#the only examples of this I can think of are Yor from Spy x Family and sensei lady from FMA

[turbo-virgins]

@ entertainment industries, I think it’s time we start introducing some single and/or adoptive mothers into the mix à la Joel Lastofus, Kratos Godofwar, Mandalorian, Thor, Tony Stark, etc.

[yumeka-sxf]

Japanese Linguistic Observations in Spy x Family - part 2

Part 2 - Anya's "Anya-isms"

I think Anya has one of the most interesting ways of speaking out of all the SxF characters. But like with Twilight's dialogue that I previously discussed, it can only be fully appreciated in the Japanese version. Probably the most noticeable thing about her dialogue is how it's written compared to the other characters.

Written Japanese is comprised of three different alphabets: ひらがな (hiragana) and カタカナ (katakana), which together are referred to as "kana," and 漢字 (kanji). Kanji are the characters that hold the meaning of words, while kana simply represent the various Japanese syllable sounds and don't have any meaning on their own (much like the letters of the English alphabet). There are only about 100-ish total unique kana symbols, however, there are over 2,000 kanji in common use today. So Japanese children will start out learning kana and then learn kanji gradually during their school years. This is why Japanese children's books are typically written only or mostly in kana. This is also why manga and books aimed at a younger audience will have kana "translations" of kanji written above kanji characters, which are called furigana.

With that in mind, it's not surprising that all of Anya's dialogue in the Japanese version of the SxF manga is written entirely in kana. Even though using kanji in her dialogue wouldn't necessarily mean she knows kanji, reading a character's dialogue only in kana definitely gives off childish vibes – it conveys feelings of youthfulness and innocence, like "they're speaking only in kana because they don't know the kanji for these words…they're just a little kid, after all." At least, that's the feeling I get when I read Anya's dialogue. Though I haven't read enough manga in Japanese to say for sure, it seems like this concept of making little kids speak only in kana is not unusual, as there's at least one other example I know of: a manga from the mid-2000s called Yotsuba also has a titular 5-year old whose dialogue is written only in kana.

What's also interesting is that all of the other Eden kids speak "normally," using kana and kanji properly in their dialogue. This helps to convey the fact that, despite Anya being roughly the same age as them, their "rich family" upbringing has forced them to grow up faster. In the below panel, you can see how Damian's dialogue uses kanji (with furigana translations) while Anya's uses only kana, even for words that have kanji.

Interestingly, I found at least two cases where Anya does use kanji in her dialogue: when she's calling out the name of her big "Arrow of Light, Seize the Star" move during the dodgeball game, and when she calls out her "Lighting Bolt, Deliver my Aid" move when she tries to throw Yor's weapon back on the deck in the cruise arc. As you can see in the below panels, the names of these "moves" is written in kanji (with furigana translations). This makes sense not only because this is parodying shonen series where the characters shout out the names of their moves, but because it emphasizes how determined Anya was at these moments.

But going back to how Anya's speech compares to the other kids, another thing that stands out is that she speaks very "plainly." Her grammar is (mostly) correct, except for a few mistakes you'd expect a little kid to make. But she uses pretty much no colloquialisms, almost as if she knows the language but lacks the experience for using it in normal social interactions. I don't think this is unusual for a kid her age who's still learning, but it definitely stands out when compared to her classmates. For example, in the below panel, Becky uses normal interjections and other colloquialisms in her speech, like "ne" (ね), "wa" (わ), and "yo" (よ), which are all standard Japanese linguistic devices for softening or emphasizing your sentences. However, Anya doesn't use things like this in her speech. Again, this makes her speech come off as very plain and abrupt, almost like she's not a native speaker.

She also refers to herself in third person all the time in the Japanese version. In fact, I don't recall her ever using an "I" or "me" pronoun. I don't know why the English version of the manga doesn't keep this characteristic of her speech. I think it's very important in highlighting the childish aspect of her personality.

Putting all this together – the fact that she doesn't use typical colloquial speech and refers to herself in third person – really emphasizes the childish, naive, and almost baby-like nature of her character. I'm curious if Endo made her speak this way simply to show what a little kid she is compared to her classmates, or if it will somehow tie back to whatever roots she has in classical languages that he keeps hinting at. Regardless, as I mentioned in my full Anya analysis, what she lacks in speech and school smarts, she makes up for in empathy and resourcefulness.

Besides all this, Anya does make typical speech mistakes a normal kid would make, like mishearing words or saying things wrong. She mostly uses casual speech, but does try to use keigo (polite speech) on occasion, though not always correctly. For example, she says "ohayaimasu" (おはやいます) for "good morning" instead of "ohaiyou gozaimasu" (おはようございます).

But the most consistent "mistake" she makes (though it's not really a mistake) is what she calls Loid and Yor – "chichi" (ちち) and "haha" (はは) respectively.

Japanese has many different words for relatives depending on whether you're talking about your own relatives or someone else's, and whether you're talking to them or about them. "Chichi" and "haha" are the general, neutral terms for "father" and "mother," and are also used when talking about your parents to someone else. However, they're not used when talking directly to your mother and father. There are many other words for that, the usual ones being "o-tou-san" (お父さん) and "o-kaa-san" (お母さん), or some variations of these with different honorifics. Damian refers to his dad as "chichi-ue" (父上) which is very formal, while Becky calls her dad the actual English word "papa" (パパ) which is very informal and normal for kids to use. But again, "chichi" and "haha" are typically only used when talking about your parents, not to them the way Anya uses them. This started from the very first chapter where Loid asks her to call him something that sounds "elite." He originally suggests the very formal "o-tou-sama" (お父さま), but when Anya says "chichi," he doesn't bother to correct her.

Hearing a little kid call her dad and mom "chichi" and "haha" is kind of like calling them "my father" and "my mother" even when speaking to them directly – it's not wrong necessarily, just strange. But again, this serves to further emphasize the childlike nature of Anya's character.

<- Return to Part 1

Continue to Part 3 ->

[mj-ackerman]

Translation of Tatsuya Endo's Interview with Katsumaru: (You can read the original here X)

Katsumaru: My wife and child are both big fans of "Spy x Family", so they were both excited for me to be able to meet you today. Why did you choose the theme "Spy" in the first place?

Endo: I didn't have any particular desire to draw a spy story or something like that, but I had always liked military kinds of things and was interested in war related things, so when I combined those aspects with the theme of "lies", it naturally ended up as a spy story. However, I haven't seen many spy movies, and for movies like "007", I've only seen one or two of them.

Katsumaru: What? Really? The information about spies that appears in the story, even for someone like me who's been an avid follower of the genre, gives an impression that it's very well thought out. How on earth did you acquire such knowledge?

Endo: Most of it is from books. And then some of it is from documentary films and the likes. There was an old movie called "Shiri" (This is a 1999 Korean film), it's about the battle between North Korean Special Operation Forces and South Korean Intelligence Agency. I liked that very much.

Katsumaru: The setting, in which the husband, Loid, is a spy and the wife, Yor, is an assassin, reminded me of the movie "Mr & Mrs Smith"

Endo: When the series was just starting, I see that title being mentioned a lot in the comments, but to be honest I've never seen it before....(Laughs). I didn't have much time to prepare for the serialization, and since it's a comedy, I thought I didn't have to be that particular about the settings as I drew it. I incorporated the knowledge I had gained from books, but since it's still a manga, I kept the "No way, that's impossible" aspects to it.

Katsumaru: I think it has a really good balance between realistic depiction and entertainment. Spies are part of everyday life, and some of them even established a "fake family" as in "SPY X FAMILY". In reality, there are cases where married couples had been living together without realizing that their husbands are spies.

Endo: That balance is what I pay the most attention to. I guess you can say it's a process of determining the "minimum level of reality" in each scene.

Katsumaru: How concerned are you about the difference between "reality and manga", Endo-sensei?

Endo: This one is difficult. It's a case by case basis, but in manga, there are many parts where I can just go "let's fake the reality at this part for the time being". When you're working alone, you don't have time to do research about this or that fact. However, in anime, you have to create much more detailed settings, so there isn't much room to put on tricks. When the anime team would ask me "What would happen in this part?" I would often reply with "I'm sorry but I haven't thought about it yet...." (Laughs).

Katsumaru: Have you not strictly defined the scene or time period the story is set in yet?

Endo: I had the image of the period setting somewhere between the 1960s and 1970s. I'm trying to explore what I can do with the technologies in this era thinking "This technology might be possible". I also have softened the reality of things, such as the political form. The cold war between the East and West is also part of the motif, but if you just tell the readers that "it's a conflict of ideologies" , it won't make sense to them. So, I put it into a form that is easy to understand as a manga, there are also some parts that I, myself don't know about after all. Similarly, in the real world, for example, spies probably have very few horizontal connections, right? Like for security reasons. However, as a manga, in order to develop the story, it was necessary for me to depict conversations between spies. All the more that this is a comedy story, so it wouldn't work without conversation. It's difficult to find the right flavor between the two.

Katsumaru: It's pretty unique that you came up with the name "Dalc" which is similar to the name of the currency "Mark" (It's Deutsche Mark which is no longer in use since 2002) used in Germany.

Endo: It's actually a combination of "Mark" and "Dollar". I often use names of places and buildings that actually exist in real life. However, I have a pretty bad memory, so I often ask myself later "Where did I get the name of this place again?" (Laughs)

Katsumaru: Is there any expert historical research or supervision of intelligence agencies involved in this?

Endo: I basically think about all the detailed settings all by myself.

