Assault Lily (アサルトリリィ, Asaruto Rirī) is collaborative project between Azone International and acus, based on a collection of stories originally written by Ken'ei Obanazawa, with the theme of arms and girls.
Originally, it was an original project for a model work by an amateur model dealer, Ken'ei Obanazawa, who started it in 2005. The idea was picked up by Azone International and was merchandised as a series of 1/12 action dolls. The first two dolls, Riri Hitotsuyanagi and Yuyu Shirai, were released in 2013.
A light novel titled Assault Lily ~Team Hitotsuyanagi, Assemble!~ (アサルトリリィ～一柳隊、出撃します！～, Asaruto Rirī ~Hitotsuyanagi-tai, Shutsugeki Shimasu!~), was published in June 2015. A second one was also made in July 2017 titled Assault Lily Arms (アサルトリリィ アームズ, Asaruto Rirī Āmusu).
The first stage play titled Assault Lily × Ludvico Jogakuin vol.1: Schwester's Prayer was performed from 2016, and the play has since become a series and is performed on an ongoing basis.
From 2019, Bushiroad joined the media mix project and the franchise was developed as the Assault Lily Project. The stage performance of Bushiroad's version titled Assault Lily: League of Gardens was launched in January 2020 and a sequel to the stage series titled Assault Lily: The Fateful Gift was performed in September 2020. A stage play in this franchise was also performed in January 2022 as Assault Lily: Lost Memories.
An anime adaptation was made as part of this franchise under the title Assault Lily Bouquet (アサルトリリィ BOUQUET, Asaruto Rirī Būke), and the TV anime was broadcast from October 2020.
The anime version has also been developed into a series, and a video app game Assault Lily: Last Bullet has been released as a work that shares the same universe.
The overall content of the project is marked by the importance placed on the bonds and ties between the girls in the setting and story line. This is thought to be influenced by various earlier works, as the original author, Obanazawa, is an avowed fan of yuri.
Each media, such as the novel version, the stage version (and the comic version on which the stage version scenario was based) and the anime/app game version, has its own unique story line, with small and large differences in the world setting, character setting and relationships between various characters.
In the near future on Earth, humanity is on the verge of extinction due to extraterrestrial beings known as Huge.
Humankind has been fighting the Huge using weapons called CHARM, decisive battle arms that combines magical and scientific power. High adaptability to these arms is found predominantly in young teenage girls. Women who wielded CHARM would be called Lily and regarded as heroes.
To counter the Huge, Lily training institutions, Gardens, were established in various parts of the world and served as bases to protect and instruct people.
In such the Gardens, this is a story of battles and friendships among the girls who fight fleetingly but beautifully to be full-fledged Lily.
This section explains key terms related to the Assault Lily world setting. The contents refer to the World Settings Explanation page (external link) on the official Assault Lily website.
Lily (リリィ)
Women who can handle CHARM are called 'Lily'.
They are the only ones who can effectively confront Huge, the enemy of mankind in this world. Lily possess a magical power called Magi in their bodies, especially those with a Skiller Score of 50 or more, which is an index that indicates the amount of Magi they possess.
Lily belong to the Garden, a training institution, where they learn how to fight against Huge and prepare for actual battles.
As many Lily are teenage girls, their status is treated with the utmost care. Lily are allowed to make flexible and independent decisions, and each Garden has a certain degree of autonomy from the government and the military.
Lily with outstanding abilities greatly influence the situation in battles against Huge, so they are the focus of attention not only in the Gardens, but also around the world.
These Lily characters play a major role in Assault Lily works.
In addition to Lily who go into actual combat, there are various other Lily, such as those in the 'Arsenal Department' who maintain and customise CHARM.
(Reference: LILY｜WORLD｜Assault Lily)
CHARM
CHARM stands for Counter Huge ARMS, which is the only decisive weapon capable of putting an end to Huge.
It is controlled by a stone-shaped component called the Magi Crystal Core, which is computer-controlled and powered by Magi, and the attachment of the core allows CHARM to be finely customised.
Magi crystals tend to resonate with teenage women, and it is believed that only women can carry out attacks that require particularly high-powered Magi. Female CHARM users are called Lily.
There are many CHARM manufacturers worldwide, producing a wide variety of CHARMs.
Many second-generation and later CHARMs combine the functions of a shooting mode for medium- and long-range attacks and a blade mode for close-range attacks in a single weapon, with a transforming mechanism to switch between the two.
Representative second-generation CHARMs include Yggdrasil's "Gungnir" and "Dáinsleif", the Celtic Dair's "Brionac", and "Asterion" by Hihiirokane International.
(Reference: CHARM｜WORLD｜Assault Lily)
Huge (ヒュージ)
The Huge is an unknown gigantic life-form that is an enemy of Lily and mankind.
