AWTY 186 - Spy x Kids (Spy x Family)

Papa is a liar.

Hello and welcome to are we there yet? An exploration and education and anime. I'm your anime idiot, patrick dugan.

I'm an anime expert, dee hollander.

And I'm brenda mccullough, your anime Mr. And Mrs. Smith. And I'm about to turn the anime tablet world upside down.

Tablet world.

Tabloid tablet tabloid world. Damn it.

Tabloid.

There it is. The gospel. I don't read that shit. angelina jolie and Brad pitt with the you get it. You got it. Listen, we're doing a double recorder this weekend. I am struggling.

I was going to say, who does still read that stuff? But that's all Twitter is on somebody.

Yeah. Pitchitized.

Yeah. I was like, you got it. I'm on board with you. And then just one mispronunciation and all our tired brains were like, I lost the thread.

It sucks because I am like a rigorous and thorough notetaker when I play in dnd. But every time we get a proper character name, I spell it differently. Every time. And Christ help me, I can never put it together.

Well, at least we know it's consistent across anime and your dnd campaigns.

There's a common factor here. And it's my dyslexia.

There is one note I hope you took down. Could you tell us the name of the show we're watching this week?

This week we're doing something a little different until I realized what we watched last week, which was also new and topical. It's different for me because it's within this decade. We're watching a new show called Spy X Family.

This one is fresh. Fresh. Hot off the presses.

Burnt my hands.

Yeah.

Pulling up the dub. There were only three episodes I could watch.

Yeah, there are only four episodes of total the sub.

So I had to map that out to make sure there would be enough for us to record with, just in case. But, yeah, you had to wait for.

The right moon cycle to start your plan.

I got some shows planned out, like months ahead of time. And I was like, I know this one. This one's going to be popular. Let's get ready. Let's warm this one up.

Put it in the Easy Bake oven.

Yeah. Got a weird little metallic plasticy taste to it, but we love it. We'll find out it was cancerous 20 years later, but we'll still, like, in the moment. Do either of you know anything about this series?

No. I mean, I've heard of it.

Yeah, it's more than some I wouldn't.

Even go that far. More than me.

This is one that actually came out. It's kind of surprising how new it is. But anime form. But also manga form because it came out and shown and jump. And I remember when it started, I was actually reading it until I dropped off. I gotta say, it's probably well, I've lost all track of time. Let's say within four years of being created the manga entirely. I could look it up. I refuse to out of principle, but yeah, even the manga is pretty new. And it got popular pretty quick. And they're just like, hey, let's speed like this in the anime. And now that anime's taken off pretty well.

Look at us go. We're on it.

Fingers on the pulse of the anime scene. We just choose to let that pulse die at least. But yeah, it's a fun series. And from what I've seen on the internet recently, people are really on board with it. Like, really on board with it. So I figured it'd be a good one to get on board with and see if we can be topical for once in our lives, see if we.

Can trust the masses.

Well, if we're going to be topical, we got to jump right to it. There are other podcasts already getting this gravy train, these three episodes. Our type is here. Our type is here.

It's arrived.

Nice, adorable little family unit and very simple parents.

Stoic father figure taking care of a precocious young girl.

We've done it.

We've done it.

It's peak storytelling.

That's all you needed from us. This is a very short episode this week.

Bye. Thanks for tuning in.

Yeah.

So we start off with episode one. Opens with a man in the backseat of a car being driven to the embassy, telling the driver to make haste. We got together quickly. What's that? The brakes aren't working and they fall off and die. It goes quick. It goes fast in the show.

Literally an explosive beginning.

And then we cut to a council in a shady war room talking about the diplomat that was just killed in a car crash, they believe assassinated by a rifle country. We're going fast. We're getting into this. And they're saying that the rival country, it is currently in peacetime between these two countries. But the rival country is trying to push them into a war. Try and antagonize them into it, but don't worry, they have their best spy on the case. They got twilight. And we cut.

Twilight by Stephanie meyer, starring twilight.

Princess by Nintendo. Good zelda game. Give it a shot, guys. And we cut to a man twilight sparkle. I just need everyone to get in.

On that real quick.

We cut to a man in a back alley making a shady transaction for all just world setting purposes. This is effectively like the 1930s and 40s just for your mental image as a man trading essentially, what's, blackmail material on a politician. But it's just a photo of him wearing a two pay. So I guess that's scandalous.

I love that this is the big.

Got for this politician to ruin his career.

Listen, they know they got to start. The stakes low. This is an anime. It could go for a thousand episodes. We got to start real small.

Can't be the nuclear codes of first episode one. It got to scale up. So it's a man who hands some the information to another big mustachio man. He's like, thank you for your service, and drives off. And then that very same Mustachio man appears saying, hey, where's that blackmail material?

But what the twice?

And we see the first mustachio man driving away, pulls off his face. And it's actually a younger man, but very swav. And this is the spy twilight that they were talking about. Immediately cut to him at dinner with a young lady and a young lady's looking at a couple. I believe they were getting engaged at the table. Okay? It was already tuning out. And she's kind of like looking at it wistfully, like, I wonder when that will be me. What do you think about that, Robert? And Robert goes, by the way. Keith sandra, you're dumb. I never loved you. Goodbye. And just leaves. What?

I loved that so much. She was like, oh my God, do you think we'll ever get engaged? And he was like, no. Goodbye.

Not that. We are done now.