Katsumaru: Since the real-life aspects are well-constructed, I thought an expert in international politics was involved in supervising this.

Endo: There are also some readers who read too deep into the historical situation, but I didn't actually put much thought into the details in writing the story. This is just a fictional country called "Westalis and Ostania" after all.

Katsumaru: In "Spy x Family", there are some Russian-speaking names such as "Anya" and "Yuri" that appears, but spies in that country uses more analog method. For example, "flash contact", in which documents are handed over to another person as they pass each other, or a "drop dead", in which documents are hidden in an agreed-upon location and later picked up by a colleague. There is also a method for communication. Although this method is considered extremely inefficient, it is sometimes considered to be highly secure because it prevents interception of communications.

Endo: So there's still that kind of analogs even now huh? Now that technology has developed and everything is digitalized, I certainly think it's much safer now. In other countries, there are organization such as M16 (United Kingdom Secret Intelligence Service) and CIA (US Central Intelligence Agency), Japan also has organizations with such characteristics.

Katsumaru: The "Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department Public Security Bureau (Public Safety)", where I worked, is the counterintelligence arm of Japan. In "VIVANT" (It's a 2023 Japanese Drama), which I supervised, Hiroshi Abe and Ryo Ryusei are playing roles with these type of characters. We have obtained as collaborators people who have a lot of information and people who are in position to meet various people such as reporter.

The only problem was that we didn't have enough people. The CIA has a large number of subordinates under it's station chief, and a large budget. When I was temporary transfered to a Japanese embassy overseas, I was alone, my budget was limited, and I was also reponsible for issuing passports, so there is no doubt that working at an intelligence agency overseas with better environment had allowed me to concentrate more on my mission.

Endo: Do you hire locals overseas?

Katsumaru: There are times when we ask locals to work with us by paying them a reward. Or, we can ask them to connect us with people who has information. The Public Safety is very good at finding and training people who can bring good quality information and can do good work.

[piracytheorist]

Is there a scene in the Spy x Family anime that you wish was in the manga, or vice versa?

Hmmm... honestly, I'm quite satisfied with what I've been seeing so far, considering I'm one of the very few that go anime-to-manga instead of the opposite. It's always a surprise when I read the respective manga chapter of the episode I just watched, and to see that something was added in the anime.

Of course, my top favourite addition is the over-the-top Loidman adventure in episode 5. However, I don't believe it misses from the manga; it's just as ridiculous (affectionate) as it is, the anime simply took advantage of its animation perks to bring it to a different level. Similar is the scene of Yor bringing Anya's gym clothes to her, I even remember watching it and going like "I wonder how that goes in the manga" and being surprised that it was an original part! Again, in this part, there was a lot of focus on the over-the-top action and movement, something that the anime can use much more easily.

So I don't think I have an anime-only scene that I miss from the manga. As for vice versa, I wouldn't say it's the lack of a scene, more like how they make some expressions less... passionate.

In the manga, Loid here looks nearly desperate, surprised, out of his depth. In the anime, his expression is more neutral, more reserved, like he feels more confused than anything else. And the point of that moment is for him to actually feel out of his depth, until Yor offers a helping hand.

I'd dare say this is one of the worst offenders, if not the worst offender. I understand why the anime team avoided showing Twilight too worried for Nightfall, as they probably feared it would make audiences think that Oh No Twilight Doesn't Love Yor Because He Showed One (1) Iota of Care for Another Woman!! Is Nightfall Gonna Break Them Apart???!... which, let's be honest, is a totally valid fear to have. Endo makes it crystal clear that Nightfall has no hope as a romantic rival, but audiences can be really thick and stupid, especially when it comes to (even potential) love triangles.

Still, that "neutering" of his expression takes away from his characterization. Twilight is a deeply empathetic person, and seeing Nightfall so upset makes him truly worried. He is Nightfall's mentor and whether he has control over it or not, he cares for her feelings. And this can happen platonically, for the love of fuck, romance isn't the only nor the holiest of connections a person can have with someone else. So for the sake of "protecting" the audience's secure feelings for twiyor, they ended up making Twilight look like an ignoramus.

Again, I get it. But I can love twiyor and have my Twilight be empathetic towards people that aren't his wife or daughter, you know?

Another, subtler but still striking change. Look at that worried eyebrow in the manga, we only see half his face yet we clearly see how touched he is by (what he thinks are) Bond's motives. In the anime, this is really dulled down. It's only the barely visible blush that makes him look a little touched.

Overall, I believe the anime does a great job translating Endo's expressions, from the emotional ones to the subtle ones to the ridiculous ones. But if I were to be asked, I'd change those examples (there might be a few others, but these were the first that came to mind) and make them closer to the manga.

There are, however, a few changes in the pacing that hit the spot perfectly right. One example I'm thinking of is from Chapter 35/Episode 24:

In the manga, it's straightforward. Loid sees Yor's reaction to what happened, he's thinks of his mother, and he shares the memory with Yor.

This gif was sped up to fit in the gifset I made, but notice how there's pauses for Twilight to go from one expression to the other. There's even one moment of him looking to his bottom right, and there's a very interesting correlation to lateral eye movement here.

Per this graph, he's remembering a feeling/sensation. The feeling of calmness he felt in his mother's presence.

The anime takes time to show him go from realizing that Yor feels bad, to feeling guilty himself and wanting to placate her worries, to remembering his own feelings about his mother, to wondering if he should share that memory, to deciding to share it.

So I feel the anime team knows very well what they're doing, and they respect the original material enough to make additions that bring the story and characters to a whole new, precious level. But, I don't doubt that they're terribly overworked and underpayed, so sometimes things can slip through. I don't blame them, in any case.

Not directed at the asker, but if you feel like shitting on the anime, this is not an invitation to do so on my post. Make your own and leave me out of it.

(Anime only (or anime first?) fan here, don't spoil me for the manga)

[whateversawesome]

I really hope this doesn't come off as hate, I just wanted someone else's input - I feel like the eden kids have become more of the main characters than the forgers have. I know we just finished an important arc with them but it feels as though every other chapter is centered around them. We haven't had a chapter with the forgers together since Anya got rescued and that wasn't even a whole chapter. it feels as though the manga's shifted from its core (a spy dad, assassin mom, esper child and a dog that can see the future). I guess this could just be because of the update schedule though making everything feel slow paced and some plotlines random at times. Again, I hope this doesn't come off as hate. I still love and enjoy the story, and was curious to hear the opinion of another.

Hi! Thank you for reaching out. Your question doesn't come as hate at all and it'll be my pleasure to answer it :)

Your feelings and frustration are totally valid. A lot of us got into Spy x family because of the Forgers (and some of us Twiyor specifically) and miss seeing them. So, let me tell you how I see things both as a writer and as a reader.

As a writer: I'm not worried about where sxf is going because I've written plenty of stories and I can see the seams (meaning the construction of the story). However, I know not everyone is a writer, so this illustration may be useful for everyone:

The beginning of sxf had a great exposition of the characters and the story. This is the part where the readers fall in love and get attached to the characters.

I know it's been going for 79 chapters, but in my opinion, we're barely leaving #2 (conflict) and entering #3 (rising action). Endo set the conflict and not quite started the action yet. So we're just entering the middle of the story.

In my experience (both as a reader and writer), when the middle of the story begins is not the most exciting part and, depending on the story and author, the middle can feel long.

In Spanish, the middle a story is called "nudo", which means "knot". This is where the story gets tangled and very complicated. In fact, the more complicated, the better, because it means that it'll be hard to resolve and the stakes will be high during the climax.

The purpose of the middle of a story is to point towards the climax. This is where the author has to build the tension to get there, where the conflict gets thicker and thicker.

Now, has Endo been doing this?

YES.

Evidence of this are the whole bus kidnapping arc: where he told us how the SSS and government behave towards its citizens (even when they're children). THIS will be key in the story. And the latest 78 doggie competition chapter: where Handler and Twilight literally talk about the main plot of the story.

This reminds us the main plot is still about Donovan Desmond and Project Apple. This doesn't seem random to me. And the fact that we've gotten so much Eden makes me think that Eden is key in the main plot too.

As a writer, his job is to point out to the main plot and head to the climax. If he's been doing that with Eden chapters, that means that's where we're going.

The way I see it, Twilight, Yor, and Anya (Spy, Assassin and Esper) are the main characters, but not the only characters. Because of its cuteness and wholesomeness, it's easy to think of Spy x Family is a simple story about a Spy who adopts a little girl and falls in love with an assassin.

It is not.

This is a monster of a story.

Think of it as a big tree. Stories like this have many branches (secondary characters and side stories) that are connected to the main plot and serve to lead the plot towards the climax. Examples: Lord of the Rings, Fruits Basket, Attack on Titan.

My point is that in these Monster Stories, the plot may not always focus on the main characters, but in the end, everything, every little branch and side story came together to let the main characters rule the story and get to that explosive climax.

And I believe that's what Endo is doing here.

Is it the most exciting thing in the world right now? No.

Sometimes development can feel like a total drag; especially if chapters come out every two weeks and we're all eager for more.

As a writer, I recommend patience. We'll get there, it's just going to take some time.

Now...

As a reader (and a fan): *Big sigh* Yes, I miss the Forgers (and Twiyor) so much and every time there's a new chapter I feel sad we didn't get any interaction.

Yes, I want to see the romance, the pinning, the angst, the first kiss. ALL of it!! At least give me the Forgers shenanigans...

But there is no point in getting upset about it.

