English Dub Review: Spy X Family “Mission and Family; The Elegant Bondman; The Heart of a Child/Waking Up”

OVERVIEW (SPOILERS)

Yor’s brother Yuri is tasked with surveilling a former reporter named Franklin Perkin who is spreading anti-Ostonia propaganda, but soon finds that Perkin is looking after his father. Yuri eventually arrests him, but makes sure to let him know his father will be looked after. Also, we see an episode of Spy Wars and more daily life of the Forger family.

OUR TAKE

This week takes the spotlight mostly off the Forgers in order to focus on Yuri, Yor’s HIGHLY possessive brother. Having siblings with concerning obsessions for their siblings is nothing new for anime and Yuri does fall into a lot of those tropes in ways that really make me raise an eyebrow at how this is somehow allowed on television in Japan, but then again I’m sure there are things that seem normal over here which they judge us for…but still, no, being that into your sibling is something that happens way too often in anime and I’m not gonna just ignore that. ANYWAY, as for Yuri as a character and his portrayal in this episode, he’s basically a character on Yor’s side of all the spy stuff who is both jealous of Loid and somehow totally unaware that he is in fact one of the big targets he is after. Hahaha, many laugh about dramatic irony be had. This episode takes a step away from that and has him just focus on a single target, one who is also committed to his family, which Yuri seems to show some sympathy towards, even if it doesn’t stop him from arresting the guy. It helps to show the nuances of his character and how his values exist in tandem with his coldness about his job. Still a weirdo about his sister though.

But that was not enough to fill out an entire episode apparently, so we fill out the remaining seven minutes with a look at the fictitious spy show, Spy Wars, that Anya likes to watch. I actually like getting to see shows with in shows since it can sometimes be a clever way to get a peek at the world of the show and what kind of media exists in it. In this case, it’s a show about spies that Anya likes which is apparently about a masked spy named Bondman who likes to pick up multiple women who eventually jump him for not being able to make up his damn mind. It was a fun little jab at harem comedies, which thankfully this is not. And that seemed to be it for the episode…except for the spare couple minutes left that were left for even tinier vignettes about Forger family life. Fun! But also the sheer number of titles made me think we would have more story to it? Either way, still a pretty fun episode overall.