Theatre / Assault Lily

In November 2015, official sources announced a "collab" between the Assault Lily series and Ludvico Girls High School theatrical group. The Assault Lily × Ludvico Girls High School stage plays, re-imagining characters from the setting of Ludvico Girls High School in the setting of Assault Lily, ran from April 2016 to December 2019 across five "volumes," plus two TLPT "side story" shows in February 2018 and February 2019. Starring Maeda Misato (2016 to 2017) and later Awatsu Mai (2018 to 2019) as Kishimoto Lucia Raimu; the "Schwester chapter" (volumes 1, 2, and the "compilation plus complete edition" volume 3) revolved around Raimu and Sachie's pursuit of the truth behind the mystery-shrouded death of Raimu's elder sister Mirai, while the "Resistance chapter" (volumes 4 and 5) dealt with the Lilies at Ludvico facing off against the Garden's administration, which was under the influence of GEHENA.

Bushiroad Presents Assault Lily League of Gardens, which ran in January 2020, was the first stage play to star Akao Hikaru as Assault Lily series protagonist Hitotsuyanagi Riri. Set before most events of Assault Lily × Ludvico Girls High School vol. 1 Schwester no Inori (when Sachie and Kayo had yet to exchange their vows with Raimu and Tsugumi respectively), the plot centered around Riri and the formation of her Legion, Hitotsuyanagi-tai, while also featuring Lilies from various other Gardens during the expedition at Shimo-Kitazawa in Tokyo. The Fateful Gift, the sequel to League of Gardens that ran in September 2020, was set after the events of Assault Lily × Ludvico Girls High School vol. 5 Shinjitsu no Yaiba, and depicted the aftermath of Ludvico's collapse, as well as a scheme involving GEHENA, Toda Eulalia Kotohi and the mysterious Gozen, two characters linked to Yuyu's backstory. The actresses for Hitotsuyanagi-tai's members would appear in the same roles as the voice cast for the Assault Lily: Bouquet anime, and the actresses for Hervarar also portrayed the same characters for the Assault Lily Last Bullet mobile game. Maeda Kaori, who played Kon Kanaho in League of Gardens, would likewise return as Kanaho for Last Bullet.

During the final showing of The Fateful Gift, new runs of Schwester no Inori and Schwester no Himitsu, and an untitled stage play focusing on Odaiba Girls School, were announced for 2021. In January 2021, another play featuring Hitotsuyanagi-tai was also announced for January 2022. With the cast's copies of the script for Schwester no Inori 2021 having a "Vol. 6" subtitle, tweets from and pictures taken by cast members implying new or different details, and the addition of Mutou Shiori (playing Amatsu Marei) to the cast, it would appear that like Schwester no Chikai, the 2021 run of the Schwester chapter is less of a direct repeat but more of a Recut.

A manga adaptation of League of Gardens, titled Assault Lily League of Gardens -full bloom-, began its print serialization in July 2020 and web serialization in January 2021.

DVDs of the LudoJo series are available via the Pius web store, and a Blu-Ray compiling League of Gardens and The Fateful Gift was released in May 2021.

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Assault Lily provides examples of:

