give her the necessary demon powers to fight, he kisses her, which erases a memory every time he does so.

While it seems, at first, that she chooses his memories to erase at random, it is later shown that she can choose which ones to erase. She even eliminates a time that Shuu and Ayano have sex, enjoy each other's company. She also eliminates a time when Shuu had sex with the demon-hating priest, Sharon Holygrail (Rumi Okabo), and poisoned her in a devious way.

Ayano has the most skills at using firearms apart from Shuu. It has not been revealed how she is so skilled, but she may have on-the-job experience. Unlike Lycoris Recoil, the only other people who use guns are the police, as the villains often manipulate demons instead. None of the show's characters without faults, and have all likely done deplorable things.

A gun-toting protagonist in Venus Versus Virus 

Lucia fires her gun in the show's opening

This dark fantasy and supernatural thriller centers around two girls with guns: Lucia Nahashi (Ayahi Takagaki) and Sumire Takahana (Minori Chihara). Although it has been rightly described as a series to avoid by Stig Høgset of THEM Anime Reviews. He argued that it is "lazy and dumb", with mild fanservice and violence. That makes it different from others in this genre, which are usually more violent and bloody.

In Venus Versus Virus, Lucia, especially, is skilled with use of a firearm. She works to protect Sumire, along with others, from harm that demons, known as "viruses", can inflict. Predictably they both bond in the process. Even so, the yuri themes in this story are not very strong, with neither Lucia nor Sumire appearing to be lesbians.

On the other hand, the series is strong as an anime that features girls with guns. As such, it is relatively well-established in the genre. In fact, when bullets hit Sumire, it causes her violent personality to surface, which can be harmful to anyone around her.

Closing thoughts

There are many other examples of girls with guns anime.  Some of the most prominent, apart from Dirty Pair, include Bubblegum Crisis, Miami Guns, Gunslinger Girl, and Burn-Up. One critic argued that while there aren't many true girls with guns anime, the ones that do exist have been so influential, it has created "an entire thematic genre and stereotype of anime."

Princess Principal and the film, Kite Liberator also fall into the genre. Even Izetta: The Last Witch might fall into the genre since Izetta rides an anti-tank rifle. Apart from Sabine Wren, Padme Amidala, and Zam Wessell, who tote guns in the Star Wars franchise, there's no Western animated equivalent of the genre. On the other hand, there are some gun-wielding women elsewhere, like Millie in Helluva Boss.

There are many girls with guns within anime, but even with newer series, it remains to be seen if the current trend toward more girls with guns will continue. Many of the series within the genre, such as Strike Witches, Michiko & Hatchin, Grenadier, and Upotte!! are years old. The same is the case for Madlax, set in the same world as Birdie Wing.

With anime production companies flush with cash, there is a possibility of further girls with guns anime in the future.

© 2022-2023 Burkely Hermann. All rights reserved.

[recentanimenews]

Sword Art Online Animation Director, Character Designer Shingo Adachi to Helm New Original Anime

  Shingo Adachi—known for work as character designer and animation director on the Sword Art Online anime and more—has directed episodes before, but now he will be helming his first series. The official Twitter account launched for an original anime titled Lycoris Recoil, which is in the works at A-1 Pictures for a premiere sometime in 2022. 

  The official website is also live for the series—which stars Chika Anzai (Reina Kosaka in Sound! Euphonium) as Chisato Nishikigi and Shion Wakayama (Yume Minami in SSSS.Dynazenon) as Takina Inoue—and outlines a couple more staff members. Imigimuru (This Art Club Has a Problem! creator) is on character designs, and Asaura (Ben-To) is credited with the story. 

