Spy x Family season 2 Ep. 5 “Plan to Cross the Border” has the entire Forger family take a vacation on a massive luxury cruise liner. Alas though, the Forgers just cannot have a normal family vacation. Especially not when this is a working vacation for Yor Forger. This is not an assassination job though. On the contrary, this is practically the opposite of an assassination. She actually has to protect someone now in true bodyguard fashion.

Spy x Family Season 2 Ep. 5 “Plan to Cross the Border”: Details

Spy x Family season 2 NA key visual.
At last, the Cruise Ship Arc is beginning!

Spy x Family season 2 Ep. 5 “Plan to Cross the Border” is the fifth episode (you can read reviews of Ep. 1, Ep. 2, Ep. 3, and Ep. 4 here) of the second and latest season of the anime series. Said anime is the anime adaptation of the manga of the same name by Tatsuya Endo. Wit Studio (Attack on Titan season 1-3, Ranking of Kings, The Ancient Magus’ Bride season 1) and Cloverworks (Horimiya, Wonder Egg Priority, My Dress-Up Darling) remain the animation studios behind this anime.

Haruka Tsuzuki is the director of Spy x Family season 2 Ep. 5 “Plan to Cross the Border” as well as the storyboarder, with Daishirou Tanimura writing for this episode. Kazuhiro Furuhashi along with Takahiro Harada (starting with this season) are the directors of Spy x Family season 2. Ichirō Ōkouchi is the writer for season 2 of the anime this time, taking over from Furuhashi. (K)NoW_NAME is still the composer for the music you hear in the anime.

Voice Cast

Spy x Family season 2 Ep. 5 “Plan to Cross the Border” features the voices of Saori Hayami (Natalie Van Sistine in English dub) as Yor Forger/Thorn Princess, Atsumi Tanezaki (Megan Shipman and Bryn Apprill in English dub) as Anya Forger, and Takuya Eguchi (Alex Organ in English dub) as Loid Forger/Twilight. Other notable voices in this episode include Kensho Ono (Dallas Reid in English dub) as Yuri Briar.

When and Where to Watch

Spy x Family season 2 Ep. 5 “Plan to Cross the Border” made its debut on November 4, 2023. You can currently watch this episode only on Crunchyroll. You can watch the previous season either on Crunchyroll as well, or on Hulu.

Spy x Family Season 2 Ep. 5 “Plan to Cross the Border”: Synopsis

The arc so great that it has its own dedicated PV trailer.

Normally, this would be where I give you all detailed and spoiler-filled plot summary of Spy x Family season 2 Ep. 5 “Plan to Cross the Border”. However, this is the spoiler-free version of my usual reviews. Not to mention, it’s been less than a week since this episode aired/streamed. Thus, you will all get the official synopsis from Crunchyroll instead. You can check that out below:

On a mission as Thorn Princess and using her job as city hall as a cover, Yor is tasked with protecting the only survivors of the Gretcher family, Olka and her son, and helping them escape to a different country by traveling on a cruise ship.

Spy x Family Season 2 Ep. 5 “Plan to Cross the Border”: The Good

Spy x Family season 2 Ep. 5 "Plan to Cross the Border" screenshot depicting a disguised Yor with Olka and her baby son.
Even the good times in this episode are tinged with a bit of darkness.

The good, no, great thing about Spy x Family season 2 Ep. 5 “Plan to Cross the Border” is definitely the story. As you can tell by the appearance of Yor’s assassin organization, this is an episode that delves into the murky world of espionage that the story is set in. These dark storylines are what Tatsuya Endo excels at, giving a bitter taste to the episode. It certainly doesn’t get much darker than Yor being a bodyguard for the last surviving member of a crime family and her infant son.

And yet, Spy x Family season 2 Ep. 5 “Plan to Cross the Border” isn’t just a dark story. You have moments of happy fluff like the scene above to balance out the darkness. Somehow, Tatsuya Endo manages to be just as good at fluff as he is at darker storylines. Like I keep comparing to before: it’s like dark chocolate. The best dark chocolate has just the right balance of bitter cacao and sweet milk. That’s Spy x Family for you. Tatsuya Endo is just a master of the narrative equivalent of dark chocolate. Especially when you have baby boy and Anya in the same episode, even if they don’t get to meet each other in the same scene.

Last but not least, the animation of Spy x Family season 2 Ep. 5 “Plan to Cross the Border” is pretty spectacular. The cruise ship herself has that good CGI feel to it the same way that cruise ship in Black Butler: Book of the Atlantic did. It’s this combination of good CGI and handdrawn animation that makes for a lot of visual eye candy.

Spy x Family Season 2 Ep. 5 “Plan to Cross the Border”: The Bad

Spy x Family season 2 Ep. 5 "Plan to Cross the Border" screenshot depicting the mysterious Gardener and his enigmatic smile.
Good guy or bad? Honestly, I think it’s all in the semantics here.

Do you not like dark spy thrillers? Do you not like happy fluff? Well, if you don’t like either, then I’m afraid that this anime might not be your cup of tea, let alone Spy x Family season 2 Ep. 5 “Plan to Cross the Border”. If you’re 5 episodes into the second season and you still don’t like it, then I have to ask why you’re still watching this anime? Just out of curiosity.

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‘Spy x Family Code: White’ NA Rights Acquired By Crunchyroll