On Saturday, April 12, 2025, Aniplex of America announced that it will begin streaming a series of Lycoris Recoil anime short films on its official YouTube channel, starting on Wednesday, April 16. These short films are collectively titled Lycoris Recoil: Friends are Thieves of Time, and one of the six films will be available for viewing each Wednesday from the initial release date.
Alongside the streaming on Aniplex of America’s YouTube channel, the Lycoris Recoil short films are also set to be available on various other platforms, although specific details regarding these platforms have not yet been disclosed. The production team has previously unveiled key visuals for each short film, providing insight into the dedicated staff behind the scenes.
Streaming Details for the Lycoris Recoil Short Films
The titles of the six short films are as follows: “Take it Easy,” “Miles Away,” “Scintillation of Genius,” “Watch Out!,” “Bittersweet First Love,” and “Brief Respite.” The first episode’s script is penned by Shingo Adachi, while Takashi Sakuma takes on the roles of storyboard and technical director. For the second episode, Imigimuru is responsible for the storyboard script, with Adachi helming the storyboard and Tsuyoshi Tobita serving as the creative director.
Shu Mori will write the script for the third episode, with Kota Mori in charge of the storyboard and creative direction. Yoshikazu Tominaga is tasked with scripting the fourth episode, while Takayuki Kikuchi takes on storyboard and creative direction. Lastly, the sixth episode will be scripted by Shingo Adachi, supported by Msayuki Sakoi as the storyboard and creative director.
These short films will portray the everyday lives of the characters at Café LycoReco, who are the beloved protagonists from the original television series. This series premiered in Japan in July 2022 and has been made available for international audiences via Crunchyroll, which offered English subtitles during its weekly airing. Additionally, Crunchyroll began streaming an English dub that premiered on Adult Swim’s Toonami block in January 2024.
Shingo Adachi made his directorial debut with this project after serving as the character designer and chief animation director for the popular series Sword Art Online and Wagnaria!!. The television adaptation’s designs were created by Imigimuru, with production handled by A-1 Pictures. The narrative rests on a story drafted by Ben-To author Asaura, while character uniforms were designed by Kimika Onai. Both Spider Lily and Asaura are credited with the original content and story of the anime series.
In addition to the upcoming short films, two spinoff light novels have been released, titled Ordinary Days and Recovery Days. Both novels were written and illustrated by Asaura and Imigimuru, respectively, and were published by ASCII Media Works under its Dengeki Bunko imprint—Ordinary Days came out in September 2022, followed by Recovery Days in March 2024.