English Dub Review: Assault Lily Bouquet “Bouquet: Flower Language”

Overview (Spoilers Below):

Powerful Huge have attacked Yurigaoka Academy, holding the location hostage while creating a strange forcefield that means none of the girls can use Magi or their CHARMS. Riri still has her powers though thanks to her charisma skill, and she and Yuyu go in to defend their home.

Our Take:

The final episode of Assault Lily Bouquet delivers a lot of solid action sequences, some emotional conclusions, and a few head scratching decisions. It’s an episode that sees the end of the Huge, but it doesn’t feel quite as momentous as it should due to some weird pacing that jumps around. Still, it’s a fitting finale for a show that started off to sell action figures and became kind of interesting along the way.

When we last left the Lillies, their headquarters had just been overrun by Huge who launched themselves around the globe to land smack dab in the middle of Yurigaoka. They’ve rendered the Lillies essentially defenseless and forced them to evacuate the place they call home. One might think that this battle would be the final showdown, but it actually takes up less than half of the episode.

The showdown itself is definitely fun to watch. Riri and Yuyu go in swinging but can’t do much on their own. Luckily, Riri sneaked a Neunwelt bullet to Kaede before taking off to fight the Huge on her own. (Although in hindsight, it seems pretty silly that she wouldn’t at least let her know about what she was thinking.) Regardless of the lack of a plan, the Lillies come together when they’re needed, utilizing the Neunwelt Tactic in a way never before seen — throwing the ball of Magi around like a game of keep away.

It’s a fun scene to watch for sure, and the way it lets everyone in the cast get a piece of the action before Riri and Yuyu get to deliver the final blow is great. I did feel kind of let down by the Huge, though. It’s supposed to be the greatest threat the Lillies have faced yet, but it does pretty much nothing except to intercept the Magi ball for a few seconds. For such a powerful adversary, it went down too easily.

And that’s probably because the show tries to cram another final boss into the finale. After a brief rest and relaxation period which plays like the end of the episode, there’s suddenly a new mission for Riri and Yuyu to undertake. The real boss, apparently, was under the sea the whole time — an Ultra Huge that has been giving its Magi to power all the other Huge that have been attacking over the course of the season. I was a little confused, but also excited. This had to be the big moment where Misuzu’s true intentions were revealed, and I expected a big face off.

But no, the final mission feels like a complete misfire, only taking a few minutes, and not involving Misuzu in the slightest. Riri and Yuyu do have a heart to heart as they’re carried back to the surface in a bubble, but Riri pretty much dismisses all of the concerns about Yuyu’s former pledge when she tells her that her struggle was just because she loved Yuyu so much. It’s strikingly insensitive when the mocking figment of Misuzu has haunted Yuyu’s dreams recently, and feels very rushed.

Honestly, what with the two missions baked into one, the plot in this finale feels like it was meant to occur over the span of two episodes, not a single one. The first half of the episode makes for a respectable clincher, complete with flashy battle sequences and all the Lillies coming together. But the second half is filled with awkward pacing and unanswered questions. Much like the series itself, Bouquet: Flower Language is imperfect but still a lot of fun along the way.