  Check out a quick teaser: 

  ❁.｡:*:｡.━━✽━━.｡:*:｡.❁ 　　TV ANIMATION 『 リコリス・リコイル 』 　　2022　ON AIR ❁.｡:*:｡.━━✽━━.｡:*:｡.❁#足立慎吾 初監督 完全新作オリジナルアニメ始動✨ ✽解禁CMhttps://t.co/1DlcwCK3yE ✽公式サイトhttps://t.co/zme0snCzMr#リコリコ

— TVアニメ『リコリス・リコイル』公式 (@lycoris_recoil) December 31, 2021

  Visual:

    Source: @lycoris_recoil

    -------

Joseph Luster is the Games and Web editor at Otaku USA Magazine. You can read his comics at subhumanzoids. Follow him on Twitter @Moldilox.

  By: Joseph Luster

[meredithmcclaren]

All the Pride Dinos from 2018.

Line 1 from Left to Right: Pride-acosaurus, Lesbian-asaura, Me-gay-lodon, Bi-lociraptor

Line 2: Trans-saurus Rex, Pan-oplosaurus, Poly-ptoceratops, Queer-zalcoatlus

Line 3: Questioning-saurus, Sinocallio-intersex, Ace-eroraptor, Aro-tosaurus

Line 4: Demi-ceiomimus, Gray-gilisaurus, Kulind-androgynous, Agender-oraptor

Line 5: Genderqueer-anadon, Genderfluid-osuchus, Non-Binary-bbachisaurus, Abrosaurus

[Description: Various dinosaurs colored in accordance with different pride flags atop a black background.  More detailed descriptions below the cut]

[Dinosaurs listed from left to right.

Line 1, Dinosaur 1: A Psittacosaurus colored like the pride flag.  It is standing upright facing just forward and to the left.  It has a brown base that gets darker towards the bottom of its feet.  And it has spots colored like the rainbow starting with red at the head and ending with purple at the tail.

Line 1, Dinosaur 2: A feathered Leaellynasaura colored like the lesbian pride flag. Its body is angled to the audience’s left with its face towards the viewer.  Its tail is curled behind it.  Its feathers mostly pink, with a lighter underbelly and a dark spot on it’s tail.

Line 1, Dinosaur 3: A Megalodon colored with the gay pride colors.  It is swimming towards the viewer’s right.  Its underbelly is white and it has stripes arranged in a rainbow along it’s back.

Line 1, Dinosaur 4: A feathered Velociraptor colored with the bisexual pride colors.  It is in profile with one foot on the ground and another raised up.  Its arms are stretched out and its tail curves behind it.  The legs are blue, the underbelly is hot pink, and its back is purple.

…

Line 2, Dinosaur 1:  A feathered Tyrannosaurus Rex colored with the trans pride colors.  The dinosaur is in profile facing the viewer’s right with its head low and its tail curved high behind it.  Its body is mostly blue with a pink tail, feet, and coloring around the eyes and nose.

Line 2, Dinosaur 2:  A Panoplosaurus colored with the pansexual pride colors.  It is jump/running with its front legs low to the ground and its back legs high in the air.  The dinosaur is facing the viewer’s left.  Its legs and underbelly are hot pink with a yellow scaled head, followed by blue scales along the back dotted with pale yellow spikes.

Line 2, Dinosaur 3:  A Leptoceratops colored with the polyamory pride colors.  The dinosaur’s body is angled to the viewer’s right while the face is forward and to the left.  Three legs are on the ground (though one back leg is mostly hidden) and the fourth front leg is held up.  It has a red underbelly and and blue coloring along its back.  There are black spots and stripes along it’s eyes, crest, spine.

Line 2, Dinosaur 4:  Not technically a dinosaur.  A feathered Quetzalcoatlus colored in the queer pride colors.  The dinosaur’s body and head are facing the viewer’s right.  Its hind legs are tucked behind its wings in a crouched position.  Its head is looking upwards.  The body is mostly white with black legs, pink wings, a blue beak, a yellow crest, and a small ring of bright green around its eye.

…

Line 3, Dinosaur 1:  A Qauaesitosaurus with questioning pride colors.  It is lying down with its front legs forward and its back legs reclined towards the viewer’s left.  It has a long neck and its face is looking towards the viewer’s left.  Its tail curves up and behind its body.  It has a green underbelly with yellow spots coming around its back and red spots along its spine and tail.

