Project Apple
Episode 1 of Spy x Family season 2 begins with a group of thugs placing canines inside a white truck. The dogs are all locked up in cages and appear miserable. Shortly, we see a news report stating that the Foreign Minister of Westalis, Brantz, has arrived in Ostania and plans to coordinate a summit between the East and West territories. This leads to an exciting breakfast session between Yor, Loid, and Anya. ..
After their meal, the Forgers head to a pet shop. Loid plans to adopt a canine companion for Anya as a reward for earning her first Stella Star. He argues rewarding Anya for her accomplishments will encourage her to succeed further in school. Remember earning eight Stellar Stars grants her access to the social gathering that Donovan’s known for attending.
The agency Loid works for owns the pet shop and sells war dogs. Loid feels owning a dog from this shop would be beneficial since they’re well-trained, protective, and strong. Unfortunately, Anya doesn’t find any of the dogs to her liking, leading Loid to ask the shop’s owner if they have any cute and small dogs. The owner informs him that there’s a nearby pet adoption event that sells cute dogs, though.
Loid is summoned to attend a spy-oriented excursion, leading him to fake a restroom break to depart from Yor and Anya. He asks Yor to take Anya to a pet adoption event. Although Yor tells Loid they can wait, Anya clever covers for him. While in a car, Loid learns of an assassination plot involving Foreign Minister Brantz that’s taking place at the summit.
Secret Police have been investigating a group of Berlint University students who formed an isolationist group. One of the plotters at the embassy was kidnapped by Loid’s agency, and they’ve tried interrogating him for information, but he won’t budge. The agency wants Loid to disguise himself as this plotter’s leader Keith to persuade him into confessing any juicy details. ..
Meanwhile, we see the plotter conversing with Handler (Sylvia Sherwood). Sylvia tells him they’ve caught Keith and that he won’t be necessary anymore. They escort the plotter out of the room, where he notices Keith (Loid in disguise) escorted by one of the agency members. Loid takes note and throws a tangent, placing all the blame on the plotter. ..
The agency successfully obtains intel about the rest of the group members’ names, hideouts, and assassination plans. Apparently, Keith wishes to strap bombs on a few dogs and ambush Brantz. At the same time, we see Loid and the agency’s summoner chatting about Loid’s impressive impersonation skills. Loid watched a short video of Keith’s past activities, allowing him to convincingly imitate and fool the plotter. ..
Loid is confused after learning about the bomb dogs. He’s unsure how these students could afford to pull off a stunt like this. The summoner speculates that these students have support from a wealthy authority that could either be an enemy sympathizer or a right-winged third power. We transition to a meeting between everyone in WISE.
Sylvia argues that they will need to make the first move to prevent the students from carrying out their attack. They learn that canceling the summit wouldn’t look great in the public eye, resulting in Sylvia suggesting they leak intel to the ruling party to encourage them to act swiftly in preventing any public outcry.
In another area, we see two terrorist students walking dogs. One of them is the telepathic white canine from episode eleven, who had a vision concerning their interaction with the Forger family. While one of the terrorists leaves to grab a coffee, the white canine rushes toward a toddler to save them from a sudden injury.
A coffee-drinking terrorist returns to their hideout after a long absence. They find that the other members of their group have been killed, and they are now the only ones left. The terrorist decides to carry on with their plan, even though they are doubtful of it. They return to the hideout and discuss their next move. They agree that there is no turning back now, and they will continue with their mission. ..
Yor and Anya are amazed by the number of animals at the pet adoption event. Yor wonders why Loid didn’t consider coming here, and Anya rushes to each pet stall to greet each animal. Yor warns her not to wander off, and Anya promises not to leave the area with any puppies in hand. Yor compliments the cuteness of each animal, and they all enjoy their time at the event.
Anya consults with an employee about possible dogs to adopt and turns her back to Yor. Suddenly, the white canine from earlier walks by, grabbing Anya’s attention away from the animals. As she stares into the canine’s eyes, Anya reads its mind and uncovers that the dog was thinking about her, Yor, and Loid. The terrorist calls for the dog as Anya questions if the canine’s thoughts are accurate.
