00:00
Okay, let's do today's word of the day. Oh wait, no. Let's talk about...
How dare you! How dare you try to skip the theme song conversation!
Welcome back to 2AM OTTACK! I'm your host Mayu, a born and raised Japanese non-otaku, and...
I'm Cisco, an American otaku.
In this podcast, we share our reviews of anime and manga through our distinct perspectives
with commentary on Japanese culture, history, and language.
Cisco, we finally can talk about this anime.
Were we waiting?
I mean, we didn't have a chance.
I guess that's fair.
I think technically we could have talked about the movie, which was really fun to watch.
Yeah, it was really fun to watch.
It was not based on the original manga.
Yeah, that's right.
It was a totally new story.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Anyway, finally, we can talk about Spy Family Season 3.
That's right.
So we just watched the first episode, and today we'd like to give our take.
We can also talk about Spy Family in general.
Seasons 1, 2, and the movie.
Yes.
It's a lot.
All about Spy Family.
And we need to talk about the opening theme song for Season 3, Spy Family.
Yes, we do.
Because it's really important.
Yes.
Before we start, we'd like to hear from you.
Share your thoughts, ideas, questions, or even suggestions we should talk about.
Send us a message through the email to the description,
or you can use Spotify and the YouTube comments section as well.
スパイファミリーシーズン3のエピソードレビュー
Let's talk about the first episode of Season 3, Spy Family.
Okay.
With spoilers.
I mean, not much.
There's not that much to spoil.
Not that much to spoil, but we want to talk about it.
All right.
Yeah.
So what was the take?
It was fine.
It's got two episodes in it, basically, right?
It's got like the first half is about Anya, Lloyd, and you're being at a park,
and then stopping a guy from going nuts with like construction machinery.
Yeah.
And then the second half, which is way funnier, is about Agent Nightfall and Frankie,
which is great.
Frankie's like one of my favorite parts of this show anyway.
But yeah, it's about them being together on like a mission, kind of.
And so that's quite entertaining.
And I liked that half a little bit more.
I like Nightfall's character a lot.
Yeah, Nightfall's hilarious.
She's so funny.
Because like she almost never expresses herself, and then like her face expression is always the
same, but inside of her, like a lot of things are going on.
I love that.
Do you relate to her?
I guess so.
As I was saying, I thought, oh, that could be me.
Yeah, it was cute.
The first like half was like, you know, Anya detecting something danger and trying to tell
everybody without telling that she has super skill.
Right.
Like a regular spy family episodes.
It was a nice comeback story.
For who?
For people.
Oh, just like to reintroduce the series?
Yeah.
Be like, just in case you forgot what's going on with this story.
There was a recap, basically, at the very beginning of the episode.
Okay, Lloyd has this power.
Yeah, I kind of I really liked that.
I think like, for me, it brought very much like One Piece vibes.
アニメの導入とキャラクター紹介
For years, I don't I don't think that does this anymore.
But for years, One Piece would open with like, about like a 15 second intro, maybe not even
that long, maybe like seven second intro, where they explained what the hell was going on in the
show.
And I really liked it.
Partly, they just had like a great voice actor doing the voice of like explaining what is
going on.
But yeah, the the sort of like a recap of like, here are these three characters.
Each one has a special power.
They live together in a family.
Next, like, I don't know, I enjoyed it for some reason.
Like, I found it nostalgic and soothing.
That's good.
Yeah.
So like, I think it'll be nice to watch the first and the second season, but I feel like
you can start from season three, too.
Yeah, I mean, I guess like some things have happened so far in the story that you get
I mean, they'll have to introduce Yuri at some point to be like, oh, he's yours, brother,
and he's in the state security service.
Right.
But there are really only four important characters thus far in the story.
Anya, Lloyd, Yor, and Yuri.
Right.
Can you think of anyone else who like really matters?
And I guess Frankie, sorry, five.
Um, but like there are other characters where the manga is right now, where they've like
taken these people who were side characters and developed them into like much more important
people.
