Spy x Family Season 2 recently marked a wonderful ending to the Cruise Adventure arc, especially since it explained Yor’s reason for keeping her assassin job. I was so distracted by the thrill and action – like how Yor’s pointy weapon honestly scares me so much or how Anya’s stressful reactions are the funniest – that I didn’t understand the episode’s title (“The Hands That Connect the Future”) until later. In the end, a whole surge of emotions flooded me the moment Olka said thank you, and Yor, who went through two straight days of battles, received an innocent hug from the baby boy. Because of Yor, that family now has a chance to live a safe, peaceful, and happy future.
The way that moment fluidly transitioned into a beautiful sunset had me in tears. There wasn’t much dialogue or anything, but after all the action, I think it was the most beautiful way to end the episode. I like everything about Yor’s story arc, not to mention Twilight’s vacation/work sidequets too. Most of all, I think I can speak for everyone that Anya’s adventures are hands down, the best.
Looking back at the entire Cruise Adventure arc, it’s finally nice to see the series give a lot of the spotlight to Yor in her assassination work. It takes us into a dive into how demanding and dangerous the job is. It’s also weirdly refreshing because we see Yor in her element and outside her fumbles at the Forger home. Here, all of Yor’s qualities are highlighted best – her brute strength, quick-witted fighting, resourcefulness (her weapon choices, yikes), and killer instinct – Yor, or Thorn Princess rather, is at full throttle.
What’s more, the animation and drawings for Yor’s action sequences are all very pretty and well-executed. At its core, this anime is a comedy, but this story arc exudes just as much thrill as any other shonen, if not creepy or disturbing. I come from JJK so I’ve been VERY tense about fight scenes. However, with Yor’s kind character being consistently funny the way that she is, her “scary” scenes make me scream and laugh at the same time.
Some of my favorite scenes throughout the Cruise Adventure arc are Yor’s deathly button throw, the calm Director behind the scenes (especially his clean-up), and the assassins’ firework battle that was even accompanied by (K)NoW_NAME‘s song titled, “Garden.”
It’s not all fighting too though; those were easily child’s play for her. In fact, the hardest battle that Yor probably faced was none other than her own existential crisis. It’s important to look back on last week’s episode where Yor was feeling lost as to what her assassin job meant to her. Given that Yuri was already grown up, she entertained thoughts of retiring since she only began this line of work to earn money and protect Yuri’s carefree childhood. A lot of her in-battle hesitation also comes from having to save face because she has the Forger family to come home to.
All of these started clouding her thought process and it even came to a point that she thought her family would be alright without her. (I mean, please, Yor, you’re perfect for Anya and Loid. And Yuri? Who knows what he’ll become without you.) In the end, all she needed was a simple reminder of why she started fighting in the first place — to protect the mother, child, and their future together.
I’ll repeat it – Anya was an absolute sunshine in the entire Cruise Adventure arc! She always makes the cutest and silliest expressions. I especially loved her father-daughter moments with Loid in the souvenir shop when they talked about how to be a cool father and have fun enjoying adventures. Twilight is a great spy with a lot of knowledge and experience, but it all becomes useless whenever he has to face Anya. At least he was super cool handling the bomb situation.
That said, with both of her parents so stressed, it makes Anya’s small support all the more adorable and meaningful. I’m even so happy that her mind-reading and focus skills have gotten better! She really is what makes this family so good together. Even if they’ll never know of Anya’s efforts, I’m sure all of us watching the series appreciated it. I mean, how can you not love that special “Rising Hope” throw that went all according to plan? Seriously, this anime, and Hero Anya particularly, has given me so many smiles.
Going back to Twilight, I also realized that the title of episode 9 not only relates to Yor and Olka’s family but also to Twilight and Anya. Through Operation Strix, Anya can have a chance at a decent childhood. I admit that it’s funny to see Loid attempt to understand Anya (oh gosh, what outfit was that!?) throughout the cruise, and later struggle to keep track of his missions/vacation/family. Honestly, the thoughts I’ve had from watching this episode is how the adults, Yor and Twilight, are doing all of this just to give a child a future.
When Twilight said he “neglected his family again” for a mission, I couldn’t help but wonder about all the other times he unconsciously mentioned this in previous episodes, not just in the Cruise Adventure arc. We’ve seen it now and then how he convinces himself it’s just a mission, but he does something later that proves it might not be the case anymore. In most Spy x Family episodes, he takes good care of Anya and the last part of episode 9 is one beautiful example of it — when Anya rolls off the bunk bed, he catches and holds her. You can’t convince me Loid doesn’t have an emotional connection, especially when he’s so invested in this “mission.”
What makes Spy x Family Season 2 episode 9 (overall episode 34) extra special is that everyone had their shining moments while working towards the same goals. Yor won all her fearsome battles and delivered Olka and their family to safety. Meanwhile, Twilight disarmed all the bombs in the ship, ultimately saving the entire ship and hindering the bad guys’ plans. Lastly, Anya used her mind-reading ability to provide as much support to her parents. It’s similar to when they all took down the terrorists in the Dog Crisis arc.
Although this is just a fake family, it somehow feels like it gets real more and more each day. The way the story pulls us into this experience, making us cheer for the characters to have their well-deserved rest and happiness, is what makes everything feel so wholesome at the end. Coming from mundane mini-episodes, Spy x Family does a great job with its major story arcs as well– part of the reason why I think the anime and manga are such a success.
In the anime, the flow of animation, music, and voice acting are reasons for making most of the scenes memorable. Plus, the anime-original scenes make the story ever so wonderful. The Cruise Adventure arc’s ending in Spy x Family Season 2 episode 9 with everyone preparing for the day, accompanied by the piano music, was the best one for me.
All in all, the Cruise Adventure arc of Spy x Family Season 2 was a very fun chapter. I laughed, cried, screamed, and fangirled so many times at our favorite characters. Most of all, I’m just so excited at the idea of when they discover each other’s secrets. They’d no doubt be a very cool team altogether, but alas, today is not that day yet. What’s for sure though is that they all deserve a happy life, so I can’t wait to see the next episode when Yor finally joins Twilight and Anya on the last day of their vacation.
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Spy x Family is streaming on Crunchyroll.
© Tatsuya Endo, Shueisha / Spy x Family Project