“Mom teaches daughter how to deck little kids.” Hyperbole? I think not! This episode focuses on Yor & Anya’s building relationship and what results from Yor’s “teachings” to Anya after another kidnapping attempt by some would be thugs.
Recap
The beginning of the episode starts back at the tailor shop where Anya gets fitted for her Eden Academy uniform. The old lady that helps her plays like a typical nice old lady, but has kind of a passive-aggressive mean streak to her. Once she found out that Yor was married the first time, she mentioned “how much she wouldn’t have married a man with a kid.” This time, she mentions all of the negative aspects and rumors of attending Eden Academy. Most notably that first generation attendee parents versus alums “have a rift” and the kids may run into “bullying, hazing, discrimination and sometimes get kidnapped.”
“Don’t worry dad, Eden Academy will be peanuts!” – Anya 
“I hear they bully little pink haired peanut eating brats like you.” – Tailor Lady 
“Woahhh~” – Frightened Anya
The Forger family goes off to eat at a restaurant and Loid receives his next mission report. When they get back home, Loid receives a phone call indicating that Anya’s uniform is finished. Then, Loid leaves because he got “called into work.”
For the first time, we get to meet a brand new character, Loid’s handler a.k.a. Silvia Sherwood. Here she explains Eden Academy’s inner workings where the most elite students called “Imperial Scholars” are a part of the “Honors Program.” Only at social gatherings of these Imperial Scholars and their parents can Donovan Desmond be found. In order to be an Imperial Scholar, Anya must earn 8 merits or “Stellas” for being an exceptional student. Vice-versa, if you earn 8 de-merits called “Tonitrus Bolts,” you’d be expelled.
“Why is my next mission report on a low-budget meatloaf?” – Twilight 
“Hey there dearest Twilight!” – Silvia Sherwood 
“What do you think you’re doing with all of this unaccounted for taxpayer money!” – Angered Silvia 
“Tell them it’s for a good cause. It works every time.” – Twilight
Going off the previous episode’s filler scenes of Loid’s handler, it seemed like she would have a bigger role if they opted to make this episode only about Yor and Anya. Instead, this episode “sticks to the script” as they say.
After Loid gets informed about the inner workings of Eden Academy, the scene takes us back to Anya and Yor picking up Anya’s uniforms. Overhearing some kids asking their mom about dinner, Yor gets the idea to make dinner recalling what Housemaster Murdoch criticized her about.
“Kawaii desu-ne!” – Yor 
“Should I use a knife or katana to prepare dinner?” – Yor 
“How about a hacksaw?” Yor’s inner
While grocery shopping with Anya, a few thugs thought it was a good idea to try out the whole “kidnapping” ordeal to extort Yor of their rich “Eden Academy” money. After K.O.-ing one of the thugs and slashing up pumpkins, the young thugs end up bolting after being no match for the Thorn Princess.
The scene ends with Yor being disappointed because the ingredients are all ruined. Anya reassures her how much she loves her and wants her to teach her some butt-kicking action to survive the wild Eden Academy meanies. The first half of the episode ends with Loid coming home to Yor training Anya how to fight. Loid mention how much his “anxiety isn’t going away anytime soon.”
“I’m going to make us a non-violent dinner tonight!” – Yor Forger 
“Let’s go rob us a non-violent loving single mother!” – Random Thugs 
“I AM!“ 
“Violence!” – Inner Thorn Princess 
“Of course you are!” – Anya 
“Teach me how to violence mommy.” – Anya 
“Make sure no ones looking.” – Yor
“What?” – Loid
What proceeds in the back half of the episode covers chapter 8 in the manga. With Loid punting the possibility of Anya making it to Imperial Scholar status, his next hope is Anya making friends with all these kids whose parents are of very high status and importance to Twilight’s line of work.
