Spy x Family (Season One – Part One)
Agent Twilight takes on his toughest mission yet in his attempts to create world peace. In order to get close to a prominent politician, he will need to pose as a family man… which means he’ll need to make a family first!
Spy x Family (Season One – Part One)
What did you watch?
When Spy x Family was released, I kind of gave it a glance and then decided to skip it for now. I’ve never been a big fan of shows that revolve around a child. However, after the first season was so well received, I decided to check out the manga and very quickly fell in love with the story. So, when the right time presented itself I decided to dive in. The big question now is whether the anime lived up to the hype or even my feelings about the manga. I guess we had better find out!
What happened?
Agent Twilight is the best spy in Westalis and has been selected for possibly his toughest mission yet. Donovan Desmond, a prominent politician in Ostania has begun making moves that could result in another war between the two nations. Desperate to ensure that doesn’t happen, Twilight will need to get close to Desmond, which won’t be easy. His only public appearances are at his son’s school, the prestigious Eden Academy. So, Twilight will need to put together a family and ensure that his child attends Eden Academy.
Taking on the alias of Loid Forger, Twilight begins his mission by searching for a suitable child. At a less-than-reputable orphanage, he discovers Anya who impresses him by completing the crossword in front of him. Little did he know that she was reading the answers straight out of his head. Anya is a telepath! When she realises that Loid is a spy, she’s desperate to become a part of the mission, even if she can’t tell him about her special ability. Before long, Anya takes the entrance exams and scraps through. Turns out there weren’t a lot of correct answers in the heads of the students around her! However, the next part of the admission requires that both parents attend an interview. No exceptions!
Loid has to find a wife. He does his due diligence on all the single women in the area, but then the perfect woman finds him. Yor Briar works at City Hall, however, that’s just a cover. By night, she is the famed assassin, the Thorn Princess and she’s worried that being single might lead to people being suspicious of her. After a chance meeting, she asks Loid to pretend to be her boyfriend for a party. He agrees on the condition that she will pretend to be his wife for the entrance interview. However, when he gets to the party after pulling off another mission, he gets his stories crossed and introduces himself as her husband. After standing up for her in front of her friends, she asks if he will marry her and keep the charade going. Since they both benefit from this, it’s a no-brainer. And that’s how the Forger family came to be!
What did you think?
I’ve noticed a little bit of pushback online against this series and that often happens when shows are successful. I also think that it’s possible that many don’t see the beauty of this show. For anyone who has a child, this show will be hilarious. The way that Loid analyses parenthood and attempts to solve the mystery that is children is hilarious. I loved how he commented that he had no idea how difficult all the parents had it, even after reading up on the subject. Then, when you throw in the hidden identities of each of the characters and how they are constantly trying to maintain the charade, it just gets funnier and funnier, while still being incredibly insightful. Of course, Anya knows everything about her pretend parents, but doesn’t want to say anything because she’s loving it and she wants the family to stay together. These are high stakes indeed. This series is fantastic and deserves all the praise it gets.
What was your favourite moment?
There were a lot of great moments. In particular, I loved the reaction of House Master Henderson as he witnessed just how elegantly prepared Loid Forger was with his three changes of clothes. To make it even better, Henderson was voiced by Barry Yandell – Bon Clay from One Piece. That was a perfect casting choice. Anyhow, as much fun as that was, my favourite moment was something else entirely.
To celebrate Anya getting into Eden Academy, she wanted to reenact the scenes from her favourite spy show. Luckily, Franky, Twilgiht’s regular contact, was keen to make that happen. Somehow, he convinced Loid to hire the castle that they use in the show, which is now a theme park. He then flew Anya, Franky, and Yor, who was quite drunk to the castle. The only problem – it was empty. So, Loid called in another favour, mobilising every agent nearby. Franky then orchestrated a ridiculous scenario where he was the villain who had kidnapped Anya. Loid was the spy who had to save her, but to do so he had to get past Franky’s minions – the other agents. It was utterly fantastic and peaked when Loid caught up with Franky only for drunk Yor to come out to protect Anya. Even drunk, she is terrifying. Loid was only saved by her heel breaking and her passing out drunk. Loved every second!
What was your least favourite moment?
The part where Yuri Briar, Yor’s protective brother who is secretly a part of the Secret Police, was concerned that Yor and Loid’s marriage was a sham… He demanded that if it were real they would be able to kiss in front of him. Now, the entire scene was fine, especially as we got to see how Loid worked out who Yuri really was. My main objection is that in a flashback, Yuri revealed that he wanted to marry Yor when he was older… his sister. Now, if that’s just a childhood thing whatever, but for him to still feel that way as an adult was weird.
Who was your favourite character?
