Posted by OP Sequence
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OP: 「ミックスナッツ」 (Mixed Nuts) by (Official HIGE DANdism)
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「妻役を確保せよ」 (Tsuma-yaku o Kakuho Seyo)
“Secure a Wife”
This series doesn’t take itself seriously, which is the fun and beauty of it. Everything from the cipher exchange at the grocer’s, the “Concussive Recovery Method”, and the grenade wedding ring lean into stretching plausibility thin, while having a good time with it. One of my favorite parts of the episode was probably the grenade-ring part-so bizarre, yet so very fitting for the untypical Forger union.
The crux of the plot is Anya’s mind-reading ability. If she couldn’t read minds, Yor (Hayami Saori) and Loid wouldn’t have gotten together and who knows where they would end up. But, fortunately, she is able to read the situation and acts quickly as their little matchmaker. Of course, Loid’s and Yor’s secret jobs are also necessary to make the plot work. If Yor didn’t have her assassin-life to keep on the down-low, there’s no way she would be willing to buy Loid’s whole psychiatrist being pursued by his patients bit. While each part of the equation is terribly far-fetched, the sum of them equals a whole lot of bombastic fun.
There is a whole lot of emphasis on “normal”-1950’s brand of normal with early marriage and family-making, fitting right in with the cold-war-ish setting. Even Eden Academy requires a 2-parent, nuclear family home for admission, which seems unfair to me (and to Twilight who is at his wit’s end). Kudos to the writers/mangaka for a skillful job writing it in such a way that it pokes fun at the genre and the era while embracing those idiosyncrasies. Something like this could so easily go in the wrong direction.
Everyone from her coworkers to her brother doesn’t fail to remind secret-assassin Yor at every turn how she doesn’t fit that “normal”. Because apparently, if you’re single at 27, then obviously you’re a spy. I was impressed that they took the single lady witch hunts and connected it back to the spy organization as the reason Twilight has to outsource for his bride. The irony of “marry to be normal” is supreme, given who Yor marries. I love the heavy irony they lean into, like when Camila (a major bitch) jokes about Yor going to the party with “the creeper who stole their files”.
Yor being “abnormal” makes her a good match for the abnormal Forger family (and for Anya, a spy AND an assassin for parents is a match made in Heaven). There’s no way that Loid would have been able to successfully convince a normal person that he is also normal-usually they have a way of picking up on who isn’t one of them, like her co-workers do with Yor. Yor’s whole innocent girl act and Loid’s dedicated psychiatrist and family man act are quite entertaining-I don’t get tired of it. Their pseudo (yet still cute) “romance” played like a rom-com and really made the episode.
As much as I love Yor’s character, I’m not a huge fan of the voice-acting. She sounds too much like a typical submissive anime girl. Which the more I think about it, goes hand in hand with the irony of a sweet girl hiding a secret life as a fierce assassin. As they say, never trust the quiet ones. Her character is the reverse of Loid’s hard on the outside, soft on the inside, which I think makes them a great pair. Yor seems genuinely kind and harmless on the outside, but at heart, she is a dedicated, fearsome assassin. In Yor’s case, I think part of what may have helped her keep her soul is her younger brother. I’m going to take a wild guess and assume that she became an assassin in the first place to provide for her brother.
The OP sequence was phenomenal with the pop-art style. The OP art, the swinging jazz soundtrack, fashions, even the cars (I love the VW bus, which used to be my dream car back in high school), and nuclear family values all do a great job of giving the feel of a cold-war era setting.
Preview
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We haven’t seen her younger brother on-screen, which jumped out at me in an intro episode that otherwise shows every important thing for the viewer to understand. This makes me believe there’s something important about her brother that we’ll see as a twist later on. It would be natural given how this is a show about a spy and an assassin.
The OP was unexpected by very fitting for this kind of show. Despite its dark undertones, it’s very comedic and silly and that contrasts starkly with each other. Also Anya is the glue that holds the family together (she’s the one who actively gets the two to contemplate getting together), and provides as a distraction anytime one suspects the other of secrets (discover a backstabbing?? Anya wants to go to the zoo! And they do and thus forget about the whole thing!). I find the OP very hilarious as a result.