Line 3, Dinosaur 2:  A feathered Sinocalliopteryx with intersex pride colors.  It is a raptor like dinosaur with its body and face looking towards the viewer’s right.  It is mostly yellow with a purple beak, hands, feet, and a purple circle on its chest.

Line 3, Dinosaur 3:  A feathered Acheroraptor colored with asexual pride colors.  The raptor’s body is mostly in profile towards the viewer’s right, but its neck and face are turned towards the viewer’s left.  It is seated on it’s haunches with two small wings mostly covering its hind legs.  The underbelly is white while a stripe of purple goes across its shoulder blades down both wings and then up the neck towards the eyes.  Its back end and tail is gray.  Its beak, wing tips, legs, and the end of its tail are all black.

Line 3, Dinosaur 4:  A seated Rhoetosaurus colored with aromantic pride colors.  This is a long necked dinosaur that has its back end seated and its tail curved behind its body.  One front most leg is picked up slightly.  The dinosaur is facing the viewer’s right.  Its underbelly is gray with black along its back. Its spine has spots of a dark and light green.

…

Line 4, Dinosaur 1:  A half feathered Dromiceiomimus colored with the demisexual pride colors.  The ostrich-like dinosaur is running towards the viewer’s left but its head is turned to look behind it (the veiwer’s right)  Its legs and tail are unfeathered and light gray.  Its head, neck, back and arms are covered in black feathers that end just as the tail begins.  There is a spot of white under its chin, and its eyes and beak are purple.

Line 4, Dinosaur 2:  A feathered Agilisaurus colored with graysexual pride colors.  The dinosaur looks to be in mid hop and in profile.  Its body faces the viewer’s left.  The underbelly is white, while most of the rest of the body is purple.  Its legs, eye, and beak are gray and its eye is ringed in black.

Line 4, Dinosaur 3:  A feathered Kulindadromeus colored in the androgynous pride colors.  The dinosaur is facing towards the viewer’s left with its head slightly lowered and its tail curling around behind it.  The legs are dark gray leading into a lighter gray along its sides.  Its under belly is hot pink and stripes of thin pink go from along its front to its back.  Its head is mostly blue with stripes of blue going alongside the pink along its back.  Its beak is a darker pink and its eye is a lighter blue.

Line 4, Dinosaur 4:  A feathered Eroraptor colored in the agender pride colors.  The dinosaur’s body is mostly facing the viewer’s right with its head turned towards the viewer’s left.  The legs and hands are black while the lower half of its body is a light green and its upper body is white.  Around its snout and eyes it is gray.

…

Line 5, Dinosaur 1: An Iguanadon colored with the genderqueer pride colors.  It is standing on it’s back legs with its front legs picked up.  The body is facing the viewer’s right but the head is facing the viewer’s left.  Its tail is curved upwards.  The body is mostly green with stripes of white around the legs and back.  The toes, eyes, and beak are purple.

Line 5, Dinosaur 2:  A feathered Indosuchus colored with the genderfluid pride colors.  Its body is mostly forward facing with a slight angle to the viewer’s right.  The head is facing the viewer’s left and its tail is curved upwards behind it.  The legs are black, the underbelly and arms are pink, and the upper back legs and back are white feathers.   Along the back there are spots of blue, ringed in purple ending in a tail that has blue top feathers and purple under feathers.

Line 5, Dinosaur 3:  A Rebbachisaurus colored with the non-binary pride colors.  The body is facing forward and to the viewer’s left.  The long neck is curved and the face is angled towards the viewer’s right.  The head is mostly in profile.  Both front legs and a back leg are on the ground, the fourth leg is picked up slightly.  Its tail curves downward behind it.  The body is mostly yellow with a zigzag pattern along it’s back in black and purple.  Its back has a large lighter purple ridge with spikes along its top pointed straight up.  The head is black.  The eyes are purple.  And the tail has white stripes towards its end.

