Spy x Family

Corrupt politicians, frenzied nationalists, and other warmongering forces constantly jeopardize the thin veneer of peace between neighboring countries Ostania and Westalis. In spite of their plots, renowned spy and master of disguise "Twilight" fulfills dangerous missions one after another in the hope that no child will have to experience the horrors of war.

In the bustling Ostanian city of Berlint, Twilight dons the alias of "Loid Forger," an esteemed psychiatrist. However, his true intention is to gather intelligence on prominent politician Donovan Desmond, who only appears rarely in public at his sons' school: the prestigious Eden Academy. Enlisting the help of unmarried city hall clerk Yor Briar to act as his wife and adopting the curious six-year-old orphan Anya as his daughter, Loid enacts his master plan. He will enroll Anya in Eden Academy, where Loid hopes she will excel and give him the opportunity to meet Donovan without arousing suspicion.

Unfortunately for Loid, even a man of his talents has trouble playing the figure of a loving father and husband. And just like Loid is hiding his true identity, Yor—who is an underground assassin known as "Thorn Princess"—and Anya—an esper who can read people's minds—have no plans to disclose their own secrets either. Although this picture-perfect family is founded on deception, the Forgers gradually come to understand that the love they share for one another trumps all else.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

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Background

Winner of the Anime of the Year (TV Series) at the 2023 Tokyo Anime Award Festival (TAAF).

Episode Videos

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Related Anime

Adaptation:	Spy x Family
Sequel:	Spy x Family Part 2
Character:	Good Day

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Characters & Voice Actors

Forger, Anya

Main

Tanezaki, Atsumi
Japanese

Forger, Yor

Main

Hayami, Saori
Japanese

Forger, Loid

Main

Eguchi, Takuya
Japanese

Forger, Bond

Supporting

Desmond, Damian

Supporting

Fujiwara, Natsumi
Japanese

Briar, Yuri

Supporting

Ono, Kensho
Japanese

Franklin, Franky

Supporting

Yoshino, Hiroyuki
Japanese

Henderson, Henry

Supporting

Yamaji, Kazuhiro
Japanese

Blackbell, Becky

Supporting

Katou, Emiri
Japanese

Sherwood, Sylvia

Supporting

Kaida, Yuuko
Japanese

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Staff

Fukushima, Yuuichi

Producer

Nakatake, Tetsuya

Producer

Murakami, Maasa

Producer

Furuhashi, Kazuhiro

Director, Episode Director, Storyboard, Series Composition

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Opening Theme

"Mixed Nuts (ミックスナッツ)" by Official HIGE DANdism (Official髭男dism)

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Ending Theme

"Kigeki (喜劇)" by Gen Hoshino (星源野) (eps 2-?)

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Reviews

Jun 25, 2022

Stark700

Recommended

Spy x Family is an anime of the year candidate. Yes, I say this with confidence for it managed to exemplify entertainment at consistent quality. It's an anime that sells itself as exactly what it is without misleading the audience. And with such a marketing wheel behind the show, it managed to reach a large audience. There's plenty of reasons why I believe Spy x Family indeed deserves its rating and to be quite honest, this is one of the few anime that I can recommend just about anyone this year.

First, I want to congradulate Tatsuya Endou on putting himself on the map with his ... Spy x Family franchise. To be honest, before Spy x Family launched, I don't remember any of his previous works. His one shots are obscure titles that most people have never heard of. That is, until Spy x Family launched in 2019. The series quickly established itself with its simple and complex themes. Mind you, the idea of a family of spies isn't exactly an unique idea, but it is the charm of the characters and refreshing writing style of the story that made this enjoyable from day one.

Now you're asking yourself what exactly is Spy x Family? Do yourself favor and don't read the MAL synopsis as it may sound more complex than it looks. Meanwhile, you should watch the first episode and full indulge on what the author wanted to SHOW us. Watching the first episode brings together two characters with very different backgrounds and personalities - Loid Forger (also known as 'Twilight) and Anya. Loid proves himself to be a human with extraordinary skills in esponiage, physical feat, and master of disguise. You could say that he is the perfect spy. On the other hand, Anya is a young girl with the ability to read minds but also with a fascination of spies in the media. Watching their character chemistry immediately brings together a degree of elegance and charm. Let's just say how quickly the two connects with one another. Even though Anya knows Loid often lies to others for his work, she also knows that deep down, he is a kind hearted person. Representing the essence of a perfect spy, Loid deeply cares about his role but also has a soft side for his family.

