Loid’s Side Missions

It was only yesterday, in my review of RPG Real Estate, that I mentioned most anime series flop at the end. It’s surprising how difficult it seems making a good ending is. And while I know Spy x Family isn’t over, Episode 12 is an example of a poor ending.

Spy x Family Part 2 is coming. We’ve known that for a long time now. But, Episode 12 is still the ending of Part 1 and should feel like it. Instead, it wasn’t much different from a normal episode. If I didn’t know this was the last episode, I’d think there was one more.

My biggest complaint with the episode, though, is how it began. We don’t need a recap of who the main characters are at the start of Episode 12. We know who they are. If you’re going to add that, put it at the start of Part 2 Episode 1.

After the recap, we see that Loid has been receiving extra missions to complete on top of Operation Strix. For the most part, completing these missions hasn’t been an issue for him. But, because he’s always out, his neighbors have begun spreading rumors.

If rumors are being spread about him, that’s not good for his job as a spy. And so, Loid plans to get his side missions out of the way so he can spend more time on Operation Strix.

I kind of like that Loid has other missions. It reinforces that he’s a spy. If he spent all his time on Anya, he’d lose that part of his character. Also, his other missions add some excitement we wouldn’t otherwise get.

Unfortunately, Yor has missed out on this development. We don’t get to see her working as an assassin.

The Great Penguin Caper

The whole middle part of Episode 12 that took place at the aquarium was great. This is exactly what I’m talking about when I say that Loid’s side missions add excitement. Yes, they were going to the aquarium anyway. But, his mission made the trip more interesting.

If Loid wasn’t on a mission, we would never have seen him disguised as an employee working with the penguins. That’s not a situation that would arise under normal circumstances. So, all that is to say that I’m glad Loid decided to continue taking on side missions in the end.

Now, something I was pretty interested in during this part of the episode was Anya’s use of her ability. It turns out that she can read the minds of animals, too. That’s not something that has come up before. But, I have a feeling that it’s going to be important.

This is getting a bit into spoiler territory, so there’s your warning. But, despite the fact that I don’t know much about what happens in the manga, I know the Forgers get a pet dog. I’m on the internet, so I’ve seen people post the family picture with the dog.

Also, earlier in the series, there was foreshadowing that they’re going to get a dog. Remember, after earning her first Stella Star, Anya asked for a dog. In response, Loid said that he would consider it. We also even saw the dog at the end of Episode 11.

When we saw the dog, it was implied that it’s part of some experiment or something. So, I doubt this will be a normal dog. And, since we now know Anya can read the minds of animals, that sets up her being able to read the dog’s mind.

Agent Anya

The final part of Episode 12 focused on Anya playing make-believe. She was pretending that she, her stuffed animals, and her parents are spies. Well, Loid actually is a spy. But, she was pretending that he’s one of her underlings, so it still counts as make-believe.

Don’t get me wrong, I liked this part of the episode. It wasn’t as good as the stuff at the aquarium, though. But, my issue with this part goes back to what I was saying toward the start of this review. I would have preferred some sort of ending over this content.

We could still have the content from the end of this episode placed somewhere in Part 2. I’m not saying to cut it out entirely; it’s good content. But, some sort of foreshadowing or cliffhanger leading into Part 2 would have been nice. Give me something to look forward to.

Episode 11 ended with foreshadowing the dog. So, yes, that’s something to look forward to in Part 2. But since it came at the end of Episode 11, I thought we were going to get the dog in Episode 12. And I actually forgot the dog appeared in Episode 11 until I started writing about it in this review.

Nothing from this episode was a clear setup for the future of the series. We could have gotten something about what’s coming up for Anya at school. Or, what about something involving Yor? She needs more content spread throughout.

A simple scene of Anya and Yor telling Loid what’s coming up for them would have been perfect. Anya could mention a new opportunity to get a Stella Star that’s coming soon. And Yor could mention that Yuri is going to visit again while Anya is awake.

Conclusion

What do you think of Spy x Family Episode 12? Am I being too harsh on it? Did you think this was a good ending to the season? Or, would you have rather it included something for us to look forward to, too? Let me know in the comments.

If you enjoyed this review, remember to click the like button down below. Also, follow me on Twitter @DoubleSama so you don’t miss out on any future content. And come join our Discord server to discuss anime with other members of the community.

Finally, I’d like to thank Roman for supporting DoubleSama.com at the Heika tier this month. To learn more about how you too can become a supporter of this blog, check out Patreon.com/DoubleSama.

My review of Part 2 Episode 13 is available now.

