Lycoris Recoil: Ordinary Days Review

Lycoris Recoil became a huge hit when its original anime aired in the Summer of 2022. Since then, it has inspired several spin-off media, including three-minute anime shorts that are currently streaming on Crunchyroll. Today, I’m here to review the light novel Lycoris Recoil: Ordinary Days to determine if it’s a worthwhile addition to this growing franchise.

As the subtitle suggests, Ordinary Days is set primarily in Café LycoReco and follows the ordinary, laid-back days of protagonists Chisato and Takina when they’re not saving the world as Lycoris and instead working in the beloved café. There are five chapters in total, many of which revolve around one of the regular customers who frequent the store.

Each of the customers has a reason for having become so attached to the gentle atmosphere of Café LycoReco, but they also tend to have a problem they need help with. One regular seems depressed, and Chisato mistakenly thinks Takina has a crush on him, so she starts to interfere by setting up situations to bring them closer.

Then there’s the high school student who puts on an outgoing personality while at the café, but seems to be hiding a troubled home life. And then there’s the journalist who’s keen to write a feature about the LycoReco, but given all the staff work primarily as Lycoris, they don’t want to draw unnecessary attention to themselves…

For readers hoping for a bit more of the regular content we’re used to seeing from the anime, there’s one chapter dedicated to our protagonists going on a mission to take down a drug ring, which offers more action scenes. There’s also a chapter about a zombie apocalypse, which again offers a more high-stakes scenario but also ends up being one of the best for showcasing the close relationship Chisato and Takina share. Especially as this all appears to be set during the anime, so the two have yet to go through the highly emotional conclusion to the original story.

While this collection sounds a bit dull on paper, it is written by one of the original creators, Asaura, so all of the characters are on-model and their usual gremlin-like selves. I think it would be difficult for anyone else to write Chisato in particular and capture the same nuance behind her boundless zest for life. Her dialogue is hectic, and her moods change on the flip of a coin, which in many situations would feel chaotic or annoying if the writer took it in the wrong direction.

With Asaura at the helm, this light novel is a lot of fun and feels like a genuine extension of the universe. The only thing that feels out of place is the last story about the high schooler, as there are several dark twists here which don’t feel out of place in Lycoris Recoil per se, but it does feel wrong alongside the lighter fare this book otherwise offers. Still, that’s a relatively minor complaint in the grand scheme of things!

Ultimately, how much you enjoy this release will depend on how much you like the cast. This is not newcomer-friendly in the slightest and does expect you to already be familiar with the franchise. Plus, since it’s set during the anime, it can’t do anything that will have a lasting impact on the plot. This isn’t necessarily an issue, but given this is quite different to the anime, it really depends on what you liked about it originally. Since I love the cast, I’m happy to watch over them doing just about anything, but your mileage will vary. Although I will say there’s much more of a focus on Chisato and Takina, with Krumi, Mika and Mizuki in more of a supporting role, so you do need to be more invested in the main duo than anyone else.

Lycoris Recoil: Ordinary Days comes to the West thanks to Yen Press and has been translated by Kiki Piatkowska who has done a good job of capturing the personalities of the cast with the dialogue. This release includes several colour pages which have been handled by illustrator Imigimuru, who also did the original character designs for the anime. The colour pages and the interior illustrations capture the daily lives of the cast well, it always looks like they’re having fun!

Yen Press also release the manga adaptation in English as well as several anthology collections. As far as the light novels go, there is a second one titled Lycoris Recoil: Recovery Days, which came out in Japan in 2024. However, at the time of writing, that doesn’t appear to be on the release schedule, so its possible that’s a separate license. Whatever the case, given the popularity of the franchise, I’m hopeful we’ll see that in the near future.

Overall, Lycoris Recoil: Ordinary Days is a fun addition to the franchise. It might not be for everyone, given its much more relaxed atmosphere, but for those of you simply looking to spend more time with the characters this will scratch that itch.

Our review copy was supplied by the publisher Yen Press.