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The following contains some spoilers for Lycoris Recoil, now streaming on Crunchyroll.
Ah, Chisato Nishiki. Everyone's new favorite character this season. Popular anime polling website Anime Corner has seen both Lycoris Recoil and Chisato herself at or near the top of the polls nearly every single week now. This anime had no manga or source material, and is a completely original anime, so the sudden fascination with Chisato is quite the surprise. And this is all over popular adaptions and long-awaited continuations. But where does it come from?
Lycoris Recoil is an action anime featuring Chisato, the overly cheerful protagonist, and her much more reserved friend and other protagonist Inoue to protect an alternate Japan from terrorists. However, Chisato's methods are far from conventional. This forces rulebook-oriented Inoue to question how she was raised, and wondering why she never questioned it before.
Chisato's Unique Personality
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Of course, we can't get into why people love Chisato without stating the obvious; her personality. On the outside, she's adorable. She's bubbly, and she's caring. She truly does her best to make everyone happy, even at her own expense. Even in the most stressful situations, she puts on a brave face and refuses to get down on the level of her enemies. She plays into the innocent happy protagonist trope that's been popular in other anime like My Hero Academia, Demon Slayer, and Jujutsu Kaisen, to name a few. She also refuses to kill anyone despite her deadly upbringing, opting for rubber bullets instead.
That being said, that's not the only side to her personality. She can also be nonchalant and cold, as she is with most scenes where she's at the DA or speaking with Kusunoki. Her demeanor can change at the flip of a switch to match her rival's. She is overbearing, cutesy, and kind with yakuza members until they don't uphold their deal; then it's all out war. Her adaptability to her surroundings is outstanding, but more on that in our next point.
Her Mysterious Abilities Are Otherworldly
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Chisato's insane abilities are at the forefront of every encounter. She can dodge bullets. Literally. It isn't fully explained why she is able to do this, but as we have been discovering more and more about her heart and her ties to the Alan Institute, it may become more clear. It was episode 9 where we discovered that it was these abilities that drew the attention of Yoshimatsu. And this isn't her only ability.
She is able to anticipate people's next moves and predict people's decisions. Although we've seen this in a game of rock-paper-scissors, we've also seen this in her conversations with Majima. She knows what someone is going to say and uses it to lead the conversation in her favor. She has manipulated many conversations and situations to benefit her or those she cares about, and has proven to be steadfast towards her beliefs, against all odds. Likewise, she may refuse to kill anyone, but because of her predictive ability she is able to aim with what would be deadly accuracy.
Her Tragic Past
The following section is where a majority of the spoilers are for episodes 8 and 9. After Chisato's artificial heart was electrocuted, she discovers she only has two months left to live. While she appears at peace knowing this, Mika is having flashbacks to when Chisato got her artificial heart in the first place, and explains Chisato's backstory to Kurumi, finally revealing to the audience why Yoshimatsu has been so invested in Chisato throughout the series.
Chisato suffered from a congenital heart disease. At this point in time, she was well known for the Radio Tower incident, but she was slowly dying. She didn't have much longer left to live when she was still in Lycoris training. At the time, Mika and Yoshimatsu were friends. Yoshimatsu was impressed with Chisato, who was being trained by Mika at the time. Yoshimatsu offers an artificial heart developed by the Alan Institute, of which Yoshimatsu is in charge of, but warns that Chisato may not make it past adulthood. Mika only replies saying that Lycorises don't live that long anyway.
Chisato undergoes surgery for the heart, but just before her surgery she runs into Yoshimatsu in the halls. He tries to tell her he isn't the one providing her with the heart, as he wants to stay anonymous. However, Chisato can tell he's lying and calls him her savior. Furthermore, she promises her life to being a savior like Yoshimatsu from then on. This ends up being the reason Chisato refuses to kill anyone, regardless of who is threatening her life. The very thing that ties her to the mysterious Alan Institute, and the reason they want her dead, is the reason she won't take a life ever again.