The following contains spoilers for Episode 1 of Lycoris Recoil, "Easy Does It" now streaming on Crunchyroll.

The debut episode of Lycoris Recoil has just come out, and the original anime from A-1 Pictures has already started with a bang, pun intended. The audience is introduced to a quirky cast of characters, a mysterious organization, and a quaint coffee shop hiding its real business behind the front end, and are taken along a terrifying kidnappings attempt.

The anime takes place in a world where orphan girls are taught to be Lycorises, a form of violence control. There is political intrigue, crime, and secrets hidden behind the adorable anime girls that star in this series. The series drops little snippets of exposition through news or background conversation, encouraging viewers to put together the puzzle pieces themselves.

Setting Up The World

The anime opens with a cheerful, blonde protagonist stretching and getting ready for her day. The news in the background reports that it is the tenth anniversary of "that painful accident". The television shows a large, unidentified object having demolished what appears to be a skyscraper. It also announces that a new tower, "Enkuboku", is being built as a symbol of peace in remembrance of the event.

After answering a phone call, our protagonist travels to work while an internal monologue of narration by her begins. While she is talking about how peaceful Japan is, we see someone zipping what appears to be a timed bomb into a gym bag. Other similar scenes follow this formula of a uniformed girl stopping crime.

Then the protagonist narrates the phrase "Erase, delete, eradicate, and beautify", claiming this mentality is why dangers don't exist anymore. She further claims that "this is the purpose of a Lycoris" before the title flashes on screen.

Mysterious Lycoris Entity In Conspiracy

Someone asks Mika, a man with a sniper rifle, if Chisato is there, who we later learn is the blonde protagonist from before. Mika says that she hasn't arrived yet, but tells the correspondent that a Lycoris is in danger. Through the scope of his sniper rifle, he sees a Lycoris held at gunpoint over her head just before the operating systems of this entity shut down unannounced.

A Lycoris with long black hair fires at the dealers holding the other Lycoris hostage with a large machine gun. This appears to cause tension, as a Lycoris with short brown hair snaps at the Lycoris with the black hair and punches her. The scene cuts to Chisato, once again communicating with Mika through cellphone.

The black-haired Lycoris from before is told by the mysterious correspondent that she will be transferred due to her ignoring the orders she was given to standby in the previous incident. She is transferred to a new station that appears to be a coffee shop, that she is told one other Lycoris is stationed at. She peers into the coffee shop, gazing at all the stained-glass and antique-looking interior.

We are then immediately introduced to a girl with glasses, lamenting about her lack of a love life. The black-haired Lycoris introduces herself as Takina Inoue. Inoue then assumes the girl with glasses is Chisato, before being corrected and told the woman with glasses is named Mizuki. Mizuki then complains about the 'noisy' one arriving, just as Chisato arrives at the café, which is revealed to be called LycoReco.

Off To Work, Together

Chisato and Inoue leave LycoReco to begin working. When Inoue asks why Chisato is no longer with the DA, she simply responds by saying that she is their problem child. Inoue then says she heard that Chisato caused what was referred to earlier as the "painful incident", but then quickly adds that Chisato was defending the city from terrorists when it happened, not that it was her fault to begin with.

Back at LycoReco, Mika is discussing with a correspondent over the phone about missing guns. Then it is revealed that they were not able to get info from the dealer about the guns because of Inoue's incident. Then, the lady with the mysterious entity, now confirmed to be the DA, talks about a hacker known as the Wizard of the Dark Web.

Then, the scene changes back to Chisato and Inoue, who are arriving at a school. They then bounce from location to location, delivering coffee to a yakuza hangout. Inoue is confused by all the smaller tasks they are doing and how it relates to being a Lycoris, and Chisato explains that the division she was assigned to exists to help those who need it, even if it means delivering coffee and tutoring at a school, or even being hitmen when necessary. Chisato introduces Inoue to Abe, a member of the local police department. Abe then asks the girls for assistance with the case of a stalker, and Chisato gleefully agrees. Inoue, although agreeing to go along, is more concerned about whether this particular job will be assessed by the DA.

The Stalked Woman and Chisato To The Rescue

Chisato offhandedly mentions how the DA usually uses situations like that and turns them into cover-ups, stretching the truth to fit their narrative. This shocks Inoue, who is further shocked when Chisato praises her for what got Inoue reassigned in the first place. Before the conversation can continue, Chisato notices the girl they are supposed to question about the stalking she's experienced.

Through conversation, it's realized that Inoue's incident has already been told to the public as a gas leak explosion. Looking further at the picture shown to the girls, they realize the very weapons deal than was supposed to happen when Inoue had her incident during is pictured in the background of the photo. Chisato gets the picture sent to her phone, and they ask to stick together with the stalked girl.

On the way to the stalked girl's house, Inoue realizes they're being followed by a van. Chisato left the girls by themselves, so Inoue asks the stalked girl to go ahead of her to bait the stalkers while Inoue ducks into an alley. While shooting at the van Inoue begins to shout at them, telling them to tell her where all the guns went while continuing to shoot at the dealers. Chisato finds her and pulls her aside, asking her what she's doing. She takes them down quickly without a struggle, a surprising change from her cheery demeanor.

Inoue then checks on the stalked girl, who is unharmed. The scene cuts to a jumbled voice questioning someone else about Chisato, who seems to recognize her through the drone footage. It is revealed that this jumbled voice is the hacker mentioned in the previous scene with the DA.

Back At LycoReco

Returning to LycoReco, we are greeted with Mizuki lamenting about the stalked girl and her lover's selfie, blaming her love for getting her caught up in this mess. Chisato then catches up Mika on the discovery of the weapons deal in the background of the aforementioned selfie. Chisato then asks if they can get the mess with the weapons deal straightened out if Inoue can get reinstated to her original Lycoris divisions.

The episode ends with Inoue coming out in her new uniform for the café, and just after the entire staff take a photo together the man who was talking to the mysterious hacker shows up in the shop. Mika seems to be the only one who recognizes him.

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