We can't have a family without the mother of course. That's where the assassin, Yor Forger comes in. Introduced in second episode, Yor is essentially an assassin with deadly skills to match her intellect and physical talents. Although sometimes airheaded with a lack of common sense, she deeply cares about Anya and Loid despite not knowing their full backgrounds. In fact, you could easily call Yor and Loid's first encounter as a chance meeting. It's as if destiny set these two up together. In perhaps one of the most memorable sequences of the this season, Loid ties the knot by putting a grenade pin on Yor's finger. It's a refreshing take as in most marriages, you see an generic type of ceremony with flowers and bridemaids. Obviously, Yor and Loid aren't actually a married couple a they pretend to be one to carry out their respective missions. And with Anya, they are the heart and soul of Spy x Family.

Anya herself is a complex character despite her age. She has the ability to read minds and practically uses it as a necessity than just a helpful tool. It's with this ability that she barely gets into the prestigious Eden Academy. Academically wise, Anya is not intelligent and overly relies on her mind reading skill. From the first day of class, she isn't motivated and ends up falling asleep before her classmate Becky wakes her up. However, Anya makes an extreme impression towards her peers. Immediately, she is able to befriend Becky due to her kindhearted nature and standing up for her. Second, Anya also withstands another top student at the academy named Damian. Desmond. Proving herself to be a tough girl who isn't afraid to be pushed around by others, Anya withstands not just his verbal assault but also landing a fist into his face. It's the first time that Damian experiences defiance and thus, academy life for Anya becomes a whole lot more complicated.

But trust me, understanding Spy x Family isn't too complex despite the author setting up various degrees of storytelling segments. To tell a story like this, Tatsuya made each relevant character unique and carrying their own role. Anya, Loid, and Yor are the main characters but there are also others who makes an impact in the show such as housemaster Henry Henderson or Yor's brother Yuri. The anime give a great impression of the casts' personality to always get audience to react in some way. Anya is the most prominent case for her various degree of human expressions. Because of her mind reading talent, she often reacts in exaggerated ways like a kid her age would. Besides, who can ever forget about her iconic 'heh' face when she punched Damian's wind out? Let me just say that Anya is destined to belong in this show for everything she represent.

The big question to ultimately ask yourself is 'why should I watch Spy x Family'? After all, this just the first part and tip for the iceberg. To truly embrace into this franchise would mean to invest time into part 2 and the manga. However, I will say that Spy x Family is enjoyayble for all its character elements, comedy gags, and ultimatley the effective storytelling. It doesn't sell itself as an action thriller despite some of the advertised material. In today's anime industry where it's dominated by isekai, battle shounens, and rom-coms, Spy x Family is a breath of fresh air. Tatsuya Endo took this series into a lighthearted direction, a contrast to some of the action thrillers you're more used to seeing. According to the author himself, he often reads other works to brainstorm ideas of his own. By doing so, he invents and evolves his ideas into this series. It's what makes Spy x Family so special and amassing such a fanbase.

Wit Studio and CloverWorks are not the perfect production studios but they managed to bring the creativity of Spy x Family in the most effective form possible. The theme songs are decorated with a simple and colorful chereography that further conveys the show's cheerfulness. Character designs for Anya, Loid, and Yor are unique and great to point out for their technical achievements. You can tell how their expressions are connected to their feelings when we see them in crucial scenes. Examples of these include the family's interview at Eden Academy or Anya's sincere apology to Damian. The fact is, human emotions is especially important for this show as it brings out the best out of its cast. Similarly, I applaud the voice actors for being spot on their roles, in particuar for Anya. It's not easy to voice a character at her age but she made the character as credible as she can be. Loid, Yor, and Damian are also voiced exactly as how I pictured from the manga and on point. In fact, I can say that this is one of the very few anime adaptation that may have exceeded its manga counterpart.

If I said it once, I've said it a hundred times. Spy x Family is a contender for anime of the year. Yes, a show like this isn't absolute perfection but for what it has shown us, it captured just about everything I had expected and perhaps more. This is the type of show that is a refreshing breath of air that we need more often. And with part 2 to come, there's no better time than to jump into this hype train.

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Jun 25, 2022

noob2121

Recommended

Contains spoilers, Spoiler free TL;DR at the bottom.

"I like this show" ~Anya Forger in episode 1.

You could not have possibly missed this, Spy x Family has taken the community by storm. It is everywhere, be it in the form of Yor and Anya fanarts (with an appalling lack of Loid ones) or Anya smug face memes.

I simply have to praise the production of this. This is clearly a passion project, you can't tell the difference between Wit's episodes and Cloverwork's episodes, because it's so coordinated and seamless. The anime takes the manga's material and elevates it by leaps and bounds. The best example of this ... is in ep 5, or the (I guess you can call it a filler?) episode where Anya makes Loid and his agents enact out her favourite scene of a tv series she watched. If this was picked up by any other anime studio, it would likely be presented as a minor, unimportant slideshow that took place in their house, just as the manga presented it. However with the production's emphasis on seamlessness, the anime does not merely animate only the panels itself, rather it adds to the panels, and it goes above and beyond to show the flow between the panels too. Thus, the anime manages to make a seemingly unimportant sequence in the manga into a full length episode that is almost completely anime-original, with stellar animation, and an amazing, though rather short fight scene between Loid and Yor. The sound design in the anime is also very fitting. The combination of spy thrillers and jazz music has always worked perfectly since forever, and Spy x Family is no exception. The main background “suspense” theme strikes that perfect balance to be noticeable enough to add to the mood of the scenes it's in, and also subtle enough to not be distracting. SxF uses this music really well, without going overboard with it.

