SPY x FAMILY

[Ryllharu]

He didn't even try to. He went to the shadiest orphanage in the town and picked the first kid that seemed a bit more stable than the rest. Then that kid is put against the children of the best families in the country, in a school that regards behavior and bearing as more important than intelligence. With exaggeration, she's like a stray dog taken to a famous dog show. Like I said, I believe this is because Loid has so far been solving his missions mainly by relying on himself for the important parts. Now he obviously thought that as long as he coaches any kid (with a rudimentary level of intelligence), it's a mission accomplished. But then again, isn't he 20-something? No matter how kickass a spy he is, he was still too young to really understand the demands of this particular mission.

I mean, let's not pretend that Loid had a chance to objectively gauge Anya's intelligence. She read his mind and then quickly "corrected him" that she was six years old, and she has no paperwork to back it up, which is why he was at the shady orphanage in the first place.

Then she doubled down and read his mind to complete the crossword puzzle, making her appear very smart for a six year old.

He couldn't swap her after he found out she's far less book-smart than she appeared, partly because of the scene she was making when she read his mind and caught on that he considered it, mostly because of Operation Strix' timetable, and lastly because Eden Academy is the kind of institution it is.

Loid is completely outclassed by Anya due to her abilities. It's the core basis to theme in general.

[Kraco]

I mean, let's not pretend that Loid had a chance to objectively gauge Anya's intelligence. She read his mind and then quickly "corrected him" that she was six years old, and she has no paperwork to back it up, which is why he was at the shady orphanage in the first place.

Then she doubled down and read his mind to complete the crossword puzzle, making her appear very smart for a six year old.

He couldn't swap her after he found out she's far less book-smart than she appeared, partly because of the scene she was making when she read his mind and caught on that he considered it, mostly because of Operation Strix' timetable, and lastly because Eden Academy is the kind of institution it is.

Loid is completely outclassed by Anya due to her abilities. It's the core basis to theme in general.

But that doesn't really matter. Loid should have first carefully studied what the school is all about; it's not about intelligence, like I said earlier. He didn't know. At the same time there should have been screening for kids to match those requirements specifically. Not only by Loid himself. There should have been some child psychologists to assist with it and whatever. The problem is that the mighty Twilight is so full of hubris that he thought it doesn't really matter what kind of kid it is, as long as there's some intelligence to work with, he can surely shape the kid into acing the school, even when he's nowhere near to help her. Even his bloody wife in the operation isn't another friendly spy, or at least a known useful idiot, it's a totally random person with a superficial background check performed. Because Loid thinks it doesn't matter as long as it's the Twilight handling it.

[Ryllharu]

Those decisions weren't made by Loid/Twilight, they were WISE.

They told him to start a fake family and get a child enrolled to get close to Dovovan Desmond. The end.

The agents were brought up a few episodes ago. WISE has had a lot of agents captured or killed very recently by the Ostanian Secret Police (the same ones Yor was worried about being suspected by), so they are short- handed.

And now due to the recent and excessive expenditures, they've put Sylvia Sherwood in direct supervision of Operation Strix.

[Buffalobiian]

But that doesn't really matter. Loid should have first carefully studied what the school is all about; it's not about intelligence, like I said earlier.

There's a test to get into Eden. Anya barely passed that by reading minds, presumably because other kids were also stumped, and she also couldn't filter out the smart answers.

Loid's main role was to find a kid that'd get him into the academy to meet the guy he needs. A smart kid who could get in academically as well as understand some basic thing to not screw up his spy plan makes sense. It'd be hard to find someone elegant in an orphanage.

The point system introduced here also favours merits.

[neflight86]

I think he had all of a week from reading the mission details to having Anya (a child) taking the entrance exams. Not enough time for rigorous orphan screening, and even if, would likely draw attention. He mentioned to scruffy that most of the appropriate female agents had been caught lately (no wife prospects), and he didn't even consider he would need a wife (it appeared optional) until he learned details about the interview after Anya passed the test. I think pinning the complication on Twilight's hubris is a bit much, given the circumstances. He's even said he is more anxious than ever- he'd rather have done this much cleaner.

[Kraco]

Maybe I blamed him too much, but it only means the leadership above him is bad. I seem to recall Twilight even doing other spy work in addition to this one, which almost ruined his chances with Yor, the vital wife for the plan to succeed. All things considered, this whole infiltration mission can't be as important as has been suggested.

[MFauli]

Episode 2:

Started watching this, because I found a German dubbed version and it's more relaxing to watch that. Anyway.

