Spy x Family

SPY×FAMILY is the first mainstream anime to come out in a very long time that I can confidently say is worth the hype. I mean, it might be a bit overhyped, but what isn’t these days? I expected a generic, uninteresting, gimmicky piece of shounen-action trash, and what I got was a clever and oh-so-endearing slice of life with lovable characters, fantastic visual set pieces, a brilliant setting, and, if you can believe it, a genuinely funny sense of humor and gut-busting comedic timing. It’s way more simplistic and tensionless than I expected it to be, and that is a good thing. I recently wrotea review for 86 that went deeply misunderstood, and not just by the people who read my reviews solely to hate them. It was a tedious, four-paragraph review that takes three paragraphs to make even a single point, and while you’re probably falling asleep just listening to me describe it, I thought the tedium was worth it at the time of writing, because the point I was making was quite particular. My whole argument against the show was how poorly considered its presentation was; to quote everyone’s least favorite Greek snob, “86 plays out like a soap opera written by and aimed at teenagers who don’t really know anything about real war.” It’s horrible CG action, simpleminded social commentary, and unbelievable, generic characters were all legitimate issues, but what made the show truly unwatchable was its incongruous presentation that wanted you to view it as a serious war drama while also boasting the same moe fanservice and child-like, immature characters you’d see in any average highschool anime. SPY×FAMILY is the ultimate response to this critique. This is, if you haven’t figured it out by now, a show about a family of spies, but despite the gravity of their situations, the show does not take itself serious at all, and its presentation is consequently perfect. Twilight, our protagonist who I will henceforth be referring to by his alias, Loid, is a spy working for West German intelligence, and he’s tasked with making contact with a certain East German official who plans to turn the Cold War into a hot one. However, the only public appearances made by this individual are at his son’s school, where High Honor students are admitted into a fraternity where their parents can meet for pleasantries. In light of these circumstances, Loid is now in a position where he’s forced to find a wife and child, manage a believable appearance for this new fake family, and mold his new child into someone capable of earning their way into the fraternity and thereby handing Loid a meeting with his target. I know this premise already sounds a bit silly on its own, but only after you’ve actually sat down and watched the show will you be able to fully wrap your head around the true extent of its low-stakes, intentionally contrived, and often hysterically funny presentation and appreciate what makes its formula so entertaining and fun. Loid is a jack of all trades, but he is by no means a master of none, yet despite being comically proficient at everything, he’s limited by the fact his mission is totally out of his own hands, as he cannot rely on his usual wheelhouse of skills for this particular mission. It’s no longer a matter of stealth or brains, but rather a matter of your wife and child staying on script, and this is obviously far easier said than done. Loid’s wife, Yor, is not only a completely air-headed idiot, but she’s also secretly an assassin—think Mr. & Mrs. Smith—and his new daughter, Anya, is not only a completely bumbling incompetent, but she’s also secretly an esper who can read minds. This set-up of having Loid and Yor oblivious to one another’s true dealings while Anya knows literally everything despite having none of the agency nor ability to actually effect any meaningful change is exquisitely balanced and, at least so far, has proven to be a Haruhi-level premise, only with less legendarily memorable characters. If we’re going to stick with the Mr. & Mrs. Smith comparison, it would be like if Brad Pitt had little to no understanding of human intimacy and connection, and Angelina Jolie was pretending to be a retard, while also being a genius…but then also…was a retard. The show is fucking funny, and every character is delightfully lovable almost instantly. There’s no stupid melodrama, and any serious emotional developments the series does contain are genuinely wholesome. One episode ends with a six minute long scene of two adult characters having a human conversation, reflecting on their personal memories and life choices, and while watching it I thought I had died and gone to Heaven. Meanwhile, another episode ends with a ten minute long sequences of Loid playing Total Wipeout against an army of BND agents trying to reenact Anya’s favorite spy cartoon in a conveniently placed theme park castle right outside East Berlin, displaying what was perhaps the best action animation of the season on a literal, in-universe joke. And BOTH scenes worked marvelously. Speaking of the