Anya investigates the dog and its owner’s trail, as she’s weirded out by what she picked up in its thoughts. This leads Anya to discover one of Keith’s hiding places, as she overhears their assassination plan involving Brantz and bomb dogs.
Anya is startled when she finds out she’s infiltrated a criminal hideout. Before she could flee, one of the terrorists catches her and lets the others know that she heard their plan. Keith plans to murder Anya to avoid detection. Before Keith could strike, the white canine frees itself and defends Anya. While Anya and the canine plot their escape, Yor notices that Anya’s missing and starts searching around the event. ..
Yor leaps into the area’s ceiling to observe the event from above. A child predator may have abducted Anya, and Yor wonders what happened to her. She dives deeper into the thought of Anya being forced to marry some crude man, leading her to yearn for Loid’s return. At the same time, WISE agents and Loid continue their search for Keith’s whereabouts. ..
Loid is informed by Sylvia that he has found a lead regarding two white vans being rented out by one of Keith’s henchmen. In return, Sylvia tells Loid that Keith’s dogs are all remnants of Project Apple. Project Apple was a government research project conducted by the Ostanian government. Their goal was to create high-IQ animals for military use.
Loid knows that the project had its issues regarding mediocre results, government confrontation, and reckless experimentation. Consequently, the government canned the project, and some animals were sold on the black market. Sylvia warns Loid to keep his guard up because these canines could be packing dangerous abilities.
Keith’s hideout is raided by the FBI, and he warns Anya to step away from the white dog. The white dog walks closer to Anya, and she reads his mind. She finds out that Keith’s phone will ring soon. Suddenly, Keith’s phone rings and the caller informs him that agents have infiltrated two of his hideouts. Keith is bewildered, assuming that one of his men had ratted him out. ..
Keith tells everyone not to panic as he has an alternative idea. However, he realizes that Anya and the canine have fled. While fleeing, Anya realizes that the white dog can somehow peer into the future and wonders if it is a telepath like her. Once they make it outside, Anya and the dog run toward the pet adoption event and scream. This catches Yor’s attention.
Keith’s flustered and orders his comrade, Kurt, to come with him to capture the dog and Anya. Although the others tell him to forget about Anya, Keith informs them that she’s seen their faces and knows about their plans. He orders them to tear the map off the wall and they abandon their current location. ..
Anya and her dog are running around the block, when they’re cornered by Keith. Keith threatens to murder them, but is stopped by Yor. Yor quickly knocks out Kurt, and threatens to do the same to Keith. ..
Anya hugs Yor tightly as she plans to beat up Keith, confusing him for being a human trafficker. ..
The Episode Review
This episode of Spy X Family was a lot of fun. It was packed with action and laughs. The physicality in the episode was intense, and it was great to see all the new characters introduced.
While I enjoyed Anya and Loid’s bits in this episode, I found it difficult to believe that Yor’s going to remain a worrisome mother throughout the show. Granted, we receive some instances of her leaping up walls and knocking out bad guys. However, it just felt off-putting to see Yor, a well-trained assassin, make common mistakes as a typical mother would. Hopefully, peering into her assassin livelihood will free Yor of her current repetitive predicament.
The new content in this season so far has been exciting. I can assume that the white dog will be the one the Forger family adopts. While his abilities can serve as a fine addition to their household, he also comes with his potential set of issues that the series can latch on to for incredible sub-plot potential.
This episode was a great example of creative animation and camera work. The scene involving Anya and the white canine rushing down the stairs was truly immersive and neat. The animation was excellent, making the scene feel like it was right in front of you.
This episode of Spy X Family was surprising in that it touched on dark topics, such as animal experimentation and child trafficking. ..
There’s a lot of time for the series to explore its protagonists, side characters, and antagonists. We hope this season delivers elegant content that’ll leave a lasting impression on the anime’s growing audience.