Right now I'm leaving you with the bill. Good luck. As we see him leaving, he dishuvels his hair, takes off his disguise, his classes and stuff, and he says in his head, that girl he was dating was the daughter of the mustachiod man he just screwed over in the previous scene. And now that it's done, his mission, he does not need to be undercover dating her to get dirt on him anymore. It was all planned. And he says as he's walking away, he's a master spy. And he gave up his identity and his dreams of a normal family life when he became a spy. foreboding, considering the title of this show, very direct. Next day we see him getting to a train. He makes it with a contact. They exchange papers. They do like, a little meow to hint at what the cipher is today. And as he reads the paper on the train, he's decoding it, finding out that his next mission, his target, is a man named donovan desmond. He is the leader of a political party for the rival country. And their main objective with this political party is stirring up shit. And we don't need that right now. So your objective is you have to get close to him. But the only time he's ever out in public, any place he's vulnerable, is when he's at his kid's school. So you have to get married, have a kid, and infiltrate that school. And the mission starts in a week. Good luck. And even twilight is like, what the fuck?

How this is biologically impossible.

He says, how can I have a kid in one week? And everyone the train looks at him like, what?

Oh, yes, we have to point out the destination of this train. We're talking off mike. Like these country names, they don't even try. 90% of the time they just say east versus west, but just the location name. This train was headed to the lovely this time of year destination of Berlin, to just berlin. Throw a t on there. Yes, that's our fantasy land.

That'Ll do it.

I wish it was just a capital T at the end. Just like a real hard, like, you guys get it right, right? You know what this is so we can see him get off the train. He goes to find an apartment for himself or his new family, and immediately he's scouting it out. Like, good windows, good escape routes, fire exit, not easy to bug, all that. He's looking at it as a spy, and he has assumed the new identity as Lloyd forger. wink and I get it. It's like movies and shows and stuff, and it's for media as entertainment. But when they do something so on the nose of like, I am a spy and my name is forger, you.

Couldn'T be a little more discreet?

Yeah, it's just the dissonance of like, okay, we're going to set up like, he's getting handoffs with code words that designate different codes. Like, okay, you're setting up actually good spy work and certainly not a spy here.

Average man. But yes, Lloyd forger is his new identity. He's a psychiatrist, and we see him next go to a run down, shoddy looking orphanage to adopt a child as his own. And he specifically goes to one that looks a little worse for wear because they wouldn't have the right paperwork and want to keep track of that stuff. So it's easy to pick one up for new identity. And the guy, orphanage owner, he's kind of got, like, right in the face of the kind of looks drunk, and he's mumbling. He looks like a shitty Mario. He's like, yeah, all right. I got a kid for you. She's quiet and smart. And then we hear in his head, he's like, yeah, she's also kind of creepy, so he's probably trying to get rid of her first. The little pink haired girl we see in all the anime openings and the fan art stuff.

Yeah, I liked he was walking down the hallway and seeing other completely unremarkable looking orphans. It's just like, these aren't good enough.

It very much is the like, which one's the anime protagonist? Maybe the one the strange pink hair with little head bobs? Like, yes, that one.

I need your top shelf orphans.

Give me your most fun anime back. And Lloyd caesar. And he's like he's thinking to himself, like, she can't be more than four or five. Like, that's too young to get into school. I need a six year old. And immediately ony is like, oh, I'm six. And she says that out loud. And he's like, oh, convenience. Well, maybe she's just small for her age, but yeah, I wonder how smart she really is. And she runs over and picks up the newspaper and holds up the crossword. He's like, oh, well, this is easy. For me to do. I'm a grown man. But a small child? Impossible. Even though the answer to one across is this, and three down is this, and five up is this. And as he's thinking, all the answers onya is filling it all out. And Lloyd is thinking to himself, like, wow, she really is intelligent. You know what? I'll take her. And the orphan orphanage owner is like, yeah, whatever. Fucking paperwork. Get out of here. Just take her. It's like, great, that's what he wanted. And Lloyd thinks to himself, she'll be good for her spy mission as a good cover. And the whole time annie is hearing all this, she's like, a spy. I get to be the daughter of a spy. And as they're leaving, we hear a voiceover doing the ufo dump for anya being saying she was passed around from orphanage to orphanage, from foster families. And before that, she was in an organization that experimented on her. And one of the experiments they ran gave her telepathy so she can read people's thoughts.

Yeah, I it's like I just thought it was really cute and effective the way they hinted at it before blatantly telling us. Just, the one that I loved was when he thinks, oh, she's so small, she stands on her tippy toes. Yeah, that was when I was like, oh, she can read mines. I thought that was so cute.

It was nice that they're like, okay, we know we have to info dump this at some point. Let's at least let you figure it out and be like, oh, cool. Interesting thing I learned, it's like, okay, you can have your cake and eat it too. We'll keep that in mind for other anime.

Yeah, sometimes it's hard because you don't see the people talking like they're off camera. So it's like, I can't tell if this voice is in their head or if they're saying it out loud and they're hearing it. But yeah, it's great with annie because she's so young and kind of misinterpret stuff, being as young as she is, which adds a fun element to it, rather than if it was like a 17 year old who would be able to function and really take advantage of the telepathy. But yeah, so we see different stuff like that. And he tells her that, first things first. If anyone asks, she's always been his daughter. He didn't just adopt her. She's always been his daughter. And annie is like, great, okay, I can go with that. And as soon as they step into the apartment building, they see a neighbor. She's like, Hi. This is Lloyd forger. I'm his daughter. I always have been neighbors. Like, oh, weird. But once again, kids say weird shit, so, yeah, it's not going to draw too much attention. And once again, aside, he's like, there's couch and everything. There's the TV. She turns it on and she's like, oh, Spy Wars. That's my favorite show. He's like, great. Sit down and watch that forever. Don't bother me. And we see. Lloyd gets his hat and coat again. He goes, all right, I'm going to go out and get some forged documents. You stay right here. She's like, no, I want to go on a spy adventure. And he keeps, like she's, like, clinging to his leg, and he's, like, shaking her off. And very quickly, he learns that very quickly when he goes out, he takes ony with him, and he learns he's got to keep a tight grip on her because she starts scamping. She starts getting into trouble.

