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Editorial: Assault Lily - Ludvico Private Girls' Academy 101

Legion Ironside and Toda Eulalia Kotohi (far left), illustrated from "Assault Lily: The Fateful Gift". Image credits: Pokelabo (apparently this one in-house artist goes by K-san?)

Ludvico! The center stage of Main Story Chapter Two, which we're finally starting over here. Once again, you likely noticed that just in those three first parts alone, there was already a mountain of references that they don't really bother to explain. In fact, there's so many of them that i'll actually leave off the rest of them to another post, so for now, let's get ourselves familiar with what might be the single most important Garden in all of Assault Lily.

Ludvico Private Girls' Academy - the basics

As I mentioned in my previous post, Ludvico is one of the "Three Great Gardens" tasked with the defense of the Tokyo region, the other two being Odaiba Girls' School and Irma Girls' School for the Arts. Their National Defense Lines encompass Tokyo's westside down to its southside, and they notably cover a little more territory than the other two, due to the reputation that the Garden once had in its hayday. Their campus is located in the massive and beautiful Shinjuku Gyo-en National Garden.

As a Garden

Tokyo is known to be a particularly secure area, with the trifecta of Area Defense Systems, the Three Great Gardens, and other defensive measures such as the Light Walls and the like making it a relatively safe place to live. Because of this, it is said that until the Odaiba Counteroffensive came around, Tokyo's Gardens weren't very proactive in deploying for battle.

Ludvico, however, was the exception to this, which certainly gave it a better reputation than its peers. In fact, one of the primary reasons that girls enroll into Ludvico is out of admiration for the one Garden that would spearhead the defense of Tokyo whenever needed. By the way, admission into the Garden is said to be not too difficult, despite adopting a similar method to the highly militarized Sagami Girls' School. Because of this, they welcome new students in large numbers.

Although it now adopts the Neunwelt Tactic as a primary combat discipline, Ludvico still actively teaches their students Duelist tactics, that is, the one-on-one approach to battle that was once widely adopted, but is now mostly regarded as obsolete. In fact, when Dueling was still the primary method of combat for Lilies, Ludvico was considered the single strongest Garden in Tokyo due to their Lilies' proficiency in it. But unfortunately, Dueling grew increasingly ineffective over the years, causing more and more of these once top-class Lilies to meet their end in combat, and eventually leading Ludvico to lose this title. That being said, because their Lilies are now taught both the Neunwelt and Duelist battle tactics, Ludvico's Lilies possess, on average, a very high degree of tactical knowledge and literacy.

The Garden's history is said to be "weaved with tales that pertain to time", resulting in a strong emphasis on education in more metaphysical Rare Skills, such as "Z", which allows a Lily to rewind time in a localized area, "Phantasm", which reads multiple future timelines and telepathically comunicates to surrounding Lilies the best possible future outcome, and "Hawk's Eye", which gives the user an out of body, omnidirectional view of their surroundings.

It is standard practice for Ludvico Lilies to wield the Second Generation CHARMs Dainsleif Carbine or the Gungnir Carbine, these are non-transforming CHARMs that prioritize ease of use, with the Dainsleif Carbine in particular being created at Ludvico's request. A notorious feature of these CHARMs is their adjustable hilts/stocks, ensuring that any Lily is able to use any individual CHARM without any issues.

The Dainsleif Carbine (left) and the Gungnir Carbine (right). Image credits: Azone International.

Ludvico has a long standing rivalry with one of the other Three Greats: Irma, particularly as it pertains to their school traditions and their approach to the battlefield. While both employ the Top Legion system, they greatly differ in their makeup, with Irma favoring an exceedingly rigid and immutable formation, which Ludvico sees in rather low regard, while Ludvico themselves highly favor maleability, which Irma sees as flawed, particularly as it pertains to the Neunwelt Tactic. This is merely a friendly rivalry, however, and the two Gardens are generally in good terms with each other, and will often come to the other's aid if needed.

