Spy×Family 35

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis

Yor meets Loid and Anya on the island. Anya is happy to learn that Yor can spend the day with them. As such, the trio do all manner of things such as caving, bicycling, visiting a sheep farm, diving, and more. When the day is over, exhaustion overtakes Yor and she falls asleep on Loid’s shoulder. Anya also falls asleep, so Loid has to carry both back to the ship. After they arrive home, Loid gets a briefing from Sylvia regarding what little WISE knows about the incident on the cruise ship.

For the first day of school, Anya feels proud for going on a cruise. However, when Becky learns of this, she just views it as “meh”, even though she stayed in an elite suite when she took the cruise. The class laughs at Anya for admitting she stayed in a third class jail. Further, the class is more interested in the fact that Becky had celebrities over. Anya tells lies to try to make her cruise trip sound more interesting, but in the end, she’s just laughed to scorn.

That evening, Yuri comes by to see Yor. When Anya comes home, she reveals what happened in school. She decides to opt for the actual truth, that she lied to make herself seem more important. Loid thinks of a lesson in lying, but opts to just tell Anya that lying is bad. Yuri thinks of a tirade against liars, but opts for a similar “lying is bad” statement. As such, Anya decides that lying is too much work (to do correctly), so she’s try to stop.

Thoughts/Review

Another fun time to be had in Spy×Family 35, though the whole “lies on top of lies” humor isn’t my cup of tea. But it didn’t deter me from liking the episode.

Modifications to the Source Material

Manga chapters 56 and 57 were combined to make Spy×Family 35. Some padding and filler scenes had to be done to fill out the time.

• There’s padding throughout the trip to the island, such as checking out a cafe and the extended shot of the cruise ship getting underway to leave. Nothing offensive though.
• The scene with Yor giving her coworkers bad souvenirs is not in the manga that I’m aware of. But I didn’t have a problem with it beyond the fact that giving souvenirs to co-workers after a vacation is a Japanese custom, not a Western one.
• Likewise, the scene of Loid getting the house ready for Yuri’s visit is anime-exclusive. Again, no issues here.
• The scene with Yuri all excited to see Yor is also anime-exclusive. All three of these scenes provide some additional continuity to set up what’s to come. They are filler, but I’m fine with it.

Beyond that, things were faithful, and that’s always a good thing for me.

Resort Fun

One of the more lovely bits of Spy×Family 35 is the first half of the story, where the Forgers meet on the resort island and spend a day together. While it is mostly a montage of things done, the padding done by the anime episode made these moments a bit more lovely. It was hilarious seeing Yor’s inhuman strength make her pedal the tandem bike at a high rate of speed. And it was cool seeing Loid sweep up Anya on a surf board after Yor accidentally sent Anya rocketing through the water.

Possibly the coolest part of this trip was seeing how Loid went from annoyed to acceptance of his fake family. Initially, his attitude was one of being put out when Yor and Anya fell asleep on him. Thus he had to carry them back to the ship. But in an act that could be considered true love, he realizes what Yor sacrificed for Anya. Thus he happily carried his “wife” and “child” back. Just a lovely moment, indeed.

Liar Liar!

While I didn’t dislike the story in the second half of Spy×Family 35, I’m not a fan of comedy based on a character telling porkies. I often find them pretty cringe when they happen in some of my favorite British comedy shows. And there was certainly a level of cringe to Anya’s lying in the episode. However, in this case, I understood where Anya came from. As kids (and maybe even as adults), we want acceptance and respect from our peers. So when Anya did something special and discovered her classmates considered it to be nothing, I understood her desire to lie. But it wasn’t funny to me.

On the other hand, when Anya confessed what happened to Loid, Yor, and Yuri, I did chuckle at Loid’s and Yuri’s inner monologue on lying vs. what they actually said to Anya. No doubt, Anya read their minds and well, hopefully, we won’t see Anya lying like that again.

Final Thoughts and Conclusion

In the end, Spy×Family 35 is another good episode in a great anime series. Sadly, it looks like the next episode is the last, at least for a while.