Spy x Family continues this week with a very well-made episode that shows, and I would say, also cements this new anime as not only one of the best of the season. But it’s also one of the best anime shows in the past couple of years. Spy x Family really has it all: tons of action, very good jokes, and charming characters. We can only imagine how the plot and stakes will be raised from here on out.
This is episode two, titled “Securing a Wife.” Twilight continues to develop and improve his disguise as a single father now that Anya, the little girl with telepathic powers, is on his side as his fake daughter. But in the last episode, the issue of having a wife came up. In the school where Twilight must enroll Anya, they ask for a parent’s meeting with both the mother and the father of the student. It is very old-fashioned, but completely in line with the kind of institution these elite schools are. So, where should Twilight find a wife? It seems to be harder than we could imagine.
The answer to the problem comes with the introduction of a new character—a character that will join the main roster and serve as our third protagonist. That character is Yor Briar, a 27-year-old woman who works as a clerk at Berlint City Hall. Yor seems shy, collected, and a bit spacey. From the moment we are introduced to her, it is clear that Yor is just not like the other girls. She doesn’t take pleasure in gossiping or talking about men or anything like that. She is just happy that she has a job that she enjoys. It seems Yor is only focused on having a nice, quiet life.
This makes Yor likable from the get go. We can all relate to a persona that just wants to be happy. She has no big ambitions, and is not planning a crazy scheme. She just wants to be happy like the rest of us. Which also means we have her back when the other women at her job begin to put doubts in her mind. You see, Yor is single, and she is already 27 years old. Being single at that age looks suspicious to other women, and there is even a rumor that recently a woman was detained because her neighbors reported her as suspicious for living alone.
These facts have huge implications for the world the series sets in. From the outside, it seems like a pretty European-influenced city, like Berlin or Paris, but in reality, there are too many hints that life in Westalis and Ostania might be filled with dread and fear. The show already has a Cold War era hue to it, visually, but the developments in this episode make it clear that the correlation between this real-world period and the show might go beyond aesthetics.
Beyond that, the introduction of Yor is perfect. She is not only a shy clerk, but also a deadly assassin. Yes, she’s so good that her skills might be on par, if not better, than Twilight’s own skills as a top-tier spy. There’s this wonderful scene where her entire demeanor changed, and she becomes this cold-blooded assassin, and it is kind of scary but also delightful in the context of the show, where everybody is hiding something.
We also learn that Yor as a younger brother, strangely cannot stop worrying about his sister because she isn’t married. Yes, that is the whole issue, but it seems, again, that in this world, being single is a fatal sin, so Yor needs to find herself a boyfriend, so her little brother can take his promotion at work. Yes, he won’t take his promotion unless Yor has a man. It’s weird.
This takes us, finally, to Twilight and Yor’s meet cute, and it is just delightful. They meet each other in this tailor shop, where she goes to get a dress that got ruined during one of her assassin jobs. There, Yor catches the attention of Twilight almost immediately, as his spy instinct tells him this woman is not normal.
After a series of misunderstandings, Anya saves the moment by saying out loud that she doesn’t have a mother. Anya is really excited to get Twilight and Yor together. She cannot imagine how fun it would be to have a spy for a father and an assassin for a mother. It is hilarious.
Later, we get another glimpse at how good of a liar Twilight is when he passes for Yor’s husband at her request. It is quite a comedic moment, but also a tender one, as we see that Yor has never been treated like this by anyone. Later in the episode, we see them bonding over their extraordinary fighting skills, even when trying to not reveal who they really are to each other.
The show has already found a stride in its formula, by combining this outrageous set with a story with a lot of emotion and impressive character development. This episode seems to be only the beginning of how awesome this relationship will be. It also makes me anxious because I know that not everything will be as perfect as it seems. There will be dark moments in the future, but as of now, I’m happy with seeing these two getting to know each other.
