English Dub Review: Spy X Family “Take Down the Busjacker”

OVERVIEW (SPOILERS)

Anya learns of Billy Squire’s past and how he joined Red Circus, and so uses that to try and shake his resolve and get the hostages freed before a special government team wipes them all out.

OUR TAKE

Wow, we’re already (mostly) done with this arc! I guess it shouldn’t be much of a surprise since the arc last season about the family going on a cruise ended up ending a bit short of the end of the season. Still, it’s refreshing to see this show dip back into something a bit more dramatic and see Anya use her powers to protect her classmates. I feel like I probably said something similar to this last week but if that’s the case, it’s probably because this is largely a similar episode to the last one. The main difference being that we get to know Billy Squire’s reasons for joining Red Circus, apparently because his deceased daughter previously worked for them for protests and ended up being killed because they apparently live in a fascist police state, which actually adds up when you consider they have people monitoring you for being a dissident. Initially being a lawful protest group, the Red Circus were eventually pushed to the edge and became a full blown terrorist group, which is what led to this whole bus jacking incident. Sounds like a regular tragic terrorist backstory, though when you put it in the context of the show and Forger family…it kinda adds a sour taste.

See, the authoritarian state of the story’s main setting is usually used for flavor and sometimes for comedy, but what we see of how the Red Circus was pushed to this point kinda just highlights the problems that this world is dealing with but likely won’t work on, and a bit of a problematic view on people protesting governments today. I’m not saying that this fictitious group that resorts to kidnapping and threatening children is all that sympathetic, but based on what we know, they started a group protesting injustice, some members were killed, and they resorted to terrorism in order to get the attention of the authorities. Unfortunately for them, none of them are main or even supporting characters, so this effort is likely to end with either their imprisonment or death while the status quo continues without much in the way of meaningful change…whatever the change was that they wanted. But then again, this isn’t all that deep a show to begin with, so maybe we’re not meant to really reflect on these implications. It’s just kind of a shame is all. Anyway, next week looks like it will be the wrap up of this arc and then we can move on to more shenanigans with the Forgers.