animation, the production of this series is probably its biggest downside, despite being well above average. There’s CG pedestrians, CG cars, and the usual, but the real continuous issue is the art direction. I understand the story is supposed to be taking place in East Germany, so there was clearly a vision to realize this drab, post-war, communist shithole, and in that sense the colors work perfectly, but I just wish they would’ve prioritized consistent detail. The backgrounds are just so empty sometimes, and it really undercuts how much effort the series puts in elsewhere. As for the actual artwork and animation, let’s just say you don’t have to wait until the credits roll to figure out which episodes were done by WIT Studio and which ones were done by Cloverworks. I mean, when one episode is mostly lip flapping and still characters storyboarded shot/reverse shot, and the next one immediately opens with the same scene of the same characters smacking each other across the room, moving all over the foreground and the background of shots, and being animated with multiple times the frames from needlessly difficult angles, then it’s not exactly a coincidence. I would describe the soundtrack the same way I would describe every other anime soundtrack that (K)NoW_NAME has done: fun, energetic, and, when necessary, absolutely badass. The character designs are excellent, and I’m not surprised this manga is a best-seller with these designs on the cover. Pretty much every major character has the ability to become an iconic design, and the artists behind this series fucking know it, because some of the facial expressions they pull out are priceless. It’s not just the designs, though. I keep failing to go in depth and really paint a picture of how charming this cast truly is, because they’re what really sells SPY×FAMILY and all that really matters within it. Loid feels like he was created in a laboratory designed to synthesize the most perfect heartthrob anime husbando imaginable, while also being a well-rounded, introspective, likable protagonist; Yor is equally perfect to carry the collective attention span of new-seasonal-waifu-seeking male otaku while simultaneously just being a good character; and Anya is simply irreplaceable. Everyone is familiar with the phrase, “a character is only as smart as their author,” right? Personally, I’ve always loved this phrase and agreed with it’s sentiment, but I’ve also found the inverse to be weirdly true as well. This is to say, a character can only really seem as stupid as their author is willing to make themselves, and it’s this phenomena which I think makes Anya such a perfect character. She is a child, and she’s written to act like a child and process things in a convincingly childish manner, but sometimes she’s strangely conniving, observant, and aware in a way that feels way too mature for the character she’s been sold as. Again—deliberate presentation, yada, yada, yada—this all works for aforementioned reasons, and it just makes her character so hilarious, because the author never hesitates to give Anya the punch line for a set-up no real child would have the social acumen to catch. I know I’ve been swearing by this show’s comedy insistently without providing anything to back up my claims, but I simply refuse to spoil any of the jokes in this review. I’ve recently gotten a few comments on my page from people telling me they’re anticipating this review, and while sentiments like this always make my cold, icy heart flutter with the bliss of a true attention whore, they’ve also made me feel rather guilty, because I haven’t really done anything special with it, and this final paragraph won’t be making any effort to change that fact. I’ve had this issue over the course of the last few weeks with Paripi Koumei as well, where, after seeing the OP and hearing about the show second-hand, I had all these ideas of how I wanted to approach my eventual review, but when I actually went to watch the show, I was betrayed by its simplicity. It was just good—simple as that—and the reasons why it was good were very easy to say, so all my hollow drafts completely caved in on themselves, and I had to settle for a much more laid-back, two-paragraph review that covered everything it needed to cover in a fairly unexceptional manner, and I’m afraid the simplistic charm of SPY×FAMILY has left me in a similar situation. If you think slice of life is a worthless genre made for human sloths whose own lives are more boring than watching paint dry, then I guess I could recommend steering clear, but if anything I’ve described has sounded even remotely entertaining, then please remember the show itself is certainly going to be many times more enjoyable to you than reading my shitty writing will ever be. Yes, it’s been overly praised, so maybe don’t be expecting the next classic anime masterpiece in the making, and there’s nothing terribly revolutionary about its humor, but its formula is fresh, and its characters are the absolute dearest. Thank you for reading.

