Lycoris Recoil

Set in a Tokyo where crime is at an all-time low, the secret organization Direct Attack (DA) operates in the shadows, deploying an elite unit of orphaned teenage girls known as Lycoris to eliminate terrorists before they can strike. The public remains blissfully unaware of these agents, believing peace is simply a happy accident.

The story centers on two Lycoris agents: Chisato Nishikigi, a cheerful prodigy who refuses to kill and uses only rubber bullets, and Takina Inoue, a serious, by-the-book operative transferred to the LycoReco cafe after a mission gone wrong. Together they balance mundane cafe work with high-stakes covert missions, forming an unlikely partnership that becomes the emotional heart of the series.

Produced by A-1 Pictures and directed by Shingo Adachi, the original anime aired from July to September 2022, earning praise for its stylish action sequences, character-driven storytelling, and the chemistry between its leads. [edit]

In a world where terrorism is secretly managed by the government, the Direct Attack agency trains orphaned girls as Lycoris agents to neutralize threats. These girls are raised from childhood to be deadly operatives, their existence hidden from the public. The story follows Chisato Nishikigi, the strongest Lycoris agent, who is known for her incredible speed and accuracy but refuses to take lives, preferring non-lethal rubber bullets. She works at the LycoReco cafe, a cover for DA's operations that also handles odd jobs like walking dogs and making deliveries.

When Takina Inoue, a talented but rigid agent, is reassigned to LycoReco after disobeying orders to save a colleague, she is paired with Chisato. Their contrasting approaches cause friction: Takina values efficiency and protocol, while Chisato follows her instincts and values human connections. Over the course of their missions, they grow closer, uncovering a larger conspiracy involving the terrorist Majima, who aims to expose the Lycoris program to the public. Majima believes that people deserve the truth about the government's secret war, and he orchestrates attacks designed to reveal DA's existence.

Meanwhile, Chisato's past comes into focus. She was saved as a child by a man from the Alan Institute, which gave her an artificial heart that grants her superhuman abilities. But the heart has a limited battery life, and Chisato learns she may not have much time left. As Majima's plans escalate, Chisato must confront her own mortality and the moral weight of her powers, while Takina struggles to protect her partner without compromising her own principles. The season builds to a confrontation that forces both women to decide what they are willing to sacrifice for peace and for each other.[edit]