A chronological analysis on Twilight and Yor - Introduction and Part 1
Introduction:
After months in the making, I'm finally ready to share my first major Spy x Family writing project: an in-depth analysis on Twilight and Yor. This will be a continuing post series where I'll examine each chapter/episode in chronological order and analyze anything that contributes to their character arcs and growth as individuals, their relationship with each other, and their relationship with Anya.
Before we dive in, some notes:
- Since I want the posts to be enjoyed by fans of both the manga and/or the anime, my goal is to publish a new post roughly every week or so until I reach the point where the first anime season ended (aiming for Tuesday releases as of now. I already have many posts queued up so I'm confident I can keep that schedule). I'll then take a break and resume the posts once we're well into season 2, and so on for subsequent anime seasons. This works out since the SxF anime is a faithful adaptation of the manga. However, if at some point the anime deviates significantly from the manga, or ends up falling way behind the manga, I may change this scheduling format in the future.
- On that note, because I'm mostly sticking to the chronological order of the chapters/episodes, you don't have to worry about manga spoilers if you're an anime-only fan (I'll also be skipping chapters/episodes that don't have any significant Twilight/Yor content). I'm prioritizing the manga as my source, but I'll mostly use screenshots from the anime (since I personally prefer anime as a storytelling medium). So there may be very slight differences in the translations between the two. But for situations where there's a major contradiction between the anime versus the manga, the manga will take priority. If this results in spoilers for anime-only fans, I will give fair warning and tag the post with the "sxf spoiler" tag.
- And lastly, since SxF is an ongoing series, there's a chance that my interpretation of things will change at a later date. So my ultimate goal is that, on the fateful day when the series does come to an end, I'll go through all these posts again and update/tweak them accordingly, maybe even immortalize them altogether in a pdf.
I guess that's it for the introduction – let's begin our Twiyor analyzing journey!
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I didn't know anything about Spy x Family going in other than the fact that it's about a spy who has to adopt a kid in order to succeed with his mission. Having watched many anime series in my time, I suspected it would have the standard premise of a protagonist who's a bit of a jerk early on, but eventually becomes changed for the better as his relationships with other characters deepen. While this is the case for Spy x Family, Twilight never once came off as a jerk to me. Sure, he does act cold and manipulative, but we learn right away that he's working towards the noble goal of making the world a better place.
It's a spy's job to deceive and use others to achieve such a goal – a goal that hinges on a utilitarian view that justifies manipulation and even killing of some if it leads to the eventual happiness of many. With that in mind, we need to look beyond the typical moral compass when judging a character like Twilight (as well as Yor and many of the other characters). But even in the first episode, we can see that he's a decent guy underneath that spy exterior. While he's not as gentle with Anya in the beginning as he could have been, I never thought he was mean to her either. He likely never had any experience taking care of children, so it's understandable that he'd be frustrated, especially for someone with such a delicate line of work. He's so used to relying on logic and structured plans to get out of troubling situations, but such tactics don't work on children like Anya who are still mostly governed by their raw emotions. He says cold things like how he's going to give her back to the orphanage when the mission is over or how he could just get another child after she gets kidnapped, but we see soon enough that what he says he should do isn't always what he's willing to do.
The first pivotal moment where we see that he's more than just the calculating, callous spy he pretends to be is when he chooses to risk his life by sneaking into enemy territory to rescue Anya, even after he just said he could get another child. Then, after he goes through all that trouble, he decides to send her away because he realizes it's wrong to put a child in danger for his mission. We know that "for the mission" is practically Twilight's middle name, and yet early on it's very clear that even this top spy is willing to forgo a mission if it's too immoral for his standards. It's only after Anya shows genuine affection for him (something he's likely not used to receiving from those he "uses") that he decides to continue with Operation Strix as planned.
Fast forward a few days later, he expresses sincere, unfiltered happiness when Anya passes the Eden entrance exam. In fact, he let down his spy persona so much in that moment that he ends up collapsing from the sudden rush of relaxation!
Obviously it's been a very long time since he ever felt comfortable enough to do that, especially in front of someone else. The fact that Anya was able to bring that out in him was only the beginning of what's to come (not too long after, he even starts displaying minor affection by giving Anya a reassuring head pat when she thinks she may be hindering his chances of finding a wife).
Unlike Twilight, who has a set goal in life and knows exactly what he needs to do to achieve it, our initial impression of Yor is the opposite. The first sign that she probably did not have the most favorable upbringing is her unusual response to her coworkers when they joke about putting snot in the boss's coffee. Learning a bit of Yor's backstory later on, it's understandable that she'd have no notion of pranks and would take everything literally.