She is a six year old child.

Yes, it's exactly what you think a child would do. And while he's getting a hold of her, while he's keeping her close by and not getting lost in the crowd, he's trying to analyze the best way to navigate this. And he's like, well, someone tries to kidnap her, we got to do this. Here's an escape route. Here here's how I defend myself if I have to hold her hand. I'm doing one armed combat, and the whole time Onya is staring up, and I'm like, wide. I like, oh, my God, he's a spy. Half of this show is easily just anya's reaction to reading people's thoughts, and it's great. So she tries to help him out where she can, but she doesn't understand exactly what he's planning out or not fully. So when she starts spouting out stuff, it's just kind of nonsense. And he's like, this is just childhood babble. This is nonsense. So he starts doubting. Maybe she's not as smart as I thought. Maybe she's a little dumber. Maybe the crossword was a fluke, and I can just trade her in for another kid. that'll be easier for my cover story. So of course, that makes Anna paranoid and start crying. So he has to pick her up and try to cheer her up. He's like, how can I cheer you up? She's like peanuts. Love that shit.

I love peanuts.

To the point where we get openings in other episodes. The song is in Japanese, but there's clearly the word peanut in the song. At one point, I'm just like, oh, it's just all tied in. So soon enough, she gets tired after running around having an adventure. So he has to carry her and all the books he bought and all the groceries he's bought. So he's already living that dad life. So he takes her home and puts her to bed while he's reading all his parenting books. And he's just like, God, there's a lot to do as a parent. Parents are running their own missions, and I got to do this on top of my other mission. Like, I'm in over my head.

Can a spy have it all?

But he plans. He's like, you know what? I'll just return her to the orphanage as soon as the mission is over, and I just wrap this up in like a month. I don't have to sink too much time into it.

I wonder what will happen, though.

He needs to have that character development, so he's got to be shitty first. So the next day he says, all right, we got to get you ready for the school entrance exams. It's one of the best schools in the country. The test is going to be tough. You got to know this. And the whole time, moni is like, oh, I'm just going to cheat and read other people's minds. He said, you better not cheat. She's like, shit. So he immediately calls her out. So he's revealing all the material for her. And then after some point, after they're done studying, lloyd is like, all right, I'm going to go out. You stay here and watch your shows and continue studying. I got to go run some errands. And annie is like, spy stuff? Hey, I'd like to see some of that spy stuff myself. And goes out sneaking after him. And sure enough, he's a master spy. He easily knows when someone's tailing him, especially a six year old child, possibly four year old. She did lie about that. So we just get like a little montage of him trying to leave the apartment building. And she's sneaking around by on the corners and in the ceiling tiles and stuff. And he keeps catching her. So eventually he puts her back in the apartment, moves like a giant dumpster in front of it, and then ties the doorknob to the dumpster so she can't get out. And then he runs off to meet one of his contacts. It's frankie. He's got like, afra and the big glasses. I've heard someone describe him as the George costanza of the show. And God is outfitting.

Oh, good.

I can't see him as anything else now. And so he helps him out. He's his gadget buddy. He's the one who gives him all his equipment. And he says, here's a copy of the entrance exam so you can just copy the entries from and here's an application for the school itself. And while I was getting this information, also dug up some information on anya with the different families she's been too. He goes, but if I'm being honest, it's pretty blank. Like a lot of it like her parents are unknown, her biological parents. She's been in and out of, like, four different orphanages with foster families, but returned every time. But other than that, not a lot of info on her. It's shockingly blank. Then we go back home and we see annie is board, and she keeps thinking about, man, I thought spies would be cooler than this. I thought after studying and doing homework, it's just regular life. This sucks. But she ends up throughout the day, through the time they spent with her or she spent with him, she was reading his mind and finding out all about his spy gear, where he's hitting it all in the password and combinations to get to a safe to unlock it all. So naturally she goes and plays with it because who would? And she finds like a radio broadcast radio sort of device in a briefcase, ends up playing with that and sending out a message. And we cut to what was it? Yeah, she ends up sending a message to we find out the rival spy agency, the big mustache guide from opening scenes that he screwed over. And the guy being like, oh, we got a message coming in in a strange frequency. It says it's the spy twilight. And it says, good luck catching me, you idiots. And the big mustache. What the fuck? Yeah. All right, we're going to catch them now. I'm like, it just really pisses them off. So then after annie has done that, she puts it all away. She's like, oh, wait, I got clean up. And remembers her time in the experimental agency or organization where they made her do all these different tests and being experimented on. She just really hated it. So it's kind of reminding her of this entrance exam. And she hates it.

But I loved after she sent the message, though, she closed the briefcase thing and was just like, what a good thing I've done? Just like her attitude. And it's like, that was probably the worst thing. Why would you do that?

Mission accomplished.

