Spy x Family – 08

「対秘密警察偽装作戦」 (Taihimitsu Keisatsu Gisō Sakusen)
“The Counter-Secret Police Cover Operation”

It’s not terribly surprising that brother and sister are in a similar line of dirty work-at this point, it seems to be a family trait. Which begs the question, what did their parents do? For Yor to start assassin work at such a young age, she would have had to already have the training and connections to do so, which I assume would trace back to her parents. Which would explain why her parents died while they were still young-but this is all purely speculation at this point. Like Yor, Yuri (Ono Kensho) fits the “gap in expectations” character bill, with his seemingly cute, innocent nature turning violent at the drop of a hat (or rather, traitor).

Yuri’s reactions to Yor and Loid’s relationship were hilarious. In that sense, he reminds me a bit of Loid. Although the whole sister obsession thing could grow old quite fast (the whole obsessive parent/sibling thing has never been my cup of tea). He’s not about to give his sister up to some stranger-cue the ridiculous number of roses and attitude of a barking dog. Ironically, Yuri and Loid are in the same position, knowing as little about Yor as she knows about them. At least Loid went into the relationship accepting that, while poor Yuri is convinced he knows his Achille’s heel (Yor)- largely constructed from his childhood memories and fantasies of the ideal sister. That’s not to say she isn’t ideal-Yor cares a lot for Yuri, going so far as to get her hands dirty to provide for him.

The more Twilight bonds with his family through the ups and downs of childrearing, the more relaxed he becomes. As his boss notes-his lying skills have even dropped-though to be fair, Twilight knows better than his boss about how impossible it is, even for a top spy, to turn Anya into a top student. Even with that being the case, Twilight’s still on his A game, deducing that Yuri works with the secret service through recognizing Yuri’s (outdated) scripted speech. The bit about Yuri’s scripted trip being outdated was a nice touch.

The tension is on. I don’t want Yuri to find out who Loid really is, but if Loid can figure out who Yuri is, who’s to say it won’t go both ways. Especially with Yuri on high alert over competition for his sister. If he were to find out, needless to say, that would spell a pretty nasty end for this endearing family. This doesn’t strike me as the kind of series that would go excessively dark with ripping a family apart (that was a nice segway, by the way, from Yuri’s torture prelude to the Forger family home using the Bondman anime).

I don’t think they can keep playing the “how can we keep it a secret” thing forever, given that it might feel worn out after a while. On the bright side, this series executes everything (mostly) brilliantly, so I suppose I don’t have to be terribly worried on that front, which makes me curious to see how they will continue to carry out the premise while keeping it fresh and exciting.

I’m kind of surprised that Twilight never looked into Yor’s family background before getting together with her because in case, you know, her brother is a secret serviceman-the exact person he’d want to avoid. Twilight taking it in stride, claiming he can use Yuri for information is either a smart move or foolish overconfidence (or a bit of both).

That scene with Anya reciting fractions using the bullets in Bondman’s gun was gold! It was super sweet to see a father-daughter bonding moment with Loid and Anya sitting on the couch reading manga together. Regardless of how Twilight tries to convince himself that the Forgers are just a front, it’s clear that his relationships with them are starting to grow deeper than that.

It was nice that we took a step back from the Anya school drama to look at the Forger family as a whole and specifically, the relationship between Loid and Yor. Often, the body betrays what words try to hide. The accidental hand-touching and ensuing blushes between the two of them was cute. The fact that two characters normally logical and cool as cucumbers lose their cool over physical contact shows that they are starting to feel less than logical about each other. The whole “show me a kiss” thing seemed a bit juvenile and like it might have the opposite effect on Yuri. Yuri does have a point-something might be off if they still act as embarrassed as a couple on a first date and there’s only so much they can do to cover up their natural reactions. I’d think that the whole “lovey dovey couple” kit would be another tip off, looking like they are trying too hard (which they are).

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