Tag: Spy X Family

Posted on in anime, Let's Watch

Let’s Watch SPY X FAMILY Episode 3 – Prepare for The Interview

Let’s Watch is a weekly recap column where I follow an anime for the course of its entire runtime. Expect spoilers!

Spy x Family takes a slightly more relaxed, downtempo turn this week. Really, that’s fine, with two cours split across half the year, the series has time to stretch its legs. As such, “Prepare for the Interview,” its third episode, only briefly involves any actual forward plot motion. It’s mostly scene-setting, and an opportunity to put the Forgers in a genuinely domestic context. If only, perhaps, to endear us to them further so that later, when this status quo is threatened, we feel all the more sympathetic. (Not to be cynical about it, that’s just good storytelling.)

We can basically break the episode down into a couple different kinds of scene. There are scenes where the Forger “family” achieve the illusion of domesticity, there are scenes—usually immediately following that—that break said illusion to comedic effect, and there are finally the scenes that actually move the show’s core narrative forward. All three are important in different ways, and there is groundwork laid here that’s sure to pay off later.

The actual interview bit is a fairly minor part of the episode, coming after Loid and Anya help Yor set up in their new, collective home. (Everyone has their own room, which we’re shown in detail. More importantly, we’re reacquainted with Anya’s plushie Mr. Chimera.)

They briefly try some interview practice right away, but it doesn’t go particularly well. I like this little gem here, Yor’s response to the question of what her “parenting philosophy” is.

The bulk of the episode simply revolves around the Forger family having a nice “upper-class outing.” Loid reasons that maybe getting some culture will help.

This is all on the quiet side, but there are still some pretty great gags in here, like Anya briefly getting scared of Yor when the latter has a stray thought about how she once accidentally hugged her brother too hard and cracked his ribs. Anya’s pretty great in general in this episode. She expresses shock when Loid bluntly tells her that she didn’t really help get the house ready for Yor to move in, she falls asleep at an opera, and at an art museum, this happens.

Yor gets in a few good gags too, mostly revolving around her character tic of blushing whenever something related to violence is around. (At one point she fiddles with a knife at the restaurant they’re at. At the museum, she gets all dew-eyed over a painting of a beheading.)

There are a few more serious scenes as well, such as Anya getting a bit of esper overload when the family hangs around a political rally and has to be escorted away.

The episode’s focal point, though, comes when the trio, taking in some fresh air at a small overlook, happen to see a purse snatcher rob an old woman. Loid, being naturally inclined to not draw attention to himself, doesn’t initially do anything, coldly commenting that the woman should’ve been more careful. It’s Yor who springs into action, and while Loid is eventually the one who takes the crook down (Yor loses him), the old woman thanks them both. Loid thanks Yor for inspiring him to action, and she blushes, which leads to another astute observation from Anya.

The episode concludes with more interview practice, and the promise that we’ll see the real thing next week.

If I don’t seem to have much to say about this episode that’s because, in the grand scheme of things, it’s not a terribly important one. Other than that scene with the thief, this one is best enjoyed by just hitting play and letting it wash over you.

Until next time.

Like what you’re reading? Consider following Magic Planet Anime to get notified when new articles go live. If you’d like to talk to other Magic Planet Anime readers, consider joining my Discord server! Also consider following me on Twitter and supporting me on Ko-Fi or Patreon. If you want to read more of my work, consider heading over to the Directory to browse by category.

All views expressed on Magic Planet Anime are solely my own opinions and conclusions and should not be taken to reflect the opinions of any other persons, groups, or organizations. All text, excepting direct quotations, is owned by Magic Planet Anime. Do not duplicate without permission. All images are owned by their original copyright holders.

Posted on in anime, Let's Watch

Let’s Watch SPY X FAMILY Episode 2 – Secure a Wife

Let’s Watch is a weekly recap column where I follow an anime for the course of its entire runtime. Expect spoilers!

What’s the hardest thing an international superspy has to do over the course of their career? Raising a child, as we learned last week. But “finding a wife” is a close second, and that’s the next step of Loid Forger’s mission. And so, it is also the second episode of Spy x Family.

Enter Yor Briar (Saori Hayami, whose clear, bell-like timbre really adds a lot to the character), a mild-mannered civil servant with a younger brother in the state police. She works a rather unfulfilling-seeming job with a bunch of catty coworkers who seem to hate her mostly because she’s pretty. Also, because this is Spy x Family, she’s an assassin who works for the government. Her code name is “Thorn Princess.” This, objectively, is sick as hell.