Anya’s Plan for Cheating Better

At the start of Spy x Family Episode 11, we see that Anya has failed all her tests. The highest score she got was a 7 in math. But, it seems safe to assume that this isn’t a 7/100.

In fact, based on what we’re shown, it looks like all the tests featured in this episode were out of 10. So, Anya’s best score was actually a 7/10. That’s not too bad. But, it would seem that a 7/10 still counts as a failing grade at Eden.

Out of the 4 tests Anya took, we only got to see 3 of the scores. Besides math, she got a 2/10 in science and a 0/10 in language. I would imagine that the test we didn’t get to see had a similar score.

Loid has figured out that Anya’s higher score in math is the result of her connecting math to the anime she watches. So, his plan is to make the same connections for her other subjects. But, this doesn’t seem to work as Anya can’t remember most of the details from episodes.

Anya has a plan of her own to achieve better test scores, though. The reason she didn’t score well is that she attempted to cheat by using her telepathy. But, since Anya didn’t know which of her classmates are good at each subject, she copied wrong answers.

Her new plan is to figure out who’s good at what before the next test. That way, she’ll be able to make more effective use of her telepathy.

It’s unclear if she’ll actually follow through with this plan. She doesn’t want to score too high because she thinks her classmates will hate her.

Telepathy Saves Lives

I’m not sure what the limits on Anya’s telepathy are. As far as we know, she never had an issue with it in the orphanage. But, as we saw in Episode 3, she can get overwhelmed when in a crowd. And yet, she doesn’t seem to have any issues at school, either.

In this episode, we see Anya use her telepathy in a way that would have seemed impossible earlier. She’s able to pick out the voice of a boy who’s drowning in a different part of a hospital. I would have thought all the other voices would get in the way.

I guess the internal voice of someone in danger stands out more than the rest. But, regardless of how Anya managed to hear the boy’s cry for help, she knew she needed to do something. And, what’s pretty messed up is that she might not have been doing it for the boy’s sake.

When I say she might not have saved the boy for his sake, I don’t mean that she saved him to earn a Stella Star. I mean she saved him so she wouldn’t have to hear him drown. Think about how traumatic it would be for Anya if someone died near her.

Because of her telepathy, she’d be able to hear whatever that person thinks in their final moments. And as far as we know, she’s incapable, or at least not very good at, blocking voices out.

Let’s also not forget that she almost revealed her secret to Loid. When she tells him someone’s drowning in the pool, he asks how she knows that. But rather than telling him the truth, she plays it off. It wouldn’t surprise me if Loid still suspects Anya is hiding something, though.

Starlight Anya

Episode 11 was a good episode. There was a lot of nice content in it. But, my favorite part of the episode is when Anya insists Becky calls her Starlight Anya from now on. Of course, Anya deserves this modicum of respect for earning a Stella Star.

Anya correcting Becky and telling Becky to call her Starlight Anya was funny. But, what was even funnier was later in the episode when Anya doesn’t respond to her name. Instead, she only responds once Becky calls her Starlight Anya. That was a great way to circle back to the joke.

Wanting Becky to call her Starlight Anya seemed like it was going to be a one-off joke. So, by the time we got to the callback, I had pretty much forgotten about it. When Becky called Anya’s name, I wondered why Anya wasn’t responding. And then, “Starlight Anya.”

After Anya received her Stella Star and began wearing it on her uniform, I had a question. Would someone with 7 Stella Stars have them displayed on their uniform? That seems like it would be a lot. But, I guess once you hit 8, you swap them out for the Imperial Scholar cloak.

Well, it looks like I asked that question too early. Based on Anya’s classmates’ comments, most students don’t wear their Stella stars. So, after this episode, I don’t expect to see Anya wearing hers anymore. But, I can definitely understand why she would want to.

I doubt Anya has ever won an award before. Unless they’re giving out awards at the orphanage, I don’t see when she would have had the chance. This Stella Star is a big accomplishment for her. And, it’s even more important to her because of Loid’s mission.

Conclusion

What do you think of Spy x Family Episode 11? Do you expect Anya to use her new cheating plan? Were you surprised Anya could swim? I was. And do you think Starlight Anya should continue to insist Becky call her that? Let me know in the comments.

If you enjoyed this review, remember to click the like button down below. Also, follow me on Twitter @DoubleSama so you don’t miss out on any future content. And come join our Discord server to discuss anime with other members of the community.

Finally, I’d like to thank Roman for supporting DoubleSama.com at the Heika tier this month. To learn more about how you too can become a supporter of this blog, check out Patreon.com/DoubleSama.

My review of Episode 12 is available now.

