English Dub Review: Assault Lily Bouquet “Cosmos: The Joys that Love Life can Bring”

Overview (Spoilers Below):

Yuri has been settling into the academy over the course of the last few episodes, but things are about to change. When her origins as a test subject come to light, the girl is classified as a Huge and the academy is ordered to turn her over.

Riri won’t accept that, however, and takes Yuri on the lam. The two of them hole up in an abandoned school building and hope for the best. Meanwhile, Miss Moyu finishes her research and reveals that though Yuri came from Huge, she cannot be classified as anything less than human.

Our Take:

Now that Assault Lily Bouquet appears to have wrapped up the drama between Yuyu and Riri, the show has pivoted to focus on Yuri in recent weeks. After washing up on the beach and being treated as a Lily with amnesia, it’s a big shock this week to the girl when she realizes everyone’s after her. It makes for an unusual episode that builds off past tensions between government oversight and Yurigaoka independence and delivers some solid world building and character building as well.

One might say the first main dramatic act happens when Riri decides to escape with Yuri when the student council members come to escort the girl off the premises, but that’s not really the most interesting thing. Of course Riri would stand up for Yuri’s health, safety, and personal wishes because that’s just who she is at this point. When the girl says she had fun at the competition and wishes to stay, Riri has no choice but to try and help her.

While most of the other members of Riri’s squad are on board with the idea of helping the fugitives rather than accosting them, Kaede’s situation is more complicated than that. One of the big investors in the Huge research that created Yuri is her father, the guy who also runs a major weapons manufacturer that supplies charms for the Lilies. Kaede’s phone call with father is fascinating, as the two of them go at it like only family can. It’s also a good moment to inject some pathos into the “other” side, as we get to learn his reasons for wanting to invest into the research (or at least his stated reasons) — and they actually make a certain kind of sense.

Kaede’s father claims that seeing young girls battling the Huge has always rubbed him the wrong way, and that he hoped to create an alternative with Huge stem cells. While this sounds relatively admirable, it really doesn’t change Yuri or Riri’s perspectives, because for all intents and purposes, Yuri is a normal girl. Sure, she may have been born of Huge DNA, but from what we’ve seen, that really hasn’t altered the way she acts. Thus, Kaede goes with her gut and goes against her father’s wishes.

Riri and Yuri’s escape also puts the tension between the government and the academy on full display. In a taut meeting between the chairman and some government men, they spell out the worries of the public: that Lilies are so powerful they are becoming feared, so obviously when word leaks about one of them assisting a Huge with escaping, that could be a big PR nightmare. Luckily, Moyu comes in just in time to give a passionate and scientific speech about how Yuri really is able to be called a human regardless of her origin.

Although it would’ve been fun to see Riri and Yuri camping out and on the run for longer, it’s a nice resolution to the episode that spells out the overall theme: everybody is different, but that doesn’t make them any less worthy of respect or common human decency. Yuri has trouble accepting herself, Riri has trouble accepting herself, and even Yuyu does. It’s a powerful message that shows everyone has self doubt regardless of how they look on the outside. And it’s a message that’s executed so competently that it makes this episode one of my favorites so far.