Mission Strix continues with Anya finally getting ready to enter Eden. But not without some major bumps in the way lol. It seems like every episode now will have at least two chapters, which could potentially make this anime a little rough. They may resort to rearranging things, but otherwise, they might hit some bumps in the road when certain chapters don’t quite go together very well. So we’ll see what they do if that happens.
Anyways, we get some Yor and Anya bonding time. From previous episodes, we’ve seen that while Anya thinks Yor’s profession is cool, she can also be terrified of her and ends up treating Yor rather coldly. Like when she ran away after holding hands with Yor for the first time and then not giving Yor a specific role during the whole Bondman role play and saying she can be whatever. So it was rather cute of the two to get to spend some time together while also getting a little more of Yor development. We once again get into her headspace on how she feels about the family situation. It’s apparent that what that swine of a housemaster said affected her. And while part of it is making a mistake at being “normal” for the sake of her cover, but it seems as if she’s genuinely wants to be a better mother figure towards Anya. They way she said she knows the family is fake sounded as if she’s trying not to get attached. Which makes sense considering the circumstances. But because Yor is naturally caring, staying unattached just doesn’t seem possible. Especially with a cute kid like Anya.
Speaking of Anya, the poor girl gets kidnapped by a pack of thugs. But thankfully the fact her mom is an assassin came in handy as Yor intimidates the ever loving crap out of all them. AS SHE SHOULD. Despite her insecurities of not being able to fulfill her role as a mother figure, it was extremely cute how Anya immediately comforts her saying that she loves how strong she is, allowing them to grow closer. I think it was at this moment where Yor gets genuinely attached to Anya as a mother figure all the while stating in her mind one of the most motherly things of doing everything she can for her. And while it didn’t show it, I do hope that Anya was able to hear those thoughts. There’s no going back, Yor has officially bonded to Anya just as Loid had in episode 1. And thus the two continue their bond with Yor training her to be able to protect herself… which had mixed results at the end lol.
The day Operation Strix officially takes off with Anya officially starting school and was it certainly a day lol. Not only do we find out that the best route to getting close to Desmond is becoming a scholar student by getting 8 Stella Stars. But due to the fact that Anya is… not academically intelligent, Loid hatches another plan to get close to his target by having Anya befriend his son. But of course things with the family don’t quite go as planned when Anya immediately butts heads with Damian. Due to Anya being able to read minds, she can immediately tell when someone is being superficial so she’ll immediately ignore them if how they act and what they actually thinks are complete opposites. Like when Becky initially talked to her, she was being nice, but she was being pretty demeaning in her head.
However, with Damian, he was just being a prick inside and out. This snotty rich kid really be acting like he’s a big shot on campus and I guess in a sense, he is due to his father. But this scenario is just yet another example of the kids going places just because of their parents and not their own achievements. Which we’ve seen a lot in anime and other forms of media. But because he feels important due to his father’s influence, he immediately takes to bullying Anya because he believes she is beneath him due to her dad being a “nobody.”
I’m glad that during training, Yor did tell Anya to not let her emotions dictate when she chooses violence. Which I think is a good lesson as when you’re heated by your emotions, you tend not to think about the time and place and what repercussions could come about if you lose yourself. And thus the infamous Anya smirk was beheld to the world. Anya’s expressions this entire episode was just too good and that smirk just hit everything out of the park. And I just love how when Becky praised her for being so grown up, Anya immediately looks over at Damian with her signature smirk. And while Anya believes that smiling didn’t really help all that much, she was still able to get under Damian’s skin without physically fighting back and gained Becky’s respect.
But of course, Yor’s training comes back to bite the family in the rear when Anya had enough of Damian’s bullying and just one punches him across the hall after she makes sure the teacher wasn’t looking. The comedic timing and animation for that part was my absolute favorite and I wish we had more of that sort of thing happen during the anime. But I digress. Anyways, the part that also killed me was Anya lying about getting mad at Becky’s expense just to justify her use of violence. Anya PLEASE. I’m definitely a little conflicted on the whole fighting back against your bullies. On one hand, bullies typically pick on people who they think they can get away with picking on so fighting back shows them that they shouldn’t mess with you. But then on the other hand, this is a huge setback for Loid’s mission. Even if Damian deserved that punch to the face. It’s only the first day and Anya has made enemies of Donavan’s son and earned a Tornitus Bolt. And if she gets 8, she’s going to get expelled, flushing all of Loid’s progress down the toilet. RIP.
What happens to kids at school is always a gamble, so of course Anya entering school was only the prologue. Now the real struggle commences. This episode was cute and we get a couple new characters that are going to be prominent people in Anya’s school life. Which is a recipe for chaos and hilarity. I like that we also got some bonding between Yor and Anya since they really haven’t spent much time with just the two of them prior to this. So I’m glad that the two of them are starting to really warm up to each other and start viewing each other as family despite their circumstances.