Yes, we're kind of in a dry spot in the story, but personally I'm still enjoying it. I'm so grateful for all the good friends I've made thanks to Spy x family. On top of it, I've been having tons of fun writing fics analyzing, and discussing things with other fans.

There's so much talent in our fandom and during this dry season, it's the fans with their gorgeous fanarts and awesome stories what is keeping the fandom engaged and happy. There's no need to feel bored while we wait for the Forgers to come back (and Twiyor to kiss!), let's wait together. Let's have fun together!

One last thing worth mentioning...

I've said it before. It's okay to take a break. There is absolutely no hate in this advice: If the story is becoming too frustrating, if it's detrimental for mental health, if it's becoming more of a bother than a source of happiness, it's okay to take some time off. It's okay to get into other things, other stories and other fandoms. And it's okay to come back after a while to check up on any progress and it's okay to move on too.

Thank you so much for the ask. I wrote a long answer because, as you can see, I'm a big fan of stories and writing.

[animehouse-moe]

Spy x Family OP3: Kura Kura

Okay, there's a lot of stuff that I'm unfamiliar with in terms of proper names and terms with this opening, but it's just so damn cool that I have to talk about it. Building on the styles of the first two openings, it brings a sense of familiarity that's completely outshone by the incredibly creative approach that OP3 brings with it.

Yes, it's the best Spy x Family opening even though the new season isn't out yet. That's what Masaaki Yuasa gets you (go check out the Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken OP)

Alright so first off, the opening cut of our characters. I love everything about it. The energy, the perspective, the color design. It's all super great, and the icing on the cake is the punchy animation that accentuates and exaggerates the movements of the characters.

Also, the music really is just a perfect match. I'm not a big Ado fan myself, but this is just an impeccable choice.

Anyways, right away the opening sets the tone for the very unique approach to animation. Quite smooth, but very snappy at times, if I were to explain it. I'm not doing a frame by frame to check or anything, but they're certainly hanging on quite a few sequences before squeezing others in or making large movements between frames. Just look at how each of the characters joins the sequence, there's actually a good deal of movement hidden in the appearance.

Though I think my favorite part from this sequence is the simplicity in wiping the characters when a new one appears. Given the style of movement and the "blink and you'll miss it" speed of it, it brings the addition to the viewer's attention and immediately while adding a good deal of unique feel.

And then there's this follow up piece. There's not much to it in terms of importance or anything but I love it. It's an extension of the dot matrix background and using it to place color on top of a dull background is very fun (also the rainbow at the top).

I think one of the things that felt absent from both prior OPs was a sense of "wow factor" in how they displayed Yor (and Loid). OP2 brings us a Yor assassin cut, but it feels more pretty and fleeting than exciting and energetic, as expected given the tone of it. Anyways, I'm very happy to see them able to explore the energy of each in this opening.

Also, the way that Yor's spike wipes the frame to introduce Loid? I love it. It's such a chaotic opening that you can easily miss simple things like transitions that can get lost in all the information. Another side note, I really like that Loid only appears when he fires his gun. Just a fun little trick that falls into place alongside other examples of wiping the frame in the opening.

Of course, Anya (and bond) gets their own splash cut like this. Really like how it places Anya on her own stage as it steps away from the style used for Loid and Yor and uses "environment" (read: speech bubbles) to convey her ability and its cons. And another very interesting detail (there's no end to them)! The use that dot matrix style to swap Anya and Bond out between each other. Super easy to miss, but it's there as one of those transitions that you can easily miss.

Wiping the frame, I can't think of a better name for it but it's something that's well loved with the direction of this OP. Just following these cuts we get another of our fearless family, but we see a different trick used. Also, really love the idea of it being framed as circus that Anya runs, so accurate to children and especially Anya.

Anyways, the idea is actually a lack of animation. Crazy, but given the style of animation through these cuts with the focus on snappy and exaggerated movements, it fits right in and looks really interesting. Furthermore (yes, there's still more), the use of visual sound effects (which say: 'Kankakeinai', most likely meant to be 'Kankeinai' as that's what's said by Ado at this point in the song.) is a great way to bridge the gap from Anya's previous cut to this one.

Oh, I should have mentioned it, but that same text-usage matching the song appears in the previous Anya and Bond cuts too.

Alright, next cut but also one (a little) further down the line: water animation. Lovely stuff. It's not realistic like what you'd see in the ending for My One-Hit Kill Sister, but has a lot of heart in it nonetheless, aiming to blend with the OP rather than make a statement about its quality.

Man, I almost forgot that there's a sequence in reverse in the OP. It's just that crazy. I've shown enough gifs of stuff so I'll spare the trouble (and save it for later) by just sharing a still. It's well animated, obviously, but aside from it being in reverse, there's just one detail to make note of: the dot matrix. It appears as an airplane for just a split second as a way to begin dissolving it from the frame (though it can be hard to make out because Tumblr compression). A very sneaky and subtle way to continue on with the direction established from the start.

There's lots of tricks in this OP, isn't there? I suppose it's rather similar to the Anya circus one, but slightly different. Keeping in line with the near impossibly hectic style of animation in the opening, we see frame-by-frame cuts alongside some of the best animated sequences. It helps keep that balance, you know? Where we give up on sharpness with some of the faster and more fluid movements, we make up with via these rougher ones.

Also, would it really be Masaaki Yuasa without some freakishly well animated cuts? Animating cars can already be a challenge in the first place, but not only do we see one heavily featured here, we see it spinning around wildly with characters in it. It's a crazy feat that only madmen like Masaaki would attempt.

Anyways, don't you dare underestimate Yuasa's insanity. He made people animate a reflection in a teapot. For like a 3 second cut. No, really, he did. Look at this ridiculously pointless detail.

Okay okay, it's time to wind down a little bit. The wonderfully creative perspective of the OP. It's mostly the cars, but on the more simple sub-to-plane cut it's featured in a more subtle sense just to add something to it, you know? Just to give viewers something a little more interesting to look at.

Alright, last cut I promise. I was very surprised, and equally impressed, to see this skydive sequence as a single cut. I thought for sure it was going to be split, but keeping it in one piece was a great decision.

And that's all I think I will chat about, because if I don't call it quits somewhere I'll never stop. Seriously, that's just how full and dense this opening is. For instance, just look at the bottom left image from the gallery above, Anya's drinking tea all fancy like. Crazy little detail that you wouldn't see unless you paused the opening. And this is full of that kind of stuff alongside the incredible and distinct direction and style of Yuasa. It's a gold mine of creativity and expression that only the man himself would be able to pull off, and I love it. Best Spy x Family opening and another to add to the list of incredible OPs this year.

[mdhwrites]

Jumbled Thoughts: Romantic Rivals With Spy x Family

"What do you mean you love him!? You may be best girl, the tsundere and the one who spends 90% of your screentime with him but I'm in love... With..." "You want to go get a drink as a consolation prize?" "Yes please." And then I'm going to poison her drink so he can be all mine!

A lot of good, long term romance works have what can easily be identified as the romantic rival, regardless of how actually effective those rivals are. A character essentially designed to be an obstacle between the main couple and true love. There's a lot of forms this can take and luckily, anime has given us two great examples recently with Spy x Family's Yuri and Nightfall... But first let's get a few things out of the way.

Despite my bit at the beginning, a romantic rival actually doesn't need to be a direct competitor. Quintessential Quintuplets' romantic rival is the 5 girls' father and it'd be real creepy if he was actually trying to bang him.

"SIS!"

We'll... We'll get to that. No, instead the point of a romantic rival is simply to be someone who has to lose if the main couple ends up getting together. Their happiness and desires are essentially impossible if the main couple's happiness is achieved. That's why they're a rival since there can only be one winner. The most direct way to do this is with someone else who loves one of the two MCs but it can take on a lot of forms.

Secondly: For them to be a rival, they do actually need and investment in the potential of the two MCs being together. The best rivals are likely going to relish in destroying what might have been just as much as they'll enjoy either capturing the one they love or dooming them to misery. For their role to function though, they can't be unaware of what they're doing. Otherwise, they fall more into cruel twists of fate or comedic interventions depending on the severity of the moment and the tone it's portrayed with. Like Joe from Big Time Rush moving for her work isn't because her agent is a romantic rival, whoever they are doesn't care about the romance going on, it's just business. One that tragically breaks up the head of the band and her.

We did get one hell of a song out of it though. (Yes, I loved this show as a teenager and still think their music slaps incredibly hard. Also, I'm linking this video because it portrays more what happened but I do think the 2020 acoustic version done during lockdown is better.)

Another thing necessary for the character to be a rival though is that they are inherently a bad option. While one could call all the girls in your typical harem romance rivals to each other, it's better to call them contestants. They all have a real, viable case for taking that spot of best girl/boy, both in the hearts of our MC and of the audience. You are supposed to be okay with any of them getting with the main character. They are simply a competing ensemble.

A romantic rival is a villain. Even when not explicitly portrayed as one, you're supposed to want them to lose. They VERY rarely are real people besides maybe a sob story but that's not really the point of them. Romantic rivals are meant to elevate something into soap opera levels of drama, not for a nuanced discussion of love. A way to heighten the stakes and force the cutesy, potentially eternal lovey dovey elements of a work into what will be an even more satisfying conclusion.

Or for some EXTREMELY funny jokes. Speaking of, let's get into Spy x Family.

Nightfall versus Yor.

Yuri versus Loid.