Like, I guess like knowing like Becky and Desmond a little bit, or maybe just Desmond,
because he's like part of the mission.
Like Becky's her friend.
Like they're not hugely important.
Like, you know, the headmaster, like they met him in season one and he's like, he's
not the headmaster.
Actually, he's just a teacher at the school.
But there's like, you know, there's some side characters who at this point aren't super
important yet and haven't experienced a lot of character development.
Some of them will later turn out to be like more or less important.
But yeah, I think we're not far enough in the story, even by season three to need to
know a lot more about what happened in season one and two.
And I think like they'll recap it in a very obvious way later.
Like I'm now actually going to struggle.
No.
How many Stella stars has Anya gotten thus far in the anime?
You have no idea.
I don't remember.
I think like not more than two.
She's definitely gotten one.
Yeah.
And I think I don't remember whether she's gotten a second one or not in the anime.
How many Tenitrus bolts does she have?
Tenitrus bolt is the opposite of a Stella star.
It's like when you do something really bad, they give you a Tenitrus bolt.
Really?
Yeah.
And if you get too many of them, they kick you out of the school.
It sounds like my language school in Vancouver.
Yeah, it does.
But so I think she probably has at least one Tenitrus bolt, but I don't know if she has
two yet in the anime.
It's like hard to keep track of these things.
I guess there's little things like that that you would also want to know if you were going
to start watching the anime in season three.
スパイファミリーの秘密
But most of the pleasure and fun of the show just comes from the fact like comes from the
information you get in the intro of like one is a spy and no one else knows it.
One's an assassin and the other two don't know it.
One is a psychic and the other two don't.
I guess I guess Anya knows everybody's secrets because she's a psychic, but like they're
all keeping secrets from each other.
And and that's like the main fun of it.
Yeah, I remember when you started reading spy family manga, you told me, Oh, this is
funny.
You like it, right?
Even way before it became anime.
I hit.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Well, I mean, the the beginning of the manga was really good.
Like the first, second, third, fourth chapters, like I would say maybe like the first 20 chapters,
maybe even like 30 to 50 are great.
And then it kind of like hit this slow patch where like after they've introduced all of
the main characters and after you've had like, I don't know, I'm thinking of the episode
where Lloyd and Nightfall have to go to the tennis tournament.
It's just like funny.
That was hilarious because like all of the Nightfall ones are pretty funny, like regardless
of what's going on, like those ones are really good.
But like after a certain point, the show started to really slow down because the three main
characters can't ever really like it's it's hard to get them to be in the same episode.
Essentially, they've got like three very different things going on.
And, you know, Anya is only like a kindergartner, basically.
Right.
Or like maybe a first grader, you know, like there's there's like sort of some like plot
challenges that the show has.
Like, are we going to watch her for like 18 or 13 years growing up, like before she can
become an imperial scholar?
Like it's not going to make plot sense for her to be an imperial scholar is like a second
grader.
Right.
So you get the sense that, oh, it's going to take a really long time for this mission
to be over.
And then you're like, are they really OK with like their best spy just like chilling for
like 13 years?
Like that's like most of his adult, like prime of his life.
Like the artist took a break for a while.
He drew for like a long time, a couple of like major things happened.
And then like there was a there was a long flashback sequence, which I'm sort of wondering
if like we're going to get there in the anime in this season, if we're going to get up to
that place where he took a break for a long time and then he came back to it later.
And since he came back, I feel like it's actually had like some better pacing of like some
other avenues towards moving the plot forward that don't involve waiting several years for
Anya to grow up or like a time skip or something.
But the show can feel really uneven because like the Bondo episodes, for example, like,
you know, you're not getting any significant plot development.
It's like a dog having like a dog's life, which is like often entertaining, but like
not doesn't really feel like, oh, I'm glad you made this episode.
You know, very often there's like these side missions that don't end up connecting to anything
アニメとマンガのリズム
like the one today where it's like, oh, they stopped a guy from like demolishing a park.
OK, you know, like it didn't really like move the plot in any in any significant way.
And there's a lot of those.