I'm helping my dad. No. So Lloyd ends up coming home. He opens the door and he's like, annie, I'm home. Wait a minute. annie didn't respond. Why is it so dark in here? Wait a minute. And there's guys inside. They broke into the apartment. And he lloyd's got to fight him off. And he's able to easily take him out with like a can of soup and stuff because he's a great spy. So he searched around the apartment trying to find where annie is. And he's like, ah, shit. They kidnapped her. They somehow found out where I am and already took her. It's been like 12 hours. So as he's looking around the apartment trying to find a clue where they might have taken her, and one of the guys sneaks up on him and pulls out like a wrench. He's about to whack them. And we cut away. So presumably Lloyd got and we cut to anew with the kidnappers. And sure enough, it's the rival spy agency she sent the message to like a minute ago. So they were quick. And she's all tied up and gagged. And the other guys are like, I don't know, man. Just like a little kid. Is twilight really involved with this? I forget what it is. One of them tried to make a thing like being like I think it was like the two pay blackmail wasn't that big of a deal. We should probably be raising our stakes a bit. And the big mustache leader guy is like, you've raised a good point. Pop shoots him in the head, and he's just kind of like, we do what I say because I'm the leader, and just hammering home. These are the bad guys. They kill indiscriminately and they say and also highlights for annie, like, the bad spies, because she loves her spy dramas. And we see one of the guys that attack the apartment, shows up with Lloyd with a bag over his head, like, all tied up, and he's carrying him in. He's like, hey, boss, we got the guy area. And throws him down. And they're like, oh, thanks, joey. And they go to take the bag off Lloyd's head. It turns out joey was in the suit. He had the bag on his head. And they turn around and the other joey's gone, and so was onya. It was Lloyd. He's a spy.

Get it right.

So he runs off with anya, and as he's running out, he's still in disguise for any of sake because he can't reveal he's a spy to her. So as her running out, she reads his mind and finds out it's Lloyd and starts crying, like, happy that he's rescued her. And he's trying to calm her down. He takes her outside, and while she's crying, it reminds him of his own childhood because he was, I believe, an orphan. He said he was isolated and all by himself. And back when he used to cry all the time, he remembers kind of why he's doing it. It's kind of why he's a spy, to make the country better so less kids would be crying alone in the world. So he takes her outside, puts her down, and he goes, hey, little kid, the guys that just took you, they're professional tag players, so make sure you don't get caught by them. Make sure you're not it. And here's a note. Run to the cops. They'll take good care of you and put you in a new family so you'll be safe and sound. So go on and get out of here. I'll take care of the rest. So Lloyd goes back inside to take care of the goons. And meanwhile, the whole time, annie is reading his mind, knowing full well it's him and that she doesn't want a new family. She likes her dad. So Lloyd goes back inside, takes care of him, knocks him out with, like, bags of flowers and sneaks up and splinter sells them all and ends up catching the main guy off guard from behind, saying, like, I think he said his name. I didn't write it down. But he's like, hey, I know who you are. I know your daughter. I dated your daughter. I know everything about your daughter. I know you care deeply for her. If you stop fucking with me, you'll be let go, and she'll be fine. But if you want to press your luck and see what happens, I'm willing to show you. And then he knocks him out. So just kind of putting the fear of God in them. And then after Lloyd takes care of the rival spies, he goes home. And sitting outside of the building, he sees on you just sitting on the curb. And he's like, oh, where were you today? She was like, oh, I was playing some tag with some old guys. But then I wanted to come home. I wanted to be back with my dad. And he was like, oh, because he told her to go to the police and get a new family. So he's like, all right, if you want to stay here, I guess he could stay, but we still got to study for the interesting dammy here. Like, shit. So they end up going back home. And he says, well, we got to get a new apartment because clearly that one's compromised. So we cut away. We see them next day or a week later or so. And annie is doing the entrance exam. And she's like, ha ha. idiots. I'm just going to read everyone's mind and get all the answers. I've seen the rudo. I know how the tuning exams work. And as she starts reading everyone's mind, she reads all the kids. And they're all panicking and shitting their pants because they don't it's a big entry exam, and they're terrified. And she's like, funny. Yeah, backfired on her. But then she remembers. She actually starts remembering some of the answers from all the studying she did with dad. And so she fills out the exam as best she can and cut to them outside the school, waiting for the test results to be posted. They see it. She made it. She got in.

She owned her own sports.

She didn't cheat well. She did. She just didn't cheat well, but she got in. And Lloyd's all excited and picks her up and start celebrating like, yeah, we did it. And as he picks her up, he just collapses. And he's like, oh, my god. Are you dead? And he's just like, laying there like, exhausted, thinking to himself like, oh, I relaxed for a minute there. I let my guard down. I let my emotions get the better of me. I don't even remember the last time that happened. jeez. And realizing, like, hey, it's only been a few days, but this kid's already getting to him more than he thought she would.

He's getting soft.

And we get, like, little ending credits. Not the official credits, but just like montage sequence. And after the credits, we see them back home. Lloyd's pass out on the couch because he's exhausted here, knocking the door into the mailman. And he goes out and gets the mail and comes back with a letter. And then we see her put the letter down. And she bats Lloyd in the face with it a few times, but he doesn't wake up. So she just puts the letter down and then curls up in his arms. And it's a very smart and then Lloyd wakes up. He goes, what are you doing sleeping next to me? What's happening?

The fuck is wrong with you?

Yeah, like, immediately on the defensive because he's a trained spy. He shouldn't be sleeping in the same room with anyone. Anyone can betray you. And then he sees the letter and he reads it and says, we got it in his Simmons letter. But part two of the entrance exam is a family interview where the child has to go with both parents. Beans. We only got one of those here.

What if your spouse is dead?

Clearly, your child is unqualified for this time.

Of course. How could I be so blind?

We're talking about high class jerks.

So we start out episode two.

Got to find a wife.

Got to find a wife. First off, they try out dressing up frankie the contact, but doesn't work. unconvincing again, imagine George castanza feel like an afro.

Honestly, he looked like my third grade and math teacher, if I'm being honest.

