Episode 22
It’s only been two episodes in after meeting Fiona and I’m already sick of her. The “notice me senpai” mindset gets really annoying to me after a while and every time Fiona had these thoughts I just rolled my eyes. I honestly don’t have much sympathy for characters who have longed for another person but don’t say or do anything about it and just longing for them in silence. I see it as it’s on them for not acting before someone else “swoops in.” It gets even more annoying when she’s just so desperate about it and even willing to homewreck because she’s “obviously the better pick.” It’s that kind of pretentiousness that really irritates me. I honestly hate the notion when people say someone else “stole” the person they like… when they weren’t even together in the first place. The way I see it, you have no right to claim someone if you haven’t even told them of your feelings or didn’t do anything prior before this new person came into their life.
Anyways, enough about Fiona. So now we have an underground tennis arc and the idea of an underground Tennis ring is so funny to me lol. The mission that Fiona and Loid were assigned to has them trying to retrieve a painting that could have possible secret intelligence hidden in it. But in order to do so, they have to enter this underground tennis match and win. Of course in disguise though. To which of course (again), Fiona signs them up as a married couple. Because this is an underground tennis tournament, foul play and the use of unorthodox equipment is all fair game. We see things from players injecting themselves to get buff (to which I’m thankful they censored the needles) and some pretty interesting tech. Though Loid and Fiona make pretty easy wins against all of the competitors and make it all the way to the championship where they have to face off against Campbell’s (the organizer of the event) children. And while the family has resorted to some severely underhanded plays, such as trapping Loid and Fiona in a room full of gas and using traps on the field to mess with their footwork. Though I do have to hand it to them for being able to even use their pretty interesting type of equipment. So they at least have a certain amount of skill.
Episode 23
The cheating gets ramped up to 11 this episode with so many different factors getting in the way of Loid and Fiona. But because they have regained mobility, they’re able to pull off these crazy athletic feats and literally dodge everything while also hitting back with both power and precision. And boy was it a SPECTACLE. Whenever this anime focuses on the action, they do an AWESOME job animating it and the rallying scene was just superb with how the camera rotated while Loid and Fiona did they stuff. I had to watch that scene twice because of how amazing it was. Which made up for the narration that was done near the start of the episode. Whenever the narrator pops up to explain what is happening in anime, I get so livid. It’s fine in manga form since there’s only so much you can show on a page, but with animation, where you WATCH what is happening, it drives me crazy. Thankfully there was no narration for the rally scene.
After that spectacle and Loid and Fiona pulling off a win, we actually got some character perspective from Carrol. Despite his attitude, he actually seemed to have a legit passion for tennis and wants to get better so won’t have to suffer such a loss again, unlike his sister. I do hope that he continues honing his skills so that he won’t have to resort to underhanded methods in the future. And despite their dad initially being frustrated that his kids were losing, at the end he supported Carrol’s growth as a tennis player and does seem to legit care about them even when he lost all the money he bet on them. Compared to all the “antagonists” we’ve seen in this series so far, he’s probably the only one who actually met his defeat with grace. While he did backpedal on giving them the painting as their winning prize, he only did it because he got intell on it from the secret police and not out of pettiness or being a sore loser. So I guess there’s that.
As soon as I saw that one butler guy start taking out the painting from its frame, I KNEW it had to be Loid in disguise. Especially since Fiona told Campbell that he was resting due to his “hangover.” Which meant he had to be off somewhere doing his thing. (Yes I’ve read the series, but I didn’t pay too close of attention to this part of the series so there were things I forgot) With the painting successfully retrieved, the mission was a success. And I admit, as spies, Fiona and Twilight make a good team. However, I still don’t think they wouldn’t mix that well as a couple since they just seem way too similar. Especially with just how incredibly one-sided it feels. Not only that, but despite his cold exterior, Twilight is incredibly caring to everyone around him while Fiona is just incredibly selfish. I honestly don’t think she would be able to bring out the good side of Twlight.
I also just feel really bad for Yor. With Fiona trying to sabotage, Yor is filled with uncertainty of whether she is good enough to be the mother of the Forgers. Especially with how attached she’s gotten to both Anya and Loid over time. The thought of having to leave them fills her with a lot of dread and anxiety. And when Fiona challenges her to a tennis match, she feels as if this is like a test to prove her worth. Everyone was probably wondering how a fight between the two would go and judging from just how much Yor’s strength just overpowers Fiona to the point where her racket is destroyed from trying to return the serve, it more or less points in favor of Yor. I mean, in terms of a head to head fight, Yor would win hands down. She even nearly beat Loid if she didn’t end up passing out. And I did chuckle when Yor marched up to Loid and proclaimed that she beat Fiona. This was also probably the most Fiona emote so far.
While this scene was silly to watch, I couldn’t help but think about how different Yor and Fiona are in terms to Loid. Fiona basically has all of the athletic skills Loid and the two see things in a very similar way. While Yor sees things differently and has abilities that Loid doesn’t have, covering his weaknesses and helps him to see things from a different perspective, allowing him to grow as a person. Something I don’t think Fiona is able to do. Not to mention that Yor shares his care for the people around her.
Turns out that the painting didn’t have important secrets that could cause war and only had the whereabouts to a diary that had a collection of actresses the late colonel supported. Which he had hidden away to reassure his wife that he was loyal. While it is a little weird to have such a collection, he wasn’t actually being disloyal as he only wanted to support these actresses because he was such a big fan of the theater. But I digress. Because this was only a personal secret and had nothing to do about causing a war, it almost feels as if Loid went through all that trouble for nothing. Rip lol. Though I feel like the true significance of that whole thing was making Loid think about what it means to be a “family.” And with Yor still seeming bothered by the whole Fiona thing, he’s going to have to think a little more deeply on how to maintain a “happy family.”
This arc was definitely harder to talk about since it felt more fun to watch. Not to mention I just feel like the anime does a lot better when it is plot related and has a lot of action as opposed to the comedy and slice of life bits which are done significantly better in the manga. Still can’t get over that rallying scene. Looks like two of my favorite chapters are being adapted next episode so we’ll see how the anime does to portray those. But with how I’m currently enjoying the anime, I’m not sure whether I should be excited or concerned.
