In a near future, humanity is threatened by the existence of monsters they call "Huge" (ヒュージ). To anticipate this, the whole world unites against Huge and succeeds in developing a decisive weapon called "Charm" (チャーム) that brings together the power of science and magi. Since Charm shows high synchronization to teenage girls, these girls are called "Lily" and are regarded as heroes. To train them, Lily training institution called "Garden" was established all over the world to counter Huge, and became a "sanctuary" to protect and guide people.
An anime television series titled Assault Lily: Bouquet (which is an adaptation of a mixed-media toyline of dolls) was announced on October 13, 2019. The series is produced by Studio Shaft and directed by Shōji Saeki and chief directed by Hajime Ōtani, with Mieko Hosoi designing the characters. Akito Matsuda is composing the series' music. Raise A Suilen performs the series' opening theme song "Sacred world", while Hitotsuyanagi-tai (a unit consists of the main characters) performed the series' ending theme song "Edel Lilie". The series was originally scheduled for a July 2020 debut, but due to the COVID-19 Pandemic, the series premiered on October 2, 2020, on TBS and BS-TBS. Funimation licensed the series and is streaming it on its website in North America and the British Isles.
Watch trailer here
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Assault Lily: Bouquet provides examples of:
- 2D Visuals, 3D Effects: Some of the fights render the girls and their CHARMS in CG.
- BFG: Hoo boy, the CHARMS are these and more. Just look at the visual on the top of the page to get an idea how big they are. Several designs are just as large if not larger than their users, which makes you wonder how someone like Riri is able to comfortably swing hers around in such high-stakes fights.
- BFS: Many CHARMS are primarily extremely large bladed weapons with the ranged component being a secondary weapon or if melee-combat is impossible.
- Breather Episode: Episodes 5, 8 (minus The Stinger) and 10 take place after rather tense and plot-heavy episodes. Episode 5 involves Yuyu trying to get a birthday present for Riri, Episode 8 depicts Yuri's bond with the other members of Riri's legion, and Episode 10 involves Riri's region trying to recover a lost hairpiece for her.
- Child Soldiers: Young teen girls called Lilies help fight against the war against Huges, and Yuyu has been one since she's been 14, maybe younger.
- Crapsack World: Your world is waging war against a bunch of mechanical monsters that can come out at any time, with certain towns being forced to evacuate due to said activity. Your only hope are emotional and vulnerable (both physically and emotionally) teenage girls whose schools are also the forward-bases where the Huge are actively being lured in to spare civilians. Definitely sounds like a fun time.
- Explain, Explain... Oh, Crap!: When Yuri goes up against Moyu's "Mecha Rumpelstilzchen", Moyu explains that she tuned it up so it could beat Miriam, then as she finishes explaining this, she realizes Yuri probably has no chance against it and outright declares that it's gonna kill her, followed by Miriam asking what she planned for it to do to her. Yuri manages to defeat it in the end, however.
- Fun with Acronyms: "CHARMS" stands for "Counter Huge Arms"
- Hartman Hips: Their wardrobe manages to conceal it to a certain extent but all the girls have quite prominent hip parts compared to the rest of their rather petite stature.
- Hermetic Magic: The inside of a CHARMS barrel is inscribed with runes to give the physical bullets that extra magical kick they need to actually make a dent on Huge. Like real-life guns, they need to be replaced from time-to-time before breaking from overuse.
- Homoerotic Subtext: There's a lot of lesbian subtext in the show, some which is very obvious. Kaede has a ton with Yuyu and later Riri, while Riri has it with almost every other character. In fact, Riri and Yuyu's "
couple name" is outright announced as "Yuri" in the show (because Yu + Ri). - Idiosyncratic Episode Naming: Episodes titles are taken from Japanese names of flowers.
- Improbably Female Cast: There's implication of other male characters, but other than the headmaster of the academy and some government members, every character has been shown to be a female so far.
- Leg Focus: The camera put particular focus on the Lily's thighs and legs.
- Mecha-Mooks: The Huge are giant mechanical mooks that can only be destroyed by CHARMS.
- Mix-and-Match Weapon: CHARMS are usually a melee-component (like a sword blade) and a ranged component (like an assault rifle barrel). When not in use, these components fold at angles on the side, are contained inside the other, or form parts like the handle of an ax blade.
- Morph Weapon: As described at Mix-and-Match Weapon, most CHARMS have at least two modes, melee and ranged.
- Ninja Maid: The outfits that the Lilies wear are very maidlike. Additionally, they are very formal towards most other peers.
- Portmanteau Couple Name: Exploited In-Universe, with the leads Yuyu and Riri forming "Yuri". The couple name is used in the show, just to make sure everyone gets it.
- Religious and Mythological Theme Naming: The models for CHARMS are named after famous weapons in Norse mythology, such as the Dainsleif series.
- "Shaggy Dog" Story: The gist of episode 5. When Yuyu finds out it's almost Riri's birthday, she decides to get her something special. Namely, a bottle of Ramune from her hometown. After dragging herself halfway across town in the blazing heat, she winds up giving both of the bottles to a couple of thirsty kids on the way back. And finds out to her annoyance that not only is there a machine within spitting distance of the school that has Ramune, Riri already knew and regularly goes there.
- Shell-Shocked Veteran: Yuyu has lost a friend after misusing her power, and suffers severe trauma due to blaming herself for her death.
- Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: Riri's reckless behavior with running away with Yuri had the government quite upset at Yurigaoka. Even though Moyu and the Headmaster were able to convince the government that Yuri was human, Riri did make quite a scene. Therefore, the following episode had her punished for her actions (even if several students like Endou opposed it), meaning she was locked in a room with no interactions besides limited ones with Yuyu for a week and, presumably, no provisions. She wasn't even allowed to see Yuri's gravestone until after she got out.
- Viewers Are Morons: The anime puts intro subtitles for every single character for their first appearance in the episodes, no matter if it's the main characters or side characters.
- Wham Line: The Stinger for Episode 8, which was otherwise a wholesome episode. Moyu gets results from Yuri's DNA that it's of a normal human girl, but she concludes it is too normal and could possibly be an experiment of a Huge-turned-human, also revealing connections of Kaede's father with it. Averted on the last part that Kaede is more disappointed in her father than anything.Kaede: Hello, Father ....
- World of Action Girls: Apparently, only girls can be Lilies.