Well, so we cut to an office building. We're in city hall, and we see a bunch of gossip from the workers of did you hear all these files on all the single women in town hearing about that? And then like, oh, did you hear what this boss did? blah, blah, blah. And we see a group of women sort of teasing the shy employee, the one who's getting the coffee for the boss, working so hard. And they're like, oh, yeah, you're you're 27, right? That's getting pretty old to be single.

Unheard of.

Yeah, but pools collar.

So they're like, oh, well, if you happen to find a date or something, I guess you can come to our dinner party later. We're definitely the mean girls of this show. So this shy assistant gets a phone call from her brother. And he's again like, hey, sis, good talking to you. So you got any boys yet? And he's like, hey, yeah, I'm your younger brother and I'm successful. But I'm about to get a promotion. That means I'm going to be traveling around a lot, and I want someone around to take care of you. So you're dating.

Are you?

Maidenless.

Prospects suitors that are riding on horseback?

This is one of those really strong codependency issues with siblings. It doesn't cross the young. Well, it's weird. It's one of those, like, I need to take care of you because you're my only family, but I need to make sure you're well taken care of and have a husband. It's like, leave her alone, man.

So she's just like, well, I'm going to this dinner party. Yeah, and I definitely have a date for it. And her brother's like, cool. Well, I happen to know that coworker's husband. So we're going to chat up. I can't wait to learn about your date. She's like, oh, no. I didn't know they were connected at all. Oh, man. Now I actually have to go through with it. But how will I, a single woman, find a man who needs a date on short notice? And at that point she gets a phone call and it's shopkeeper. Turns out it's her handler because she's an assassin. But I could have seen this coming.

It's spyx family, not spyx assassin.

So she gets a mission to go assassinate some corrupt politician in a hotel where introduced to her as she gets suited up. This is thorn Princess.

When I tell you the Internet is thirsty for her, I mean profoundly thirst. It's a deep thirst, like beyond the.

Anime thirst we typically encounter.

Yeah, like, I've my Twitter is mostly just artist at this point. And ever since the show came out, at least like once an hour or once a half an hour, I see fan art of her. It's so much that's so interesting to.

Me because yeah, she's really cute. And she's got tigo biddies, of course.

Yeah.

But there's nothing like stand out to me about her. Like, maybe she gets better later. There's no later. Yeah, she's cute. I like her. That's so interesting. I don't know.

Same. Yeah, she's a fun.

Episode four is the beach episode after they get it.

I got you now.

So she goes in, does her mission, kills a big room full of mafia types, and oh, no, she tore her dress. She has to go get it fixed because it's the only nice thing for the party. So we see that cut back to the spy. And frankie is the person who stole all those files on all the single women in town. And they just start combing through it and like, all right, who's the right candidate? So they're questioning if we're even going to find anyone. And frankie's like, hey, can I just address a plot hole? Why not get another spy? Like already? You know how you're a spy and.

You'Re going on this mission and they.

Need two people to do this mission? Why? And he's like, you know, the economy is real bad. We just had a bunch of layoffs.

And they were all women.

But yeah, they're like, yeah, I already on this mission. Have to take on a bunch of other missions. That's how we're going to keep plot going in other different ways.

Don't worry.

We explained everything all at once. So they're going through and they're like, all right, even if we find the right woman, your daughter, she doesn't look rich. She's an orphan. Those rich folks can smell the poor. You got to fix that. And he's like, all right, I guess we got to go clothes shopping. montage. So they go to a clothing store and the daughters like looking around at stuff. And oh, just at that moment, yora comes in and is like, oh, I'm here to drop off my dress, which got torn. A terrible accident meet cute if I ever saw one. Yeah, so he's like, oh, shit. I was just zoning out for a second. This woman snuck up on me. That has never happened.

Weird.

And as he's having that thought, she's like, hey, dude, you're kind of staring at me. And he's like, oh, she also can sense me. You can sense my gaze? Oh, that's suspicious too. And he recovers so well. He's like, oh, sorry. I was just staring at you because you're cute.

You're so lovely.

Sorry, you're hot and sorry, I'm my notes. I don't know what that means. And think they're good. Oh, no. I guess they think they're just covered. But then Anya comes out and just reads their minds and just thinking, like, yours thinking like, oh, how am I going to find a man to hide that I'm an assassin to all my coworkers? Just as Lloyd is thinking, oh, how am I going to find a woman to hide that I'm a spy in front of this school? And we get onya acting all dramatic and being like, me being a daughter of the single father, whatever will I do?

Papa wingman thought it was a plane.

Crash, and yours like, oh, so you're not married with this child, so okay. It gives them the opportunity to be like, hey, let's go out. So your fills them in on her scheme of, hey, sorry, this is weird. I just need a date for this party. It's a one off thing, if that's cool with you. And he's like, yeah, cool. But in change, you also got to pretend to be my wife. And she's like, oh, elevation. Okay. I like, that all right. That's fine.

I see you also took improv. Yes, I am.

Perfect. So we see them shopping, and he gets, like, a little code message from a cashier, and he has a new mission to go stop a smuggling crackdown. But when is that mission? Exactly? The same time as the dinner party shines. So he calls up frankie's like, hey, I need backup. We got to do this as fast as possible. Come on. And we just intercut with yours standing on a street corner waiting for him, just going, I was such a fool.

A fool. When will my spy husband come back from the warehouse war?