Or, er... Well, see, why these two are so useful is that we actually have an incredible romantic rival and one that mostly entirely falls flat on his face in the role and is arguably the worst element of the show to me. As such, let's start with him: Yuri. Yor's baby brother.

He is a member of the secret police, the best at what he does despite such a young age and has a sister complex. Like... 80% of his character is sister complex. 19% more of that is screaming about his sister and then 1% of him makes you remember "RIGHT! This guy actually claims to be a functional human being!" Yuri's inability to actually function as a person is one of his biggest flaws because that single minded obsession makes it hard for him to really have more than a handful of jokes, all of which just increasingly become more stale (at least for me) as the show went on. That's a real shame too because as a rival to Loid, he's actually about as good as you could ask for.

See, while I have problems with Yuri, his failure in this role actually has a lot more to do with Loid than himself. A rival is meant to push the couple out of their comfort zone, potentially make them fuck up and do something that will upset the other, or challenge some aspect of a person's love for their partner. Loid... Doesn't have any of these traits. His whole gimmick is being the man with a thousand faces. To have so many layers, you'll have cried an ocean by the time you get to the core of this onion. That also means he has no comfort zone to push him out of, only fuck ups because of himself and...

Well actually, this is the one way I think Yuri does screw up as a potential rival to Loid. He makes big declarations about whether or not Yor and Loid's love is real but his love isn't real either. He doesn't actually know his sister. He doesn't engage with her genuinely, just like Loid doesn't. He has this nostalgic, permanent image that would take literally seeing his sister kill a loyal citizen to the country in order to even crack. That's not actually more genuine than Loid using her like he does. The only difference is that one will never ask Yor of anything and want to stay by her side while the other will only stay until the job is done. It'd be much more effective, in this role, for Yuri to genuinely know his sister and be able to call things out because of the genuine care versus Loid's artificial care.

Otherwise, what Yuri really does is be a reminder of the world these characters exist in. Someone who genuinely can NEVER find out the secret between the main couple, that they're not married nor actually in love, or else Loid is a dead man and Operation Strix is over. That's because Loid is an enemy of the state so while Yuri would lock him up for the wrong reasons, he is still one of the few people who could actually cause trouble if only he knew the truth. Too bad Yuri has been a spy for like an entire decade less than Loid and so Loid can run circles around him also making this tension somewhat tenuous at best.

He is only a threat in essentially the same way anyone is. In that he cannot know the secret. That is the exact opposite of Nightfall, Yor's rival.

Nightfall is a fellow spy from Loid's agency. She actually was a pupil of Loid's and mistook being told you can't have emotions on a mission to mean she must deaden all emotions. She is also a super spy on a similar level to Loid, making her the idea working partner for him.

But that lack of emotions is also why she can never be Loid's romantic partner. Yor is a bundle of energy and a precious cinnamon roll who wears her heart on her sleeve and couldn't help but be earnest even if she tried not to be. She is exactly the sort of warm, open person that Loid needs to ever make him consider retirement. To peel back the layers so that he can one day be himself instead of one of the many faces that he has. She will only ever love Loid... Not Loid's job or codename: Twilight.

Immediately we have the reason why these two contrast and why you will never root for Nightfall. Nightfall loves Twilight. Loves the image and ideal of Loid as this unstoppable super spy who she could essentially conquer the world with. Who she could help alleviate the woes of before they both get back to work. She'd be devoted but to all the wrong needs of Twilight. We even know she has the skills with which to do it, something Yor very clearly lacks as putting her in the kitchen is a surefire way to attempt mass genocide.

Not to say Yor is incapable of challenging Nightfall in a more practical way like how Loid entirely destroys Yuri. Yor is still superhuman in her physical capabilities which is why despite how clumsy and dumb she can be, she's still a very capable assassin. It's just that being an assassin is essentially all she's good at, besides empathy that is. Yor's care runs deep, just like how deep the tennis ball she sent into God only knows where is or the ball she played with Anya with when she did her own signature shot. Since Nightfall can't convince Loid to drop Yor due to her wifely duties, she does only have this and one other tactic to use against Yor and here she fails ENTIRELY.

The other one she's a lot better at. See, in her eyes, Yor is a bad wife. Yuri thinks the same about Loid but as a bad husband. Unfortunately for our cinnamon roll, she does not have Loid's confidence or the homely skills to back that up and so questions about her capabilities, especially with a smooth motherfucker like Twilight, shake her to her core. Luckily, she has the empathy and care that helps with Anya and makes her not just a good wife but what is even more important here: A good mom.

Here is where we get Yuri's last failing. See, a good romantic rival should be like any good villain. They oppose not only the couple but the whole premise and theme of the show. Yuri and Nightfall both do actually attack the themes to some extent by asking for stagnation and pulling the two back to their past where they will be trapped in the violence they have known all their lives. This is attacking the Spy part of the title. Only one of them actually says anything about the Family part of it though.

The most disappointing moment of the entire series for me was when Yuri finally interacted with Anya, Loid and Yor's adopted daughter, and hated her. Now, admittedly, his goal of arresting and killing Loid would pretty much certainly mean Anya's death too since she was adopted by Loid. Best case scenario for Anya if Yuri wins is going back to the orphanage but... That's the same case for if the operation that brought these three together fails in anyway. He adds nothing new with this that the base premise of this being a sham family doesn't already add.

Meanwhile, Nightfall knows from go about the operation and her opposition to Yor is specifically so that she can take the place of Loid's wife for the operation. This introduces two new elements that very, VERY few other characters can so directly. The first is that if Nightfall wins, it dooms Anya. Her desire to keep Loid as Twilight, rather than as himself, means that the warmth that Yor and Anya are forcing out of him will likely shrivel back up and die so that when the operation fails, Anya will go back to an orphanage and the family will end.

You also might have noticed that I said WHEN the operation fails, not if. While we haven't gotten it in the anime directly, we know a lot of Loid's methods for getting Anya to succeed fail and Anya at least likes Loid enough to try. Yor has made monumentally better strides in getting Anya to listen, be better and try harder than Loid ever has because, well... Anya is six. She doesn't need a cold, calculating spy, she needs parents and Yor's earnest and honesty makes her a great parent who is constantly trying to do the best for her child. From the brief glimpses we get of what Nightfall would try to employ as a parent, we have good reason to assume she'd fail just as hard as Loid has and so either Anya would run away, happy to be away from a family that no longer has Yor's warmth and has a slowly deadening Loid, or she'd be sent away once the stress and pain of that environment crushed her.

It is a unique threat that quite only someone from Loid's agency can present and it's a much more interesting reason to hate Nightfall and want to see her fail than Yuri just hating Anya regardless because he sees her as an extension of the sister stealer. It makes her a genuine villain that the regular populace can't replicate. It also allows her more dynamism as she'll do whatever she has to to gain the place of Loid's wife, even act kind to Anya, until finally she no longer needs to. She's a spy after all and this is her mission.

There's one other element here though I want to give a shout out for that is actually easy to overlook for romantic rivals: I want Yor, Twilight and Nightfall to be in a polycule. For Loid and Nightfall to finally have a real conversation and fix the lesson that has poisoned Nightfall so thoroughly. For Yor's kindness to help Nightfall see herself as a real person and not a slave to her image of Twilight. Hell, I even do want to see Nightfall be able to help shore up Yor's skill weaknesses and give Loid someone who can 100% understand his worldview, even as they both fight against keeping up those barriers. Nightfall is mostly a joke, mostly played for comedy but her genuine care for Loid, and how much it devastates her to fail, makes her into a more complex, sympathetic villain who you don't want to see be splattered on the pavement.

I... Well, I won't say Yuri is such a bad character that I want him literally dead but if he got shipped over to this world's version of America for the rest of his life, I would not miss his presence. He is a creep, a man child and quite frankly the best ending for him is probably to literally never be able to see his sister again so as to grow up as a person. Even that implies I even care enough to want to see him grow though as two seasons in, I don't really care. He has ONE truly great sequence that shows his potential and even it shows his critical flaw as a romantic rival: It has literally nothing to do with Loid or Yor. He is only an interesting character outside of the context of those two.

And for a narrative role who's whole job is to complicate and add excitement to the context of the main couple, that makes him a complete failure. So for as great as yuri is in most contexts, make sure you don't write the character Yuri if you're trying to make a good romantic rival. Not unless you wish for night to fall on your story and leave it in the dark.

======+++++======

It's kind of fun how much romance anime I've watched in the like past six months. It's still only three series, Kaguya, Quintessential Quintuplets, and Spy x Family (the last of which is SO many genres) but it did help me have some actual examples when I finally sat down and wrote this. Also, I'm currently poking at theoretically going back to my roots and writing a harem story, though also keeping it PG-13 like my current stylings so honestly, have any anime recommendations for me?

Also, this is probably another Jumbled Thoughts post that goes too much into the example, even if highlighting how Nightfall is a good contrast to Yor is so important to understanding what a good romantic rival looks like.

I have a public Discord for any and all who want to join!

I also have an Amazon page for all of my original works in various forms of character focused romances from cute, teenage romance to erotica series of my past. I have an Ao3 for my fanfiction projects as well if that catches your fancy instead. If you want to hang out with me, I stream from time to time and love to chat with chat.

A Twitter you can follow too

And a Kofi if you like what I do and want to help out with the fact that disability doesn’t pay much.

[ryounyan]

Watching "Spy X Family". No, I am not late. Usually watching popular anime/films/ect. after all that emotional boom going down.

