Out of all the episodes so far, this one felt the messiest. I have a lot of issues with the overuse of narrators in anime so the fact that the narrator this episode overlapped a lot of the dialogue when we could have easily just heard this in someone else’s thoughts bothered me a bit. I know that the narration was in the manga, but as an anime adaptation, I feel like certain things should be changed to suit the medium. And as an animation, it’s best to show and not tell. Not to mention so much dialogue got overlapped with each other this episode and it was driving me crazy. In manga form, it’s perfectly fine since you can read it one at a time at your own pace, but when so much dialogue is thrown at you all at once in anime form, it feels so cluttered.
We finally meet Yor’s brother, Yuri, who she had forgotten to inform that she was married. Which is… oof. As far as he knows, she’s been married for a year now so I can only imagine how shocked and hurt he must have felt. Especially since they’re the only family they have. And boy… he sure is something lol. At first he comes across as an energetic and nice guy, but we have to remember that he’s related to Yor. And just like his sister, he can be incredibly threatening and intimidating when he wants to be. Which most likely comes with the territory of the Secret Police. However, factoring in how protective he is of his sister, it certainly makes him a terrifying force. It is rather interesting the lengths he would go through for his sister, scary as those lengths are. He wants her to be happy and desires to create a world where she can live safely. And as stated previously, it’s most likely because she’s the only family he has, thus the only person he really cares for. Though… he does take those sentiments a tad far in more than one way.
Despite Yuri being portrayed at this rather cunning and suspicious individual, when it comes to Yor, all brain cells were just left outside the door. The way that Yor explains why she didn’t tell him about her marriage of over a year is just that she “forgot” and then “forgot she forgot to tell him.” Loid’s expression and the sound of a dish breaking off screen absolutely made the scene lol. I don’t know what it is about hearing things break or crash off screen tickles me.
Besides he lack of awareness when it comes to his sister, he is actually a pretty interesting character. Not only did he take on the job as part of the Secret Police just to protect his sister, but the fact that he believes that Twilight is the country’s biggest enemy because he was told that he wants to cause chaos. Which is the complete opposite of what Twilight actually wants to accomplish. So it feels almost natural for the two to be enemies since both firmly believe what they are doing is for the benefit of peace all the while using underhanded methods to accomplish it. Though it is kind of sad that the two are at odds despite both genuinely wanting a peaceful world. I do love the scene where Loid immediately picks up that Yuri is part of the Secret Police because he knows the story the Secret Police give to their officers to recite when the “go out of the country.” Though Yuri kind of gave it away at the start with his rapid fire questions that were akin to how he would interrogate someone. I was pretty impressed how Loid recognized the outdated information in the story too, which cemented the fact that Yuri was lying.
The similarities between him and Yor are pretty evident not just by looks but with their beliefs and how they handle certain things. They both have a very kind disposition all the while hiding a darker, crueler side to them. It’s interesting how literally both of them are hiding their careers from each other so they won’t worry all the while believing the other is living out a normal life. They’re both trying their absolute hardest to provide for the other while keeping a mask over what they actually do. Which just adds another layer of deception to the family lol. Though I can also understand why Yor would be worried about Yuri getting even more upset over hearing that her marriage was just a cover. And after meeting Yuri, he definitely would put Loid through the ringer if he found out that they married not because of love. And while it’s played for the laughs, the fact that Yor has been doing assassin work since she was young is actually really sad. I can’t even imagine how cornered and desperate she was to provide for Yuri once their parents died, forcing her to take on such a terrifying job just so she can take care of him and get him nice things. It’s sad that there was literally no one to really help them, forcing them to take on these dangerous and cruel careers.
However on the flip side, Yuri’s feelings towards Yor is… a bit worrisome to say the least. While I respect how much he cares for her and genuinely wants her to find happiness, his feelings towards her can border on obsessive if not already so. I understand he feels hurt over the fact that he viewed himself as someone who is the one protecting her, only to just find out that someone else has now taken over the role. It doesn’t change the fact at how overthetop attached he is to her and kinda borders on “weird” territory. I’ll probably go into this more in the next episode since they only really touched upon it in this episode.
But goodness, did they really have to end the episode THERE???? That honestly just felt so disrespectful lol. But man, Loid and Yor really need to work on their couple act because that accidental hand touch really gave it away that they’re not intimate with each other. And not gonna lie, but that hand heart thing they did made me cringe a little on the inside. In any case, guess we’ll have to see what becomes of Yor and Loid’s kiss in the next episode lol.
The pacing of the episode felt kinda messy. Though it might have had to do with them cramming three chapters into them so things were a bit more rushed than they have been in the past episodes. A part of me felt like the episode may have been better off if they ended the episode on Loid and Yuri glaring at each other at the door while keeping to the 2 or 1 chapter pattern the anime has been doing so far. But I suppose I can understand why they would want to show more of Yuri this episode even if it sacrificed the pacing to do it. Otherwise, we have yet another crazy character joining the cast to add to the chaos of this series lol.
I actually expected for anime original contents to prolong the episode like they did in episode 3. I do agree that the pacing was quite messy for this episode.
I don’t think Yuri’s sister complex is “kinda weird” anymore, it’s already really weird. While this side of Yuri provides comedies throughout the series, I also have mixed feelings about it because it gave him the impression he won’t accept anyone to be his brother-in-law because he loves her too much to give her to anybody. He said that he knew one day his sister would have to get married, and I also understand how shocked he was to learn she already got married, but he’s being too critical. He just concluded Loid is no good without even trying to get to know him first (I won’t call his interrogation as an attempt to get to know him).
I can understand Yor, but I actually surprised that Loid was shy when his hand touched Yor’s. I thought since he has experience dating for his missions, it won’t be a problem. And I wonder why they changed Loid and Yor forming heart with their hands instead of showing their couple photo together like in the manga. But for Loid becoming shy at hand touch before going Twilight mode, I’ll take that as a sign a certain feeling has sprout inside him. Hehehe (^_^)