The single most important thing about Ludvico as an institution is its affiliation with G.E.H.E.N.A. I mentioned this in my last post, but they're not just a pro-G.E.H.E.N.A. Garden, they're the pro-G.E.H.E.N.A. Garden in the entirety of the Kanto prefecture, which means even the likes of Herensuge come second place to them. They even have a G.E.H.E.N.A. research facility, named Ludvico Labs, directly annexed to their campus. As a result of their influence, a good percentage of Ludvico students hold pro-G.E.H.E.N.A. views, and their most loyal Instructors are shown to be particularly callous and unfeeling towards the Lilies they see fit to be test subjects.

Culture

Ludvico is notoriously a Christian missionary Garden, which means that (going by the definition of "missionary school" I found in Japanese spaces, don't quote me on this part) unlike Yurigaoka, where Christian traditions are merely adopted into the school's cultural motifs, Ludvico Lilies are actively taught the Christian faith and practices. The Garden Instructors are recognized as Nuns, and most notably, all students of Ludvico are bestowed a baptismal name when entering high school, always in reference to a Christian saint, for example, Ludvico's current top Lily, Ichinomiya Michaela Himari, was baptised with the name of the famous Saint Michael.

Much like the other members of the Three Greats, Ludvico also has its own tradition of a sisterhood pact, named the Schwester System (Schwester being German for "sister"). This system is much closer to the Schutzengel's Oath of Yurigaoka, where it can only be taken between a senior and a junior, and the older Lily assumes a role of guidance and mentorship. Though unlike Yurigaoka, a Lily may only have a single Schwester.

Kishimoto Lucia Raimu (left) and her Schwester, Fukuyama Jeanne Sachie (right). Image credits: Sadamatsu Ryuuichi

When taking the Schwester's oath, both Lilies will exchange the medalhas ("medallion", in Portuguese) that are habitual for Ludvico Lilies to wear. Seemingly any kind of pendant counts as a medalha, as the series has shown Lilies exchanging medallions, rosaries, flashy diamond necklaces and even an anime character necklace. A Lily will normally directly approach the one she wishes to become Schwesters with, however, during the Easter festival held yearly by the Garden, it is a common tradition for a senior to leave her medalha inside an easter egg, giving the privilege to whoever finds it to ask them to become their Schwester.

Like Yurigaoka's Schutzengel System, the Schwester's oath can be annuled, and a Lily may do so unilaterally.

Ludvico's has a singular standard uniform, bearing a germanic-inspired design, it's a full set consisting of a blouse, ribbon, corset, skirt and long boots. The legwear is the single article of clothing left to the students' discretion, though Legions are permitted to wear a jacket with a unique design:

Toda Eulalia Kotohi (left) wearing the standard uniform, Ichinomiya Michaela Himari (middle), wearing the Temple Legion's jacket, and Fukuyama Jeanne Sachie (right), wearing Legion Ironside's jacket. Image credits: Iizuka Haruko and Pokelabo.

Speaking of which:

Legions

Not unlike the other Three Greats, Ludvico also adopted a Top Legion system, theirs titled the "Temple Legion". They were unique in the fact that, while most Top Legions usually appoint the Garden's strongest Lilies for a permanent lineup, usually lasting the school year, the Temple Legion did not have a fixed list of members at all. Instead, before every deployment, the Garden's strongest Lilies at that particular point in time are appointed to join the Legion. This means that, apart from the fixed roles of captain and vice captain, each deployment saw the Temple Legion in a different lineup, based on which Lilies were seen as the strongest at that particular moment. While one would assume this highly variable lineup to result in nothing but chaos, it was very much effective, as the Temple Legion ranked amongst the Legions in Tokyo that rarely ever saw defeat.

Much like Odaiba, the Temple Legion was, for the longest time, the only active Legion in all of Ludvico, as the Garden forbid the creation of Independent Legions for any reason. All Lilies in the Garden would then be trained with the goal of one day being strong enough to be selected for the Temple Legion, with their unique jacket becoming something of a symbol of honor that all Ludvico Lilies aspire to wear, and as a matter of fact, even the number of times a Lily is selected to join the Temple Legion was seen as a status symbol in and of itself.

Following the fall of Ludvico, the Garden's upper administration ceased to be, and as such, the Temple Legion can no longer have members appointed to it, remaining inoperative as of the writing of this post. Though its lineup was variable, Ichinomiya Michaela Himari was fixed as the appointed captain, with Tachibana Teresa Nagisa as her second in command.