For me, this show is at its best when Loid and Yor are going over things in their head and Anya is listening. I loved seeing her reactions to things that they were thinking, such as Yor wondering if she could kill someone to get things done or Loid calculating the things he needs to do to prevent war from breaking out. So, how can I possibly single one of these three out? This show is called Spy x Family because the family is the main part. It’s the thing that holds the show together. I love all of them and can’t wait to see how they progress.
I’m going to give a quick shout-out to overly protective Yor who is incredible. Seeing her attack the would-be kidnappers or the terrorist that Anya was claiming was kidnapping her so that Loid wouldn’t lose him. I love it when she gets that dark look about her and goes into kill mode. I worry that there may come a time when Loid and Yor find themselves up against one another for real, but thankfully that hasn’t happened yet. The family dynamic is excellent and I love seeing them all working through their problems. It’s surprisingly realistic from a parenting point of view.
Who was your least favourite character?
So far it has to be Yuri Briar, Murdoch Swan, or Camilla. Yuri for the obvious sister love moments. Murdoch was the teacher who made Anya cry in the entrance interview which made Loid punch the table and Henderson then elegantly punch Murdoch. I hated him in the manga and it was exactly the same here, even knowing what a massive dick he was beforehand. The anime made me not like Camilla far more than the manga managed. If anything, I barely remembered her from the manga, but the way she seemed to want to belittle Yor for being single made for a particularly uncomfortable moment. I loved that Loid came into the party and instantly read the room, taking her away from that awful environment.
Would you like some more?
I’m going straight into the second part of season one which is another thirteen episodes. I’m glad that I get to do the entire first season in one go. Having to wait an entire season for the next part would be infuriating, especially as the first part didn’t really have a natural climax. We’ve also been teased about the family getting a dog who appears to be able to see the future… Can’t wait to find out what that’s all about and how he will pair up with Anya to make more mischief for Loid.
What have you learned?
This is one of those moments where the author, Tatsuya Endou has amazingly found a parallel between being a spy and being a familyman. I don’t think I would have put those two paths together in a million years, but upon seeing it, it makes perfect sense. It makes me wonder where we might find other things that mirror one another and could be moulded into another wonderful story. The best thing about this is that by taking something more relatable like being a part of a family and mashing it with something very few people have any experience with it allows us to find common ground with the characters even when they are doing unbelievable things. Often it’s the smallest details that make the connections between the story and the audience. I think this series does a great job of that.
Series Information
| English Title | Spy x Family |
| Japanese Title | Spy x Family |
| Genres | Action, Comedy |
| Demographic | Shounen |
Anime
Season One – Part One
| Season | Season One – Part One |
| Released | Spring 2022 |
| Animation Studios | CloverWorks, Wit Studio |
| Episodes | 12 |
Season One – Part Two
| Season | Season One – Part Two |
| Released | Fall 2022 |
| Animation Studios | CloverWorks, Wit Studio |
| Episodes | 13 |
Manga
| Author | Tatsuya Endo |
| Artist | Tatsuya Endo |
| Volumes | Ongoing |
| 1 | What a Wonderful Family You Are! |
Plus, it’s a family-friendly series that your sons can watch with you (if they’re interested in spies or whatever loveable Anya is up to). There are violent scenes, but there’s rarely any bloodshed. Of course the tone of the story in several scenes are very heavy, but I feel like this series’ narrative isn’t “talking down” to the audience.
Kind of how early DC animated series in late 90s to early 2000s never treats the audience, even if there’ll be little kids, as slow-witted. Something I wish 86 presentation, especially visuals involving characters’ faces being animated, had done in the first cour even though it’s a recommended watch from me as it’s not a wish fulfilment story. I might start 2nd cour soon and wish me luck that I’m not cold-hearted after the final episode.
Ok, correction. There’s bloodshed given Yor’s secret identity is an assassin. But it’s not too graphic like what we’ve seen on other popular mainstream shonen series (Jujutsu Kaisen or Attack or Titan for example).
It is family friendly-ish. Even with Yor’s assassin job they never really show much other than her covered in blood. That said, I feel like it is very much aimed at parents. There’s so many things that are instantly relatable to a parent. The idea of wanting to put on a disguise and following your kids at school to see how they are doing is not that crazy. The way the kids act and do everything but the thing you want is spot on too. Anya being able to read people’s minds makes everything that much funnier too. I think this was a very clever series despite apparently being written to market.
Nice post 😎🎥
Thanks
Drunk Yor is delightfully terrifying. I loved your favorite moment. Yor gave even Loid/Twilight, a seasoned fighter, more than he could handle. I’m not sure he could take her even if he got serious!
And I hope it never comes to that.
Agreed. He may be a spy, but she is a straight up assassin. I have to laugh at how often she thinks about killing someone to solve their family problems, and also how Anya reacts to that. This family is balanced on a knife’s edge and it fascinating watching them try to maintain order.
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