Spy x Family Season 2 Ep. 9 “The Hand That Connects to the Future” begins with what is surely becoming the longest night the Forgers ever had. And on what’s supposed to be a fun cruise ship party to boot. Fortunately, despite all the trouble they go through, the end of this episode finally sees that long night end, and the dawn of a new morning for our fake spy family.

Spy x Family Season 2 Ep. 9 “The Hand That Connects to the Future”: Details

Spy x Family Season 2 NA key visual.
At last, we see the last of that cruise ship…or do we?

Spy x Family Season 2 Ep. 9 “The Hand That Connects to the Future” is the latest episode (you can read reviews for  Ep. 1, Ep. 2, Ep. 3, Ep. 4, Ep. 5, Ep. 6, Ep. 7, and Ep. 8 here) of the second and latest season of the anime series, and the 34th episode overall, hence why it’s officially titled Mission: 34. Said anime is the anime adaptation of the manga of the same name by Tatsuya Endo (Blade of the Moon Princess). 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.

Takahiro Harada and Ryōta Karasawa are the directors of Spy x Family Season 2 Ep. 9 “The Hand That Connects to the Future”, with Daishirō Tanimura as the writer, and Isao Hayashi and Miyuki Kuroki as the storyboarders. 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.

Speaking of music: : “Kura Kura” (クラクラ, lit. “Dizzy”) by Ado and director Masaaki Yuasa is the opening theme song. Meanwhile, the ending theme song is “Todome no Ichigeki” (トドメの一撃, lit. “Finishing Strike”) by Vaundy (feat. Cory Wong) and director Eugene Winter.

Voice Cast

Spy x Family Season 2 Ep. 9 “The Hand That Connects to the Future” 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 for this episode include Aya Endō as Olka Gretcher/Shaty Grey, and Kenyu Horiuchi as Matthew McMahon. On the villains’ side, this episode features the voices of Kazuyuki Okitsu as Snoops, and Kohsuke Toriumi as the unnamed glasses-wearing assassin leader.

When and Where to Watch

Spy x Family Season 2 Ep. 9 “The Hand That Connects to the Future” made its streaming debut on December 2, 2023. You can watch this episode only on Crunchyroll for now. You can watch the previous season either on Crunchyroll as well, or on Hulu.

Spy x Family Season 2 Ep. 9 “The Hand That Connects to the Future”: Synopsis

Farewell Lorelei, we will miss you.

Normally, this would be the part of the review where I give you all a spoiler-filled plot summary of this episode. However, this is the spoiler-free version of my usual reviews. Thus, you will all get the official synopsis of this episode from Crunchyroll. You can read that below:

Due to the movements the State Security Service members were making, Loid finds out that there was a bomb on the ship. Loid leaves Anya at the daycare in a hurry then disguises himself as a State Security Service member to take care of the bomb.

Spy x Family Season 2 Ep. 9 “The Hand That Connects to the Future”: The Good

Spy x Family Season 2 Ep. 9 "The Hand That Connects to the Future" visual.
One of these scenes did not actually happen in the episode.

In case it isn’t obvious, the story of Spy x Family Season 2 Ep. 9 “The Hand That Connects to the Future” is the best part about it. Wit Studio and CloverWorks are very faithful to the manga’s storyline, and that works very well in its favor here. Tatsuya Endo did a marvelous job with the Cruise Ship Arc in the manga, and it’s great to see it being transplanted into anime form more or less as is. The anime only enhances the plot with music, visuals, and more. This, ladies and gentlemen, is how an anime adaptation should go.

Spy x Family Season 2 Ep. 9 “The Hand That Connects to the Future”: The Bad

Spy x Family Season 2 Ep. 9 "The Hand That Connects to the Future" screenshot depicting Yor holding her signature metal spike as she faces down an assassin.
Nothing bad going on here, unless you like getting stabbed by high-velocity metal spikes.

The only bad thing I can criticize about Spy x Family Season 2 Ep. 9 “The Hand That Connects to the Future” has nothing to do with the episode at all. It all has to do with Crunchyroll’s official synopsis of this episode. I mean, I get it. There’s not a lot of room to write down a particular wordy synopsis, so they need to keep it to a minimum. But that said: why does the synopsis make the episode sound like Loid is the focus of the episode? He isn’t. Yes, he’s an important part of this episode, but he isn’t the sole focus. Yor and Anya get equal amounts of screen time in this episode too.

I don’t think it’s that hard to come up with a synopsis that simply reads: “Loid is busy defusing bombs while Anya sneaks out to assist Yor, who is fighting for her life against assassins”. There. Problem solved. Perfectly succinct synopsis for this episode while giving equal focus to everyone. It’s not that hard. Maybe in the future, the synopsis writers can avoid this problem.