Assault Lily: Bouquet Episode 9

Assault Lily: Bouquet Episode 9

Cosmos

Assault Lily: Bouquet episode 9 was a pretty good episode. It had world-building, lore, a bit of action, character development, drama, and even a twist or two. It wasn’t perfect by any means, but I’d say that it did everything well and was a pleasant surprise.

One of the big reveals of the episode is that Yuri is actually a HUGE — kind of. As we knew, she’s a manufactured Lily that’s derived from HUGE DNA. However, this episode gave us a few more details, including her “official” classification as a HUGE, not a Lily.

I feel like this was mentioned previously, but HUGE are made up of the DNA of all living things. Maybe it wasn’t mentioned, or maybe I just skipped over that detail. But I now feel like it’s pretty important because it somewhat severs the connection between HUGE and Lilies.

Yuri Hitotsuyanagi from the anime series Assault Lily: Bouquet
Yuri Hitotsuyanagi

If the HUGE have the DNA of all life, then they can’t be exactly the same as Lilies unless Lilies also have the DNA of all life. And furthermore, it’s now been specifically stated that Yuri was made by extracting the human DNA from the HUGE. If she’s made using human DNA, doesn’t that make her human?

So then, what’s the connection between Lilies and HUGE? Well, there’s still the magie connection. Lilies and HUGE are the only two beings we know of that are able to use magie. HUGE are powered by magie and Lilies are able to make use of the magie within their bodies.

I’ve theorized before that Lilies become HUGE, but perhaps that understanding is flawed. Maybe the Lily-like behavior we’ve seen some HUGE exhibit is due to them absorbing and using the magie of Lilies. Perhaps that’s how that one HUGE knew about the Neunwelt Tactic.

Dehumanized Lilies

In this episode, as I’ve already covered, it was determined that Yuri is indeed a human (genetically). However, one thing that I found interesting about this whole discussion with the government officials was their stance on Lilies as a whole.

I’m pretty sure I mentioned this in an earlier review, but the government views Lilies as weapons, not as people. That’s been confirmed by them stating that Lilies aren’t humans. But, this is a pretty odd stance to take. I could understand it if all Lilies were manufactured, but they aren’t.

Every Lily that we know of aside from Yuri was born to human parents just like any other human. The only difference is that they eventually developed the ability to manipulate magie. Calling them inhuman is like if you were to call anyone over six feet tall inhuman. They’re still a human, just one who grew taller than six feet.

Riri Hitotsuyanagi from the anime series Assault Lily: Bouquet
Riri Hitotsuyanagi

There are also some mixed feelings regarding Lilies displayed in this episode. On one side we have the government officials who seem to be adamant that Lilies aren’t human. On the other, you have the headmaster of the academy who (probably) thinks they are — or at least thinks it doesn’t matter.

And then, we have Kaede’s father who’s somewhere in between. As his daughter is a Lily, he undoubtedly views them as human. And this is confirmed by his plan to replace the current Lilies with manufactured Lilies so that these girls don’t have to be forced to fight.

However, what puts him in the middle ground is that he doesn’t seem to acknowledge that the manufactured Lilies are human as well. To him, being human has to do with the nature of your birth, not your DNA.

The End of Yuri

I guess I should discuss the end of the episode and what happened to Yuri now. So first, it was revealed that Yuri’s able to use the Rare Skills of both Thi Mai and Miliam. Rare Skills aren’t specific to individuals, so it is possible for another Lily to have them — though we can assume it’s extra rare to have two Rare Skills.

However, what seems to be implied here instead is that Yuri’s true Rare Skill is one that allows her to copy the Rare Skills of others. And if we assume that to be the case, who’s to say that Thi Mai’s and Miliam’s Rare Skills were the only ones Yuri copied?

Sure, those are the two we were explicitly shown. But there’s another Rare Skill that’s always present: Riri’s. Riri’s alleged Rare Skill is basically just a charisma boost that draws people to her. That sounds an awful lot like what happened with Yuri. Lilies from all over, not just those in her legion, decided to back her over the government.

The Hitotsuyanagi Legion from the anime series Assault Lily: Bouquet
The Hitotsuyanagi Legion

Of course, you might be thinking that none of this matters now because Yuri is dead. I’m not so sure about that being the case. Well, I do think she “died” in that explosion. But, I also think we’ll see her come back in another form. Perhaps we’ll come across a friendly HUGE being controlled by her magie.

It really doesn’t make sense to kill off Yuri for good at this point in the story. We were just getting some answers about her and she just revealed an interesting Rare Skill with no context. She’s obviously going to come back so that we can make sense of all that.

Or, maybe she’ll come back in the form of magie that gets fused into Riri’s CHARM. I don’t know the specifics of how it’s going to happen, but I’m certain that this isn’t the last we’ve seen of Yuri — even if it is the last we see of her physical body.

Conclusion

What do you think about Assault Lily: Bouquet episode 9? Do you think Yuri should be classified as a Lily? Should Lilies be classified as humans? And how do you think Yuri will be reintroduced to the series, if at all? Let me know in the comments.

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My review of the next episode is available here.

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