So... This anime is queer and autistic. Why queer?? Because for having respectful life and not being checked on by secret police people need to have "hetero normative" families. Sounds familiar. No single parenting too. Why autistic?? Because Yor and Ania. Yor is genius, but have no clues how interacting with society around. Yor just created schemes of interactions and living by the script. Being good in assassination is not helping, actually makes her being more "I am not enough. I am bad and strange.". Actually Yor can be amazing mortician. About Ania. Ania is not stupid. Ania is a visual learner. Also learning from favourite things as many ADHD and autistic people do. Also Ania is telepathic child. Why I don't mentioned this as a first thing?? Because telepathy is not Ania's most important part, which is creating logical and fast conclusions and inventing non suspicious reasons. Example with person that stole the wallet. Ania red the mind and quickly invented the reason "I want to eat the cake!!", indicated the culprit. Example with boy in the pool, Ania literally told about telepathy, but after that quickly said "I am bad in chores, so I want became the swimmer!!". Actually Ania saved Ken, boy in the pool, Loid is only saved Ania. Also Ania can't seeing the bubbles on water, but told about it only because that was logical and less strange.

Ania is not stupid. Ania's social battery going uncharted fastly because of being autistic. Usually people with ADHD trying to "see/read the future" for not having unconventional and psychological difficult situations. Some of ADHD people really can do that. Some not. But usually this types of minds are working four-five times more harder, because nothing is going straight as for allistic minds, because too many things that can create embarrassment... And that's make battery going down very fast.

About Yor being always nervous. Because want to be the best. Because believe that her own personality is not enough. But when coming to dangerous situations Yor just ignore own safety for others safety. After that usually everyone is scolding her for being selfish and not thinking about others. Very ADHD characteristic.

Ania is good with animals. Also very autistic characteristic. Not all kinds of autistic people are good with animals, but many are, because autistic/ADHD people are very emotive and very sensitive people. They trying to read body language and the smallest changes in the voices. Because basically can't read the general situation/read the room. I am not talking about deep kinds of autistic people. I am talking about people that can masking. They find comfort in animal company.

[lpham2525]

A League of Their Own

Spy x Family Analysis:  

How Yor sees Loid vs. How everyone else sees Loid  

or  

Why Yor is a unique match for Loid 

TLDR: Yor values Loid for the person he is, not for his social desirability. 

I was reading a post about how some people think that Loid is out of Yor’s league and someone responded that it was Yor who was out of Loid’s league (I can no longer find this post so if you know it, please notify me).  

However, I think their relationship lies on a level much deeper than that.  

Most people appear to like Loid because he fits many labels of social desirability. However, Yor doesn’t see him that way. She values and appreciates him for the emotional things he does and not for his looks, talents, or skills.  

Let’s take the example of physical attractiveness. In the course of the story, while many have commented on Loid’s good looks, Yor has only gone so far as to call him “cute”, and that was only when she perceived him as getting emotional for the sake of Anya.  

The first time was during the Welcome Ceremony at Eden when Loid is counting on Anya to make friends and help his mission be a success. There, she comments on how cute he is when he is worked up over Anya.  

The second time was during the Penguin Park mission when Loid recounted how he tried so hard to win the Name All the Penguins contest so he could get the giant stuffed penguin for Anya.  

Granted, in both scenes, Yor misinterprets what’s really going on (only Loid and Anya really know), but since she perceives these instances as Loid as caring deeply for Anya, those are the times she sees him as cute.  

It can even be argued that her use of the word “cute” could be interpreted as she thinks his actions or expressions are adorable rather than hot/sexy/handsome or some other term relating to physical attractiveness. 

Contrast the way Yor perceives Loid to the way Becky sees Loid or the way Fiona sees Twilight.  

Upon seeing a photo of Loid for the first time, Becky calls Loid “dreamy” and develops a crush on him purely based on the fact that he’s good-looking. She doesn’t bother to learn much else about him: his personality, his likes and dislikes, his character, etc. However, this can be understood from the point of view that she’s a six-year-old child with a crush on an adult so it’s not too surprising that her attraction to him is shallow.  

To analyze a different dynamic, Fiona knows Twilight/Loid better than most characters in the story, is genuinely in love with him, and acknowledges it to herself. However, she loves him in a possessive, self-serving kind of way. She wants him all for herself, of course, but to the point where she doesn’t care about what HE wants or what would be good for him. Fiona is so certain she’s the only match for Twilight that she doesn’t think of any other outcome than the two of them ending up together. She even goes so far as to having passing thoughts of killing any woman fawning over him. 

On the other hand, Yor has Loid’s interests and happiness in mind. Yes, she is shown to be jealous when she suspects Loid of wanting to replace her with Fiona, but at least when these suspicions first took hold, she planned to step down gracefully and let the two of them be together. She even rehearsed in her mind how she was going to tell Loid that she wanted him to find happiness, something that Fiona does not do. Of course, we all know how it plays out in the end, but it’s worth noting that, at the very least, Yor had it cross her mind that Loid’s happiness was important, more important than maintaining their marriage of convenience.  

Back to the topic of social desirability. What are some of the ways people describe Loid?  

Let’s use Yuri as an example. He uses the following words for Loid (albeit while he was drunk): a little good at cooking, tall, handsome, considerate, a doctor. 

Meanwhile, here’s how the staff at Berlint General Hospital describe Loid: popular, adorable, patients seem to love you.

But what if that was all taken away? What if Loid lost his looks? His charm? His sharp intellect? His popular appeal? His many talents and skills?  

Would people still love him? Maybe. Maybe not.  

Would Yor still value him? I’d answer with a resounding YES.  

Do you know why? Because she never lists any of these things as the reason why she values him. 

 This is not to say that Yor is completely oblivious to Loid’s appeal. I think she is somewhat aware that other people see him this way, but the way she sees him dives much deeper than that. Her appreciation and admiration of Loid comes from the emotional work he does: how he cares for Anya, how he works hard at becoming a better parent, how he is open to new ideas and perspectives, how he encourages Yor to be herself AND be a part of the Forger family.  

That is what makes Yor a unique match for him. Because even if Loid were stripped of every socially desirable label, Yor would still see a man doing his best to be a good father and a good husband. She would see the person under all of the layers that Loid piles on and that others ascribe to him, and that is what touches her (figuratively speaking, of course).  

Maybe it reminds her of how hard she worked to provide for Yuri. Or maybe it’s because Loid is the first adult to accept her immediately and without judgment. Or maybe it’s something else entirely, something that Yor herself does not yet recognize and can’t quite name.  

In any case, you can still argue about whether Loid is out of Yor’s league or Yor is out of Loid’s league, but I would argue that they are in a league of their own. I think the fact that Yor sees Loid as a caring person, and not as a personification of checkmarks on some “ideal husband” list, is why they work so well together. That is why, of all the crazy matches that could have happened, they found each other and chose each other and belong together, leagues notwithstanding.  

I rest my case, Your Honour.  

[dk-wren]

Thanks for answering my ask @dk-wren, can I ask again but this time for Loid/Yor?

What do you think are Loid and Yor’s greatest personality strengths and weaknesses? Why? What do you love about their dynamic?

Hello Anon!

Of course! And thank you for the new ask!

(Note: I am so so sorry that I could not respond to your ask sooner. School has been crazy, so I barely had any time to write for non-school related projects. I feel so bad that I could not get to this quicker, but I hope you may still enjoy my response.)

Now, I would like to be upfront and say that my familiarity with Loid/Yor's relationship and all of Spy x Family is a little spotty. I am caught up on the anime and read the first several chapters of the manga. However, I only started consistently reading the manga about a year ago, towards the middle of the Red Circus arc. I generally know what happens between where S2 ended and I picked up the manga (i.e. Yor meets Melinda, Lady Tonitrus, etc.), but I apologize if in my explanation I missed an important moment that happens during that period or contradict something.

That said, I think Loid's greatest personality strength is his ability to fully commit to something. When I racked my brain for what Loid (and also Twilight) moments stood out to me, his line, “Let’s go home” from the first chapter, the castle party, his attempt to have fun during the Cruise Arc, creating a full (educational) episode of Bondman for Anya, and taking Anya on a ski trip are some moments that came to mind. Am I cherry-picking these examples? Yes, but I think each still illustrates how Loid cannot do anything with less than 100% effort.

Now, could you argue this personality trait of fully committing to something can be negative in some situations? For sure. But the way I see this trait present itself within Loid, it comes out of his desire to provide the best he can for his family. And while it was for his mission/cover towards the beginning of Spy x Family, and still sometimes the case, I think there’s been a shift where Loid's motivation for doing all that he can to provide Yor and Anya good/memorable experiences now comes from knowing Anya’s history in the orphanage and in Yor opening up to Loid about her past. 

I don’t know if Loid’s training or general nature are responsible for this trait, but I do believe Loid’s ability to fully commit to something is his greatest strength since it sort of acts as Loid’s way to show how much he cares for (perhaps, even loves) the recipients. 

In terms of Loid's greatest weakness, I think it is his stubbornness. Loid/Twilight knows he is Westalis' greatest spy. And whether self-imposed or from his colleagues' expectations (or perhaps even a little bit of both), he understands his performance during any mission should be of the highest caliber. In trying to maintain this level of proficiency on his missions, I feel Loid/Twilight can easily get into his own head about how things are supposed to go and needing to stick to a plan. 