This anime is called Spy x FAMILY, and one of the other key appeals of it is the dynamic of a found family that the anime creates. The facade of a family turns more and more into a genuine familial relationship as the anime goes on. This is made extremely clear to your face as the series goes on. Loid especially saw his family members at first as nothing more than a stepping stone to world peace. While he of course still sees them as tools to world peace, he also starts to genuinely care for them and look after his daughter’s well-being more and more out of love, and less out of obligation. He’s also uncharacteristically dense when it comes to Yor and her secret identity, which I find it funny above all else, but can be taken as a possible criticism. Yor and Anya’s relationship is also so heartwarming!! The most wholesome moments of Spy x Family for me at least, are the moments when Yor trains with Anya, both before the start of school, and the dodgeball match. I think the whole family dynamic is best exemplified in episode 4 during Anya’s interview to get into a prestigious school. Anya rates her parents with a “perfect 100 points”, spelling out their heartwarming familial relationship. The futility and stupidity of comparing parents, and worse trying to force a child to do it, is then embodied by a professor of that school, a rich, arrogant and pompous sadist. You are supposed to hate him, he was written to be hated, and the catharsis that the viewers experience after seeing Loid thoroughly intimidate him and causing the professor to be berated, though rather contrived and simplistic, is what helps us love and get behind this found family.

The primary appeal of Spy x Family isn't the thrilling spy action, its stunning production, or its found family aspect. These are great reasons to love this anime, but the main reason that this is so beloved by the community is its comedy, and the thing that ties all the comedy together, is Anya. Anya carries the comedy, no scratch that, Anya IS the comedy. The whole ED is dedicated to Anya. Most of the comedic scenes will somehow involve Anya in it, whether that be Anya's shocked expression whenever Loid or Yor think of something unhinged, or her smug face when something goes her way. Chances are, if you think Spy x Family is overrated, or you straight up dislike it, you probably do not like Anya as well. Ep 11 being considered to be the worst episode of the series by some, just because Anya acted a little more kid-like than those people were comfortable with, just proves this even further. The one major scene where Anya was not involved would be Yuri Briar's visit to the family, and for me at least, this was easily the most unfunny episode of Spy x Family. In fact, Anya waking up the following morning complaining about missing the excitement was easily the funniest part of the whole sequence. Anya’s antics and shenanigans in order to feel that sense of excitement and go “waku waku” reflects her mischievousness, her eagerness to save someone from drowning reflects her purity, Her studying hard to appease her father and in her mind achieve world peace reflects her child-like innocence and naivete, all of these make her such an endearing and adorable character. Of course, the people who understandably dislike Anya will probably think her actions are cringe, or her cuteness is forced, but i have to disagree there. I simply think she acts like a typical child would, and am more than willing to dismiss her occasional “cringe” moments simply as child-like naivete.

Anya's ability to read minds is one of the most unique things about Spy x Family, and it's worth talking about a little. It’s the perfect excuse to create funny internal monologues. The 2 differing backgrounds and mentalities of Loid and Yor will almost always allow them to offer 2 vastly differing perspectives, and the fact that they are actively hiding their identities just make it even funnier. However in episode 3 it's also used to show the differing but mostly negative attitudes of attendees of a nationalist rally. While Loid points to the importance of educating Anya politically, all Anya does is get dizzy from all of the hate and patriotism of the members of the rally, reflecting the gross state of politics within the country. This so-called “gimmick” is genuinely really well explored so far, and I really look forward to seeing how else Anya’s ability will be used more later during Part 2 in Fall.

Spy x Family being this popular due to its family-friendly accessibility and great writing just gives me hope that passion projects can still exist amid the endless drag of seasonal anime these days. A brilliant adaptation we did not deserve, Spy x Family blends thrilling action, hilarious comedy and endearing characters to create an absolutely superb and well-rounded experience. Highly recommended indiscriminately to all anime fans. Thank you for reading.

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Jun 25, 2022

SingleH

Recommended

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 wrote ... a 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.

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Forger, Anya

Forger, Yor

Forger, Loid

Forger, Bond

Desmond, Damian

Briar, Yuri

Franklin, Franky

Henderson, Henry

Blackbell, Becky

Sherwood, Sylvia

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