This is the first ship/character playlist I have ever made. I was a little nervous to do this, but I figured someone might think it's cool. This playlist started because I thought that the first song would fit them pretty well. Then I got inspired to make a playlist and from there I just went ham. I did try to stay somewhat close to the period both in sound and release dates, but some recent songs just fit them too well for me to exclude them. Also, some of these songs aren't a 1-1 fit, but rather the vibes or the lyrics fit. And by all means, if any of y'all have suggestions, please let me hear them! I plan to keep adding to it anyways, especially as the manga develops, so any additions are welcome. Happy listening! :)
Anya looks so cute 🥺❤️
I got the remaining sets of Jump Festa SxF cards I had preordered, one of which I scanned here and the other will be posted soon 🙂 This set features the Forgers in "French casual" outfits, with each of them having a main design and two chibi designs~
<- Return to Part 10
you! tumblr user!
reblogging for bort
Great analysis as always! I was so excited to see that there was a new chapter, and even more so that the plot is progressing more! Then not too long after, I thought, “I wonder what Yumeka thinks about this” lol. Also that point about the scars makes a lot of sense. Especially because while they could be handwaved away as war scars, he wasn’t a soldier. Plus the specific placement of those scars suggests precision. I think it is highly possible he did undergo some kind of experiment. As for the relational ramifications of this, kids notice the distress and changes their parents go through. Demetrius was constantly around his father and witnessed this change over time, possibly leading to his more aloof state. Meanwhile, Damian (when he’s able to), is around his anxious mother whose capricious feelings toward him are based on her husband, a person he himself doesn’t really have a connection with. Pair that with a wife who feels more and more distant from her husband, and it really is no wonder then that their family is so divided. While I usually find myself thinking that I want to hug Damian for all the sadness he has gone through, now I want to hug Melinda too. Can’t wait to see what comes next, both from Endo and from you. Until next time!
Well, seems like something that was just a theory before has come very close to truth...
Because of this major revelation, I wanted to take a deep dive into what we know about Donovan so far and how hints throughout past chapters could indeed indicate that he can read minds. While we still don't have concrete proof for this other than Melinda's word, I don't believe there's anything that discredits this idea, either. In fact, many things throughout the series support it.
First we have Loid's encounter with Donovan way back in chapter 38. I always found it strange that we never got insight into Donovan's thoughts throughout that whole exchange. We always get to know what characters are thinking, even without Anya's mind-reading support. It's not an uncommon storytelling mechanic in general after all, especially for manga. Yet, Endo chose not to give us any insight into what Donovan was thinking. I figured this was simply to avoid spoiling anything about what his exact plans and motives are for future stories (also why Anya was absent for this). But now it seems like this could have also been to hide the fact that he can read minds. If he can read minds, certain things he said during that exchange take on a more ominous meaning. For example, what he said below about how people can never truly understand each other.
It's been a headcanon of mine that the reason why Anya, and perhaps Donovan, were given mind-reading powers, stemmed from the desire for world peace...the idea being that if people could read each other's minds - in other words, always know what others are thinking and feeling, sympathy and understanding would abound.
We learn later on that Donovan had ideas like this even as a kid when he made a similar comment during his debate competition speech. He said that it's impossible to know the true intentions of others so people will forever doubt each other, thus war is inevitable.
We also have the little detail in today's chapter that Donovan did not have the scars on his head during Melinda's flashback (of course, he didn't have them as a kid in chapter 99 either).
Now this is totally my theory, but if we take Melinda's words as the truth, without any misunderstanding, then sometime in Donovan's adult life after he married and had a child, he was experimented on and was given mind-reading powers, perhaps by force but most likely by choice. Now that he has these powers, his laments about people not being able to understand each other are no longer true, at least not for him. Perhaps the experiments done on Anya were preliminary tests that he put together to perfect the mind-reading implementation science before actually doing it to himself. Again, totally just speculation, but not out of the question.
Then we have Demetrius...we learned in chapter 93 that Anya has trouble reading his mind.
If we put that together with Melinda's comment in today's new chapter, that Demetris also took note of Donovan being able to read minds...
...then perhaps Demetrius conditioned himself to think in ways that would make it difficult for his mind to be read, specifically to thwart the "alien" that's impersonating his father. I mentioned last time that I don't think Donovan is actually an alien, and that this description is the only explanation Melinda could come up with to explain his mind-reading powers. If this is true though, it really does make the Desmond dinner scene all the more telling...that throughout all those panels without dialogue, Donovan was absorbing the deepest inner thoughts of his family members (and again, no insight into his own thoughts, just like in chapter 38).