Especially in the first few chapters/episodes, we see Loid clearly thrown off and flustered by some of Anya and Yor’s actions. When working solo, it is very easy for Loid to be in control over every aspect of a mission. Things can go exactly as planned for Loid, avoiding the need to deviate from his meticulous planning, even if he needs to switch to plan B, C, D, or E (probably more tbh). That is not the case though with Anya and Yor because of their own secret identities and human nature. These two bring in factors or variables that Twilight would not have to typically consider on his missions since they bring their own experiences/perspectives that do not align with Twilight’s view of “normal” or expected.

I know Loid saying “For the mission” is a running joke. But I believe Loid’s stubbornness plays a factor into this. Not necessarily in a bad sense, but Loid can get stuck in his ways and find explanations to justify his actions that do not align with those set ones. His stubbornness prevents Loid from admitting that he loves and cares for Anya and Yor because he is a spy, who should not have any attachments nor the expectation to settle down. He has changed from the first chapter to now. I apologize for not remembering the exact post, but when Loid returns home to Yor and immediately collapses at the end of the Mole Hunt arc, I saw someone beautifully explain how Loid’s reaction is due to his body telling him “He is safe. He is home. He is where his loved ones are,” even if his mind cannot process those feelings. 

In reading the chapters about Loid’s past, I would argue Loid also potentially deals with his own guilt about not deserving the love of others after what happened to his parents. That is a hard mindset to break, which I think his occupation doesn’t help in that healing process either. Therefore, between Loid’s own past and being a spy, I think Loid’s greatest weakness is his stubbornness, especially in his inability to process things (namely love) as anything but a means to an end, rather than the end itself.

As for Yor, I think her greatest personality strength is her kindness and faith in others. I feel Yor has so much love to give to the people she keeps close to her heart. But due to her past, she didn't have a chance to shower it on anyone besides Yuri. The cooking lessons she took with Camilla to literally running to pick up Anya after the bus hijacking, Yor’s family and their happiness/safety remains her utmost priority in providing. 

I truly believe Yor sees the best in people and wants to uplift that, whether that be celebrating how well Anya did on a test or telling Loid that he’s a good father. I don’t think it’s naivety but rather kindness that Yor embraces the world with. Similar to Loid/Twilight, Yor is trying to create a better tomorrow in her own way. However, one key difference I would say is that Yor sees herself as a part of that tomorrow. Such as in the Cruise arc, Yor recognizes the danger of profession and the fact she may not live to see the next day. But from what I’ve seen, Yor sees herself as working towards that better tomorrow so she can enjoy it with those she loves.

I think Yor’s greatest personality strength is her kindness and faith in others because she sees the best in those around her and wants to bring that out, or encourage people to embrace the good in them.

Regarding Yor’s greatest personality weakness, I think it's her social inexperience. I hesitate to call it a weakness since I think it’s more of a hindrance (and very much due to her upbringing). There are countless examples of Yor responding to someone’s question in a way that shows her misunderstanding of what the original question means (taking things too literally or giving a response appropriate for her assassin job but not in everyday life for example). It could easily paint her as awkward or clueless, but I think it just tells us about the environment she grew up in or is most familiar with.

When in her element, Yor embodies confidence and power. However, more often than not, that’s when she’s Thorn Princess rather than Yor Forger. Being the sole provider for Yuri for a good portion of her childhood and teen years, and also the nature of her profession, Yor is expected to complete things with utter perfection. She received training from the Garden, so that’s likely why she can perform with that confidence and grace as Thorn Princess. In not receiving that same level of “training” or exposure to everyday social situations, I think this causes Yor to second guess herself or fall susceptible to teasing in the workplace. 

Again, while I hesitate to consider it a weakness, I believe Yor’s social inexperience can sometimes hurt her more than help her. This is not a dig at Loid/Twilight, but I admire how Yor recognizes this “weakness” of how her knowledge may fall short in certain social scenarios. And to then take that time to learn about “normal” activities or experience something she was not able to during her childhood (as I mentioned above, cooking with Camilla comes to mind, but also befriending Melinda Desmond and spending time with the Women's Society), I think Yor openly embraces these opportunities in the hopes of learning from them and to increase her own happiness/enjoyment or those close to her.

Finally, for the last question, what do I love about Loid and Yor’s dynamic, I’d have to say I love how they uplift each other and acknowledge where the other can provide something they cannot (whether that’s with Anya’s care or household chores). Yor telling Loid he’s a great father to Anya and expressing her wish to help more around their household (to take some stress off of Loid); Loid telling Yor how her strength is an invaluable comfort to Anya, as well as affirming how her past makes her the perfect mother for Anya, and the way his body/subconscious mind acknowledges Yor as someone he feels safe around. At least to me, these examples alone show how much they respect their partner and understand that they can depend on the other. I'm sorry if I keep repeating myself, but seriously, to be able to trust and verbalize that they need help is such a step forward in moving past the behaviors they learned/developed during their childhoods.

While not tied exclusively to Loid and Yor’s relationship, but their family relationship, I also love how they somewhat represent different parenting styles. Loid is the more strict and demanding parent, though from what I recall, he rarely verbalizes his high expectations out loud (not that it always matters when Anya can read his thoughts). He expects Anya to do well and pass her classes, as well as avoid earning another Tonitrus bolt. Even then though, he phrases his words/expectations generally rather than telling her she must get this percent or higher. With Yor, she’s the more comforting and encouraging parent. She wants to see Anya succeed in school, but at the same time, Yor also prioritizes Anya’s well-being and happiness. I love how Loid and Yor’s parenting styles align with their personalities, and potentially the direct results of their childhoods. However, I love how at the end of the day, despite their varying approaches, Loid and Yor are both motivated by their desire to give Anya a happy childhood.

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.

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Thank you again for the ask and your patience, Anon!

I had a lot of fun diving into the individual arcs of Loid and Yor (so far), as well as their relationship. I genuinely love these two so much and how slow burn this slow burn is. It really provides them the opportunity to develop as individuals and see how their interactions can or do affect the other.

-Dakota Wren

[raidergamerspice]

Here's yet another Spy x Family ramble post since those seem to do well here lmao

It's about Yor this time!

Originally I just wanted to talk about one headcanon I had for her, but then I figured, why not talk about a few while I'm here? Considering how much I talked about Twilight in the last two posts alone, Yor deserves some rambles from me.

Anyway, first headcanon: she's autistic. Like, I got some vibes when I first watched the anime, and saw how she took her coworkers' joke to blow snot (I watch it dubbed, don't judge me) in someone's coffee seriously, then being told she's "unique". Then she constantly worries about appearing normal in front of people, and not just because she's a single woman at 27 (which happened to be the age I was when I first got into Spy x Family). She even has "unconventional" hyperfixations (on knives or other sharp weapons), and clearly has major social anxiety. Basically, Yor screams autistic/neurodivergent vibes. Honestly, the whole Forger family does, but Yor is especially blatant for me as I'm also autistic. So, yeah. Yor is autistic because I said so 😂

Another headcanon I'm projecting onto her is that she's part Filipino (I know the series takes place in a semi fictional world where even though it's inspired by our world, it's not exact). This came from a fanfic I found where Yor takes care of a sick Loid and, thinking he's sleeping, opens up a bit about her mother being from the Philippines. Even the author was projecting this because they too are Filipino, and guess what? So am I! Well, only by a quarter, but that still matters! I also know I'm not the only fan that headcanons Yor (and Yuri) to be Spy x Family's equivalent of Asian, so my interpretation (as well as the author of that fic) is just one of many 🥰

Here's that fanfic if anyone's interested: https://archiveofourown.org/works/46420426

Next, here's a headcanon that I'm NOT projecting onto her: she has a rose tattoo on her abdomen. This idea came about after listening to Victoria Beckham's song "Not Such an Innocent Girl", specifically the lyric about having a secret rose tattoo. I was struck by the thought that Yor would totally rock a rose tattoo (especially if it had thorns, 'cause Thorn Princess), and that it would definitely be kept a secret for several reasons. It clearly can't be on any of her limbs, so it would have to be somewhere on her torso. I looked up several examples for ideas, and this one is my favorite:

(Can you just imagine, when Twiyor gets intimate for the first time, Loid kisses the tattoo? 'Cause I can 🥵)

Also, I realize that this particular headcanon is the least plausible of what I talked about here so far, but I don't care. I'm letting the Yor in my head rock this tattoo 'cause she would look great with it! 😤🌹

Now this one, I'm not sure if it's merely a headcanon or borderline canon without being explicitly stated, but I have seen this topic come up every now and again. Without getting too deep into it for now, I'll just say: Yor is a virgin, but she still knows what sex is 😳

ahem, moving on.

This is the last headcanon I'll share for now, and it's something I briefly mentioned before: Yor is bisexual. Like, I'm a major Twiyor, obviously, but I'm not blind to how she and Melinda interact with each other (also, Melinda is straight up a lesbian, but I digress). I have a love-hate relationship with this phrase because reasons, but I still think it's valid to say that Yor has two hands. She deserves a husband and a girlfriend 😏 (let's just hope that Melinda doesn't turn out to be evil 💀)

Well, that's all for now! I know I said in my last Spy x Family post that my next one might be about Twiyor having twins, but I promise that will come soon! What do you think about these headcanons? Agree or disagree? Valid thoughts or delusional rambles?

[yumeka-sxf]

Thoughts on Spy x Family CODE: White

My thoughts on CODE: White will likely be different from most people since I knew pretty much the entire plot beforehand. I'm a spoiler fiend when it comes to my hyperfixations like SxF, so I read the novelization of the movie back in January and kept up on all the promotional videos and images that were released. But when it was finally time to see the movie for myself, did that ruin my enjoyment? Not at all. For me, it actually made me enjoy it more because 1) I knew what to expect so I wasn't disappointed, and 2) I found myself looking forward to seeing all the scenes I only read about or saw short clips of.