I like what I've seen, unlike my fears, it's not episodic in nature, but a forthgoing story. While Anya's German voice actor sounds way too old (is that so in the Japanese version, too?), she's funny, less because of the facial expressions and more so because of her telepathic abilities. I chuckle every time she thinks "papa is a bad liar" or "papa is such a liar", lol.

However, one thing I feared became true: The very realistic violence completely goes against the otherwise lighthearted nature of the show. In episode 1, that gangster boss casually shoots an underling in the head - to which Anya makes a funny grimace and think "that is a bad guy". :/ A child just saw someone get murdered, she should be terrified, crying, and not make funny remarks. And now in episode, Yor. Her entire character is bad, because when it comes down to it, she's a murderer. And don't give me "she only kills bad guys", the episode itself said that she's part of countless "dubious" missions, so it's unlikely to be this clear cut. And maybe it's me getting older, but I don't mass murder "cute". When she slashed those guys in the hotel appartment dead, that just wasn't fun. And her being shocked over her dress being ripped also wasn't funny. Portraying deadly violence like this might work with braindead Americans, but for me it didn't work. I hope her circumstances are either explained better in the following episodes, or that she stops taking jobs that aren't "for the good". Otherwise there's not much to like about her, other than h-doujin potential.

That's it for now, hope the general quality stays as high.

Also, am I the only one that hears the main theme of Phantom Thief in this anime? Pretty sure the creators must have heard this game'S soundtrack before, lol:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Je1n...nnel=myuutashi

[Ryllharu]

I like what I've seen, unlike my fears, it's not episodic in nature, but a forthgoing story. While Anya's German voice actor sounds way too old (is that so in the Japanese version, too?)

No, Tanezaki Atsumi is god-tier (Juju in Sono Bisque, Chise in Mahou Tsukai no Yome, Vivy in...Vivy, Emporio in Jojo, Emilia in DRRR, the triplet Chiis in Centaur no Nayami). She plays children extremely well, and Anya is her best work on that aspect yet. On top of that, I'm not sure how the dub you're watching works, but Anya speaks in a very childish dialect of Japanese, that even someone not fluent in the language picks up on immediately. Mixed into that are random words that someone Anya's age should never be using (linking to her esper nature), and some specific references to classic series on rare occasions. Tanezaki Atsumi is the closest I've ever heard to actual child actress casting.

However, one thing I feared became true: The very realistic violence completely goes against the otherwise lighthearted nature of the show. In episode 1, that gangster boss casually shoots an underling in the head - to which Anya makes a funny grimace and think "that is a bad guy". :/ A child just saw someone get murdered, she should be terrified, crying, and not make funny remarks.

Anya has not had a particularly sheltered childhood to date. She's seen some shit. She's heard way too much from inside people's heads. As for seeing someone actually murdered in front of her? The 'unreality' of that kind of situation puts strange dampers on it when the psyche protects itself. Again, not sure about the German dub, but Anya's line isn't delivered like that at all. She's very troubled about reading "a real bad guy" in contrast to her cartoons.

And now in episode, Yor. Her entire character is bad, because when it comes down to it, she's a murderer. And don't give me "she only kills bad guys", the episode itself said that she's part of countless "dubious" missions, so it's unlikely to be this clear cut. And maybe it's me getting older, but I don't mass murder "cute". When she slashed those guys in the hotel appartment dead, that just wasn't fun. And her being shocked over her dress being ripped also wasn't funny. Portraying deadly violence like this might work with braindead Americans, but for me it didn't work.

Yor is an assassin, and what she does is kill people for work. She gets told who to kill, and she does exactly that. The end.

The "good" and "bad" should be viewed through the lens of who they work for. Twilight works for WISE, and Yor works for Garden. WISE is part of the government in Totally Not West Germany, and Garden is based in Totally Not East Germany, but Garden is not the equivalent of WISE. Garden isn't a spy agency. Yor kills people based on however they get their orders/requests/hunches/culling/whatever. Period. She has been told it is for bringing peace, and without knowing how those jobs come down or from who, that's what we know. Is it for Ostania? Is it for Westalis? Is it for a criminal organization? We don't know.

Being shocked about the dress isn't particularly humorous. It's meant to show how casually Yor murders people. She's more worried about the inconvenience of a tear in a dress she needs for a social function than how to clean up 20 bodies, or if there would be any threat to her leaving after she made the commotion and mess. She's overwhelmingly superior in all physical aspects to Twilight, or basically anyone else shown in the anime to date.