Setting in Stage Plays, Novels, etc.
It is a life form created by the outburst of giant cells called Huge Cells. Through repeated predation, parasitism and growth, they acquire a variety of shapes and many species have been identified. They are classified according to size and strength, and are classified as Small, Medium, Large, Gigant and Altra.
There are two main types: those that fly from the sky in stealth and those that emerge from interdimensional wormholes known as Caves.
While up to the Medium class can be repelled with conventional weapons, Huges from the Large class and above can only be defeated by CHARM.
In addition, there is a massive Huge called "Altra class", the leader of the Huges, which can only be damaged by a special joint decisive attack using multiple CHARMs.
(Reference: HUGE｜WORLD｜Assault Lily)
Setting in the Anime Series
(Warning: Spoilers in the main story!)
Half a century has already passed since the Huge appeared before humanity. However, Huge's behaviour as a species and its purpose have not yet been clarified.
Huge are created by Magi and do not prey on things.
Magi are the origin for both Huge and Lily, and Lily are said to be a Huge-ized human.
The DNA of Huge is said to have undergone a multi-layered genome duplication and is said to possess all the genetic information that has ever appeared on the planet before. This feature has led some scientists to liken Huge to a 'genetic ark'.
Garden (ガーデン)
To counter the Huge, humanity has established training institutions for CHARM users, known as "Gardens", in various regions of the world.
As it is teenage women who are most likely to resonate with the Magi Crystal of CHARM, the Gardens also function as military training academies that provide high school education.
Each Garden has its own characteristics and differs in terms of school culture, educational style, the CHARM it handles and its mode of combat in actual warfare (especially in joint attack techniques). Lily, who belongs to a Garden with its own unique discipline and customs, tends to be strongly affected by its characteristics.
There are various Gardens around the world, such as Yurigaoka Girls Academy known for its "Schutzengel System", Sagami Girls High School with its strict realist military school culture, Herensuge Girl Academy and Kamba Girls High School of Arts both in Tokyo, etc.
(Reference: GARDEN｜WORLD｜Assault Lily)
Skill
Lily can use the magical power of Magi, and those with particularly remarkable expressions of this ability are called Rare Skills. In principle, there is only one Rare Skill per person, and it is considered difficult to have more than one Rare Skill because they reflect one's way of life.
Skills that are less than Rare Skills are called Subskills, and Lily who does not possess a Rare Skill can raise it to a Rare Skill of the same lineage by improving her abilities. Lily can have more than one subskill, and up to seven different sub-skills have been identified.
Qualities for abilities are generally expressed as "Skiller Score", the higher the score, the higher the ability; whether CHARM can be used or rare skills can be expressed can be determined based on the Skiller Score, which is a very important score for Lily.
(Reference: SKILL｜WORLD｜Assault Lily)
For details, refer to the article List of Assault Lily Characters.
Legend
LG ... 'Legion', the basic units of Lily's manoeuvres in each Garden. It consists of a minimum of five to nine and a maximum of 18 members.
Yurigaoka Girls Academy (百合ヶ丘女学院)
Yurigaoka Girls Academy (百合ヶ丘女学院, Yurigaoka Jogakuin) is a prestigious Garden where many Lily's, including the protagonist, are enrolled.
LG Hitotsuyanagi (Hitotsuyanagi-tai, 一柳隊)
The Team Hitotsuyanagi (一柳隊) is a Legion as the leading role.
LG Álfheimr (Ichiban-tai, 壱盤隊)
The Álfheimr (アールヴヘイム) is a strong Legion, which has succeeded the team name "Álfheimr" from the previous generation. The current generation of the Legion is also called by the nickname "Ichiban-tai" (壱盤隊).
- Ichi Tanaka
- Soraha Amano
- Kusumi Egawa
- Araya Endō
- Tatsuki Mori
- Misora Kanabako
- Tsukushi Takasuga
- Akane Watanabe
- Ena Banshōya
- Wakana Maki
- Kisara Okada
- Noa Mozuna
Other Main Legions of Yurigaoka
LG Reginleif (Suiyuukai, 水夕会)
LG Lohengrin
LG Eir (Shinshi-tai, 秦祀隊)
LG Schwartz Grail
Ludovico Girls Academy (ルドビコ女学院)
A Garden based in a missionary school in Shinjuku, Tokyo. It is the Garden that plays a leading role in the stage play "Assault Lily × Ludvico Jogakuin" series.
Odaiba Girls School (御台場女学校)
A famous Garden in Odaiba, Tokyo. The school motto is "Qualität kommt von Qual".
Irma Girls School of Fine Arts (イルマ女子美術高校)
A Garden with a campus in Kiyosumi-Shirakawa, Tokyo. It is a rival school to both Ludovico and Odaiba Gardens.
