The greatest spy family of recent times in anime has been back for the second season, and four episodes are out already. For those just joining, the Forger family isn’t exactly a real one but is composed of a super-spy named Loid, an assassin named Yor, a telepath girl named Anya, and their clairvoyant dog, Bond. At a glance, they might seem like a normal family of dad, mom, and their infant daughter, but they’re not related to each other, and it’s just a ploy to not alert their targets. Today we recap the latest three episodes before the fifth episode comes out this weekend and find out what Anya and her family have been up to in the meantime.
Spoilers Ahead
Bond’s Adventure/Damien’s Field Trip
In the first story, Bond Forger, the family dog is having premonitions of all the possible ways he might die, thanks to his ability to see the future. The most significant reason for Bond’s worry is, however, having to eat Yor’s atrocious cooking, which is sure to send him to doggy heaven. To avoid such a catastrophe, he escapes the Forger residence and seeks out Loid, who cooks scrumptious meals. At the moment, Loid was busy infiltrating an institute to steal a truth serum, and thanks to Bond’s precognition skills, he had better luck breaking in. Together, the dog and his owner blindside the lab workers, steal one of the serum vials, and make it home in time for Loid to cook Bond a delicious dinner.
The second incident revolves around Damien Desmond, the younger son of the prestigious Desmond family, and how he’s determined to become an Imperial Scholar at Eden Institute to earn praise from his father. However, Damien fails to wake up early and is punished with having to help around the dorm, while the other kids are treated to moviegoing and a fancy treat at a restaurant later. Damien’s two friends, who look up to him, stay back, and also deliberately get punished so that they can be with Damien. Later, the school’s principal instructs Mr. Green, a former navy officer, to take the three boys on a field trip so that they can experience the beauties of nature. The boys’ boat capsizes and they’re soaking wet, so Green has the boys search for firewood, and they warm near a makeshift fireplace before catching fish from the stream. By the time they finish their dinner, it’s already evening, so their teacher takes them to Stella Lake, where the kids are amazed at the beauty of the open sky and the stars. Later on, they’re made to write field reports of their trip, although Damien pays very little attention to it and ends up catching a cold.
Mission And Family
The central story of Episode 3 revolves around Yuri, the brother of Yor, and how he acts as a state police officer to apprehend a man named Franklin Perkin. Yuri learns that a man named Franklin is selling seditious materials shaming their country to the Western world, and he has a buyer who pays good money for write-ups tarnishing the East. Yuri sets up listening devices across Franklin’s rented apartment and notes down each of his movements, but fails to pick up on anything suspicious. He listens in on Franklin discussing matters of state, loyalty, and finances with his aging father, and Yuri almost feels sympathy for the man he’s tailing before quickly steeling himself. Yuri finds Franklin out on the street with his camera looking for content to photograph, and finally, the former journalist stumbles upon a few kids. By throwing one of their toys into the trash and having them fish it out, he makes the photograph look like young kids in the East having to scavenge dumpsters for food, and that makes for his content.
The next morning, Yuri tails Franklin on his way to work and deduces that the post office where he works is the way he sells the seditious materials to his buyer. By hiding close by, Yuri notices that Franklin uses the pre-inspected mail delivery cart to drop in his own mail, and this is the proof the State Police needs to arrest him. The following day, while leaving for work, Franklin is staggered to find the police waiting outside his residence. Yuri arrests him outside his home, and he’s taken away, although Franklin is promised that his aging father will be looked after by the State through financial aid. That evening, Yuri visits his sister Yor, and although he’s not too pleased to see Loid or Anya, he’s extremely happy that his sister pats his head and praises him for being a hard worker. This praise from Yor makes Yuri forget all the doubts, exhaustion, and anger he might’ve had, and the main story draws to a conclusion.
Pastry Of Knowledge/Franky’s Plan
A rumor circulates in the Eden Institute that years ago there was a chef who once created pastries that had the secret to infinite knowledge, and anyone who ate those pastries became an Imperial Scholar. With Anya’s best friend Becky saying that if her grades don’t improve, Anya and Becky will be put in separate classes, Anya starts thinking of ways to stop that from happening. Just then, a kid rushes into the dorm and informs his friend that those special pastries have been brought back just for a day. Anya and Becky rush for the cafeteria so that they can be Imperial Scholars together, but they’re joined in the race by Damien Desmond and his two friends. However, just before they can get their pastries, one kid ends up taking the last dish with five cakes on it, and Anya and Damien guilt the kid into sharing the remaining four cakes with Anya and Damien’s group.
Damien decides on a card game where anyone caught with the Joker card in hand will lose, and will miss out on the cake. Anya dominates the first round using her telepathic abilities, but she’s scared to learn that Damien is suspecting whether she can read minds. Desperate to not have her secret outed, she proposes a second round and plays intentionally bad until she and Damien are the only two players remaining. With her facial expressions revealing everything, Damien is about to pick the other card, but seeing how teary-eyed Anya had gotten, Damien’s crush resurfaces, and he intentionally chooses the Joker card. Every kid other than Damien enjoys the genius-maker pastries, and Anya rushes to the exam hall, and her dedication to writing the exam is unmatched. However, when results are declared, she scores the lowest in the class. Later, Loid notes that despite her poor spelling skills, she’d done mostly well on most of the questions, and he’s secretly impressed by his pretend daughter.
Franky, Loid’s trusted informer, calls the spy to his shop to give him some crucial information and instead asks for his help in retrieving a cat. Apparently, this cat belongs to a girl that Franky frequents, and he wants to bring the cat back so that his crush magically becomes smitten with him. With Loid walking away disgruntled, Franky decides to catch the cat himself. While thinking of ways to rescue the cat, he suddenly comes across Yor, Loid’s pretend wife, and she readily agrees to help him. Franky tries a lot of techniques, like using fake cat models to detect the targeted feline as well as releasing catnip in the air, but all go in vain. He does spot the cat, but he fails to chase it down until Yor lunges at the cat, and it’s terrified looking at her murderous face as she leaps at the cat. Franky takes the cat back to the café, and the woman is pleased to have her pet back and celebrates it with her boyfriend. Heartbroken, Franky wipes a silent tear and walks away from the scene. Later on, Anya receives a phone call from someone, informing her that there’s a new target for ‘Thorn Princess’—her codename—to eliminate.
Final Thoughts
Spy X Family has been back for about a month now, and so far, it feels like the initial episodes are just fillers to help the audience get re-accustomed to the characters and their individual skills and abilities. As of now, the only episode of substance has been that of Yuri, who’s not even a part of the family, and it shows how espionage and treachery are a part of this seemingly wholesome and family-oriented anime. Anya’s role has been largely reduced to that of a normal child in the later three episodes, and her powers are used only to win a card game. As of now, most of the side stories have been unimportant to the main arc and can be seen as pieces to fill the timeslot. Hopefully, the studio will bring some interesting new stories when it returns this Saturday with a new episode.
