Lycoris Recoil (Episode 1) – Easy does it
Japan has had the highest public safety rating for eight years in a row and it’s all down to the Lycoris. This secret government organisation takes care of trouble before it happens, as if it never happened!
Lycoris Recoil (Episode 1) – Easy does it
What happened?
The Lycoris program takes orphaned girls and trains them to be assassins. Then, it uses them to keep the country safe from terrorism and organised crime. One group of Lycoris were engaged with an arms deal and something went wrong. One girl was captured and held hostage. The orders from the top told the others to hold off and wait. But, they were running out of time. Takina Inoue grabbed a machine gun and opened fire, killing all the criminals. She saved her colleague, but the team leader was furious.
As a result, Takina was made a scapegoat and transferred to an external group where she could learn from the best in the business – Chisato Nishikigi. Chisato was the one responsible for saving the Tokyo radio tower from a terrorist attack. It has now been preserved as a symbol of peace. Of course, there’s a reason Chisato is not in the main organisation. She doesn’t exactly play by their rules.
Their first mission together is to protect a woman who is being stalked ever since she put a photo online. Chisato and Takina are surprised to see the building where the arms deal happened in the background and something is going on. That was three hours before the “actual” deal. Chisato decides that she will spend the night with the target and runs home to get her stuff. Meanwhile, Takina realises they are being followed and uses her client as bait. Now, they have a hostage. Luckily, Chisato showed up just in time to clean things up.
What did you think?
All right. Now, that was a great first episode. I loved the leaning radio tower and the art installation built around it. I particularly liked that it’s clear that it will become important in the story and not just because it’s key to Chisato’s back story. There were lots of little hints of stuff to come such as the Alan Institute, but I also love the idea of two assassins running around helping people. The moment that Chisato delivered the coffee to the Yakuza and Takina thought she was dealing was hilarious.
I think I’m really going to enjoy the dynamic between these two as they are complete opposites but will no doubt have some impact on each other’s lives. Hopefully, we will have a mission of the week that slowly builds into something bigger and more sinister for them to deal with. I can’t help but feel like the organisation behind the Lycoris program will be revealed as the villain… possibly in tandem with the Alan Institute. There’s obviously more to Chisato leaving them and going to work for Mika. I’m already looking forward to the next episode and since I’m not watching this live, I’m going to watch it now.
Episode Highlights
Other reviews in the series
- Season One
- Episode 1 – Easy does it
- Episode 2 – The more the merrier
- Episode 3 – More haste, less speed
- Episode 4 – Nothing seek, nothing find
- Episode 5 – So far, so good
- Episode 6 – Opposites attract
- Episode 7 – Time will tell
- Episode 8 – Another day, another dollar
- Episode 9 – What’s done is done
- Episode 10 – Repay evil with evil
- Episode 11 – Diamond cut diamond
- Episode 12 – Nature versus nurture
- Episode 13 – Recoil of Lycoris
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I’m looking forward to reading your reviews of Lycoris Recoil! It was one of my favorite series last year.
Mine too…
Just started on watching this series, welcoming the new year & almost exactly a year after you post these episodic reviews of yours. While I’m aware it’s nothing special & this concept of “girls with guns” theme has been done before in an early 2000s anime, it’s a solid premiere episode in terms of great execution & the relationship’s chemistry between the two main heroines. I like how the tone is handled well in this episode, not too serious but not too comedic. Hopefully the future episodes will do the same. It’s odd why I didn’t watch LycoReco as a seasonal watch back then. Probably was busy with reality stuff or something like that.
I try not to give in to the hype since I’ve seen some mutuals of mine seeing it as “copaganda” though it didn’t look that way in my POV since I like this alternate reality’s reason on why Japan maintains its “most peaceful country” position. Like you said & what I still believe in is that there’s always something sinister beneath a utopia.
Happy New Year. I loved this series mostly because of Chisato and Takina. There are some areas that I wish it explored more and the authoritarian style of government was one element that really didn’t get enough time. Regardless, it’s a lot of fun. I hope you enjoy the rest of the season.