REVIEW: ‘Spy x Family’ Season 2 Episode 7 — “Who Is This Mission For?”

As this mini cruise ship arc continues, Spy x Family Season 2 Episode 7, “Who Is This Mission For” allows Yor (Saori Hayami) some necessary time to develop as a character and expand on her growing unease in her work as an assassin. While continuing her assignment of keeping Olka and her son safe while aboard the Princess Lorelei cruise ship, Yor contemplates mid-battle what it is she’s fighting for. Or, more precisely, who she’s fighting for in this skillfully directed episode from director Kazuhiro Furuhashi. 

The episode can essentially be split into two parts — time with Yor and time with Loid (Takuya Eguchi) and Anya’s (Atsumi Tanezaki).As was the case in Episode 6, the latter storylines are looser, hinging more on humor, while the former is shrouded in creeping darkness. The early fight scene between Yor and the assassins wielding a mid-range weapon bridges the two tones as Anya tries to cover for Yor by calling her a circus performer, lest any other onlookers grow suspicious. Yor’s movement is refined and polished as she overtakes her assailant with the expected grace. The animation continues to demonstrate her sheer power through the line work as she races towards her target. In this moment, she becomes a pure weapon. 

But throughout the fight one of the more interesting aspects come from her inner monologue. The fight choreography is gripping and we’re never in fear of Yor’s safety but her hesitancy weighs on us. She mentions that her “legs are heavy” and wonders if it’s due to her being afraid of bodily harm due to the weapon she’s combating. But what we learn through her explicitly told and inferred musings is that she’s beginning to grow hesitant in her battles because she’s not sure why she’s still playing the role of assassin. Yuri is grown and no longer in need of her protection and oversight. More significantly, she now has a family of her own in Loid and Anya. Yes, it might be for camouflage, as Olka says, but it’s begun to feel real to her. She might be worried about being harmed in battle, but that fear is gripped by the fear of who she might leave behind now as well. 

It’s a strong development for a character who hasn’t received as much compared to Loid and Anya and it makes her current mission brim with greater intensity. That said, her storyline does lack a certain spark considering we’re not too invested in Olka or Zeb’s backstory. Granted, they don’t linger on it too long, but it’s still best when we’re primarily focused on Yor’s growth through this mission. 

Elsewhere on the cruise ship Loid continues to have his own crisis of faith when it comes to his inability to be a cool and laid-back dad. His outfit at the souvenir shop was a bust, with Anya delivering the killing line of “could you be any lamer” to him, much to his shock. One of the most wholesome elements of Spy x Family is the continued exploration of how similar Loid and Anya are. Considering the surface level, and extreme differences between the two, it makes their similarities all the more charming. This is especially true when it comes to Loid’s dramatics. His speech to himself to hype himself up in order to become the peak vacation dad for Anya is one of the funniest moments of the episode due to how true to character it is. Here’s this highly trained and accomplished spy being defeated by a child.

But Anya’s similarities to Loid are present too, especially in her ongoing plight to shake him in order to go make sure that Yor is okay, believing it’s her mission. This is more of a learned trait from having been in her adoptive parents’ heads for too long, but it sets up a hilarious montage of moments. She continues to try and distract Loid with activities she thinks he likes that will ultimately distract him, only for them to backfire. Be it her getting competitive with golf, growing too immersed in her own manga, to Loid being able to solve puzzles too quickly, there’s no separating them. It leads to a pivotal moment when she realizes the stress she’s causing him, and the two talk about how they wish Yor was able to join them for dinner. 

The episode ends on another cliffhanger as Yor is on the move again with Olka and Zeb in tow. Spy x Family Season 2 Episode 7 is very much one piece of a larger story with the Cruise Arc but the pacing remains engaging while delivering an emotional throughline that highlights the Forger’s developing bonds as a family. They may all have their own ulterior motives — mainly Yor and Loid — but there’s something about their unit that has given them comfort or, at the very least, has changed the flow of their lives. From what we see in “Who Is This Mission For,” that shift of perspective is critical. 

Spy x Family Season 2 is available now on Crunchyroll.