Yor's entire value system is kinda fucked up because she's been doing this work for so long, and now she's acting as Anya's stepmother. That is the joke. It's in context to Anya and combining three very problematic individuals into a family for a mission that is supposed to prevent a new war between the West and East.

[MFauli]

No, Tanezaki Atsumi is god-tier (Juju in Sono Bisque, Chise in Mahou Tsukai no Yome, Vivy in...Vivy, Emporio in Jojo, Emilia in DRRR, the triplet Chiis in Centaur no Nayami). She plays children extremely well, and Anya is her best work on that aspect yet. On top of that, I'm not sure how the dub you're watching works, but Anya speaks in a very childish dialect of Japanese, that even someone not fluent in the language picks up on immediately. Mixed into that are random words that someone Anya's age should never be using (linking to her esper nature), and some specific references to classic series on rare occasions. Tanezaki Atsumi is the closest I've ever heard to actual child actress casting.



Anya has not had a particularly sheltered childhood to date. She's seen some shit. She's heard way too much from inside people's heads. As for seeing someone actually murdered in front of her? The 'unreality' of that kind of situation puts strange dampers on it when the psyche protects itself. Again, not sure about the German dub, but Anya's line isn't delivered like that at all. She's very troubled about reading "a real bad guy" in contrast to her cartoons.


Yor is an assassin, and what she does is kill people for work. She gets told who to kill, and she does exactly that. The end.

The "good" and "bad" should be viewed through the lens of who they work for. Twilight works for WISE, and Yor works for Garden. WISE is part of the government in Totally Not West Germany, and Garden is based in Totally Not East Germany, but Garden is not the equivalent of WISE. Garden isn't a spy agency. Yor kills people based on however they get their orders/requests/hunches/culling/whatever. Period. She has been told it is for bringing peace, and without knowing how those jobs come down or from who, that's what we know. Is it for Ostania? Is it for Westalis? Is it for a criminal organization? We don't know.

Being shocked about the dress isn't particularly humorous. It's meant to show how casually Yor murders people. She's more worried about the inconvenience of a tear in a dress she needs for a social function than how to clean up 20 bodies, or if there would be any threat to her leaving after she made the commotion and mess. She's overwhelmingly superior in all physical aspects to Twilight, or basically anyone else shown in the anime to date.

Yor's entire value system is kinda fucked up because she's been doing this work for so long, and now she's acting as Anya's stepmother. That is the joke. It's in context to Anya and combining three very problematic individuals into a family for a mission that is supposed to prevent a new war between the West and East.

Ryll, replying "she's an assassin" is not an excuse for murder, you know. With how capable she is, she could do countless other jobs. Matter of fact, she DID do other jobs successfully as part of infiltrating her targets.

It all comes down to me disliking casual murder of people in anime, movies or video games. I understand that I'm in a minority here, so let's not waste any more energy discussing this.

[Ryllharu]

Well, I mean you did toss out a casual racist remark about Americans in discussion about a Japanese work.

[DarthEnderX]

She's more worried about the inconvenience of a tear in a dress she needs for a social function than how to clean up 20 bodies

I seriously doubt she cleaned up any of the bodies.

[shinta|hikari]

I mean, wasn't she good at cleaning? I had assumed that was because she made bodies disappear.

Then again, no one cares about aftermath in anime.

[DarthEnderX]

I also feel like...there's not much point in a situation like that. It's one thing to try and make one person disappear. But if a person's entire entourage vanishes, people are going to assume foul play whether they find the bodies or not.

[Buffalobiian]

Ryll, replying "she's an assassin" is not an excuse for murder, you know. With how capable she is, she could do countless other jobs. Matter of fact, she DID do other jobs successfully as part of infiltrating her targets.

But like, she's an assassin!

I can't tell whether you're arguing about the accuracy of how assassins are portrayed, or the morality of assassins existing..

[David75]

This is anime and her character is built as an assassin, pretty much like Leon (the movies with young Natalie Portman as a co-star)
Of course Yor is highly capable in other areas than assassin job.
But it feels like she's schizophrenic, when she enters Killing mode she's more like a machine. It also feels like she enjoys killing. If she's not schizophrenic, killing is her nature now and she probably would never stop until she dies.
Imagine a 90 years old Yor still an assassin to the core...

[MFauli]

But like, she's an assassin!

I can't tell whether you're arguing about the accuracy of how assassins are portrayed, or the morality of assassins existing..

