Premiere Date
22-07-2025
Lycoris Recoilwas quite an instant sensation and the reasons why aren’t eluding anyone; it was a sleek modern action show playing to thealways appealing niche that is “cute girls with guns.“Though its 13 episodes came and went, leaving the “girls with guns” crowd hungry once more, the series is finally returning with a batch of short films centered around each of the main characters.
From A-1 Pictures and director Shingo Adachi, 2022’sLycoris Recoilfollows two young women in a city where highly trained girls - designated “Lycoris” - discreetly suppress terrorism and preserve peace. When agent Takina Inoue is demoted and transferred to café LycoReco, she meets Chisato Nishikigi, a highly gifted operative who teaches her there’s more to being a Lycoris than killing.
What’s New at LycoReco?
On July 23, duringa celebration of the anime’s second anniversary, Adachi announced that six new short films would be released centering around the daily lives of the main characters. This comes more than a year after the official Twitter/X account for the series announced that a new animated project had been greenlit, and now fans have a bit more clarity about the new project.
There’s no word yet on a release date, the length of each short, or much info about the staff, though excitingly, each short film is confirmed to have a different director and storyboard artist. Adachi will be returning in a supervisory capacity and the scripts are reportedly being written by Imigimuru, who served as the character designer on the TV series back in 2022. The anime was previously both written and directed by Adachi
When Do These Shorts Take Place?
This section contains spoilers for Season 1 of Lycoris Recoil.
Lycoris Recoil’s first season certainly lookedas if it was ramping up to a definitive conclusion. Between Chisato’s life counting down on a ticking clock and what appeared to be the very public unmasking of the Lycoris program, things seemed to be coming to a dramatic close. Thankfully, after the crisis was averted, Chisato was fortunate enough to receive a new artificial heart and DA (Direct Attack) was able to provide a convincing cover story to hide their existence.
With some lingering threads and the assurance that the LycoReco team would be united once more, the first season easily opened the door for a continuation. There are still weapons circulating within Tokyo, and Majima is still at large, which means Chisato and Takina’s job is long from finished. The shorts could easily be set during or after Season 1.
What Kind of Sequel Are Fans in For?
Lycoris Recoil’s continuation by way of six short films sounds reminiscent ofanother girl-centric action show; 2017’sPrincess Principal. After the first season concluded, Studio Actas continued the story viaPrincess Principal: Crown Handler, a still-ongoing series of hour-long films. The first three out of the eventual six have been released in theaters in Japan over the past four years.
However, given the clarifier that these films are focused on the characters' daily lives, one wonders whetherLycoris Recoil’s new films will advance the narrative or simply serve as a fun side story. Granted, these girls' “daily lives” contain plenty of casual violence as is, so hopefully, fans are in for more of the silly blend of cutesy fun and tactical gunplay that made the series so appealing.
More details are to come, but for the moment, it’s nice to know this series isn’t remaining dormant. Every few years, a new anime comes along that scratches theniche and eclectic itch for “cute girls with guns”, but rarely does it last. Whether this is one more ride or the sign of more sequels on the way, maybeLycoris Recoilcan go even furtherthan its spiritual predecessors.