Line 5, Dinosaur 4: Description: An Abrosaurus colored with the abrosexual pride flag colors.  Its body is facing the viewer’s left with a long neck and head curved toward the viewer’s right.  It’s foremost front leg is picked up in midstep.  The tail is curved behind its body.  The body is hot pink with a chin and forehead crest that are lighter pink.  It’s legs have stripes in light and dark green.]

[nerdiertides]

Aniplex Announces New Original Anime Series 'Lycoris Recoil!'

Aniplex Announces New Original Anime Series ‘Lycoris Recoil!’

(Featured Image Source: Aniplex of America / A-1 Pictures) Aniplex of America has revealed the brand new original anime series Lycoris Recoil! https://twitter.com/aniplexUSA/status/1476916785240707077 Coming from A-1 Pictures, the series will be directed by Shingo Adachi and has an original story by Asaura, with character designs by Imigimuru. It will star Chika Anzai and Shion…

[newsintheshell]

Nuovo progetto in cantiere per l’anime di LYCORIS RECOIL!

La scoppiettante serie originale che ha conquistato il web l’estate scorsa, firmata da Shingo Adachi (characer designer e animatore in Sword Art Online, Working!!! e Pompo la cinefila), Asaura (l’autore del manga Ben-To) e Migimuru (l’autore del manga This Art Club Has a Problem!), è disponibile in streaming su Crunchyroll.

[toonguru]

ประกาศอนิเมะใหม่ Lycoris Recoil ผลิตโดย A-1 Pictures กำหนดฉายทางทีวีภายในปี 2022 . ออริจินัลอนิเมะ เนื้อหาเกี่ยวกับชีวิตประจำวันของสาว 2 คน ผู้กำกับ: Adachi Shingo (ดีไซน์ตัวละครใน SAO, Working!!) บท: Asaura (นิยาย Ben-To) ดีไซน์ต้นแบบ: Imigimuru (มังงะ Konobi) https://lycoris-recoil.com/ https://www.facebook.com/animethspoiler/photos/a.434838683219234/4628563690513358/?type=3

[akihito-kawachi]

今週金曜はClub jouleで撮影してまーす♪ 遊びに来て下さいね。 2017年にスタートしたSee You Atが三年目を迎え、今回、ヨーロッパのTechno、Techhouseシーンを席巻するSolomun率いるDiynamicファミリーよりMagdalenaを招聘！ ヨーロッパでは、彼女が主催するShadowsが年々盛り上がりを見せており、今シーズンもイビサでの開催も決まり注目を浴びている。 今回、日本では大阪だけのエクスクルーシブなGIG！ 是非体感して欲しい！ 2019.5.17.FRI See you at club JOULE 22:00- Door:3000JPY 【Main】 Special Guest Magdalena (Diynamic) YASHIMA DMITRI ABSINTHE ASAURA TAMO VJ: H2KGRAPHICS 【LIEN LOUNGE】 Guest: Yoshihiro Okino (Kyoto Jazz Massive) 244 a.k.a. 822（LIEN/IN THE HOUSE） Taihei Koyama（LIEN） Akemi Hino Yuta Aoki 【Breaks】 ChalkMelody(LsME Sound) HAGINAKA Kenji Marui Linda (himitsuclub) Mizmon oka norio aka djflip (himitsuclub) (a to z) #portraitphotographer #portrait_vision #fashionphoto #nightclubphotography #nightshoot #femaledj #写真を撮るのが好き #ポートレートしま専科 #clubmusic #テクノ # Magdalena #technomusic #technomusiclove #ポートレート撮影 #モデル撮影 #photosession #ファインダー越しの世界 #モデルさんと繋がりたい #作品撮り #nightclub #nightclubphotographer #a7iii #nightclubbing #撮影データ #被写体募集 #partyphotography #クラブ #technodj #xh1 #clubdj https://www.instagram.com/p/BxaEJSCDSVr/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1jkzs01ghyehj