It's the stark contrast between her acting cute in everyday situations, plus Anya admiring her, when during her "job" she's massmurdering people without second thought. And again, as of episode 2 it doesn't seem like she's murdering only evil people. And that, yes, is a moral issue for me. Frankly, I would have a problem with a character murdering evil people with joy, too. Murdering people just isn't fun, cool nor cute. Unforuntately, too many entertainment media portray it that way. As I said, this isn't a Spy X Family-exclusive problem. I remember having huge issues with that during playing Fire Emblem: Three Houses for Switch. "Oh, I'm cute Bernadetta, locking myself in my room all day ... except when I'm on the battlefield, then I murder countless people with my bow and arrow". Fuck off, Bernie. :/ I hate these dual-personality characters.

[neflight86]

A more inflammatory take than usual, Mfauli.

I like what I've seen, unlike my fears, it's not episodic in nature, but a forthgoing story. While Anya's German voice actor sounds way too old (is that so in the Japanese version, too?), she's funny, less because of the facial expressions and more so because of her telepathic abilities. I chuckle every time she thinks "papa is a bad liar" or "papa is such a liar", lol.

Glad you found a dub that fits your preference better. It seems the Japanese VA industry has vaulted ahead of its western contemporaries (or maybe has already been there), as it really pulls in some star power over there. English dubs are getting better, but slowly, use many of the same actors, and still have the regular stinker here and there.

However, one thing I feared became true: The very realistic violence completely goes against the otherwise lighthearted nature of the show. In episode 1, that gangster boss casually shoots an underling in the head - to which Anya makes a funny grimace and think "that is a bad guy". :/ A child just saw someone get murdered, she should be terrified, crying, and not make funny remarks.

The violence isn't realistic. Nobody found the child being afraid of the villain funny (it was framed as fear), and as has been mentioned, she has been desensitized somewhat by her abusive upbringing in the lab and elsewhere in the orphan circuit.

Yor. Her entire character is bad, because when it comes down to it, she's a murderer. And don't give me "she only kills bad guys", the episode itself said that she's part of countless "dubious" missions, so it's unlikely to be this clear cut. And maybe it's me getting older, but I don't mass murder "cute".

It's shown, not glorified. Just a stylish exposition/introduction of the character, not an endorsement of killings. "This is who Yor is and where she comes from. She has some mental issues". Take it like the story telling you that and you might find more enjoyment. Her character design is cute, though...

Portraying deadly violence like this might work with braindead Americans, but for me it didn't work. I hope her circumstances are either explained better in the following episodes, or that she stops taking jobs that aren't "for the good".

Is that necessary? To pre-emptively dismiss an entire audience for having maybe different sensibilities than your own undermines your argument. It comes off as virtue signaling, and no good discussion is had from that.

I'm sure her backstory/work will come up again, and guess what? It's probably going to feed into some jokes that involve people dying; I hope they don't put you off too much.

That's it for now, hope the general quality stays as high.

So far it appears to have, even the filler is fun.

But it feels like she's schizophrenic, when she enters Killing mode she's more like a machine. It also feels like she enjoys killing. If she's not schizophrenic, killing is her nature now and she probably would never stop until she dies.
Imagine a 90 years old Yor still an assassin to the core...

Good observation; I forgot that she acts like there is a 'switch' to killing mode. I don't know if she enjoys the act of killing or if her fulfilment is more akin to satisfaction in a job well done, like when you finish a cleaning job that was overdue you feel a load off your shoulders or the like?

[Buffalobiian]

FYI Schizophrenia is when you can not differentiate fantasy from reality. You hear voices, suffer from delusional thoughts etc.

I think what you guys are trying to say, is more a dissociative personality disorder.

[neflight86]

Maybe she has a little of both if she (somewhat) equates cleaning and killing, like in her introduction?

[DarthEnderX]

But like, she's an assassin!

I can't tell whether you're arguing about the accuracy of how assassins are portrayed, or the morality of assassins existing..

The latter I would think. He's arguing that Yor is basically evil because she murders people. And people are defending her because, well, it's her job.

But I'm with Mfauli on this one. That doesn't make it okay. Murdering people is an evil act. And if that's your entire job...well, you have an evil job. And you're not a good, or even okay person, for choosing to do that job. Even if it's the only job Yor can do, she's still choosing her own survival over any sense of morality. And, yeah, she's like, a caring sister and stepmother, but those two things don't even out.

And it's not even like she does her job begrudgingly. She's portrayed as kinda being, like, enamored with death. She looooves killin' people.

Murdering people just isn't fun, cool nor cute.

Well, completely disagree with that. It absolutely can be. Franchises like Hitman and John Wick are built around this fact.