After adopting a daughter with her own secret telepathic powers in episode one; Loid Forger codename “Twilight,” gets engaged with a woman with her own secret double life—completing the family of “Forgers”

Recap Main Plot

Loid’s main mission called “Operation Strix,” is to prevent Donovon Desmond of the Nationalist Party of Ostania from starting a war. Two nations currently in non-peaceful relations (Westalia in the west and Ostania in the East) are on the brink of an outright hot war. There are some radicals in Ostania that are secretly planning out a way to start a war with Westalia and Loid has been tasked with the mission to put a stop to this. Episode 3 focuses on the preparation for the family interview to enroll Anya in the most prestigious “Eden Academy.”

Becoming a Real Family

The first 5 to 6 minutes after the opening theme focuses on Yor getting settled in with the Loid and Anya. There are some cute scenes with interactions between all three.

I started reading the manga and noticed a big chunk of that part was filler. Episode 2 covered chapter 2 with 55 pages and episode 3 covered chapter 3, which consisted of only 27 pages. So, it makes sense that this episode needed a bit more filler.

Then, we get to the next scene with Loid mock interviewing Anya and Yor.

The interview scene didn’t execute on the funny as much. Although, some of the funnier lines and quips from Loid may have gotten lost in translation. In the manga, having the panels hit back-to-back on one whole page seemed to land a bit funnier—at least in my imagination and interpretation of the panels seemed a bit funnier. There wasn’t any comedic editing & timing that it had in the first couple of episodes. It would have been nice to hit us with separate animated panels of Loid’s disgust of their answers or something like that. Overall, I just think this scene was a bit more stale than it should have been.

A lot of this episode’s cute and funny gags stems from Anya’s reaction to when Loid calls her out on her fibbing and her reacting to Yor’s thoughts. I just hope they don’t run the same gags over and over to the ground.

Family Bonding Time

After an abysmal first mock interview, Loid decides to take the family out to different family outings to bond and blend in with the upper echelon of society. We get hit with a couple funny moments as Yor is lusting over a painting of a guillotine and Anya drawing a funny scene depicting her new parents’ jobs.

To get the family some exposure to real life events, Loid takes Yor and Anya out to a political event. One interesting character development with Anya, regarding her telepathic powers is how much she gets overwhelmed in crowds. Hearing that many thoughts in real-time must be too much for her to handle. It makes you wonder how much control she has over her powers.

Action-Snack

In a much needed change of pace, the Forgers stood on top of a hill only to witness a purse snatcher taking a little old lady’s purse. Without hesitation, Yor chases after him only to lose track of him. Loid takes Anya to pursue him, but loses track. Anya, using her telepathic powers, points out that she “wants to eat dessert,” intentionally singling out the person nearby the restaurant. Loid, in an instant, takes him down by literally landing on him.

Then, we get a nice scene with the little old lady thanking them and noting how much they look like a “nice family.” Here, we get a nice romantic buildup of Loid and Yor’s relationship, along with Anya mentioning how much they were flirting.

The episode ends with Loid mock interviewing Anya once more, but she still has odd answers. Looking back at what the old woman says, maybe if she sees them as a family, then it might still be okay.

Loid’s Character Development

This may have gone slightly unnoticed, but Loid’s character development has been slowly building over trust issues. He’s been essentially acting alone on all of his missions. Sure, there is Franky filling him in and sometimes helping out on missions, but he’s a helpful hand that isn’t actually necessary. Anya and Yor are essential to this current mission. It has already been multiple times in the first 3 episodes that he has been at least contemplating giving up. The anime already hinted at Loid having a sad upbringing, which may provide some further insight into his true personality. Him, getting closer to Anya and Yor with the fact that he received gratitude from the old lady for the first time is really a step forward for his growth as a character.

Last Thoughts

Each of the first 3 episodes are clearly meant to introduce the family and hash out each characters’ roles, personality and family dynamics. Episode one was about defining the plot and recruiting Anya. Episode 2 was about Loid and Yor coming together. Episode 3 is meant to give us all 3 as a family by entertaining us with various humorous scenes. Then, once the purse snatcher steals the purse, the action scenes that transpired was a glimpse of what this family is going to look like when bad guys are involved.

Overall, this episode was pretty linear in presentation and feel, as it was filled mostly with cute, heartwarming family interactions. Again, Anya’s childlike pureness & innocence provided many of the comedic quips and reactions, maximizing the use of her character. This episode truly gives us an intriguing dynamic into how fun this family chemistry can be with the bulk of the intrigue shrouded in the mystery and facade between them. After this episode, I am still left wanting to see how much more this show can maintain my interest. So far, so good.

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