Now, I'll keep this as spoiler free as I can, but if you'll recall, Ludvico is about as pro-G.E.H.E.N.A. as it gets, and as a Top Legion, the Temple Legion is selected by and acts on the will of the Garden's higher echelons. But as it turns out, being under the direct rule of such a nefarious organization was against what one Fukuyama Jeanne Sachie stood for. And so, completely disregarding whether the Garden would approve of it or not, she set out to create a Legion of her own, the very first Independent Legion in Ludvico's history, which she titled "Ironside". The Garden, of course, didn't approve of this, as they never intended to adopt the Instructor-approved system in the first place. So, without any Instructor or administrative system to answer to, Ironside is about as independent as a Legion can get, pretty much acting at their own discretion, separate from Ludvico's standard protocols, or their wishes in general. And while Ironside's formation and even their mere existence was in defiance of Ludvico's traditional ways, some saw this as a first step for Ludvico's return to glory, since if you'll remember, Independent Legions are seen as a demonstration that a Garden's Lilies are powerful on average, rather than only the select few of a Top Legion.

Legion Ironside possesses 10 members: Fukuyama Jeanne Sachie, Kishimoto Lucia Raimu, Amamiya Sophia Seren, Kuroki Francisca Yuria, Seto Veronica Ichika, Saeki Julia Karen, Takatori Natalie Towa, Lee Christina Susu, Matsunaga Brigitta Kayo and Hasegawa Gabriela Tsugumi.

The fall of Ludvico

As it has been heavily alluded to in Last Bullet up to this point, Ludvico has almost completely collapsed, the campus was severely damaged, a lot of instructors died, the Garden's upper administration and their Top Legion are no more. In short, Ludvico is pretty much a zombie Garden right now, unable to function in any official capacity, but what caused all of that?

Now, this is sort of impossible to discuss without getting into spoilers, as it's literally the climax of the very last stage play of the Ludvico saga, but i'll try not to be too specific as it pertains to details.

Like I've mentioned just before, Legion Ironside was formed in opposition to Ludvico's affiliations with G.E.H.E.N.A.. This put them directly against the Garden's Instructors, not only because of their allegiance to G.E.H.E.N.A., but also because they were very interested in Kishimoto Lucia Raimu, as we very quickly learn that she is special, not only due to her innately high Skiller Value, but she seems to display special abilities that G.E.H.E.N.A. is very keen to get their hands on.

During their final confrontation, the Instructors disabled the protective barrier that surrounds the Garden, and sure enough, the Huge begin to pour out in large numbers. As such, the Temple Legion and all other Ludvico Lilies had their hands completely full with defending the Garden, and as a matter of fact, we even learn later on that their efforts weren't enough on their own, and a pair of Legions from another Garden had to step in and help them. All the while Legion Ironside was stuck fighting not only Ludvico's Instructors, but also a Gigant-class Huge that had previously appeared in the region.

Suddenly, however, one Instructor attacks and brutally kills all the others, I won't go into detail as to who or why, but the important part is that this Instructor was a Lily who was Boosted beyond belief, making her an unstoppable juggernaut, and she wanted to get her hands on Raimu and her unique abilities in order to further her own agenda. During her confrontation with Ironside, the Gigant-class continued to attack, aided by swaths of Huge that had gathered around it.

Eventually, this Instructor is finally defeated, a combination of Ironside's efforts and her own Magie flowing out of control, and the Legion is finally able to take down the Gigant-class. While the day is saved, we learn that the live Huge that were held as test subjects in G.E.H.E.N.A's Ludvico Labs broke free, and they would go on to wreak havoc in Ludvico's vicinity, to the extent that it eventually took multiple Gardens to deal with them. Likewise, with the protective barrier down, all the Huge that suddenly surrounded Ludvico caused extensive damage to the Garden facilities. This, coupled with the murder of the Garden's Instructors left Ludvico completely crippled for all intents and purposes. We know of only one Instructor who was willing to stand against G.E.H.E.N.A., and without any upper administration to select members for the Temple Legion, Legion Ironside, being completely independent, was left as the only Legion able to operate in any capacity.

