English Dub Review: Assault Lily Bouquet “Fragrant Olive: A Person of Eminence”

Overview (Spoilers Below):

Yuyu and Riri may have shared a big moment last week, but that doesn’t mean all is hunky dory now. Riri has apparently been slacking off in her training, causing Yuyu to give her a new recommendation: work on forming a legion.

The academy’s Ace doesn’t expect her pupil to succeed, but slowly, the legion starts coming together as Riri and Fumi scour the school to find potential members. They wind up signing a number of new Lilies up for the legion, including two roommates who turn out to be very valuable assets.

Our Take:

The fourth episode of Assault Lily Bouquet was a complete surprise in the way it started off. Coming off one of the biggest episode conclusions so far, I was fully expecting the show to harness that momentum and lead into more revelations about Miss Yuyu and her past. Just last week we saw Riri and Yuyu bond as never before, with the two of them working together and breaking down their barriers. We even got conclusive evidence that Yuyu was responsible for the death of her former pledge.

Instead of continuing this thread, however, Fragrant Olive: A Person of Eminence sidelines Yuyu for pretty much the entire episode save for the setup at the beginning and a brief cameo at the end to emphasize how out of her element Yuyu is when it comes to personal relationships. While there’s something to be said for dangling the suspense over our heads, I can’t help but think it would’ve been a better idea to at least have some carry over from the previous episode.

Even the setup feels strange, like a lot of time has passed since we last saw the girls. Yuyu says that Riri has been slacking off lately, which is a full 180 from her behavior last week. Introducing the concept of a legion feels like a side quest at this point, and that’s what the episode turns out to be. Riri and Fumi go around the school meeting new girls and pleading for new members. There’s some comedy — like when Fumi accidentally targets the vice president of another legion — but for the most part it just seems like a way to fill time while throwing a bunch of new characters at the wall to see who sticks.

The episode settles down a bit when the girls meet two new first years who will go on to join the legion: Shenlin and Yujia. Shenlin is cocky and full of confidence, while Yujia is the opposite, a girl from Iceland who has no confidence in her own abilities as a Lily. It’s kind of sweet to see how Shenlin supports her friend and comes up with a plan to open her eyes to her own strength while giving Riri two more members as well, but it definitely doesn’t feel as exciting or entertaining as the previous three episodes.

Things like this caused this week’s episode to feel like the weakest one yet. If Assault Lily Bouquet was a game, this would be the meaningless side quest just there to fill time. There are some fun moments between Riri and Fumi, as well as an interesting bit where the history of the Huge is explained a bit further — but overall this fourth episode felt like it could’ve been skipped without missing anything. (Although I have to give the show props for Yuyu and Riri’s ship name.)