Seriously, when Taku asks for a clue, and the other girl replies that he might see it and might not see it as well, Rimi is at the background.

It was also creepy when she said “put your sword down, don’t use it” or sth like that.

@SoSo/Karin lover: LOL how true. And you would never, ever see another harem anime.

@Zentari: Alright, I’ll give it my best shot. ::laughs nervously:: Actually, rather than a plot summary, how about a chronology of events (ordered from least to most recent)? Here goes:

1) Child Taku draws a picture of a school bus (the on that he would have been on had his parents actually allowed him to go on the trip) and thinks strongly about it crashing. Not even a day later, his mother gets word that the school bus actually did crash.

2) Child Taku becomes socially withdrawn. His parents begin taking him to a mental health ward where he meets the psychiatrist who was killed. An agent from N.O.Z.O.M.I. can be seen lurking in the background, watching the entire incident.

3) Somewhere between the past and present, Ayase is in and out of another psychiatric hospital reserved for the craziest of the crazy.

4) Fast forward to the present, Taku is a full-blown social recluse and is very much used to living in his own mental world. He is a Seira fanatic, and frequently imagines her talking to him. It’s not clear whether the scene from the beginning of the first episode is a dream that Taku has, or a snapshot of things to come.

5) Taku goes to school and learns about the New Gene murders for the first time. Keep in mind that these murders were occurring before he knew about them. Also keep in mind that Yua is already at his school, as well as Ayase, Sena and Rimi. Though Rimi claims to be his friend later on, he does not recall ever having known her. Yua is watching Taku closely even before the first murder.

6) Taku returns home and meets Shogun online, who shows him a picture of the first murder a day before it happens. Shogun also alludes to some dangerous scientific research in his conversation.

7) The next day, Taku stumbles upon the murder victim (a professor who was researching Shibuya’s funky GE Rate) and “sees” Rimi as the culprit. It’s not clear whether he imagines Rimi, or whether she is actually there. However, his prescient ability is already in gear because she addresses him in the same fond manner that she will treat him in later episodes. Note that she says that she “wanted to meet him” as if she had not met him already.

Yua, who was also at @Cafe and monitoring Taku’s chat convos finally confronts him about the murder after pretending to want to date him and finding the cross in his room. She concludes that he has the ability of precognition, or something similar. Note that surveillance recordings have pictures of Taku running from the murder scene with the cross in his hand, nothing else.

9) Taku checks himself into the hospital again to visit his psychiatrist. It is not clear whether or not they measure anything significant. By the time Taku awakens, the psychiatrist has left.

10) Taku begins to do some research to clear his name and stumbles upon another person who supposedly has precognitive abilities – FES. He attends the Phantasm concert and she confronts him with her Di-Sword. Note that the lyrics of one of their songs contain a description very similar to the manner in which the professor was murdered. Also note that she copies his phrase, “Sono me dare no me?”

11) The phrase is found scrawled on the wall in blood next to the following New Gene victim, who had been drained of all his/her blood. It hits the news.

12) Taku and Ayase meet up again the next day and she explains that the Di-Sword is his only salvation. Keep in mind that Ayase has some mythical/prophetic knowledge about what is going to happen Shibuya, or so it would seem.

13) Taku is confronted by the police (Yasuji), who is aware of the GE Rate phenomenon and decides not to take action on him or anyone else yet.

14) Taku gets closer to Rimi. Taku also meets Sena for the first time and she asks about his ability to see the Di-Sword.

15) Kozue finally transfers to Taku’s school. It is not clear why. She greets him telepathically.

16) Shogun reveals himself and tells Taku that he cannot run. Note that Shogun has a very young sounding voice. This is his strongest delusion yet, in which all of Shibuya’s citizens disappear.

17) Taku has his first dream about Rimi, a dream in which they are the only two people that exist.

18) Kozue brekaing out a Gero bandaid marks the fourth or firth appearance of that symbol.

19) Taku has a delusion of a huge chain. He follows it onto a train and finds Sena sitting there, who explains the scientific principle behind the delusions.

20) Yua confronts Taku a second time. People chase Taku after she explains her suspicions to them. People are also chasing Ayase, who has brought suspicion upon herself with her precognitive abilities and her song lyrics.

21) Ayase explains the Di-Sword a second time, and tells Taku that the first was a fake.

22) The third set of murder victims appear on a YouTube video. One of them turns to the camera and uses Shogun’s phrase, “Sono me dare no me.” Taku deduces that the video was made by Shogun.

23) Taku tries to prove that Shogun is the murderer and instead stumbles upon the fourth murder victim – his psychiatrist.

24) Sena reveals that the N.O.Z.O.M.I. is somehow involved in the utilization of the GE Rate to produce illusion generating machines.

25) Yasuji’s colleague explains that something must be causing the phenomenon.

26) The phenomenon reveals itself.

*Whew* So that’s the story thus far. Without getting too deeply into theories, I think that there are four different parties involved here: 1) People like Taku who possess extrasensory and psychic abilities, 2) organizations that are trying to exploit the GE Rate of Shibuya to use this ability on other people, 3) people like Sena and Yua trying to stop that from happening, 4) Shogun, who is hoping to exploit the GE Rate to his own ends and perhaps to an extent that N.O.Z.O.M.I. did not anticipate. His side is not clear. Also, I do believe that as the rate has increased, so have Taku’s delusions. So there. Take from it what you will. ^_^

@Saiyu: Thank goodness for that!

@Forgan: Maybe it’s reacting to the spastic GE Rate.

@Chronolynx: My backlog list gets bigger and bigger every day. @_@ But LS will be one of the lucky (ack! a pun!) anime that gets priority. After all, besides being a ‘must-see’ its my only souvenir from slaving away reporting at AWA 2008 and I was one of the poor fanboys foolish enough to fall into Bandai’s ridiculous “special limited edition t-shirt box” trap. Speaking of traps, thanks for the tidbit about the seiyuu, looks like you were right on target with the Lucky Star reference. I guess she isn’t a trap! Coulda fooled me with that sexy baritone, though.

http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/people.php?id=3581

She is, in fact, a woman, who’s voice (described on her wiki page) as “hoarse and androgynous”. So yeah, could definitely see where you’re coming from with the husky part lol. As for her character being a trap, let me just paint a big HELL NO sign and leave it here for ya =P. Since she isn’t a guy (no matter how ugly/manly she sounds…), she wouldn’t be a trap. At least, not in my book.

Best part of the episode: THe slow transition of the ringtone commonly heard at crosswalks in Japan (Shogun? Shibuya? Crosswalks? I see what you did thar.) to the insane sound of an ambulance screeching throughout the city. Shit’s about to get started.

@Rhine: Let’s call this one a “bear trap”! (ROFL)

@AnimeVocalist: I wonder how many cans of styling gel it took to get it like that.

@Chronolynx: You know, I’m still watching that series, but come to think of it, you might be right. I may rummage through the ANN encyclopedia to see if I can find something. I’m curious as to why they decided to use a dude for her voice. I mean, is she really a trap or just a husky lady with a husky voice to match? XD