So in short, Ludvico's collapse was an inside job, caused by G.E.H.E.N.A. and the Garden's own Instructors, all for the sake of securing a single Lily they deemed valuable. And furthermore, the Instructors didn't lose their lives because of the Huge's attack, but they were viciously killed by one of their own, which is why Sachie says this:

"So that is what they stated in the Commitee's official report..."

Essentially alluding to the fact that the official story that was circulated paints the fall of Ludvico as a mere incident, and G.E.H.E.N.A's involvement was, unsurprisingly, covered up.

Ludvico Private Girls' Academy and the Assault Lily franchise

Legion Ironside and Toda Eulalia Kotohi (far left), as portrayed in "Assault Lily: The Fateful Gift". Image credits: Nakamura Yukari (Fukuyama Jeanne Sachie)

I mentioned all the way at the beginning of this post that Ludvico might be Assault Lily's most important Garden, and while they're certainly a very big player in-universe, I actually meant this in a meta sense.

You'll notice that all of the Ludvico stage plays are titled "Assault Lily x Ludvico Private Girls' Academy", and that is because Ludvico is not only a Garden in the Assault Lily universe, but they're also the name of the theatre troupe that performs all of their stage plays. As a matter of fact, Ludvico precedes Assault Lily as a franchise, going back as early as 2004, while Assault Lily in its current form dates to the early 2010s.

Furthermore, Ludvico's primary draw as a theatre troupe is that all of their screenplays, while differing in story and character backgrounds, are always set in the same setting of "Ludvico Private Academy", and their characters' names and personalities remain the same across the different stage plays. In fact, many characters you know, like Sachie and Kayo, were originally created by Ludvico, being merely adapted into the Assault Lily universe.

The very first Assault Lily stage play performed by Ludvico happened in 2016, almost 9 years ago. The story goes that Mr. Obanazawa Ken'ei, the author of Assault Lily, who was until that point completely unfamiliar with theatre, attended one of Ludvico's performances a year prior, and was so utterly moved by what he'd witnessed that he wasted no time approaching Ludvico's Director, Sakuragi Sayaka, for a collaboration. Interestingly, Assault Lily was still in its infancy back then. The doll line had already been out for a while, but story-wise only the Team Hitotsuyanagi novel had been released. Yet, instead of just making an adaptation of what already was out, they decided to create a whole new Garden, a whole new set of characters and a whole new original story. And voila, in 2016, Assault Lily's very first foray into the visual arts came to be, starring not the already established Hitotsuyanagi Riri and her team, but the brand new character of Kishimoto Lucia Raimu, beginning a completely new storyline for the Assault Lily world.

And it absolutely was the start of something special, they went on to make four stage plays (plus a recap and a bunch of live events) following the Ludvico storyline. And even after Bushiroad acquired the rights for the series, Ludvico continued to be a cornerstone of all Assault Lily stage performances, in and out of universe. The Ludvico saga was completely remade in 2021, and multiple new series of stage plays were birthed from there onwards, always with Ludvico's Sakuragi Sayaka behind the screenplay, and always featuring Ludvico's actresses in some capacity.

Hoshimori Sana, who portrays Amamiya Sophia Seren since 2016, and Kuo Shenlin since 2020. Images sourced from @ sana_hoshimori on Twitter.

Nishimoto Rimi, who portrays Ichinomiya Michaela Himari since 2018, and Futagawa Fumi since 2020. Images sourced from @ assaultlily_st on Twitter.

From their first collaboration in 2016, a total of 15 screenplays, spread throughout 20 stage plays have been performed so far, with even more set to happen this year. And it's not at all an understatement to say that currently, the stage plays are the singular driving force of the entire Assault Lily universe, even more so than the anime and Last Bullet are, as they continue to be the main avenue through which that world and the many stories within it are pushed forward.

Ludvico Private Girls' Academy might be the single most important Garden in Assault Lily because personally, I don't think it's an exaggeration to say that were it not for the spark that these girls lit in a tiny white cubiculum of a stage 9 years ago, this franchise would likely not have grown to the massive extents that it did, and I, on the other side of the world, would likely have never even heard about it to be making this post here today.

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