So they go in. They start doing the mission. They're like, all right, there's a lot of things. We got to just steal it all and get out real quick. So they get it all in a van. They aren't subtle at all. They're like, all right, I count, like, 36 guys. I don't have the time to fight them all. Don't get me wrong. I could, but I just don't have the time right now. So they just take off in the van. So as they're going through, they're like, okay, frankie, your payment. You can take one of these things. But first, Lloyd is like, oh, big diamond ring. That seems plot relevant. And he throws it in his pocket. shiny shine so we see yours. She's given up on him coming, and he's like, all right, well, I already said I would be there. I can't just no show. So got a walk of shame. Just be like, I have no men in my life. So she gets to the party, and the coworkers immediately just very gossipy, like, oh, isn't it so sad? She said she had a boyfriend. Oh, her boyfriend from Canada. Okay.

Wink.

But she's like, oh, he got caught up at work. And they're like, lame excuse. And just now being, like, directly condescending to her. And when she's like, this is a normal moment. What a pure, serene things of just being nagged by catty women. And just as she's about to leave, a bloody lloyd comes in, just, like, bleeding from the face. And he's like, so sorry, sweetie, my wife. And she's like, dude, no, you had to be my boyfriend. No, I got punched so hard in the face that I mixed up our plans. Shit. Okay, got to roll with it now. Sorry.

All in.

So he comes in and he's like, oh, sorry, I'm a psychiatrist, and I got the shit beaten out of me by a patient mondays, am I right? But her coworker doesn't buy it. She's like, okay, first off, your story doesn't line up. She said she was bringing a date. Never mentioned she was married. This is clearly fake. So her big test like, comeback is, hey, I have a big, piping hot, boiling plate of food. Let me just go throw it at her.

The coworkers go from caddy mean girls to genuine hellbeasts that are trying to ruin her life and disfigure before lloyd shows up. They're talking about like, ooh, maybe she's a liar. Maybe we should report her to the authorities and have her taken away. Oh mccarthyism. Because she thinks like, christ, they're awful. They're so bad.

Dare she actually have a hot husband? I want her dead.

I wanted to figure her permanently.

It's like, wow, too far. But she walks over with this tray and does the old, oh, no, a pebble on the ground trip. And being an assassin, your is able to kick it up and just hackysack this food out of the way. But just a little spot hits the woman in the face, and she's like, oh, no, I got burned. It backfired immediately. And she's like, okay. Got to really go for the jugular now. Hey a husband of this person I barely know because we just work together. Did you know about your wife? sordid past. She used to have a job where she would go to hotels and wink, give massages. What do you think about that?

She's like, going feral.

Like, yeah.

The look in her eyes, and she's losing it.

I watched the sub for this one, and she straight up calls her a little whore. I'm sleeping. Wow.

Truly just an absolute turn from like, we're making fun of her to no, this is bullshit. I'm airing out her dirty laundry in a span of two minutes in front.

Of everybody that we work with.

And Lloyd is like, yes, of course I know about this. My wife had a tragic backstory and had to take care of a little brother. So she had to do what she had to do and just gives this impassioned speech where the rest of the party is just like, yeah, standing ovation. Yes, okay. Absolutely. And the mean woman is just like, I can't win. But then they're like, okay, we're being disrespected. We're leaving. Everyone go fight this woman on our behalf. And they take off. So as they leave, they're driving home and oh, no, those pesky patients are back. It's the smugglers. They track down the van and they're trying to kill them. And absolutely delightful we get heard being like, oh, you have real hostile patience. And he's like, oh, yes. I'm trying out this new it's a new type of therapy, like a concussive shock therapy. It's very progressive and works very well as he just starts beating the shit out of a bunch of clear just henchmen. So they start fighting, keep talking about their arrangement. In the meantime, as one of the henchmen is about to do a sneak attack on him, she is able to kick him a football field across this alley. And they are fully in love. This is truly the Mr. And Mrs. Smith moment where they're like, oh, we're going to fuck as we're mid combat. Yeah, Spy Kids.

Parents from Spy Kids.

Yeah. Real quick. I just love when she kicks the dude because the sound effect he makes it as he's rolling. As he's rolling. I don't know why that really got me yet.

So they're like, hey, so this is crazy, but will you actually get married to me? Because again, as you saw, there's a lot of bullshit of being unmarried at my age. And clearly we're both going through some stuff that we'll have to talk about eventually. But we're just a bunch of crazy kids. Let's do it. So they're like, cool. We'll immediately head to City Hall. And he reaches in his pocket for the diamond ring. But there was a hole in his pocket, man. What is he going to use? What could it be? Just at that moment, reinforcements arrive. So he picks up a grenade. And the sparks fly from the grenade as several people are killed. And he slides that grenade pin on her ring. On her ring.

Fuck.

No.

Finger and ring. Finger.

It's official. That's where we end episode two.

Absolutely incredible.

Perfect.

So episode three, we get like a recap of what's going on with the countries. So the narrator is talking about the war between Austania and West Alice. That's the name of the countries. And it's been a cold war so far. But it's about to heat up and that's the reason twilight is on his mission to see the guy get that guy. And then we didn't really talk about it, but the op is really great. The opening.

Yeah, super charming.

Very nice. It looks like she drew it. It's cute.

Yeah, it reminded me of I'm sure there's a specific word for this art style, but it's like a French art style. It's very reminiscent of that. And then halfway through, it gets to the action sequence and cuts back to the show style, and it's just a genuinely catchy song.

Yes, very good. And then we see yor arriving at their apartment. She has, like, just a few boxes. They go in. They're talking about sleeping arrangements. He says, of course we'll sleep in separate rooms, but if we have anybody over, we'll make it look like we share a room.

They were roommates again.

Another one, two in a row.

And then we get, like, a rundown of the family and their true identities. So twilight, sash, Lloyd fake father, actual spy, your fake mother, civil servant, and actual assassin. And then Anya child telepaths.

Hell yeah.

The family has gone together, so onya. Welcomes your.

We found each other.