With that said, yes, I enjoyed the movie so much! If you're a Spy x Family fan, or even just a casual enjoyer of the series, it's a ton of fun. It has all the elements we love about the series: clever humor, sweet family moments, and spy action/drama. And because it's a movie, we get to see all of this with a movie animation budget instead of a TV series budget, which is another plus!

One thing to keep in mind with these original, stand-alone anime films based on series is that they're meant for a more general crowd than just fans of the series. Since theaters attract a wider audience than late-night TV and online manga chapters, movies like this serve as a means to introduce the series to people who may only have a vague idea of what it's about. That's why these movies contain a storyline that can fit mostly anywhere in the series chronology and don't have anything canon-altering.

CODE: White is an interesting mix of plots that, for the most part, blend together well. There's the main plot that continues throughout, which is saving Operation Strix by having Anya learn how to make the meremere for the cooking contest, but then there's the Yor jealousy plot B which is resolved in the first half, but is then replaced by the next "plot B" in the latter half of the movie, which is saving Anya from the military.

A lot of people didn't like the "Yor gets jealous" subplot when it was first revealed before the movie even came out, since it seemed to be a rehash of her being jealous about Fiona. I personally didn't have a problem with this since I don't think it's unreasonable for her to get jealous a second time, especially when she thinks she sees Loid doing something extreme like kissing another woman (as opposed to just talking). But the way it was resolved could have been a bit better in my opinion. The ferris wheel scene in the movie very much mirrored the bar scene from the series, but the reason the latter is so effective is because we get to hear Loid's inner thoughts during it; we know he's going full Twilight-mode and isn't being sincere, and that's why Yor kicks him. But then at the park, he talks to her much more genuinely and they work things out. But in the ferris wheel scene, we don't get to hear his inner thoughts so we don't get any indication as to whether his repeating of the marriage vows, etc, is him being sincere or not. Then she smacks him, they insist they aren't fighting when Anya brings it up, and that's the end of it.

I do like the fact that Anya reads their minds and seems happy with what she "hears" in their heads, but I still think the subplot would have felt more complete if it ended after Yor realized her mistake rather than have Loid do the ambiguous Romeo act again. Or it could have been brought up one more time later in the movie, for example, Yor apologizes for hitting him, he talks to her more sincerely, etc. If you're gonna rehash the bar scene, at least rehash the scene that brought it closure, which is the park bench scene. Again, I'm totally fine with the jealously subplot overall, just thought it could have been wrapped up a bit better.

Other than that, there were just a few little issues I had, like how was Anya able to afford what was probably an expensive liquor? (was she really packing that much dough in her little bag? She went straight from the bedroom out the window so it's not like she "borrowed" any money from Loid). Also seemed weird that she didn't pick up on Yor's infidelity worries until last minute. A few things stretched the line of believability a bit far too, like Loid's ability to make perfect masks so quickly, and Anya just happening to hit her head on the button that conveniently opened all the windows on the bridge. Also something here and there that didn't align with the manga, like Yor not having any reaction to sharing a room with Loid, whereas she has a totally different reaction to this in chapter 94. Maybe a bit more resolution for the fates of the villains too. I guess Luca and Dmitri survived the crash, but what about Snidel? Did Loid actually kill him or just knock him out? And if it's the latter, Snidel seems like the type who would want to get revenge. A quick cameo of what happened to them in the end would have been nice.

Speaking of the villains, normally I wouldn't like the fact that they're pretty one-dimensional and not that interesting, but for a movie like this where most people just want to see the Forgers being themselves in fun and exciting scenarios, taking time away from that to make more developed villains who likely won't be seen again in the franchise, would have not been the best choice, lol.

But even though I had some criticisms of the movie, all of them are minor and not enough to overshadow everything else that was enjoyable about it. Besides all the humor, of which there was plenty, there were so many cute "awww" family moments that perhaps didn't lend anything to the plot, but were still important to establish the characters and their relationships, and thus make us care about what happens to them. Like the scene of Anya, Yor, and Bond playing at the hotel...it could have been skipped without anything seeming out of place, but it reveals so much about the characters without being blatant about it: how Yor wants to please Anya despite being a bit embarrassed at first to take part in her game, and then how Anya's eyes light up with happiness when Yor starts playing with her...for a series like SxF that's character-driven rather than plot-driven, scenes like this are so important and I'm glad the film creators realized this too!

There were also so many cute, subtle scenes as well, like when Loid and Yor smile at each other after chiding Anya, as if they're happy to share this moment of exhausting yet satisfying parenting; when Anya reads Loid's mind after he saves her but doesn't reveal what he's actually thinking yet we can imagine what it is based on her expression; Loid showing feelings of comradery with the restaurant owner because their pasts are so similar; Anya quietly and sadly hugging Bond in the bedroom; and in the ferris wheel after Yor feels so embarrassed about misunderstanding what happened with Loid and the woman but then can't help but smile with motherly love when she sees Anya waving at her...the movie is filled with moments like this that are like little love letters to fans who know the true heart of SxF isn't so much the action and spy drama as it is the family relationships.

And of course, as I mentioned before, the animation of the movie is fantastic! Not just the action scenes, which are great by the way, especially Yor's fight with Type F, but the character expressions as well. Anya's always had the most varied and hilarious faces of all the characters, but the movie goes even harder with her expressions, especially when she has to hold in her stool! Her faces were making me both cringe and laugh at the same time! The animators did such a good job making me feel sorry for her but also laugh at her.

I'm not a fan of potty humor, but I was confident SxF would make it funny, and I was right! The poop god sequence in particular was as equally cringe as it was hilarious!

To conclude, CODE: White is a must-see for anyone who likes or loves Spy x Family. I can't say it's a cinematic masterpiece or anything, but for what it's supposed to be - a fun and enjoyable film for those who like the series, it definitely delivers! Can't wait to see it at least two more times during its showing in the US...and more times in the future!

[murasaki-cha]

Can I ask your top 10 fav fics ever (from any fandom, if you don't mind)?

Also, just curious, is there a story behind your name "murasaki-cha "?

I don't know how to say this, but I don't really read a lot of fics.... look I grew up in fanart and fancomic culture not fanfic culture

One of the only fics I can remember righ now (because I never stop thinking about it) is "Issue Found In Translation" by @fanfiction-artist-prototype 11/10 proto you've emotionally scarred and destroyed me in ways I cannot fathom into words but by god if I wouldn't go through it again given the chance!

Also I really love Spy x Family Role Reversal AUs, where Anya is the spy, Damian the assasin and Loid the telepath who has to get close to his classmate Yor Briar. Any fic with that plot. I might have read them all. Adorable, plus great Damianya. That messy roleswap damianya au and Roleswap Damianya Brane Rot are perfect examples of what I mean by this!

And I rescently read "Between Enemy Lines" by The Indomitable Smartass, a Folk Of The Air fic, which was basically extra scenes the fic author wished were in the books in Jude and/or Cardan's pov. The last 6 chapters were basically The Queen of Nothing told entirely from Cardan's pov. It was so freaking good I immediately bookmarked it.

And sorry but that's all I can give you

Now about the story of my name, it's actually really simple. I was a freaking weeb and went "Hey why not google translate my favorite color (purple) in japanese and add a -chan in the end because I'm a cringy 14 year old weeb fuck!" but apparently murasaki-chan is a wildly used username so I always just removed the n and murasaki-cha just kinda stuck. Than I learned about Lady Murasaki, the world's first ever novelist and I just loved my username after that and decided to never change it. I encourage everyone to just call me Mura because it's much easier than writing Murasaki every single time.

My irl name is so much different no one will ever guess it based on my username 😂

[mysterybooks-world]

I would like huge applause for @chiquitafresa

For my giving great idea name for my OCS

Visuelle sister & Visuel brother of Vox

I was thinking about their early childhood Like old cartoon kids having adventures for example The Chipmunk Adventure

when they became a teenager They were like The Three Stooges They traveled around the world and worked in different jobs

Vox is like Moe, Visuelle is like Larry and Visuel is like Curly

They made many acquaintances, friends, and enemies on their journey

when they became adulthood They became CEO Of their company

They bought lands. They built their own Studios

(note some ghosts are haunting here, they were friends of the triplets When they were teenagers) in the years They protect the place and take care of it.

They do the coolest and greatest shows

You could say they were like (the greatest showman) (JINGLE JANGLE)(movie Cats Don't Dance)(Singin' in the Rain)

You know, like old movies

Visuelle is married to my other OC he is man, Let's say Vox and Visuel spy on their date, like the siblings of overProtect In Each Other

they mess with him Like pranks and tricks But in the end they accept him In family.

the reason vox in hell Although he killed some people who tried to harm him, his family and friends

Vox didn't tell his siblings

In hell vox changed

He does not regret his actions, but the only thing vox regrets is not telling his siblings the truth.

poor Visuelle and Visuel They miss Their brother

In heaven They started their own company like Vox They know all the information about heaven

Their appearance like demon vox. suit Light blue colour And a TV for a head With light blue wings and a halo angel.

Visuelle and Visuel find out They have the ability to open portals between Heaven, Earth and Hell

They decided to search for their brother The first changed their form into demons like vox.

vox was in his office when he felt vibrations From two familiar Signals

From nowhere his siblings They appeared from one of the screens. vox couldn't believe the two people in front of him And he said Visuelle ,Visuel Is this really you?