The Rumored Stella Star

Spy x Family Episode 10 is all about a first-grade dodgeball tournament. This is the first big event of the school year. And, it’s rumored that the MVP of the winning team of the tournament will earn a Stella Star. If the rumors are true, this would be the first chance to earn one.

Right from the start, though, I had my doubts about the veracity of this rumor. Two different sources claim that this information came out of Class 7. But, neither of these sources has a direct line to where the rumor began.

Ewen Egeburg first tells Damian that he heard the rumor from a friend who himself heard it from a friend in Class 7. Next, Becky Blackbell tells Anya the same thing — she heard it from a friend who heard it from a friend in Class 7.

I don’t remember what class number Anya is in. But, we know that the rumors about the tournament Stella Star reach beyond her class. Members of Class 4 have also heard that the MVP of the dodgeball tournament will earn a Stella Star.

Now, it was always possible that the rumors were true. It wouldn’t surprise me if Eden College didn’t announce Stella Star availability. Of course, earning the top score on an exam would count. But beyond that, they may not want the students to be able to prepare to earn them.

With that said, the “I heard it from my friend who heard it from their friend” chain never seemed trustworthy. It would be a different story if one of the students said they heard it from their older sibling. At least then, there’d be an explanation for how they got this information.

Training Arcs

In preparation for the dodgeball tournament, both Anya and Damian have training arcs. They’re both aiming to be the MVP of the tournament so they can earn the Stella Star (that doesn’t exist). And while their training arcs were very different, the results ended up being the same.

Yor decided she was going to train Anya. And on the surface, this seems like a pretty good idea. Yor exercises often so she can stay fit for her job (being an assassin). Between her and Loid, I’d think that Yor is better suited to training Anya on how to play dodgeball.

But, as we know, things don’t turn out well for Anya. Though, this isn’t because of a flaw in Yor’s training. She actually did put a lot of effort into training Anya. The problem is that Anya isn’t anywhere near as athletic as Yor. She was never going to succeed.

Damian’s training arc wasn’t as regimented as Anya’s. He didn’t have a personal trainer to exercise with. But, he did have the power of friendship. Damian’s training included playing make-believe with his friends. There was even a scene of him doing battle on Planet Namek from Dragon Ball Z.

It might be easy to say that Damian’s training arc was always going to be less effective than Anya’s. But, I don’t know if I agree with that. Damian’s more athletic than Anya is by default. So, he didn’t need the same level of basic training that Anya did.

Instead, all the training Damian did focused on teamwork. He learned how to work well with Ewen and Emile. And in a team sport like dodgeball, teamwork makes the dream work. If they weren’t going up against Bazooka Bill, they could have won.

Star Catch Arrow!

Episode 10 might have been the Spy x Family episode I found the funniest. There were a lot of great moments in this episode. Bill Watkins’s introduction was one such moment. My favorite part involving him may have been when we saw the comparison between him and his father.

Compared to the other children, Bill Watkins is a beast. He towers over them. That can be funny on its own, and I’d say it was. But what I found even funnier was when we saw him next to an adult and it’s revealed he’s still child-sized.

I also found Damian’s training arc pretty entertaining. In particular, I liked when he and his friends were “mountain climbing” and Emile fell. I was expecting Damian and Ewen to reach out and catch Emile. But, no. Emile fell all the way off the mountain (climbing structure).

Let’s be honest, though. The best part of the episode was the reveal of Anya’s killer shot, Star Catch Arrow! Regardless of how effective it was (or wasn’t), you have to admit it was a cool move. And while I never expected Anya’s signature move to work, I also didn’t expect how it failed.

I thought Anya’s throw was going to be gentle and easily caught by Bill. Her spiking the ball into the floor before it even crossed the line wasn’t what I had in mind. But, I have to say, that fits Anya’s personality perfectly.

The only thing I’d say the dodgeball tournament was missing is Loid and Yor in the audience. It would have been good if the parents were in attendance. I’m sure Loid’s and Yor’s reactions to Anya’s Star Catch Arrow would have been great. Also Loid’s reaction to Bill.

Conclusion

What do you think of Spy x Family Episode 10? Did you think the rumors were true? Did you prefer Anya’s or Damian’s training arc? And what are your thoughts on Anya’s Star Catch Arrow? Let me know in the comments.

If you enjoyed this review, remember to click the like button down below. Also, follow me on Twitter @DoubleSama so you don’t miss out on any future content. And come join our Discord server to discuss anime with other members of the community.

Finally, I’d like to thank Roman for supporting DoubleSama.com at the Heika tier this month. To learn more about how you too can become a supporter of this blog, check out Patreon.com/DoubleSama.

My review of Episode 11 is available now.