In General

• Back from the Dead: Mirai, Raimu's elder sister, and Kazane, Ichika's Schwester. Neither of them stays resurrected for long. Subverted in the case of Gozen, who was just disguising herself as Misuzu, rather than Misuzu returning from the dead.
• Casting Gag:
  • Onose Mirai, who played Ichika in Schwester no Chikai, returns as Ichika's Schwester Kazane in Shinjitsu no Yaiba.
  • During a flashback in Schwester no Inori and Schwester no Chikai, Raimu tells Mirai that she wants to be "a Lily like onee-chan." Awatsu Mai, Raimu's actress for the Resistance chapter, would later be cast as Mirai for the 2021 run of Schwester no Inori.
  • Still on the topic of Awatsu, there is a scene in The Fateful Gift where Yuzuriha, Awatsu's character, tells Raimu (Miyase Reina) that she reminds Yuzuriha of when she first started out as a Lily. In another scene, Yuzuriha notes Sachie's faith in Raimu, and Sachie replies, "Of course. She's my Schwester."
  • Hoshimori Sana, the actress for Seren and Shenlin, had an identity crisis when "sandwiched by Raimu and Yujia-san" during rehearsals for The Fateful Gift. Earlier, Yuria's actress Umehara Saeri had jokingly lamented that "Seren's gone and become a different girl," which caught on among fans. Hoshimori also imagined a scenario of Shenlin, a Testament user, meeting Seren, the Schwester of a Testament user.
  • Tohno Hikaru, who was the first actress to play Mei, the scion of a wealthy landowner family, would later portray Yujia, middle child of the prestigious Wang family.
  • Kokoro aspires to become an idol Lily. Kokoro's first actress, Toudou Miyuu, is the choreographer for the LudoJo series, while her second actress, Shimizu Rin, is a member of a real-life idol group.
• Combat Commentator: Other characters will explain what a Rare Skill does as its user activates it in battle, usually along the lines of "[Character]'s Rare Skill is [X], its effect is [Y]." There is some attempt to couch this in a manner appropriate for the situation, such as an instructor explaining to onlooking students, but it is ostensibly for the audience's benefit rather than the characters'.
• Continuity Drift: Despite being written by the same playwright, some bits of Schwester no Inori and Schwester no Himitsu don't mesh well with present continuity after taking League of Gardens and The Fateful Gift into account. In Schwester no Himitsu, much ado is made of Raimu awakening to Charisma as her Rare Skill, and Riri is namedropped in the same scene, implying that Riri has already awakened to Charisma and is adept enough that Lilies at another Garden know of her. In The Fateful Gift, however, Riri's friends have to point out to her what her Rare Skill even is, and Raimu has had some experience at using Charisma. The same scene in Schwester no Chikai removes the reference to Riri, perhaps to avoid such an issue with continuity.
• Contrasting Sequel Main Character: Raimu and Riri start off as Naive Newcomers who are newly enrolled to their respective Gardens in high school, and whose role in their Legions is mainly The Heart. Kiito and Ui, the main characters for the Odaiba play, are second-years that have been at Odaiba since elementary school and fighting Huge for almost as long, and whose Legion is split by internal strife. Where Raimu and Riri are generally kind and respectful, Kiito tends to be churlish towards anyone who isn't part of Hronesness.
• Fire-Forged Friends: Several second-year Lilies are acquainted from fighting alongside each other during the Counteroffensive at Odaiba. Kiito, who did not fight in the campaign because she was on a training journey with Ui at the time, has little patience for mentions of the Counteroffensive.
• MacGuffin Super-Person: Raimu, who was injected with Huge cells in a process similar to that which "enhanced" the Boosted Lilies, when she was not yet born. As a result, normal Huge view Raimu as one of them, and are drawn to her location but will not attack her. In The Fateful Gift, it is revealed that Ran also was a subject of the same experiments. Gozen considers Raimu and Ran "princesses of the Huge" who are perfect for the future that she seeks.
• Onee-sama: Both Yurigaoka and Ludvico have longstanding traditions of one senior Lily entering a pact with a junior Lily, where the younger one becomes the "little sister" and addresses the older one as "onee-sama." Although no such system is present at Odaiba, Tomoshibi persists at calling Kiito "onee-sama" despite Kiito rejecting her request to be sworn sisters and the obvious displeasure of Ui, Kiito's birth sister.
• Pro-Human Transhuman: Most of the Boosted Lilies shown are using their powers to fight for and protect humanity, or at least for the sake of their friends and loved ones (Tazusa, Raimu, Ran, Yuria, Tomoshibi). On the other hand, Gozen is implied to want a world where Boosted Lilies and/or Huge reign supreme; the very idea of wanting co-existence with the Huge is considered highly dangerous. Kotohi, Gozen's subordinate, is so preoccupied with her vendetta against Yuyu that her stance regarding the protection of regular humans is unclear.
• Spell My Name With An S: Aside from the question of how Miliam/Miriam's name is to be spelled, the Ludvico Lilies' baptismal names can also have inconsistent spelling. Seren's baptismal name, for example, has been spelled as "Sophia" (the official Assault Lily website and the packaging for her dolls) and "Sofia" (pamphlets).
• Superhero School: The Gardens, which train Lilies to equip them with the knowledge and combat skills for the war against the Huge. The Ludvico series depicts more scenes of the characters' school lives as compared to the Hitotsuyanagi-tai plays, although -full bloom- does show more of their training and other activities at Yurigaoka.

