Saint Cecilia and Pastor Lawrence – Season 1 Episode 1 Recap & Review

The Relationship Between Them

Episode 1 of Saint Cecilia and Pastor Lawrence begins with a priest telling a young Lawrence about saints and their protection policies. He tells Lawrence never to forget this principle, and that’s different from the rest. After some time, Lawrence is older and takes a boy and his mother to meet Cecilia, the only saint in town. The boy asks Cecilia if he can help him resolve a dispute with his friend, and she gives him advice. Lawrence informs the boy’s mother that Cecilia has no issue helping people since she’s required to.

After the boy and his mother depart, Cecilia shows her true colors. Lawrence confirms Cecilia likes to act lazy only when she’s in front of him. We see this unfold as she quickly shifts her demeanor to a professional one as people enter the church. Lawrence asks Cecilia why she likes lazing around when it’s only him in the room. She dodges the question and asks Lawrence why she won’t let her participate in specific activities like cooking or digging. Lawrence tells Cecilia he doesn’t want her to get hurt, confirming he can be overprotective.

Lawrence tells Cecilia he’ll be visiting some homes in town, and Cecilia begs him to let her accompany him during his expedition. Lawrence complies but asks Cecilia to avoid people if they ask her to show them her mysterious powers. Lawrence leaves to prepare, and Cecilia’s happy to spend quality time with him.

Cecilia asks the Church’s Angels to make their presence known to her. She tells them to stop following Lawrence because it makes her jealous. As Lawrence and Cecilia meet a woman, a crowd of children swarm Cecilia and ask for a miracle. Thankfully, she stays put and refuses their demands. Lawrence overhears the kids and pulls Cecilia aside. Cecilia shows the kids a card trick to fulfill their miracle desires, shocking Lawrence.

Lawrence and Cecilia visit a shop owner for a bit to talk. Cecilia spots a wedding dress in the shop and loses it, revealing her true nature to someone other than Lawrence. The shop owner explains how females love stopping by her shop to look at it. Further, she admits she made the dress for a woman’s upcoming wedding early, so she’s displaying it here for a while.

The shopowner admits she always wanted a daughter and loves chatting with girls around Cecilia’s age. The shopowner tells Cecilia many people think she looks cute, embarrassing her. She hands Cecilia a piece of clothing as a gift for stopping by. The shopowner silently tells Cecilia she’s willing to make her a wedding dress anytime, alluding to the fact that she may know she likes Lawrence.

Cecilia and Lawrence leave the shop and encounter a cat. Lawrence scares the feline away and wishes he didn’t have that effect on animals. They return to the church, and a girl named Lily and her mother greet Lawrence with flowers. Lawrence and the girl’s mother leave Cecilia to watch Lily. Lily tells Cecilia she plans to marry the pastor when she’s older, but Cecilia says she shouldn’t. Lawrence overhears Cecilia talking ill of him and scolds her when they’re alone inside for it. However, he’s willing to look past Cecilia’s antics if she tells him how she feels about him personally next time.

Cecilia admits that there are many things about Lawrence that she likes. Lawrence asks Cecilia if he wants her to make some of her favorite meals, and Cecilia gladly accepts. As they bake together, Lawrence recalls his first meeting with Cecilia. He states Cecilia appeared in their village out of nowhere, so he took her to the church, and she remained by his side since that day. However, Cecilia likes to get herself in harmful circumstances, resulting in him always keeping a watchful eye on her.

Lawrence tries getting Cecilia up the following day for breakfast because she woke up late. Cecilia tells Lawrence to enter her room to wake her up. Lawrence discovers Cecilia wearing new pajamas she got from the shop owner and says she looks adorable, embarrassing her. Cecilia changes her clothes and visits Lawrence at the table for breakfast. Lawrence and Cecilia discuss their likes and dislikes concerning food for a while before leaving their home to shop for things. Lawrence tries his best to prevent Cecilia from hurting herself the entire time, leading to many funny situations. After gathering the essentials, Lawrence wonders if he should get things to make sweets, but Cecilia urges Lawrence to buy the ingredients.

Cecilia tells Lawrence she admires everything she does for him and the village, but Lawrence thinks she’s going too far. It starts raining, so Lawrence and Cecilia rush over to find shelter. A woman and her friend notice the pair without one and offer them umbrellas. Cecilia entices Lawrence to share an umbrella with her, but the rain stops, ruining her chance to have an intimate moment with him. That is until Lawrence picks her off her feet and rushes home.

Shortly after, Cecilia notices Lawrence sleeping and states how attached she is to him. The episode closes with Cecilia holding Lawrence and vowing to protect him no matter what.

The Episode Review

Considering Summer’s the time when people tend to relax from working hard in other seasons, Saint Cecilia and Pastor Lawrence feel like the perfect anime for people to watch at the moment. This anime’s being brought to us by the folks responsible for the previous season’s smash-hit Oshi No Ko, Studio Doga Kobo. Although Saint Cecilia and Pastor Lawrence doesn’t start off swinging out of the gate like that show, it gives fans some comfy humor and enjoyable characters to observe regarding Cecilia and Lawrence. 

Although we don’t know a lot about either character’s background, the episode does a nice job of demonstrating their dynamic. Despite helping others with their problems, Cecilia isn’t afraid to act lackadaisical when she’s off-duty. This often clashes with Lawrence who likes to act professionally in every scenario he’s a part of. It’ll be interesting if that’ll change the more time he spends with Cecilia or any other future cast members we get introduced to in the anime’s future. 

At the same time, it appears Cecilia holds strong romantic feelings for Lawerence. Unfortunately, Lawerence falls victim to being one of those male rom-com protagonists who is aloof about the female protagonist’s feelings for her. Hopefully, the series can gradually and authentically build their romance up to avoid feeling stale. While the comedic banter and cutesy visuals were great, this episode had some repetitive gags that didn’t land as hard as others.

Overall, this was a heartwarming introduction to Saint Cecilia and Pastor Lawrence and I’m looking forward to seeing what else lies ahead for Cecilia and Lawrence.