It turns out that Loid finagled his way to get Anya in the same class as Damian Desmond, son of prime target, Donovan Desmond. After punching Housemaster Murdoch, Housemaster Henry Henderson got demoted into teaching one of the new incoming classes. Here, we get a newly introduced character in Becky Blackbell, who ends up becoming friendly with Anya.
What proceeds here is probably the most relatable part of the whole anime unless you were sadly, never socialized in your life.
“Pink haired chicks are always in to me.” – Self-absorbed powerful rich kid 
“Nani?!” – An angered Forger 
“Move over you future pink-haired side-chick!” – Damian Desmond 
“‘Kill them with kindness,’ she said.” – Anya remembering Yor’s training 
“What’s wrong with your face, you ugly” – Damian Desmond 
“What’s wrong with..” 
“Your face?!” – Anya 
🡣, 🡧, 🡠 , high-punch = Anya’s violent punch 
How to violence 101 
“Sugoi new best violent friend!” – Becky Blackbell 
“She should have said there was a mosquito on Damian’s face. Now, she has one demerit.” – Housemaster Henry Henderson
Anime vs Manga
Okay.. I think I was right about the anime being able to fit chapters 6 and 7 together(referencing previous episode review). What I underestimated was how well chapters 7 and 8 would mesh well together. Either way, a little bit of filler here and there isn’t too big of a deal, as long as we get more episodes like this one.
Having the the first half of the episode cover Yor and Anya bonding time was really just precursor for what would later be Anya’s biggest blunder yet. Having both of those chapters covered in one episode makes a lot of sense. It may have been what sold the creators to go this route because it makes the episode feel like there was a climatic buildup to that Anya punch of Damian. Not only that, but it ends on a better cliffhanger as Loid’s anxiety reaches its peak ending in dire hilarity.
Judging by what they did from the previous episode, I was almost certain they were going to extend Anya’s kidnapping into a more elaborate scenario like the previous episode did by making “Anya’s make-believe play” into a bigger spectacle. Without making this review a giant speculative ramble about why they chose to make the episodes the way they did, I think this episode makes the previous episode with the filler not look as bad.
“This is what happens when people run into your fists.” – Yor 
“He ran into my fist.” – Anya
Do Not Underestimate How Great of a Character Anya is!!
She is truly one of a kind ! Anya is the catalyst for a majority of all the most entertaining scenes. She is by far the only character that can make the viewer elicit the strongest and deepest depths of your pent-up emotions. Why is that? It’s because she is a child. Scratch that.. She is our INNER CHILD. When you couple her innocent interpretations of what Loid & Yor wants her to do, it makes for brilliant satire that just doesn’t come too often, if ever in anime.
Only shows like Rick & Morty, South Park and King of the Hill, come to mind when it comes to very good “kid” characters. In Rick & Morty, you have Morty. In South Park, you have the main 4: Stan, Cartman, Eric, Kyle and a slew of other noteworthy kid characters like Butters. In King of the Hill, you have Bobby. Now in anime, you are beginning to see the next iconic character in comedic satire and that is Anya!
Anya went from being kidnapped to being “kid snaps.”
Last Thoughts
With the previous episode having a bit of filler, I was prepared for another filler spoiled episode. What we got instead ended up being a filler-free episode that meshed really well into one episode. It was a well-timed progression of the story line as the first half of the episode gave us foresight into what ends of up being one of the biggest highlights of the entire anime this far(Anya’s punch).
As the catalogue of characters expand in this series, we are now diving deeper into potentially more hilarious scenarios. So far, the story line is a pretty straight forward and basic one. What makes this episode and show great has been the “character-centric” dynamic between Loid, Yor and Anya. With new characters like Damian and Becky, it gives us opportunities to see what the creators execute on what they do best—that is by exploring Anya’s interactions and relationships between them. This episode represents that last statement to a “T”. This might be the episode where you tell your friends that you should start watching this anime because it is just plain good and it’s only going to get better!
OTAKU SINH 