Review of the comic SPY×FAMILY Volume 10
スパイファミリー
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In a world where modern writers don't know how to write, I'm very grateful to End0-sensei. Hence, the release SPY×FAMILY Episode 10 (which I actually read a long time ago but just got around to blogging) is a welcome treat and another good entry in the series.
Brief story
As a child, the boy becomes a Twilight (Loid) named Counselor while playing soldier with his friends. To fit in, he lies to his father to get money to buy a book, which he then spends on a toy gun and a toy army helmet. He feels guilty about this, but before he can apologize to his father, war breaks out and his town is bombed, killing his father. In another air raid, he lost his mother, so as a teenager he joined the army under the name Rolland.
While on duty, he meets a deserting enemy soldier (Franky). He initially pitied Franky, but became angry and shot him when enemy soldiers shot the helmeted Rolland. Franky flees and the army assigns Rolland as a cook. There he meets his childhood friends who survived the first attack. However, their unit was sent on a stupid mission, which resulted in their deaths. This reunion causes military intelligence to discover Rolland's true identity. They decided to recruit him, leading him to WISE.
In the present, Handler takes on a mission to save a politician. Anya has to work with Butler Henderson. Yor goes to buy Anya a cake and accidentally saves Melinda Desmond from falling down the stairs. Melinda invites Yor into her circle of friends. Yor reports this to Loid, who encourages her to be friends as part of his Plan C to get closer to her husband. The Garden also approved of this friendship. So Anya decides to step up her game to make friends with DaKarenn.
The interesting story of Twilight
Despite the cover art, Loid/Twilight is seen as a child inside SPY×FAMILY Episode 10 made me very surprised. Endo-sensei did a great job with this backstory teasing us by not telling us Loid's real name. It's fun to see how Loid's past has shaped who he is now. His father was a bit harsh so Loid wasn't harsh on Anya, although he remained firm.
We also understand Loid's attitude towards war. He lost his mother, father and group of friends due to the war. And that has clearly influenced his attitude now. It makes perfect sense as to why he takes his current duties so seriously.
Finally, we get to see how Twilight and Franky first met. One could argue that this is a bit convenient, but the fact that Twilight tried to kill Franky after initially showing him some mercy fits the character. However, it suits me. Now I'm curious about how Franky and Twilight reunited. Anyway, I really loved the plot of Twilight.
Yor's new friend
Another important thing happened in the SPY×FAMILY Episode 10 Yor is becoming friends with Melinda Desmond, DaKarenn's mother and apparently Donovan's wife. This is where Melinda first appears and I have to say, she is an interesting character. To be honest, she seems a bit psychotic. I mean, sometimes she even makes Yor worried by changing her attitude. So I'm interested to see where that goes.
Regarding their meeting and friendship, yes, one could argue that it would have been convenient for Yor to meet Melinda and her team. But I like that Yor doesn't know who Melinda is and that Melinda realizes this. So we get to see Yor do his version of “I'm trying to hold back” volleyball with Melinda and her friends. In the end, Melinda befriending Yor didn't feel forced.
That brings us to Loid. He understood the opportunity that had opened up before him. I can't help but wonder if Yor's new friendship with Melinda is what ultimately leads to Yor and Loid discovering each other's secrets. (If they learn the truth about each other, I hope it will lead to them working as a team, with Anya's support.) Also, I noted that Yor's assassin boss didn't reacts too well to learning about Loid's clear political views. faith. We'll see what happens there.
Finally, I really liked how Yor being Loid's “Plan C” encouraged Anya to really try to study and to do so so that she wouldn't be defeated by her adoptive mother. I know part of Anya's humor is that she doesn't want to study. But honestly, there's a lot of humor about Anya that doesn't rely on her being bad at school at all. I want to see her grades improve steadily as she is motivated to succeed.
Final thoughts and conclusion
Let me end my review of SPY×FAMILY Episode 10 with some final thoughts.
The chapter where Anya spent the afternoon with Butler Henderson interested me, more so because Anya tried to use her telepathy to say the right things at but then spoke her mind to others, disable it. Handler gets one chapter, which is fine. It's nothing special to me, other than showing why she's the boss (I suppose). The omake chapters are quite boring but still interesting in their own way. It's okay to have Anya's favorite cartoon/anime episode because it brings joy to the harem. The other omake chapter with Franky and Bond trying to flirt with girls was fine, but nothing special. I enjoyed it for what it was, but I was tired of the “loser can't have a baby” stories.
Final, SPY×FAMILY Episode 10 is another outstanding manga volume from one of my favorite manga series.
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