Lycoris Recoil Originally Had a Much Darker Story, According to Creator

While it may have flown under the radar ahead of the season, Lycoris Recoil is one of Summer 2022’s most interesting anime. And a recent interview with the Lycoris Recoil creator gives some interesting insight into its story.

In case you’re unfamiliar, Lycoris Recoil is interesting as, unlike most of this season’s big shows, it is an original anime and is not a sequel nor is it based on a manga/light novel.

Another interesting thing about the series is its premise. The anime follows two girls who are members of an all-female spy/assassin group called Lycoris.

These two girls may seem like typical high school students, but they’re capable spies that face baddies with a wide array of guns.

Ahead of the series premiere, animate Times published an interview with Asaura, the writer of the anime series. In the interview, Asaura shed some light on the series’ premise, and how it was much darker at the start.

Related: Is Lycoris Recoil a Yuri? Original Anime's Genre Explained

Given its art style and tone, Lycoris Recoil is a light slice-of-life series, even though its protagonists handle guns and fight terrorists. But Asaura shared in the interview that Lycoris Recoil wasn’t as bright and cheerful as it is now.

Recalling the beginning of production, Asaura mentioned that the show was initially “quite severe,” and that while it was bright, it had an underlying dark air. After all, the series does feature gunfights, so the show initially aimed to show the “reality of guns.”

This changed when director Shingo Adachi went on board. Adachi set a new tone for the series, making it a much lighter anime so that “anyone could enjoy it.”

While there were major changes in the story as it was being developed, what did not change is the protagonist, Takina. In the show, Takina is serious and aloof, in contrast to the cheerful Chisato.

Asaura shared in the interview that while Chisato went through major changes thanks to director Adachi’s influence, Takina pretty much had no change from how the author initially envisioned her.

In his initial plan, Chisato was supposed to be a bit more serious and will only warm up to Takina as the series progressed. Asaura mentioned that he was happy with the change, so much so that he now believes Chisato to be the most interesting character.

Lycoris Recoil streams every week on Crunchyroll.