Mediocrity can mask itself in funny ways. When I think of the word “overrated”, I think of shows that have been able to hide their mediocrity in such admirable fashion that they do not get noticed by the majority of anime fans. We’ve had our fair share of overrated anime like Clannad which was able to mask its mediocrity with emotional p0rn, No game no life, and even more recently Sono bisque doll with its uncanny ability to cater to the most down bad section of weebs. But no mediocre anime has been able to reach such heights of popularity as quickly and as effortlesslyas Spy X family has. Some of us are quick to convince ourselves that ratings don’t matter but when an anime(a first season at that) reaches so close to the top of the charts on this site before even clocking six episodes, there’s something in the works. This is my first complete review of an anime. I’ll try to keep things spoiler-free but some minor spoilers from the anime might spew out on account of my rage. Spy X family is the new anime on the block taken on by two popular studio veterans, Wit and Cloverworks, who know more than a thing or two about how to adapt a successful anime. If you haven’t been living under a rock for the past three months, you’ve probably heard about it. A spy on an undercover operation marries and adopts a child all in the name of avoiding war. The plot follows Twilight, a renowned spy who is tasked with investigating Donovan Desmond, who I think is a leader of some country, group, or something. Desmond apparently only shows his face in his child’s school thus sparking the culmination of convenient story arcs and just all-around nothingness that fails to leave me with much satisfaction or anticipation. Spy X family falls short in quite a few areas starting from its overly convenient plot. There’s just too much that didn’t need to happen. Firstly, the existence of Yor. In what school do you need two parents to be present for an interview? Aren’t concepts like death, divorce, adoption, and many others present in this anime? This means that Yor has no right to be this integral to the plot this season. Now don’t get it twisted, I don’t hate Yor I think she’s a tolerable character but the way she was introduced to the story was stupid. The only reason she exists, to begin with, is to appear in Anya’s interview. She hasn’t done anything else to prove that she can be important to the overarching plot of the show yet. That might change but you have to admit that for now she’s kinda just flailing around having very little importance to the story so far and is mainly used as eye candy. I would rather have characters pop up randomly and then be included in the story rather than being included in the most ridiculous and unrealistic ways. Secondly, the dialogue. I value dialogue a lot in a story. A good dialogue aids in creating convincing characters by exposing essential details about their backgrounds, quirks, etc. It reveals aspects of characters that make them relatable. Spy X family does not excel here, unfortunately. The dialogue is forgettable and doesn’t leave me with any impression that these characters can be entertaining in any fashion. The most fascinating relationship is between Anya and Loid but that does not get explored enough or as in-depth as I would like. The other characters leave very much to be desired as well in terms of dialogue. The characters are not entertaining or thought-provoking. It’s not like the interactions between the characters are incredibly witty or funny, intellectual, natural, or realistic. The interactions between the three main characters seem lifeless at times and it feels like time is moving that much slower when I watch these characters communicate with each other. I feel like if an anime(A “comedy anime” at that) cannot establish some form of entertaining dialogue that goes past the stereotypical cheesiness that SXF advertises, then it is simply not worth my time. The dialogue is easily the weakest part of this show and when people such as me try to discuss these issues with Spy X family twerkers, it always comes back to one lazy ass point,” iT’s JuSt a SliCe Of LiFe CoMeDy iT’s NoT tHaT sErIoUs”. Okay, let’s address the comedy then. When anyone criticizes the anime, the stans are so quick to say that it’s just a comedy slice of life and whatnot but here’s the twist, it’s not even that funny! Comedy is subjective and everything but I want to see the people that get a good laugh by watching some of the “comedic” scenes in this show. The comedy is repetitive with