Agreed! The OP has the magic of boiling down the essence of the show’s character dynamics, all in a minute and a half.
This series takes its time introducing the characters instead of introducing all the main players right in the first episode, which heightens the mystery.
I think Hayami Saori as Yor is perfect. She has been playing these “soft on the outside, but hard on the inside” characters for a long time time. She was Ayase in Oreimo, Anju in 86, Shirayuki (Snow White with the Red Hair), Miyuki in Mahouka, etc.
However, I first noticed her in Hibike Euphonium.
Hayami Saori is perfect as everything.
It might take a few episodes to warm up to her. As a manga-reader, the Yor I had imagined in my head was a bit different, but with as excellent a staff as this anime has, I’m sure Saori’s Yor will also be good, once I get used to it.
Yor going to the party with “the creeper who stole their files” wouldn’t have been too far-fetched nor far from the truth, since that creeper is Franky, given all the info provided…
Yes, some wonderful irony there!
I think Yor would accept Loid’s proposal even if she wasn’t an assassin because she’s afraid of being accused of spy activities since she’s 27 and still single. The episode emphasis that very well. Her assassin’s activity are just a way to protected her brother.
She is genuinely kind and naive at heart and it is another opposition to Twilight : her outside is her true self.
Regarding Hayami, I was very doubtful when she was cast as Yor. Her voice is so specific, I can’t help but hear Shinobu (KnY). However, she seems to try to draw a tone difference between kind Yor and Assassin Yor and I hope she’ll get better at it in the long run. I still remember how it sound out of tune when she was punk-singing in Fukumenkei Noise.
If she wasn’t an assassin, she might be more wary of Loid’s strangeness (a normal girl would raise an eyebrow at the “concussive-therapy” or “pursuit by psychotic patients” excuses) and certainly would be traumatized after being caught up in a fight. Her driving passion seems to be her assassin-work, since her brother is now able to take care of himself and thus no longer needs her support/protection. She still does it because she enjoys it, especially evident in how her first thought when encountering a situation is to bask in assassin-mode imaginings.
That’s it. This show is just a lock for me. Too entertaining to pass up.
I am glad that the show clicks for you! It certainly is a lot of fun!
I liked the Odd Taxi art style in the OP.
It certainly is a unique style of art, which makes it refreshing!
I was kinda annoyed by everything being super forced…but….it’s good enough it doesn’t matter. Just roll with it I think.
I find it interesting that Anya more or less acts her age, where the temptation would be to make her some sort of super genius. She’s smart, but in a normal way, rather than one of those kids who looks 6 and acts like they are 12, (which isn’t THAT uncommon). It means she doesn’t use her powers that well and is super clumsy when setting them up.
Anya’s character writing is one of the things I love about this series. They really do a good job of portraying her as a typical young child, who just so happens to have an atypical ability she can use to get what she wants (a family).
I actually thought Yor’s voice was perfect when I first saw the casting, exactly what I imagined from the manga (I’ve been following it for years!). I honestly imagined her with Hayamin’s voice in my head when I read. Loid’s wasn’t quite what I imagined initially but I quickly got used to it and think it fits now, I do enjoy the voice acting a lot in this anime.
I think the best part about the OP is the child-like showing of everyone while Anya is on-screen/”awake”/daytime and the moment she’s off-screen/”asleep”/nighttime, the gung-ho action starts. Makes me feel bad since it kinda makes it feel like she can’t watch the fun (then again, she’s a child and Loid at least seems to want to hide her from that).
Welp, that didn’t seem to save. (awkward laugh)
> I think the best part about the OP is the child-like showing of everyone while Anya is on-screen/”awake”/daytime and the moment she’s off-screen/”asleep”/nighttime, the gung-ho action starts. Makes me feel bad since it kinda makes it feel like she can’t watch the fun (then again, she’s a child and Loid at least seems to want to hide her from that).
I am late to the party but just started watching this and now have to stop at this episode as I this anime is gold and I MUST introduce it to my partner before going any further! Love it!