You know we love it. Anya, welcomes your. And she says, I'm so excited to have a mom. And Lloyd points out to her that they got a marriage certificate that's dated for last year. To make things a little less suspicious, anya is giving you a tour of the place. It's super cute. She, like, shows her the bathroom, and she's like, look, I have a stool so I can wash my own hands. Shows her her bedroom and her stuffed animal, and then shows you're the room that will be hers. And she calls her mama, and she calls Lloyd papa. That's very cute. And Lloyd brought in all of your boxes. Anya is like, I helped clean your room, but really all she did was knock the mop bucket over.

Kids, you got to love them.

And then Lloyd tells you to make herself at home. He leaves the room and is like, I'll be back for your unpacked boxes. And she's like, I'm done already. And she has a picture of her little brother on the dresser. Lloyd says that he'd love to meet him. And then yore is like, about the interview, I don't think I really have, like, a good outfit for it. And Lloyd is like, oh, that's okay. I will take you shopping. You're my new wife. I love you.

Got to show you off.

He doesn't actually say that. I wish he did.

He's not that affectionate.

Not yet, hopefully. And then Anya sees an unpacked box, and she almost goes for it. And yours like, oh, maybe don't do that. And in her mind, she's like, I have all of my weapons and enough poison to kill an elephant in there. And Onya is like, fuck, my mom's so cool. They're having some cookies and some coffee with hot chocolate for Anya, of course. And then it's time for interview prep. So the interview is to understand the family's social standing and level of culture. So he's asking them mock questions. He says, Anya, what do you do in your free time? She says, I watch TV alone in my apartment. He asks you something about passing, and she misunderstands and talks about different ways to die. And he's like, maybe we should put this off a little bit. Let's get to know each other. Let's go out as a family, learn.

What we have to hide from the interviewers and your personality.

Yes. Allow me to assess you. So they're out onya, and yor are holding hands. yor remembers a time she hugged her little brother so tightly she broke two of his ribs. Casual. And then they go get cultured. They see an opera singer. They go to a museum. And Lloyd is like, ana, like, you have to be quiet in here. And immediately she points at a painting of a naked woman and goes, she has boobies, which is great.

Check it off the dingo card.

We've seen pretty accurate depictions of children in, like, the good father daughter anime shows, but this one just feels so real of, like, shish honey. We're like, in a museum. And she's just like, teddies.

There's a chaotic nature to her that is inherent in all children.

Yes. Your is admiring a painting of a guillotine, like, far too intensely.

She's like, honestly, though, I kind of get it. I kind of get the same way.

She'S thinking about it.

What? Don't worry about it. We move on.

Okay.

Legally, we'll cut that part out.

Allegedly.

Allegedly.

Allegedly.

So Onya goes to do this, like, drawing activity for kids. And the quote, unquote parents are resting their legs. And after a little bit, she finishes her drawing and they come together. And she's freaking out because her drawing is of her spy dad and assassin mom. But of course they can't tell that because she's a child, but she's just like, oh, no, this is so accurate and amazing to our real life. They're going to know that I know. Then it's time to go to the Taylor. Anya gets a nice little new outfit. The Taylor lays out some fabric for Your. She says she prefers red or black, and she thinks, I like that color that they offered, but there's no way to hide blood on that. I was worried that when she got the phone call in the last episode, she was going to be like a sleeper agent kind of thing. And when she was like, normal mode, she wouldn't remember anything she does. So I'm glad that that wasn't the case.

Yeah. That's a very tired trope.

Yeah. And that she's just like all the time, like, I love fucking killing people.

With the way she's looking at the guillotine stuff, it's like, oh, she's into this she wasn't, like, coerced into this. She loves this.

Yes. So they leave the tailor. They take a little family photo. They go to watch a politician make a speech. And anja gets overwhelmed by all of the thoughts of people around her being like, fuck this country and shit like that. So they decide to leave because Any is getting overwhelmed. And he notices, picks her up. And then she's like, I'm hungry. So they go to eat. Onya is picking the nuts off of the top of her food because she just loves them cashews so much. And Your is admiring a butter knife.

Way too into the knife.

Lloyd is thinking about the plan. And he's like, plan, plan. And he just like, it's so dumb that this plan is so reliant. On a couple of like, nobodies for this to go well. And Your kind of notices that he's like, thinking too much. So she suggests that they go get some fresh air. And they go to this nice park that's like above a city street. And Your says she likes it up there because looking at all of the people reminds her that her work helps everyone. So that's cute. Hopefully she really is killing bad dudes. Onya says she likes it in the park way more than the big crowds. And then they see an old woman get robbed on the street. So your springs into action. She like, jumps down the hill and she's like, I'm going to fucking kill that guy for you, ma'am.

She's like screaming as she rot. She was a kill mode instantly.

Yes. And Lloyd and Onya are still like up above. And Lloyd notices that the guy blended into the crowd. And Anya is reading everybody's minds until she finds the guy. And I was like, yes, they're working together. Show your capabilities, Anya. I love it. I love how smart she is because she never explicitly letting anybody know that she reads minds. She's just like, that man is near the bakery. I'm going to say, papa, I want to eat a cake. And points at the bakery. And that's when he sees the guy.

Yeah, even reading, like, the manga, that's something like I think that's where all of her intelligence is, is like hiding the celebrity and trying to work around it. Because she, like, never really slips up.

So yes. Lloyd sees him. He hops down, beats him, grabs the old lady's wallet. Everybody's looking. And he's like, this man is a thief. Someone called the police. Goodbye.

That could also be a great cover story if you're a thief and want to rob someone else.