And so I think like it started to find its rhythm again in the manga,
like after the break that he took.
But I hope that the anime has the good sense to avoid that by either putting in original
content that's more interesting than like some of the I don't know, for lack of a better way
to put this filler episodes that are in the manga or like just skipping some of it and like
letting it be an accelerated timeline.
I have to say the movies by Family Code White was amazing.
Like they nailed it with that movie, which was a totally original story that didn't like
move the main plot along at all, but was like what hour and a half long, like fun episode
that really let like all of the characters kind of shine.
It had I mean, I will say this about the movie.
The movie's plot is basically the same as the plot of the one where they go on the ship
for a while.
Do you remember this?
They're escorting a woman who's trying to leave Austenia and go to Westallis because
she's like in the mob or something.
And they all go on like the pleasure cruise together because like I can't remember why
Lloyd is there, but Anya wins like a ticket, I think.
And so they're all on the cruise together, but it's actually your job to be there to
like prevent this person from getting assassinated.
And then she has to fight a bunch of people.
Like it's kind of the same plot as that.
They're on like an airplane or something for a while.
And like it made great use of the core sort of like structure of a good spy family episode,
extended it to a movie length and was like very satisfying.
So I kind of hope they like managed to do a little bit more of that in this season rather
than feeling like, oh, well, it was in the manga.
So we have to do like this story that's like kind of whatever.
We'll see what happens.
映画の成功
Yeah, I like the movie too.
It was like perfect, like family style.
Yeah.
You know, everybody can enjoy.
Yep.
The movie together.
Some about violence, but not too much.
Yeah, it was.
Yeah.
This season, season three, when I checked the rating is a 16 plus.
Yeah, I think it must be for like killing.
Like I said, there's a there's a part coming up and I don't really want to spoil things, but
the the manga like took a sort of unexpectedly serious turn in the middle.
I don't know.
Should I say anything about it or not?
There's there's like an extended flashback that happens in the manga that's actually
quite sad.
And it explains like some of the characters motivations and stuff in a way that feels
important, but is also like like, you know, I mean, a lot of the series messages actually
war is bad.
And like the reason for all of this spy stuff that's going on is because war is such a calamity.
And that doesn't really explain your yours, like murdering people left and right all the
time in ways that like feel kind of problematic.
スパイファミリーのキャラクター
Right.
But like Twilight's mission is to like prevent war from breaking out.
And so, yeah, like I can picture some things that are like disturbing and sad being in
this season in ways that like you might not want like a small child to have to witness
and and like deal with.
I see.
And I know we both like Fiona.
Is there any favorite character?
I really like your a lot.
I mean, partly like she's very like naive kind of right and like charming in her like
simplicity and like Lloyd is so cool that it's really hard not to like.
I think I like all of the characters, at least all the main characters.
Anya is so cute and like funny.
Right.
So I think like they made a very likable main cast.
And even though like all of them are sort of flawed people in terms of like what they're
actually doing or some of some aspects of their personality, you like really want all of them
to be happy and you really, really want them to stay together, even though the central
conceit of the show is that like when they inevitably find out about each other, like
this family isn't going to pull through.
Right.
It's sort of like warm, happy atmosphere.
And like the likable characters are a big part of why I think it's a good good show.
I just checked Wikipedia and this is voice actor Tanizaki Atsumi, who does voice for
Anya.
She first auditioned for your.
Right.
I actually knew this story.
Yeah.
But then she was like, maybe I should audition for Anya just in case.
And she got the gig.
She also does voice for the Freerun.
Freerun and Anya are the same person.
Yeah.
Okay.
I wasn't prepared for that revelation.
Wow.
Okay.
Okay.
And and, you know, she was also Gokuyo-sama in the Apothecary Diaries.
Pink hair.
Yeah.
Okay.
I knew that because I remember talking about that earlier.
But wow.
And then yours is Kocho, right?
Okay.
Yes.
That makes sense.
That's right.
Voice actor for Bondo does narration, all the narration.
That's pretty cool.
Yeah.
I like that.
