Lycoris Recoil is one of this season’s surprise hits thanks to its charming characters and surprisingly chill vibe peppered with some intense action. But did you know that the original concept for Lycoris Recoil was closer to City Hunter than a comfy slice-of-life series?
Previously, LycoReco writer Asaura shared that the series originally had a much darker story. Now, a new interview with series director Shingo Adachi revealed more insight into the original concept for the anime.
Adachi was interviewed recently in Febri. There, Adachi was asked about the original concept for the series.
While some of the characters were already set and didn’t undergo many changes, the series’ world concept evolved heavily. Initially, Adachi revealed that the anime’s concept was like City Hunter but with girls.
In case you’re unfamiliar, City Hunter is an iconic manga and anime series from the 80s, and it follows Ryo Saeba, a skilled gunman and private detective. Ryo forms the “City Hunter” business which accepts various jobs to rid Tokyo of crime.
Now that Adachi has mentioned this, there are indeed some similarities between Lycoris Recoil and City Hunter.
The protagonists of both series often find themselves in action-packed shootouts with terrorists or crime syndicates, though their more comedic daily life is also followed.
Adachi further mentioned that while the original concept was close to City Hunter, this did not fit well with having two teenage girls as the protagonists as there must be a reason that they don’t attend school and instead fight bad guys.
Given this, Adachi and Asaura did some more worldbuilding, resulting in the DA and the Lycoris agents.
Aside from changing the original concept, Adachi also pushed for LycoReco to be a lighter show, especially when compared to Asaura’s original ideas for it.
Specifically, Adachi said that he wanted viewers to “laugh once every five minutes.”
Though he also mentioned that he still wanted the action and gun movements to be shown correctly to give the show a nice balance between action and comedy.
Related: Lycoris Recoil Water Bus Sets Sail in Tokyo to Celebrate Episode 5
Lycoris Recoil is an original anime series by A-1 Pictures. The series follows Takina, a member of the all-female group of assassins and spies called “Lycoris.”
Takina is sanctioned for disobeying orders, and she is assigned to work under the agent Chisato as a result. She then finds herself working with Chisato in an agency branch that is disguised as a café.
It turns out that Takina and Chisato are practically opposites in terms of personality. But Takina must endure if she wants to regain her previous position.
New episodes of the series are released every week.
Explore new topics and discover content that's right for you!