As one of the few connections to Donovan Desmond, Eden Academy is at the very heart of Operation Strix in Spy x Family. The mission’s success and the world peace itself rest on Anya’s ability to rise to the top and become an Imperial Scholar, or an “umperial skoller” as she would call it. Other than its prestigious reputation and sometimes snobby teaching staff, Eden Academy is fairly unassuming. However, one little detail about the school teases it may be hiding a rather dark secret under its ostentatious facade.
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An interesting detail about Eden Academy that not many may have noticed is that the school’s emblem consists of an apple split in half horizontally with the initials “EC” in the center, which stands for the school’s formalized name, Eden College. Given the name of the institution, this choice of symbol may not have been coincidental and is likely a reference to the Garden of Eden and the forbidden fruit from the Tree of Knowledge which is commonly pictured as an apple. That said, perhaps Eden Academy’s fruity logo could also hint at an underlying connection to the insidious and enigmatic Project Apple.
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Eden Academy Could Be Connected to Project Apple
While Spy x Family has admittedly given fans little else to suspect of a connection between these two Ostanian institutions, there does seem to be one factor they have in common, which is Donovan Desmond. Not only is Donovan an alumnus of Eden Academy and former Imperial Scholar himself, but he is also currently the chairman of the National Unity Party which is said to have led Project Apple under the previous chairman, Chapman.
It is implied that Project Apple was shut down shortly after Donovan took over due to the National Unity Party falling out of favor, though WISE does suspect that some of its research may still be ongoing. Though initiated before Donovan’s rise to leadership, Donovan is highly suspected to be involved in Project Apple as well as the research experiment that Anya was a part of owing to the appearance of a researcher in both projects that looks suspiciously just like Donovan. Melinda’s recently revealed suspicions about Donovan being a telepath further support these speculations about his close involvement.
Little is known about Chairman Chapman, who supposedly initiated Project Apple, though given Eden Academy’s illustrious 500-year-old reputation, it wouldn’t be too much of a surprise for him to be an alumnus of the school as well. Fans’ best bet right now is that Project Apple’s name was likely inspired by Eden Academy’s emblem. there is even a possibility that all the researchers involved in the experiment were also Eden alumni and Imperial Scholars, given the advanced nature of the research.
Nonetheless, with the series being well over 100 chapters in, it seems Spy x Family is finally diving into these and other burning questions, so it may not be too long until fans learn the truth about Project Apple and maybe even Eden Academy.
Spy x Family is available to read via Manga Plus and Viz Media.