So they deliver the wallet back to the old lady. She thinks them both profusely. Lloyd thinks like, wow, I never really get thanked. This is so nice. And he tells you that today made him feel rejuvenated. And they're like looking into each other's eyes and having a little lovey moment. And anja says, mama. And papa are flirting. And they're like, no, we're not.

The old lady said, My dad loves my mom. My dad.

So they return home after their long day. They decide to try the mock interview again. And when he asks Anya what she does in her free time, she does a better job. She's like, we go to the opera, we eat fancy food and we go to museums. And then he's like, okay, great. What would you do if you caught your classmate being naughty? And she's like, I would beat his ass. And he's like, okay, maybe not that one. And then they sit in their living room and have some coffee and cocoa again, and they're becoming like a nice little believable family. And then we get the actual ending, and it is so funky and great. Yeah, the opening and the ending in this show are great.

Solid bookends.

Yes, delightful. Not that episode three.

I also love the ania's stuffed animal that she carries around all the time. It's called Mr. chimera. And yeah, it's a chimera. It's like a lion with dragon wings and like, a snake tail. And I was like, God, that's weird. I love it. And I wonder if I notice that, if it's from the organization that experimented on or maybe making chimera. I don't know.

Uhoh, here we are.

Here we are. weeb there yet rweeb family.

We are family.

Legally, we cannot say that.

Yeah, talk about it. Sorry. Excuse me. Yes, this is fun. This is good. It's silly. It hits for me the good blend of characters being self serious, and not just like, yeah, it's a full on comedy. Who cares about the stakes? But also just full on sitcom scenarios of I have to be in two places at once. The dinner party and the art heist. So it hits those notes well and is able to actually have sweet moments with good characters. There is, like, a fun, like, farcey. Like, no one knows what the other one is, so it has this, like, miscommunication element, but as you mentioned with Anya mostly being manipulating people into hiding how she knows things and just pointing them still in the right direction. It doesn't have that grinding of gears of miscommunication, of like, no, just say something. It's like, just fuck talk to them. Let me hint at what I want you to know so you can figure it out and think you're smart. It's like, yes, that okay, cool. We still have this information. Fun little quirky moments, but it's not frustrating for 20 minutes.

Yeah, and she's smart enough to know, like, that kids say the darnest things, so I can just say shit and people will, like, notice things.

Yeah, there's still the miscommunication, but there's an actual plot relevant reason why everyone's like, miscommunicating or lying to each other, other than just emotionally being stunted and being like, no, I don't want to talk how I feel. That would be too easy for the plot. And this is like we're a spy and assassin and telepath. We can't openly communicate like that.

Yeah, this is really sweet. And I like that. It is our favorite thing of dad and daughter doing their stuff and being sweet, but also completely turns it on its head and also has a mom this time because the mom is always dead.

Yeah. We see in one scene yours, like the only good housekeeping thing. Only thing I'm good at housekeeping wise is cleaning. And that's because I kill so many people have to clean up the bodies. So she worries about being like a housewife sort of in that style. But at least from the moment I've read up to the point, there's a lot of fun moments, like with ana and yore and stuff. So it's not just her and Lloyd, but there's fun moments with the whole family. There's fun moments with all the characters interacting with each other. Like you said, it's just a fun time. And the stakes are high enough to keep it somewhat tense and interesting, but low enough where they can just be really goofy like 80% of the time.

Yeah. And it's also good that I am glad Lloyd just got used to having a daughter very quickly. And there aren't so many moments of him being like, fuck this kid, having.

To send her back.

I understand. She is a child and will not know everything I need her to do.

Yeah, it's great. And the teaser there's maybe more family coming.

They need a fake uncle. Like, it's five kids. I'm not your uncle.

It's Danny trejo.

Well, he is their uncle.

He's their real uncle. Yeah.

I believe it is cheat marin who is not their uncle.

Oh, God. Was not expecting to talk about Spy Kids as much, but it makes sense. Yes.

This seems like literal Spy Kids, so.

We have yeah, it makes sense.

I'm I'm glad we we got in on the ground floor of this one.

Yes. The best part I can say, hey, I'm caught up on the dub, baby. One fell swoop.

Give it a week.

Yeah. Again, if I spend 20 more minutes, I could be caught up on a recent anime series I enjoy. That is very rare. Sam is out having a social life, so I could do that tonight.

It's an option.

Oh, boy.

Crazy.

Rather than confirming if I'm going to do that, we'll set up another series I may or may not watch more of next week. We love our girls. Do nothing in an after school club shows. Let's put another fun twist on a common trope. We're watching school live or school live? Who's to say it's the zombie apocalypse girls do Nothing after school club show?

Oh, boy.

Okay.

I watched the trailer for it. It looks fun. It looks like it's like we're just some survivors of apocalypse, but we're still doing cute girl stuff.

But.

Occasionally there's some horror elements, so it looks like it has that dissent and.

It looks like a fun time.

But, yeah, if there's a series that puts a fun twist on a very overdone trope, you can send those recommendations to us. Arweebetherette@gmail.com is our email, or you can reach out to us on social media at Areweebetherette, on Twitter and Instagram.

You can find me on Instagram and TikTok at honey d or on Twitter at honeyd eight and honey dart. And Honey is spelled H-U-N-N-I-E. You can.

Find me on Twitter at aBTS Brendan. And if you're going off that recommendation and thinking, hey, I should recommend them, high School of the Dead, I'll block you, I'll ban you and I'll take away your Internet privileges. Don't do it.

Thank you to camille ruley for our artwork. And thank you to Louis zong for our theme song stories. You can find all of louie's music at louisong. Dot bamcamp.com. Thank you. And we hope you'll join us next week as we learn to live with anime.

I hope there's like a floobies twist in here.