Visuelle: Who else are we similar to each other, you dummy?

Visuel started crying and He jumped on Vox for a hug, Visuelle did the same thing And the three of them started crying While they curse each other, After the family reunited

They started scolding Vox In not telling them anything But the important thing is that they are together again

Visuelle and Visuel like Velvette BUT Valentino oh boy So let's say, they taught him politeness.

If they meet Because they keep it secret

Vox talked about Alastor And about his behavior with him They both tapped their hands on their screens and They shake their heads

All the while Vox was in hell losing a part of himself. vox no longer cares about anything like before, not without siblings.

Because he lost his desires And his determination Without his family So he began to treat the world like his stage He doesn't care about anything, he just plays the role

So when they started spending time together Some things in his life improved in hell

Vox moved on about His past with Alastor Because with his siblings he can be his true self

So yeah that's the story of my au.

I have other au for them like (assassin triplets AU)

Do you know Yor Forger and Yuri Briar from (SPY x FAMILY)

They are a mix of both

All three of them died at the same time At the age of 43 When they were fighting enemies and They sacrifice their lives for the lives of thousands from a dangerous type of weapon.

They fell in a park on the bushes. They try to make sense of the situation while The three of them hid in a tree. Visuel says something silly About their appearance

When a random Sinner was walking Close to them. They caught him And They squeeze all the information out of him. They threatened him not to tell anyone About meeting them.

Anyway After they realize that they are in hell

Visuel: This is funny, whoe knows death has a future

Vox: What do you think we should do?

Visuelle: This is a simple question my brothers We will live a peaceful afterlife Or at least we try live a peaceful afterlife, look at the chaos

Visuel: Yes, we deserve eternal rest

Vox: Sorry to break your optimism But we need a job and a home. Here's the plan. So we'll open it as a TV store and Devices & Studio

Visuelle: sound like good plan

Vox: And the important thing We don't become a overlords or meet overlords And I mean this Visuel

Visuel: Why I didn't do anything?

Visuelle: YET

They by electricity After they discovered how to control their power

After they settled in an area in their home

The first floor and the second floor are a shop and the rest of the building is their house.

Vox was on his way back to the store When he saw everyone running away and screaming The Radio Demon, Vox teleported over a building to try to avoid him, And when he was inside the store

The doorbell rang

welcome to the VoxTek store How can I help you?

But his facial expression changed to one of shock when he saw it in front of him Alastor

Alastor: Alastor a pleasure to be meeting you quite the pleasure

Vox: Hello, I am honored to meet you Radio Demon What brings you to my humble Studio store?

Alastor: Call me Alastor is Enough

Alastor: I've heard a few things about your store From some Sinners

Vox: So I hope what you heard is a good thing

They start a conversation with each other.

Visuel and Visuelle entered the store

They were ready to kill the Radio Demon Behind the door But Vox told them do not do at by through their shared frequency.

so They stand With Vox behind the cashier

Alastor: It's rare to see three Sinners similar in appearance,

Visuel: You don't say, looks at him With sharp look

Vox kicks his foot under the table

Visuel: What did I do

Vox invited Alastor over for lunch

While they were eating

This scene happened The spoon got stuck in Vox's mouth

When they looked at the instead of Jam jar It was a jar of glue

While Alastor burst out laughing as he watched vox chases his Siblings

And that's how they became friends

But later they became overlords Because of a certain deer.

Because Alastor can't stop laughing when he's with them

to Alastor He feels found treasure of entertainment from the pure kind

[httplovecraft1890]

Spy x Family AU Fic Idea

I finally managed to catch up with cour two of Spy x Family's season one. While watching episode 14, I specifically wondered how things might've ended up had Anya and Bond been unable to save Loid from Keith Kepler's bomb. Story idea? Maybe... It would probably be hard to understate how devastated Anya would be from the loss of Loid in her life. After all, she really thought she could turn things around for Papa, but came up short when trying to do so. Any goodwill she felt from getting her first Stella Star probably evaporates overnight. The mission, after all, is now meaningless - or at least appears to be. I do wonder if she'd actively avoid watching Spy Wars from that point on (since it's a potential traumatic trigger) or if she'd sink deeper into her obsession given that it provides her a safe, child-friendly version of spycraft to live vicariously through. I don't think she'd blame Bond; she knows what it feels like to be abandoned so she'd probably still ask Yor if they can adopt him.

For Yor… she blamed herself for Loid going off to the bathroom, even in canon, due to her cooking and she might very well swear it off entirely if she perceived it as having resulted in his accidental death. I suspect she'd still come to the realization that she loved (loves?) him in hindsight but who knows when that would be. At this point, I don't think there's a doubt she would go all in on being Anya's mom since she'd probably feel obligated to do so, besides the fact she also clearly wants to be hers anyway. Does Anya tell Yor about her telepathy and about Operation Strix? I think she very well might. I can't imagine a scenario where she lets Yor wallow in self-hatred, even if she's terrified that her mom might blame her for not saying something earlier and return her back to the orphanage. The war that was speculated to erupt does, I think, and that makes them both needing to be safe paramount. WISE is almost certainly operating in a reduced capacity after it just lost its best agent, not to mention that the border is no longer as porous as it used to be. What happens between Nightfall, Yor, and Anya could be quite interesting but I"m not really sure how that'd play out (though maybe this could lead to a Fiona/Yor ship since the main obstacle for both is now, uh, not around). No doubt Fiona, if she encountered Yor, would hate her here even more than she does in canon. Maybe she'd even end up taking the Twilight moniker to honor him as well as not let it slip he was KIA? There are certain things that frustratingly unclear. For example: is Ostania able to engage in a war successfully or did Kepler jump starting it mean that it's doing so with more limited resources? The National Unity Party would seize on it and I'm assuming Donovan Desmond ends up as prime minister in the event of some snap election but who knows how it would pan out for them. The SSS might be able to suppress internal dissent but that might not matter depending on how things go militarily. All of that said, I do still think Anya would try to proceed with Operation Strix in some form or fashion. She wanted it to succeed before so Loid would keep her around after it was finished if she proved herself useful but it'd be even more pressing now to do it in his memory. I'd also assume that Yor would probably try to involve herself as well, with perhaps Franky and Fiona doing so too somewhere along the way. I had a bit of fun with a plot bunny on an older post with the idea of Yor posing as a secretary for Desmond to secretly act as a bodyguard and that could very well be applicable here - only the intent being to assassinate him instead rather than imagining the Garden as a secret tool of his to eliminate opposition (or who knows, maybe they still are, but Yor ends up breaking with them over Loid's death and their potential unwillingness to help her). Not gonna be a good time for poor Damian in this scenario. Yuri's a bit of a cipher. He might want to do everything in his power to keep his sister safe, but would that include betraying his position and country to do so here? Once he finds out she's doing it for Loid, of all people, he might not be so keen but she is his primary obsession in life. Regardless, definitely leaves the possibility of fun cat-and-mouse games between the two Briar siblings as they try to tiptoe around their secret identities with one another. Then again, without Loid in Yor's life, it's possible he might soften to Anya's presence a bit; he'd be a weird as hell paternal replacement, but she might cling to him because he's a familiarity in a now very unfamiliar world.

Melinda could also totally factor in, but I dunno how.

[animehouse-moe]

Spy x Family Season 2 Episode 1: Follow Mama and Papa

Spy x Family season 2 is here and kicks things off just as I was expecting them to! Opening episode 1 with an extra chapter was the perfect idea since it allows viewers to dip their toes into all the best parts of the series. Wit and Cloverworks continue the trend of adding plenty of detail and extra work, so there's lots for me to talk about today for sure!

First off, I feel like the work in regards to depth and building the scenes out feels better? It's hard to explain but I feel like that three dimensional sense is stronger than the previous season.

Though I think it might also stem from the "core" of the episode with Anya and Franky tailing our "couple". Just being aware of the fact that the duo are meant to be hiding out of sight can change how the staff look at the episode as a whole.

Similarly, or maybe because of the use of depth (?),the pervasiveness of first person perspective is really great in the episode, and I'm very thankful that they allow subjects to move within it. We largely see it from Yor's perspective of course, as this is "her" episode so to speak, but that doesn't mean it doesn't show up anywhere else.

And then, of course, there's the humor. I love it when teams really go all out and put their own ideas on top of what's already been shown, it just adds something really fun to it. Take this sequence for example. It's a single throwaway panel in the manga, but here it's a really fun and well thought out addition. And it's not crazy animated, it doesn't have to be. It just has to build on the original idea in creative fashion, and it does.

You see nearly the exact same with Anya and Franky tailing Loid and Yor. You don't really see them in the manga thanks to the size of the panels, but here not only do you get to see them, but you get to see how they sneak around. Poking eyeholes in a menu, or even something like Franky gawking at some women instead of tailing Loid. It's really great fun, largely because of how accurately this team is interpreting our characters in these added moments.

Really, I have hardly any complaints for how they handled this episode. The direction feels very fresh and involved, which is a great way to start off the season. The animation isn't anything amazing in every cut, but it certainly has its sequences too. I wouldn't say that the character designs are perfect all the time though (just look at Loid at the dinner table from a distance), and there's some odd decisions in terms of visuals here and there. All in all though, it's fun, it's got energy, and it's willing to bring along its own original ideas. Spy x Family's back and in action!