Needless to say that was a huge improvement over the season premiere. And a reminder than Spy X Family can be a very good show, when it sticks to what makes it interesting and Endou Tatsuya seems genuinely interested in what he’s writing. That second point may seem like an odd one, but few series have a bigger “mailing it in” zone than SxF. It almost seems to be the series’ default mode, but the exceptions can be very compelling. I just wish they happened more often.
The second half of this episode was definitely a jarring tone shift, but the first was very much in the SxF sweet spot. Eden Academy is where most of the best stories play out. The comedy with the kids is genuinely zany and sincere, Damian’s arc is the most interesting in the plot, and Henderson-sensei is probably the best adult supporting character. I wasn’t too crazy about Schlag-sensei, who just stormed in and was a total menace for the sake of it. But her presence did spark a nice little interaction between Damian and Anya.
Anya isn’t the brightest bulb in the chandelier, but her instincts were good in sharing her handkerchief with Damian. In fact even if she knew she didn’t have a spare it still would have made sense, because she needs to build a relationship with him. He owes her one now – and the fact is, Damian has integrity and even if he weren’t sweet on Anya he’d know he has a debt to pay over this. The stakes were higher for him than her, but that doesn’t make it okay for her to take a bullet bolt for him.
I knew there was a Loid backstory coming at some point this season. And I knew that it was going to be pretty dark. Still, that whiplash mood swing was certainly the spectacle. We got quite the parade of big seiyuu joining the party this week (Orikasa Ai, Tsuda Minami), and none bigger than Hayami Show as Loid’s father. He was a hard man to be sure, but seemingly one dedicated to peace. His lecture to little Loid about demonizing Ostanians was certainly on-point. Unfortunately it comes just as Ostania is about to tear up its peace pact with Westalis and bomb the crap out of it.
This is a part of the mythology we don’t know in much detail, actually, so it’ll be interesting to see Endou fill in some blanks here. That applies to Loid’s childhood (he’s only referred to as “Advisor” here), and to the war – now cold, then hot – between Westalis and Ostania. Loid believing the propaganda (that wasn’t limited to the Eastern Block, believe me) and playing war games is no great sin for a little boy. So what was his journey like from having his home turned into a war zone to becoming a spy? For a series that so often contents itself with trifles, taking on serious matters like this is a big leap’ Let’s see if Spy X Family has what it takes to stick the landing.
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