Nice.
They're all really good.
Yeah.
Okay.
オープニングテーマについて
Let's do today's word of the day.
Oh, wait, no.
Let's talk about.
How dare you try to skip the theme song conversation?
I just forgot.
Let's talk about the very important topic of today.
Yes.
Which is?
The theme song is by Spitz.
Yes.
Why is this so special for you?
Spitz is my favorite band of all time.
And I just can't get enough Spitz.
So I am absolutely thrilled that they got to do this opening theme song.
Can you explain for listeners who don't know about Spitz?
You should just listen, just like search Spitz and start listening.
Like that's what you need to know about Spitz.
They've been in line for a long time.
Long time.
Every Spitz song sounds pretty similar to like at least like 50 other Spitz songs.
Like their sound is very consistent.
I would say like they actually have like about three or four different kind of like song patterns,
but they're all like, I don't know.
Like I, maybe I'm like one of these people who can like, I actually,
スパイファミリーのテーマソング
I'm definitely the kind of person who can eat the same food forever.
Right.
And I feel the same way about like listening to music.
Like I wouldn't, if Spitz never recorded another song and all I could listen to for the rest of my
life was the existing catalog of Spitz songs, I would not be upset.
I'd be like, that's fine.
And so, uh, so I don't know if it's like for everybody necessarily, but like, I love it.
Their songs are so easy to listen.
Yeah.
Soft.
They're like soothing.
Not too soft, soothing.
Yeah.
Yeah.
They're like, they like make me feel relaxed.
The voice.
Yeah.
It's just, they're great.
And so I like, I love Spitz.
And so I'm very, very happy that they got to do this.
I'm like, I wouldn't say this song is necessarily like my favorite Spitz song ever, but it's a
really good one.
And I'm, I'm just so happy that they're, they got to do this.
Yeah.
Theme song is called protecting light.
Yeah.
We haven't listened to any theme song for season three spy family, but it's gonna be
actor by Ikuta Rira.
Oh, interesting.
Okay.
Do you know her?
Uh, you also be right.
Yeah.
Yeah.
She's doing the singer.
Yeah.
Her solo name is Ikuta Rira.
I'm looking forward to that too.
Yeah.
Me too.
Let's move on to what?
Already?
No, it's okay.
It's fine.
I can keep gushing about Spitz forever.
We don't want to talk about the other spy family theme songs though.
Like the first and second season.
Sure.
Sure.
What's your favorite one?
I really liked the first one.
Mixed nuts.
Yeah.
Mixed nuts was like good.
It was too, it had, it was too loud.
That's what I thought too.
But I like it as I kept listening, I got used to it and it's such a fun song.
I know it's fun.
Yeah.
No, I really liked that one.
And I liked the animation of that one a lot because it really focused on the sort of spy
aspect of it in like a kind of cartoony via Anya's sort of view way.
But I really dug that one.
And then I liked the bump of chicken one too.
Were there two different cores in the second season and they had different openings?
Episode two to 12 was mixed nuts.
Episode of 13 to 25 was souvenir by bump of chicken.
I liked that one a lot.
Yeah.
I thought, I thought that was.
It's like a fall theme.
Yeah.
Yeah.
There's sort of outside and fall.
Like the animation is really pretty.
The song was kind of good.
Yeah.
I liked that one too.
Do you remember 26 to 37 Kura Kura by Ado?
Yeah.
I didn't like that one as much.
Like no shade on Ado.
They're, they're great.
But like that was the one where they were like parachuting and having tea at the same time.
I honestly don't have that.
Don't have that memory.
Yeah.
It did not stand out.
And I didn't love either the music or the animation as much as I liked the previous two
openings.
And so it felt like a little bit of a step back.
That one didn't stick out for me compared to the other two.
I wonder why.
For me, season two was like most of the episodes were like one shot, like a one story.
And that's it.
Right.
ストーリーの進行とチャレンジ
It was much weaker than the first season because they've already set everything up.
And yet the plot is not really progressing.
Right.
It was fun at the beginning and that, but I kept expecting.