Assault Lily × Ludvico Girls High School

• Aerith and Bob: Characters' baptismal names include more commonly-seen ones such as "Clara" and "Angela" alongside those less so, like "Clystina" (pronounced the same as "Christina").
• Evil Costume Switch: Mirai and Kazane sport a variant of the Ludvico school uniform without its lighter/pastel elements such as the pink neck ribbon, and a longer, darker coat bearing similarities with the Temple Legion's jacket, when they appear as antagonists fighting their former friends. Mirai also wields a black Asterion, contrasting the purple Asterion that Raimu inherited from her.
• Foreign Exchange Student: Sisi, a third-year at Ludvico who is from China. Despite being one of Ironside's founding members and supposedly among the strongest generation of Lilies in Tokyo, she receives very little screen time and development aside from stereotypical Anime Chinese Girl traits.
  • Nagisa is also an exchange student who had left Ludvico for Heimskringla in Sweden, returning to Japan when she heard of Ichika getting severely injured. The Gratuitous English sprinkled throughout Nagisa's lines is, presumably, a holdover from her time overseas.
• Friendship Token: The formation of a Schwester relationship is marked by the two parties exchanging the medals hanging from their necks.
  • Kumama, the deceptively heavy teddy bear that Clara carries around like a backpack, was a present from her Friend Turned Rival Asahi. Clara's classmates are surprised to discover this.
• Heart Is an Awesome Power: The Rare Skill Z. At the start of class 1-B's first training session, Izumi-sensei describes Kosaka-sensei's Rare Skill as unsuited for the battlefield. Kosaka-sensei retorts that she can heal a person instantaneously, which she proves in later scenes by reversing severe injuries so it is as if they had never occurred at all. Her use of Z is what makes Kosaka-sensei such a threatening foe at the climatic battle of Shinjitsu no Yaiba. Marei's introductory scene in Schwester no Inori 2021 has her using a Dáinsleif Carbine that she repairs on the spot when it starts to fail, then continue fighting while talking about Z with the same phrasing Izumi-sensei had used.
• New Transfer Student: Himari, formerly from Irma Girls' High School for Art. The earlier parts of her character arc involve Himari's hangups about being accepted as the Temple Legion's leader, rather than being thought of as a transfer student.
• Operation: Jealousy: Clara decides she will become Himari's Schwester to make Seren, who she has a crush on, jealous. It backfires on her in two ways: Seren remains devoted to Raimu, and Clara herself is jealous of Moe when Himari starts paying attention to Moe after she awakens her Rare Skill.
• School for Scheming: The Sisters, instructors who train the students at Ludvico, are colluding with the extremist faction of GEHENA to monitor possible test subjects for the Boosted Lily experiments. Most of them are dead by the conclusion of Shinjitsu no Yaiba, with the sole living instructor Izumi-sensei wanted for murder, so Ludvico is left in no state to continue functioning as a Garden.
• Stat-O-Vision: In Schwester no Inori 2021, video game-esque profiles appear in the background as Kokoro gives Himari a run-down of notable Lilies, showing a photograph and a chart of stats. The chart presents ratings for stats such as "power," "speed," "CHARM technique," and one trait that varies depending on which character it is for, such as a high "reliability" rating for Ichika and a low "cooperativeness" rating for Yuria.
• Tragic Keepsake: Raimu's purple Asterion, which used to belong to Mirai. Ichika eventually finds out from third-year Arsenals that Mirai had requested they adjust the Asterion to make it more suitable for Raimu's use.
• Tragic Monster: Mirai and Kazane. Believed to be killed in action by those who knew them, they returned, only to attack their friends, having ended up more Huge than human through the Boosted Lily experiments, seemingly no longer recognizing even those who were once dear to them. Mirai regains enough awareness to ask Raimu, Seren, and Sachie to kill her if she turns on them again. Kazane comes back to her senses just enough to have one last conversation with Ichika, after Ichika restrains Kazane for Nagisa to shoot her.
• Traumatic Superpower Awakening: Moe, Mei, and Karen, on separate occasions, awaken to their Rare Skills when faced with great danger to themselves and their friends.