Herensuge Girl Academy (エレンスゲ女学園)
An emerging Garden in Roppongi, Tokyo. It is run by the up-and-coming CHARM developer Aunyamendi Sistemas and is the leading pro-G.E.H.E.N.A.-ism school in the Kanto region.
Kamba Girls High School of Arts (神庭女子藝術高校)
A Garden in Ogikubo, Tokyo, which values the autonomy of its Lily. It is also an art high school, with departments such as landscape gardening, painting and music.
Other Gardens
Sagami Girls High School (相模女子高等学館, Sagami Joshi Kōtō Gakkan)
St. Mercurius International School (聖メルクリウスインターナショナルスクール)
Kamakura Prefectural Sakuranomori Girls High School (鎌倉府立桜ノ杜女子高等学校, Kamakura Furitsu Sakuranomori Joshi Kōtō Gakkō)
Sielulintu Girls Garden (シエルリント女学薗, Sielulintu Jogakuen)
Alchemilla Girls School (アルケミラ女学館, Alchemilla Jogakkan)
Jōgashima Techincal Girls High School (城ヶ島工科女子高等学校, Jōgashima Kōka Joshi Kōtō Gakkō)
Kai Seizan Girls High School (甲斐聖山女子高等学校, Kai Seizan Joshi Kōtō Gakkō)
Naka Ōgushi Girls Academy (那賀大串女学園, Naka Ōgushi Jogakuen)
Ambrosia Girls Garden High School (アンブロシア女学苑高等學校, Ambrosia Jogakuen Kōtō Gakkō)
Rokuyaon Higher Girls Academy (鹿野苑高等女学園, Rokuyaon Kōtō Jogakuen)
Ryūto Girls School (柳都女学館, Ryūto Jogakkan)
Heimskringla Trädgård (ヘイムスクリングラ・トレードゴード)
A TV animation, Assault Lily BOUQUET, is broadcast from October to December 2020. All 12 episodes. Animation produced by Shaft. Directed by Shouji Saeki.
A short internet animation series, Assault Lily Fruits, was streamed from July 2021. It was released in the Last Ballet app and also on the official YouTube channel for a limited period of time. Later on, the series was also broadcast on TV on some broadcasters from October.
A role-playing application game for smartphones, Assault Lily Last Bullet, began distribution on 20 January 2021. The world setting and timeline of the work follows that of the anime version Assault Lily Bouquet.
About Media Development
There are a number of different parallel universes in Assault Lily's media development. The major ones are the world of the stage version, the world of the novel version and the world of the anime/app game version, each of which has a different world setting, characterisation, incidents that occurred and story timeline.
The source of these worlds is the story created by the original author, Ken'ei Obanazawa (尾花沢軒栄). The stories and settings that serve as the basis for all of these stories do not exist in the form of a single work, but are instead developed in a piecemeal fashion, for example as flavour texts attached to the original action dolls, or as settings that are gradually revealed through the original author's Twitter feeds. It is also represented in each story by the supervision of the original author for each media work.
In other words, although the stories may have the nature of parallel universes at the stage of their actual media development, it can be said that the story of Assault Lily is a shared universe at the core of the original story.
In addition to this, the Assault Lily x Ludvico Jogakuin series was a collaboration with an independent theatrical group, the Private Ludvico Jogakuin (私立ルドビコ女学院). As a result, there are some cases where characters originally from the Ludvico side are now active as characters in the Assault Lily saga. The original plays performed by Ludvico were contemporary plays dealing with ordinary schoolgirls.
The original copyright is held by Ken'ei Obanazawa and the creative group acus, the basis for content development (e.g. novel versions) and sales of the action doll series is held by Azone International, the organiser of the Ludvico stage is Pius Planning, and when it comes to large-scale media mix projects with such things as anime adaptations, it is Bushiroad that participates and presides over the Assault Lily Project (Bushiroad, TBS TV, Pokelabo, Shaft, Azone International, Marui Group, Bushiroad Creative, Bushiroad Music). Note that Bushiroad has left the project at the end of 2022.
| General | Doll Figure Azone acus Pius (stage organiser) Bushiroad Stage play 2.5D Media mix |
|---|---|
| Genres | Yuri SF Magical Girl |
| General (Anime) | Assault Lily BOUQUET Autumn 2020 Anime Shaft Animation Studio Shouji Saeki (Director) Assault Lily Fruits |
| Game | Assault Lily Last Bullet |
| Stage play | Ludvico Jogakuin Assault Lily Odaiba Girls School Sayaka Sakuragi (Playwright) |
| Characters | List of Assault Lily Characters |
| Other terms | Huge (Assault Lily) G.E.H.E.N.A. |
| Fan terms | List of Assault Lily couplings |
Website
Last Bullet Chinese ver. official website
"Lemonade" (Assault Lily database fan site authorised by the original author.)