So what's going to happen to the main story?
Right.
And it didn't really.
I think that's been like a challenge for the mangaka.
Like, I think he got kind of lost and was like, I don't, I don't like know where this
series is going.
And I think taking the break helped like refocus.
Because when they came back, there's still lots of like one-off episodes about like other
characters and other characters, backstories.
And some of that has started to seem like the main point, like a lot of the narrative
becomes about the experience of war and why they're trying to avoid it.
But they also started to develop a plot line in the more recent episodes of the manga that
seems like it is going to go somewhere and like progress the overall story in a way that
is going to be good.
I hope.
今日の単語：タソガレの意味
Let's move on to today's word of the day.
All right.
What is today's word of the day?
I think maybe we do Tasogare, which means twilight, because that's the name of the
main character, the dad in Japanese.
It's his codename as a spy.
He's Twilight or Tasogare.
And it also shows up in lots of other anime like Your Name, where it's like a really main
Tasogare Doki.
Yeah, Tasogare Doki.
So twilight time.
I also just like the word twilight in English, which I think is pretty cool.
And it's the name of a really great play by Anna Deavere Smith about the LA riots from
1994.
It's like a sort of historically and socially important play.
But yeah, and it like the narrative in the play or the definition of twilight in the
play talks about it being a time when one thing changes into another, a sort of liminal
time where things are in between, like, you know, a state of one thing.
And that's like, Your Name uses it in the same way Tasogare Doki of like, you know,
things sort of blending from one space or time into another.
That goes along with what twilight does as an agent, right?
He's like the man of 100 faces or whatever.
He can like blend from one thing into another.
And I think it's a central conceit of this show where he's a spy, but he's also like
a dad and a husband, right?
And a psychiatrist, sort of.
スパイ名のアイデア
If you were a spy, what would your codename be?
Damn, good question.
I kind of feel like you maybe should come up with that, but I'm afraid of what you might
say.
I don't know.
Mr. Wikipedia or something.
I feel like that's not a very good, like, spy name.
Like you would have, like, I think you'd have to go with something like boring, like
The Professor or whatever.
But like, like that's everybody.
Encyclopsysco?
Encyclopsysco.
I mean, your name is in it.
Somebody's definitely going to make fun of me with that name.
Pretty soon.
Yeah.
I don't want to think too hard about this because I feel like it's just going to be
embarrassing.
What about you?
What would your spy name be?
スパイファミリーの新しいシーズン
My spy name?
Yeah.
Silas.
Get out of here.
I have to be Encyclopsysco and you get to be Silas.
Like, come on.
I don't even get a cool spy name?
Come on.
Come up with it by yourself.
Uh, no, I can't think of anything good.
Philosopher?
That is marginally cooler.
But, um, you're gonna have to give me like a whole nother episode to think about like
a cool spy name.
Okay.
That's still going to be dorky.
I'm going to come back with something that I think is cool.
And people are going to be like, oh my God, you're such a loser.
Okay.
We'll keep up on that.
Next time we talk about spy family, I'll have something ready.
And we should introduce ourselves with some cool names.
Call me the professor.
Okay.
All right.
Is there anything you'd like to add before we end?
I'm excited to see where this season goes.
I hope that they aren't afraid of either hurrying up with like the good chapters of
the manga or adding new stories that aren't necessarily from the manga, but do add to
the show or just make it sort of like funny and enjoyable.
But it's a, it's a fine line between like trying to do serious stuff that advances the
plot versus like, it's still a comedy, right?
Question mark.
And I think that's contradiction.
That's at the heart of the show.
And so like, they got to do some of both, but sometimes I think that leaves fans of
one or the other type feeling unsatisfied.
Thank you so much for listening to this week's episode.
リスナーへの感謝
If you liked this week's episode, please give us good reviews on Spotify and Apple
podcasts or like, and leave a comment on YouTube.
Make sure to subscribe and follow 2AMOTAK and 3AMOTAK.
It'll keep us making more fun episodes.
See you next time for more 2AMOTAK.