But if the "Donovan can read minds" theory holds true, then the most disturbing idea of all is that Donovan knows that Twilight is a spy. He knows that he's the target of Twilight's mission, and that Twilight seeks to thwart him. Not only that, but depending on what he's read of Damian and Melinda's minds, he knows that they're fond of Anya and Yor, respectively - people who are close to Twilight. Mind-reading powers in the hands of a child are one thing, but in the hands of a shrewd and power political figure...I'm both excited and anxious to find out what Donovan's next move will be!
Yeah, hot unless it could have saved a lot of people thus rendering your original intention meaningless and the person who gave you that ideology in the first place lived in an ideal situation far removed from the current reality. Still love ya though Vash
“Living weapon” covers a lot and all of it is hot
Greetings! I absolutely loved the movie, even if there were a couple plot contrivances that were a little TOO convenient. That being said, I feel as though Yor is slightly mischaracterized in this post.
1.) She didn’t kick Loid in the bar scene because she could tell she was lying. If that were the case, I feel as though she would be able to see through a lot more of his lies. But her character as a whole is rather oblivious and naive, even when it came to something rather obvious like her coworkers wanting to put snot in their higher-up’s coffee. So I don’t feel as though that is too accurate of a statement. 2.) I don’t think Yor was embarrassed to partake in the game with Anya, especially considering no one else is around. If anything, I think she wasn’t quite sure how to play along. I think this is a good example of showing that while she is a good caretaker, she is still learning how to be the mother of a little girl with a lot of energy and imagination, as opposed to the studious little boy Yuri. But the fact that she pushes through in those little moments goes to show how dedicated she is, not just to her profession, but also those she cares about.
All that said, I agree with you on just about everything else. Good post! :)
My thoughts on CODE: White will likely be different from most people since I knew pretty much the entire plot beforehand. I'm a spoiler fiend when it comes to my hyperfixations like SxF, so I read the novelization of the movie back in January and kept up on all the promotional videos and images that were released. But when it was finally time to see the movie for myself, did that ruin my enjoyment? Not at all. For me, it actually made me enjoy it more because 1) I knew what to expect so I wasn't disappointed, and 2) I found myself looking forward to seeing all the scenes I only read about or saw short clips of.
With that said, yes, I enjoyed the movie so much! If you're a Spy x Family fan, or even just a casual enjoyer of the series, it's a ton of fun. It has all the elements we love about the series: clever humor, sweet family moments, and spy action/drama. And because it's a movie, we get to see all of this with a movie animation budget instead of a TV series budget, which is another plus!
One thing to keep in mind with these original, stand-alone anime films based on series is that they're meant for a more general crowd than just fans of the series. Since theaters attract a wider audience than late-night TV and online manga chapters, movies like this serve as a means to introduce the series to people who may only have a vague idea of what it's about. That's why these movies contain a storyline that can fit mostly anywhere in the series chronology and don't have anything canon-altering.
CODE: White is an interesting mix of plots that, for the most part, blend together well. There's the main plot that continues throughout, which is saving Operation Strix by having Anya learn how to make the meremere for the cooking contest, but then there's the Yor jealousy plot B which is resolved in the first half, but is then replaced by the next "plot B" in the latter half of the movie, which is saving Anya from the military.
A lot of people didn't like the "Yor gets jealous" subplot when it was first revealed before the movie even came out, since it seemed to be a rehash of her being jealous about Fiona. I personally didn't have a problem with this since I don't think it's unreasonable for her to get jealous a second time, especially when she thinks she sees Loid doing something extreme like kissing another woman (as opposed to just talking). But the way it was resolved could have been a bit better in my opinion. The ferris wheel scene in the movie very much mirrored the bar scene from the series, but the reason the latter is so effective is because we get to hear Loid's inner thoughts during it; we know he's going full Twilight-mode and isn't being sincere, and that's why Yor kicks him. But then at the park, he talks to her much more genuinely and they work things out. But in the ferris wheel scene, we don't get to hear his inner thoughts so we don't get any indication as to whether his repeating of the marriage vows, etc, is him being sincere or not. Then she smacks him, they insist they aren't fighting when Anya brings it up, and that's the end of it.