slow and awkward timing and it’s normally filled with Anya or Yor doing something over the top like slapping a relative until he starts bleeding or Anya falling on her face like an idiot. Also, can we talk about the fact that Anya, a four-year-old is being forced to an elite school with people two years older than her and not only expected to keep up with her elite classmates but to do so well academically that she gets a Stella? I feel like it’s another stupid and cruel attempt at comedic relief. Admittedly, the manga is a better representation of comedy but I feel like the anime’s shameless use of meme moments and explosive animation to pass off as comedy does not work for me. What makes it even more confusing is that it’s not hard to make me laugh. Some of my favorite comedy anime are trashy anime that don’t take themselves too seriously. The simplest joke can have my chest hurting from laughing too much. As with most “funny” anime these days, Spy X family is filled with wholesome moments that get the fans going. Watching Loid act like a dad is cute, Anya being stupid is cute, and Yor blushing for no reason is cute but it’s not funny at all. I can’t even think of an anime that came out in the past four or five years that hasn’t outrageously relied on these overused tropes and tried to pass it off as comedy. This section will be dedicated to all the stupid things that didn’t need to happen. Can we talk about episode five? The most over-the-top celebration of a child going to school I have ever seen. Also, the organization that Loid works for made itself to be an absolute joke, and the “best” spies were just really dumbed down to fit the subplot which was to “save” Anya from a “villain”. In a show that people praise for its relatable slice-of-life moments, I don’t know how anyone could tolerate this episode. Another episode that didn’t advance the plot was that dodgeball episode. Never have I ever seen such attention to detail in a pointless episode that does nothing different than the previous episodes. I don’t think there’s been enough plot development to allow for irrelevant episodes. If Loid’s mission was so urgent that he had to enroll his four-year-old child in an elite school with people two years older than her then surely the plot should progress faster right? While we’re at it what about the backstories? Does Anya’s tragic backstory revealed to us in the earlier episodes play a part in the progression of the story? Certainly not. The show focuses on scenes that make the fan base melt over interesting scenes that reveal to the audience the implication and why that backstory is so relevant to the character. But instead, we had about two or three full episodes of not building up anything. It’s such a shame because everything has been set up, the plot looks interesting, and the characters? Fairly bland but can improve if they focus more on the actual story. Ultimately, all we get is a poorly written slice-of-life anime with the occasional dark episode or two which I feel is a huge waste of potential. To end this review let’s discuss some of the few moments where Spy X family showed the potential to be great. I could write about the art, music, or animation but I feel like that is already the topic of discussion in many other reviews of this show. What I want to focus on are the moments where there was potential for a good anime. First off, Anya passing the exam. We all knew that she was going to pass but seeing the genuine excitement from Loid as he sees her number on the board! One of the first instances we see a genuine father-daughter bond grow is during Loid and Anya's celebration together and it was honestly beautiful and relatable and is by far the best moment in the anime until it was ruined by that stupid hide and seek game. Another moment is where Loid lashes out during the interview. Again that did nothing but strengthen the bond between Loid and Anya. It showed that he is not just creating a family to fulfill his mission but he cares about Anya. The show clearly shows promise but it holds itself back from being good by always clicking the reset button on any meaningful progress, reducing it to a standard comedy series(depends on what your definition of comedy is) with no actual intention of advancing its plot so far. I’ve read a bit of the manga which suffers from the same problems as well. All in all, Spy X family is a disappointment but not an unsalvageable one. It showed good perhaps even great moments but not nearly enough to justify its incredibly high acclaim.