Hitotsuyanagi-tai stage plays

• Breaking the Fourth Wall: Occurs every now and then, often accompanying an Info Dump. Early on, Miliam praises Fumi for getting her name right and calls for the audience to clap. In the same scene, Mai also says Fumi is a big help for "explaining such a complicated premise in easy-to-understand terms."
• Call-Forward: In League of Gardens, the Lilies of Odaiba and Ludvico discuss Misuzu's death and Yuyu sealing away her use of Lunatic Trancer thereafter. Kayo postulates that Yuyu could not bear how her memories of Misuzu's death were hazy due to Lunatic Trancer causing a user to have gaps in her memory, and that she stopped using Lunatic Trancer even if it meant no longer being at the same level of strength. Kiito sees it as Yuyu having poor control over her powers, unlike herself and Ui (whose close bond allows them to remain in control when using Lunatic Trancer). In Schwester no Himitsu and Schwester no Chikai, which take place after League of Gardens, Kayo's rampage during a trance leads to Ichika becoming severely injured and Kayo falling into a months-long slump due to guilt and self-loathing. Kayo eventually gains better control by fighting alongside her Schwester Tsugumi, a Brave user who can help negate the side effects of Lunatic Trancer.
• Crazy Enough to Work: In League of Gardens, the two groups of Lilies simultaneously charging up a Neun Welt bullet each, so as to break the Gigant-class Huge's Magi Reflector barrier with one and defeat it with the other. In The Fateful Gift, the overloading of one bullet to make it exceed the limits the GEHENA-engineered mutant Huge was able to recognize.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: Gozen takes on all of Hitotsuyanagi-tai, including Yuyu (who she quickly makes unconscious) and Mai, who were members of the legendary first-generation Alfheim, at the same time. And wins. Her combat form has "the fighting techniques of a Lily from the Duel generation", which is based on one Lily facing multiple opponents.
• Funny Background Event: Fumi's nosebleeds, which actually were mostly shown in the foreground during League of Gardens, become this in The Fateful Gift. At one point, Miliam holds a bucket under Fumi's face.
  Miliam: Fumi, you'll die if you get too excited!
• Heroism Motive Speech: Often accompanies the speaker's infusing of magi into her CHARM and the Neun Welt bullet. It may provide insight into characters that has yet to, or is barely, touched on in other material, such as how Chikaru blamed herself for a dear friend falling in battle, who is presumably the same friend she mentions in Last Bullet to have inspired her to become a Lily.
• Late-Arrival Spoiler: Raimu's Rare Skill being Charisma, and her being a Boosted Lily from birth, were revealed over the course of the LudoJo series. In The Fateful Gift, even Fumi, who is from a Garden at another prefecture altogether, knows Raimu is a Charisma user, while Raimu willingly volunteers the information about her being a Boosted Lily, spoiling these points for viewers whose introduction to Raimu is through The Fateful Gift.
• Love at First Sight: Kaede falls for Riri upon their very first meeting.
• Remember the New Guy?: Kotohi is a first-year at Ludvico who did not appear in the LudoJo series but shows up in League of Gardens bearing a grudge against Yuyu for her supposed abandonment during the Withdrawal from Koshu, and has a significant role in the plot of The Fateful Gift. Sachie mentions that Kotohi has not joined any Legion, though an official tweet notes that she is part of the morals committee at Ludvico. While Kotohi remains absent from the cast for the 2021 reruns of Schwester no Inori and Schwester no Himitsu, she is brought up in passing.
  Marei: By the way, I was enjoying the Easter festivities when someone came at me all of a sudden, insistently saying, "Please spar with me!"
  Sachie: That was Kotohi-san...
  Ichika: That cat-eared prefect...
• Sibling Team: The Funada twins, who are the leader and vice-leader of Hronesness.
• Title Drop: Sachie has a monologue in The Fateful Gift which includes keywords from the sub-titles of every LudoJo volume: "himitsu" (vol. 2), "shinjitsu" (vol. 5), "yakusoku" (vol. 4), "inori" (vol. 1), and "chikai" (vol. 3).

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