I do like the fact that Anya reads their minds and seems happy with what she "hears" in their heads, but I still think the subplot would have felt more complete if it ended after Yor realized her mistake rather than have Loid do the ambiguous Romeo act again. Or it could have been brought up one more time later in the movie, for example, Yor apologizes for hitting him, he talks to her more sincerely, etc. If you're gonna rehash the bar scene, at least rehash the scene that brought it closure, which is the park bench scene. Again, I'm totally fine with the jealously subplot overall, just thought it could have been wrapped up a bit better.
Other than that, there were just a few little issues I had, like how was Anya able to afford what was probably an expensive liquor? (was she really packing that much dough in her little bag? She went straight from the bedroom out the window so it's not like she "borrowed" any money from Loid). A few things stretched the line of believability a bit far too, like Loid's ability to make perfect masks so quickly, and Anya just happening to hit her head on the button that conveniently opened all the windows on the bridge. Also something here and there that didn't align with the manga, like Yor not having any reaction to sharing a room with Loid, whereas she has a totally different reaction to this in chapter 94. Maybe a bit more resolution for the fates of the villains too. I guess Luca and Dmitri survived the crash, but what about Snidel? Did Loid actually kill him or just knock him out? And if it's the latter, Snidel seems like the type who would want to get revenge. A quick cameo of what happened to them in the end would have been nice.
Speaking of the villains, normally I wouldn't like the fact that they're pretty one-dimensional and not that interesting, but for a movie like this where most people just want to see the Forgers being themselves in fun and exciting scenarios, taking time away from that to make more developed villains who likely won't be seen again in the franchise, would have not been the best choice, lol.
But even though I had some criticisms of the movie, all of them are minor and not enough to overshadow everything else that was enjoyable about it. Besides all the humor, of which there was plenty, there were so many cute "awww" family moments that perhaps didn't lend anything to the plot, but were still important to establish the characters and their relationships, and thus make us care about what happens to them. Like the scene of Anya, Yor, and Bond playing at the hotel...it could have been skipped without anything seeming out of place, but it reveals so much about the characters without being blatant about it: how Yor wants to please Anya despite being a bit embarrassed at first to take part in her game, and then how Anya's eyes light up with happiness when Yor starts playing with her...for a series like SxF that's character-driven rather than plot-driven, scenes like this are so important and I'm glad the film creators realized this too!
There were also so many cute, subtle scenes as well, like when Loid and Yor smile at each other after chiding Anya, as if they're happy to share this moment of exhausting yet satisfying parenting; when Anya reads Loid's mind after he saves her but doesn't reveal what he's actually thinking yet we can imagine what it is based on her expression; Loid showing feelings of comradery with the restaurant owner because their pasts are so similar; Anya quietly and sadly hugging Bond in the bedroom; and in the ferris wheel after Yor feels so embarrassed about misunderstanding what happened with Loid and the woman but then can't help but smile with motherly love when she sees Anya waving at her...the movie is filled with moments like this that are like little love letters to fans who know the true heart of SxF isn't so much the action and spy drama as it is the family relationships.
And of course, as I mentioned before, the animation of the movie is fantastic! Not just the action scenes, which are great by the way, especially Yor's fight with Type F, but the character expressions as well. Anya's always had the most varied and hilarious faces of all the characters, but the movie goes even harder with her expressions, especially when she has to hold in her stool! Her faces were making me both cringe and laugh at the same time! The animators did such a good job making me feel sorry for her but also laugh at her.
I'm not a fan of potty humor, but I was confident SxF would make it funny, and I was right! The poop god sequence in particular was as equally cringe as it was hilarious!
To conclude, CODE: White is a must-see for anyone who likes or loves Spy x Family. I can't say it's a cinematic masterpiece or anything, but for what it's supposed to be - a fun and enjoyable film for those who like the series, it definitely delivers! Can't wait to see it at least two more times during its showing in the US...and more times in the future!
If you pause it, it'll vanish.
Don’t know if anyone’s made a comic about this or anything, but I can’t help but smile thinking of what Loid’s thought process would be like watching Spy Wars. He’d watch it, and in his mind he would pick apart every single detail. Like, he’d get stupidly focused because of all the inaccuracies. He’d think stuff like, “That’s not the kind of weapon you would use.” “This is ridiculous, a line like that would’ve easily gotten me caught.” “That’s a terrible tactic, back in that mission a couple years ago, I…” He’d be comparing the adventures to past missions and get so annoyed. Because of how much it’d make his brain hurt though, I don’t think he’d watch much more. That, and somewhere in the midst of the analyzation, he’d realize, “Wait… this is just a kid’s show.” Then he’d probably get slightly embarrassed because he just spend a good twenty minutes critiquing a program for children. (Glad it works for Saberspark though…)