Heh, I can't believe how incredibly popular and highly rated Spy X Family has become. Especially when it isn't an anime that contains a lot of the more "epic" or "emotional" moments that a lot of the other top shows on this site bring to the table. But I too have been captived by it's charm ever since reading the Manga. So what's the secret formula that makes Spy X Family a resounding success? Let's dive into it, shall we? And no, it's not because the characters are relatable. There's absolutely no way...unless of course you happen to be a spy, an esper, an assassin, orhave started a fake family for the sake of world peace. In which case yeah, I guess you could relate. The setup of the anime is solid without being too detailed. Viewers learn that the state of this anime's world revolves around the incredibly strained relationships between two rivaling nations with heavy inspiration from East and West Germany during the Cold War Era and how our protagonist Loid Forger, a.k.a. Agent Twilight, a.k.a. best fake father and fake husband ever, is given a super special secret mission to get close to a leader of his opposing nation for the sake of striving for world peace. We're quickly given the scoop for what the anime is going to be about, and it's done well. I do wish there was a little more world building since aside from a few explanations of some jobs and roles that people have in this fictitious society, we don't get as much as I would like in terms of really fleshing out this world and making it feel like an immersive place that makes sense. But this isn't the primary focus of the anime and is still executed well enough, so this is mainly just me nitpicking a little. What Spy X Family truly is is a character focused comedy. I really enjoy how unlike other stories that try to hide a character's true role and motivations to be revealed near the end as some sort of plot twist, we know absolutely everything about these characters from the get-go. Everything is revealed to the viewer, and that unique yet excellent approach in my mind is one reason why this anime truly stands out. Now if the core cast were normal people, then this wouldn't be a big deal. But they are most certainly not normal. I already mentioned how Loid is a spy. Well, his mission involves creating a family and having his child attend a prestigious school in order to get close to his target. And this is where the fun begins. He adopts a small girl named Anya...who can read everyone's mind...as his daughter and marries a bit of an airheaded woman named Yor...who assassinates people as a job. And where Spy X Family truly shines in my mind is in the bonds these three share. Each of them pose as a member of this family for their own secretive purposes, and it's just really engaging to see how they keep so much from each other while still slowly bonding and becoming a real family. Because damn, the author is excellent at depicting their relationships. So let's get into this trio! Anya actually acts like a child unlike most anime kids I've seen, and she's incredibly endearing. The girl craves excitement, and since she's the only one who knows everything that's going on, she loves this seemingly normal yet secretly crazy environment. And I would like to take a moment to mention just how great of a character Anya is in general. Of course she has her legendary meme face, but she's just such a fun character in all of her entirety. She has so many great moments across all the episodes and just really shines like a Stella Star. I'd honestly say that she's the most entertaining anime girl that I've seen in a long time. I actively burst out laughing during several of her moments, which is pretty rare for me. Anya truly is best daughter! Of course there's also Yor, who is quite enjoyable in her own right. She's probably the most adorable house wife ever while also being a cold killer on her spare time. Huh, what a combo. She's pretty much the definition of both ditzy and deadly, and she combines her two sides in a crazy yet engaging way. Plus her bond with both Loid and Anya is incredibly cute. There are many adorable moments shared within this fake family. And while Loid himself is incredibly stoic and entirely focused on his mission, I really like how he connects with these two and acts as a straight man in many ridiculous scenarios. But he's not prone from doing ridiculous things himself. As the top spy in the world, I can assure you that Loid partakes in many over the top missions that put Tom Cruise from Mission Impossible to shame. Though each of their signature moves seems to be disguising as others so perfectly that they even take on their target's voice, so I guess they're both equally over the top. But it's certainly fun to watch. Spy X Family is a bundle of entertainment. I focused entirely on the core cast in this review, but the supporting characters like Damian and Becky are all enjoyable as well and bring a little something to the table. Especially during the school scenes. Seriously, those have no business being as entertaining as they are. When reading the Manga, those are the moments that stood out to me the most, and I'm glad to see them excellently adapted here. The Anya vs Damian moments like the punch scene and the dodge ball game especially made me burst out laughing, they're just so well done. I really have to give the combined efforts of Wit Studio and Cloverworks massive props for making such a brilliantly designed show. Comedy is subjective, so Spy X Family certainly isn't for everyone. But if it's incredibly high scores aren't an indicator, this is certainly one of the best comedies in anime, which can be attributed to the wonderful writing and masterfully set up characters. It has things that I'm sure mostly everyone could enjoy, so I'd wholeheartedly recommend this anime to pretty much anyone who enjoys comedy and likes over the top fun characters. Here's hoping for a sequel to continue Anya's quest at achieving world peace!...well, technically it's Loid's mission, but we all know that Anya is the true hero here.

Spy x Boring is a wasted potential where the spy and parody stuff that seemed to be the main appealing of the first few episodes completely disappears to make way for a lot of filler, awful characters and repeating the same visual gag of a that girl who is more a meme than being human. The only reason a lot of people seem to rave about this is the hints of it being a family centered anime, the nuclear family created by a spy dad, murderous wife and daughter with psychic powers which AGAIN you only seen in the first few episodes to then bething mundane and irrelevant which is why I see no reason to be praising him for this all the time considering how careless the parents are and above all that this whole thing is still a farce. So if you want to see an anime that shows the family aspect better, you better go find another one like usagi drop (an original anime that is not based on anything more). The characters seem to be another blunder as almost every are not really interesting or show anything more than a one-dimensional aspect, Loid is the only good character and seems to remember his mission, while the rest are bland or downright unpleasant. Yor is relegated from the plot and only yearning to be a good wife, Anya is just a dumb faces generator, Damian and Yuri are the worst characters in the series that it is preferable that they disappear since it only harms the supposed wholesome atmosphere that it tries to create. If it played things a little bit closer to the vest, and just a little more seriously, all the dramatic and emotional elements would be so much more effective.

Merchandise

Links may contain affiliate references

Studio

Producers

Themes