A Loving Couple Part 2

As I predicted in Episode 8, Loid and Yor didn’t kiss in front of Yuri. But, that doesn’t mean I predicted everything that played out in Spy x Family Episode 9. For example, my prediction about why they didn’t kiss in front of Yuri was wrong.

I expected Anya to wake up and interfere. And, to be fair, that almost happened. After Yor slapped Yuri across the room, Anya did wake up for a moment before going back to sleep. But, even if Anya came out of her room at that point, my prediction would have already failed.

You see, once Yor slapped Yuri across the room, the kiss was off. She slapped him in an attempt to slap Loid after becoming too flustered to follow through with the kiss. Also, I’m pretty sure I predicted that Loid and Yor wouldn’t get too flustered.

Before excusing himself for the night, Yuri receives some major injuries from Yor. And I’m so used to injuries like these in anime amounting to nothing that Loid surprised me when he brought them up. Sure, Yuri walked his injuries off and was fine. But, usually, the severity of the injuries isn’t even mentioned.

Once Yuri was gone, I kind of expected Loid and Yor to kiss at some point in the episode. That never ended up happening. But, I still think it’s going to happen at some point. Even though they’re a fake family, they’ve all been getting closer. They’re almost a real family by now.

At what point are they a real-enough family, though? Part of what makes the series unique is that they’re not a real family. So if all their secrets come out and they accept each other, does that take away from the series?

The Wildcard Awakens

Unfortunately for Anya — and us — she slept through Yuri’s visit. And when she did finally wake up the next morning, she completely forgot that he was there. This is despite the fact that she tried to stay up to meet him the night before.

Now, there wasn’t very much Anya content in this episode. But, I’m not going to complain about that because we got plenty of Yor content. I had been asking for more Yor content only a few weeks ago, and now we have it. Also, it looks like next week’s episode is going to focus on Anya again.

Still, the small amount of Anya content we got this week was good. In particular, I enjoyed her talking to the houseplant as if it was her father right after waking up. And, she helped her parents get along better (sort of).

I’m hoping we don’t have to wait too long for Any to meet Yuri. She knows he’s a member of the secret police thanks to reading Loid’s thoughts. And while she doesn’t know what the secret police is, she knows it’s something exciting like a spy or an assassin.

What do you think Anya’s reaction to reading his mind will be? She’s often shocked, both in good and bad ways, by what Loid thinks. And she’s terrified by some of the things Yor thinks. But, I get the feeling she’ll think Yuri is a complete weirdo if she reads his mind.

She’ll be able to see how obsessed he is with his sister. And that may overpower anything exciting about him due to his work as a member of the secret police. We’ll have to wait and see, though. I hope it happens before this season ends.

Secret Police Interrogation

The scene of Yor getting interrogated by the “secret police” was very good for a few reasons. First, it wasn’t immediately obvious that it was Loid and Franky in disguise. Franky kind of looked like himself still. But Loid looked, and sounded, like one of the actual secret police members.

I wouldn’t say these disguises fooled me. But, I liked that we got the first part of the interrogation before the official reveal. I wouldn’t have liked the scene as much if we saw Loid and Franky getting into costume beforehand.

Also, did you notice that Yor immediately mentioned that she’s married? This actually ties back to the second episode of the series. You may recall that the reason Yor wanted a fake boyfriend was to make her seem less suspicious. Her coworkers said that the secret police were suspicious of women still single at her age.

Yor’s performance in this scene isn’t the only good part, though. Loid was very smart about the way he went about trying to get information out of her. He gave her the chance to bring her brother up by saying family members of the secret police get a free pass.

If Yor had mentioned Yuri’s name upon hearing that, it would prove that she knew of his profession. Of course, we already knew that Yuri keeps his true profession a secret from his sister. But, this was a great way for Loid to confirm that for himself.

And, let’s not forget Franky’s performance here. I’m not a huge fan of Franky. But, I like that getting too into the roles he’s given is a part of his character. It makes him more fun. And for another example of him doing this, look back to Episode 5.

Conclusion

What do you think of Spy x Family Episode 9? How wrong (or right) was your prediction about how Loid’s and Yor’s kiss would play out? Do you think Anya will meet Yuri this season? And did you pick up on Yor’s reference to the second episode during her interrogation? Let me know in the comments.

If you enjoyed this review, remember to click the like button down below. Also, follow me on Twitter @DoubleSama so you don’t miss out on any future content. And come join our Discord server to discuss anime with other members of the community.

Finally, I’d like to thank Roman for supporting DoubleSama.com at the Heika tier this month. To learn more about how you too can become a supporter of this blog, check out Patreon.com/DoubleSama.

My review of Episode 10 is available now.