Being orphaned at a young age, having to take care of a younger sibling, and somehow getting roped into a very harsh line of work, would skew anyone's perception of normalcy (not to mention that she probably had to forgo a proper education in order to be the sole provider for her family). And, as is typical of people to hate what they don't understand, Yor's coworkers, especially Camilla, feel no remorse about saying cruel things to her at the party. She obviously doesn't act like other women, and being different breeds fear, especially in the cold war times that the series takes place in.
Rather than defend herself, Yor simply wonders if Camilla is gaining anything by humiliating her. Once again, due to her warped upbringing, she doesn't understand things like blatant jealously and ignorance. Yor wants to be normal so Yuri doesn't have to worry about her. She even goes so far as to thinking that if everyone at the party would die (by her) then Yuri wouldn't have to hear about how her supposed boyfriend never showed up, but she quickly realizes she can't do that. After sitting awkwardly by herself for a while, she concludes that this concept of "normal" is beyond her grasp. But just as she's ready to give up, enter Twilight.
@p3chris makes a great observation that Twilight decided to show up late to the party even though it may have been more convenient for him to find another woman by then. I lean towards that idea, since he didn't know Yor that well yet, so it would have been reasonable for him to assume she would be angry for supposedly being stood up. Instead of having to make an effort to mend her trust in him, wouldn't it be easier to just find another woman for the role? And yet, despite being insultingly late and having sustained injuries from the mission he just completed, he showed up nonetheless. Is he really that conscientious, or was he just that intrigued by Yor when they first met at the tailors? Probably some of both. As I mentioned before, Twilight is a decent guy who acts on his morals even if it's not always convenient for his missions. Even though he only talked to Yor briefly, and even though he had some misgiving about how intuitive she was, he couldn't help but notice positive things about her that he probably never had in other women he's manipulated – she wasn't flirtatious, dishonest, or pushy when trying to get something from him; she simply wanted a favor for someone else's sake (put Yuri's mind at ease).
Despite his blunder at posing as her husband instead of her boyfriend, Twilight is quick to recover and deflect Camilla's jabs at Yor (being a spy, he excels at maneuvering around people's doubts) . In this scene there's one of many moments where, during his Loid Forger performance, Twilight says something that could definitely be interpreted as his true feelings. After he's all fake smiles while complimenting Yor for raising her brother on her own (his Loid Forger persona), his eyes suddenly darken in thought (dropping the persona) as he likens her sacrifice to his own decision to be a spy, saying that he admires someone who's willing to endure hardships for a greater purpose.
It's moments like this that make Twilight an interesting, complex, but also slightly infuriating character. Whenever he says something like this, it's ambiguous as to whether it's because he truly feels that way, or because it will somehow benefit the mission (in this case, make Yor like him). But usually Endo will throw in a subtle hint to help us distinguish between his "for the mission" talk and his "true feelings" talk, like in this case, where he at first has his fake Loid Forger smile before his expression turns serious as he relates Yor's situation to his own. Often times, Twilight says things to uplift others because it will benefit his mission, but it also happens to align with what he personally feels. And this will only become more frequent as he continues to live as Loid Forger.
Yor is obviously in shock at his words. This is probably the first compliment she's ever gotten from someone besides her family. And it's not the superficial compliment she would expect a man to give a woman whom he just met, like complimenting her appearance (which is exactly what Yor wanted from him when they met at the tailors – because she thought that's what "normal" is) but a compliment about her on a personal level. And later on, when she inadvertently shows Twilight her insane physical strength, he's impressed by it rather than turned off. All of this is what urges her to ask him if he'd extend their contract by actually getting married. After giving her such a genuine compliment, and not being put off by her crazy strength, she thought that he may be the only man who could accept her for who she is (her cluelessness about the meaning of "normal" is further emphasized by the fact that she immediately bought his lie about his patients' "concussive therapy"). Keep in mind that at this point, her only reason for going through with the fake marriage was so Yuri wouldn't worry about her and she could keep an acceptable identity for herself while she secretly continued her assassin work (again, for Yuri's sake).
As for why Twilight didn't immediately seem suspicious of Yor's strength, I simply thought he took her remark about learning self-defense to heart. He already knew her background of having to raise her brother on her own, so he didn't think it was too strange that she learned adequate self-defense skills, especially being an unmarried woman in those times. As for the fact that she was able to send the guy flying with one kick…well, she just happens to also be physically strong. Being in his profession and acquainted with women like Sylvia and Fiona, Twilight knows that women can become physically strong if they have a need to be in their life. And, as he'll come to know, Yor's strength, both in body and soul, is leagues above others.