You really do not know the restraint it takes to not caption every image of Yor with thirsty screaming.

Yor’s an interesting one. Essentially, she’s the old “prim and proper lady” anime trope welded to the apparent incongruity of, you know, having been born and raised as a super-assassin by some kind of government program. (We don’t get many details here, and I suspect we won’t for a long time. Wouldn’t it be funny if it were the same program that Anya came from?) As with Loid and Anya, the show draws amusing connections between these seemingly unrelated things; you could easily say that Yor is simply every definition of the word “cleaner” rolled into one.

She’s also quite likable. Personality-wise, Yor is actually pretty forthright most of the time, and her difficulty with understanding social cues—including her coworkers’ attempts to get a rise out of her—and self-consciousness about not being “normal” seem to both mark her out as some sort of neurodivergent. (You will pry this scrap of representation, intentional or not, from my cold, dead hands.) In any case, she gets talked into attending a party over the coming weekend by some of those rude coworkers. Worse, when talking with her aforementioned overprotective younger brother in state sec, Yuri (Kenshou Ono), she lies to him, telling him she has a boyfriend who’ll be at said party. Suddenly, Yor Briar needs a bf stat. And that is where our other lead comes in.

Loid has become desperate enough to find a suitable wife for the academy interview that he’s resorted to having his infobroker Frankie (Hiroyuki Yoshino) run paperwork on every single woman in the city. (In literally any other context this’d be absurdly creepy. It still kind of is, but, y’know, spies.) He needn’t really have bothered, though, because when he runs into Yor at a tailor—she ripped her dress when doing some assassin stuff, you see—it’s love at mutual convenience. (Loid also finds himself flummoxed that Yor is able to accidentally sneak up on him, initially blaming it on “dropping his guard.” I wonder if he ever catches on?) That and Anya playing the pintsized wingman in order to get the two talking.

The party itself has to wait, though, because even with their alliance of convenience worked out, Loid has another assignment on top of Operation Strix; breaking up an art smuggling ring. This actually makes him late to the party, and Yor has to endure the frankly horrifying prospect of being at a couples’ party alone. This is where she spends some time fixating on how she isn’t “normal.” The party seems to wash out as this happens, with Yor being only dimly aware of her coworkers increasingly blatant badmouthing until one of them—-named Camille—literally gets right in her face.

It is at that moment that Loid arrives, bleeding from the forehead, with a flimsy excuse about “one of his patients” acting up. Camille promptly loses her shit over the prospect of Yor having such a hot boyfriend (I think Loid is like a 7 myself but I’m not the one being asked, here) and embarrasses herself by trying to mess up her dress, only for her brilliant plan of “accidentally” dropping food on her to backfire spectacularly. Loid sticks up for Yor as Camille continues to berate her, in a moment that’s very touching (although like a lot of such things it loses some of its power in the retelling.) The two ditch the party not long after, but not before Loid mistakenly refers to himself as Yor’s husband instead of simply her fiance or boyfriend.

This has repercussions almost immediately. The two end up having to flee from the art smuggling ring, who are still pursuing Loid. (He reassures Yor that these are still his patients. Hilariously, she completely buys it.) While they’re escaping, Yor, now genuinely lovestruck, manages to straight-up propose to Loid mid-chase scene. It’s genuinely sweet, and it’s one of the year’s best love scenes so far. Loid literally puts a ring on her finger behind a dumpster. The direction is just incredible.

And on that note, episode two more or less ends, with the imposing family interview for the academy being the obvious next obstacle for our cast to conquer. Until then, anime fans.

Oh, but before we leave for the week, the show’s absolute monster of an OP is worth highlighting. The song is pretty great in of itself, but the visuals are something else. I look forward to enjoying it every week as I continue covering the series.

Like what you’re reading? Consider following Magic Planet Anime to get notified when new articles go live. If you’d like to talk to other Magic Planet Anime readers, consider joining my Discord server! Also consider following me on Twitter and supporting me on Ko-Fi or Patreon. If you want to read more of my work, consider heading over to the Directory to browse by category.

All views expressed on Magic Planet Anime are solely my own opinions and conclusions and should not be taken to reflect the opinions of any other persons, groups, or organizations. All text, excepting direct quotations, is owned by Magic Planet Anime. Do not duplicate without permission. All images are owned by their original copyright holders.

Posted on in anime, Let's Watch

Let’s Watch SPY X FAMILY Episode 1 – “Operation Strix”

Let’s Watch is a weekly recap column where I follow an anime for the course of its entire runtime. Expect spoilers!

“Papa is a huge liar. But he’s such a cool liar!”

His codename is “Twilight,” alias Loid Forger (Takuya Eguchi). His real name unknown and unknowable. He is a spy; an international man of mystery. A shadow, a whisper. No one knows his name. In what is not said to be but clearly is the cold war, a certain nation stands divided in two. There, Loid is deployed for the commencement of “Operation Strix,” his toughest assignment yet. What could possibly challenge this earl of espionage? This master of manipulation?

Well, domestic life, for one. Loid’s assignment: find a wife and adopt a child, blend in as seamlessly as possible, and send said child to a prestigious private academy to get close to one of the nation’s top political leaders, a man of near-paranoiac caution who rarely makes himself available except at events for that very school. So begins SPY x FAMILY, Wit Studio and CloverWorks‘ adaption of the wildly successful Shonen Jump manga. So also begins our second Let’s Watch column of the season. We’re in for a ride, folks. Strap in.

For Loid, the first order of business is procuring a child. Time is of the essence, so doing so the—ahem—traditional way is out of the question. As such, the first major undertaking our big heroic superspy sets out on in SPY x FAMILY is a trip to a run-down, skeevy orphanage. There, he adopts Anya (Atsumi Tanezaki), a six-year-old girl with a very cute hair style.

Seriously though what ARE those things on her head? Antennae?

She’s also telepathic, which leads to quite a few shenanigans. Namely; it takes Anya only a few moments to learn that Loid is a spy, being able to read his mind and all. This creates a fun dynamic wherein Loid thinks he has to hide his profession from Anya, who knows what he’s thinking at all times anyway, but who in turn also hides the fact that she knows what Loid really is. The implicit comedic observation that SPY x FAMILY makes here is that children, like spies, have thought processes that are pretty incomprehensible to the rest of us.

Anya is also afraid of what might happen if Loid finds out she can read minds. We’re told upfront that she’s been adopted and then returned to the orphanage four times before. This is a cloud that hangs over all of Loid and Anya’s interactions and provides an interesting shade to even Anya’s silliest antics. Her deep and abiding love of peanuts, for example. (Atsumi Tanezaki also deserves some real credit here for lending a believably childish air to her vocal tics.)

SPY x FAMILY is not a drama, really. But you could make the case for “dramedy,” perhaps, if heavier on the “edy” side. It has the good sense to cut its comedic side with more tonally complex moments, creating an actual emotional core as opposed to just a parade of gags. Anya fucking around with Loid’s spy equipment is funny. Her then panicking, wondering if she’ll be sent back to the orphanage if he finds out, and flashing back to her days as “Subject 7” in the facility she was born in? That’s sad. And like any good dramedy, SPY x FAMILY can juxtapose these polar opposites without making either feel out of place. This is, after all, a little girl that we’re talking about. Kids do think like that, and Anya’s been through more than most.

That’s not to say that all of this totally works. Later in the episode, after a great action sequence where Loid rescues Anya from the direct result of said equipment-fuck-arounding, he engages in a bit of self-lionizing, and we get some rather leaden backstory. This comes too early and too unearned to really hit the way the show seems to want it to. (This is to say nothing of it bumping up against the fact that, you know, real spies are generally not great people. SPY x FAMILY generally renders the profession too ridiculous to feel like it’s glorifying it, but it does occasionally come close.) Thankfully, it’s brief, and not enough to seriously ding the episode in any real way.

The episode ends with Anya successfully passing the exam to get into the private school that forms the crux of Loid’s mission. Perhaps more importantly; it ends with Anya snuggling up to her adopted dad on a couch (and him slightly freaking out about it. He fell asleep in front of someone! That’s a huge no-no for a spy). Then things, as they always do, hit a slight snag.

But we’ll discuss the full implications of that next week. See you then, anime fans.

Oh, I think I already have, episode title. I think I already have.

Like what you’re reading? Consider following Magic Planet Anime to get notified when new articles go live. If you’d like to talk to other Magic Planet Anime readers, consider joining my Discord server! Also consider following me on Twitter and supporting me on Ko-Fi or Patreon. If you want to read more of my work, consider heading over to the Directory to browse by category.

All views expressed on Magic Planet Anime are solely my own opinions and conclusions and should not be taken to reflect the opinions of any other persons, groups, or organizations. All text, excepting direct quotations, is owned by Magic Planet Anime. Do not duplicate without permission. All images are owned by their original copyright holders.