SPY x FAMILY

[Ryllharu]

Image lifted directly from their website

Description: It was a time when countries around the world were engaged in fierce information warfare under the surface. Ostania and Westeris have been in a cold war for more than a decade. The master spy codenamed <Twilight> has spent his days on undercover missions, all for the dream of a better world. But one day, he receives a particularly difficult new order from command. Donovan Desmond, president of the eastern national unity party, a dangerous person who threatens east-west peace. For his mission, Twilight must form a temporary family and start a new life?!

------------

The series is funny, the action is good, the voice cast is phenomenal. Spy x Family has that rare retro styling we really don't get very often out of anime aside from some grungy/grimdark crime series. Cloverworks (Sono Bisque Doll) and Studio WIT (earlier AoT seasons) are co-producing this and are splitting the series into multiple cours to ensure they keep up the high quality; Gundam Unicorn's Director leading the project.

So yeah, it looks good and sounds great.

There are nice details here, verbal gags throughout, plays deeply on 1960s era spy dramas, but also some intelligent plot touches, like the esper "daughter" keeping the nature of her powers a secret from literally everyone (very rare!) and lying about her age to ensure she gets adopted. She's still very much a young child, and acts like one.

We haven't gotten to the wife...yet, she's coming in episode 2. The pace of the first episode is very high to get through the double-length, 70-page first chapter. It should slow down a bit after this first one if you thought it felt rushed.

I'm a huge fan of the manga, and have been since the very first chapter, so this is a much watch for me, but there's a lot to like for everyone. It's a comedy for sure, but they do not skimp on the action. The "wife" is an assassin, and she very much kills people.

[neflight86]

Jolly good first episode. I like that Lloyd has no real affection for Anya (yet), and her bouncing off his thoughts of disposing of her is a unique type of touching humor. The fact that Anya is not only a child, but a kinda dim one is also refreshing amongst anime flooded with prodigy level children like its going out of style. Highly recommended.

[Kraco]

Yeah, one of the best details of the story is how being a telepath does not automatically help Anya. As a little kid, even if she can read the adults' thoughts, she still acts foolishly half the time because she can't analyse and judge the information correctly.

[Buffalobiian]

She was too dumb to figure out that the transmission was a bad idea, but knew Morse?

[Ryllharu]

Anya is a weird kid, and her favorite tv show is that spy cartoon. I assume that's where she picked it up. Kids get obsessed with the things they like and pick them up very quickly if they're interested it in.

The series has a strange balance to it, people definitely get killed, but the conspiracies are about stupid things like whether or not someone wears a toupee. Foolish but also deadly serious.

[Kraco]

She was too dumb to figure out that the transmission was a bad idea, but knew Morse?

There's an endless amount of adults in the world who would, at least initially, think the transmission would be such a jolly good idea. People often don't stop to think of consequences or if something is worth it at all. Little children might be incapable of it.

[Ryllharu]

Episode 2

------------


The OP sequence is incredible, really exceeding my expectations. There's a very nice stylistic touch with 1960s style poster and pop art and then shifting to the anime's style to show off some other things.

The OST for this has been just as fitting, there's some nice bongo instrumental music when Yor and Twilight are running around the warehouses. Very spy movie, but also era appropriate. The elegant and beautiful but also menacing music when Yor is killing a whole floor of people? There are various flavors of Jazz when Yor is talking to her brother or when Twilight and Frankie are doing the art theft job. Soft and somber piano when Yor is getting depressed at the party. And it even knows when to be silent and let the dialogue dominate.

Yor is so precious. Definitely get the urge to protect her even though she absolutely would never need it. Kicking the guy followed by the "blarghaghaghaghaghaghaghagh" roll was fucking hilarious.

Her clothes are also very stylish, the red sweater especially.

I mean, I can understand why Camilla was a jealous bitch, but too bad for her Yor is perfect and Twilight knows how to smooth talk everyone (and obviously read her files extensively, or at least the public stuff that doesn't reveal her to be an assassin).

Anya may be an idiot, but she knows how to very quickly use the knowledge she reads from other people's thoughts when it counts.

[Buffalobiian]

The comedy and set pieces this episode were spot on.

[neflight86]

Great stuff. Yor does make an interesting compliment to Anya nd Lloyd. I like that her little brother mentions on the phone that, likely due to their upbringing, she is gullible, or all of the smoke blown up her rear during the alley way shootout would have been less fun to swallow.

The pacing is also excellent, with a plethora of setup and story progression happening in twenty minutes. The only misstep was the jealous co-worker's petty attacks at the party stretching disbelief in their succession; cramming all that in straight into the "Yor is a strong woman" speech was a little cheesy. Minor quibble and quickly forgotten against the remainder of the episode.

[Kraco]

When Yor asked what's going on, when the other car appeared, Loid should have taken a step closer to the truth and told that he got a customer who turned out to be a part of the organised crime, and now some gangsters are trying to harass him to find out if the customer told him anything. But then again, maybe it served the comedy better he told something else and Yor still believed it.

All in all, Loid and Yor deserve each other, with the added bonus of a weird kid.

[Ryllharu]

Episode 3

---------------


A bit of a weaker, low-key episode, since it appears to mostly be establishing set ups for next week's actual interview. It has some nice individual shots, and of course Yor is phenomenally pretty in casual modes.

[Kraco]

Yor isn't exceedingly good at hiding the quirks related to her real profession. If you think about it, Anya isn't very good at it either, but since she's a little kid, some nonsense is to be expected, plus who would actually suspect someone of being a telepath? Loid, a career spy, could certainly imagine someone could be an assassin, since those two jobs aren't necessarily that far apart.

[DarthEnderX]

Yeah, as skilled as they want us to think Lloyd is, it makes no sense he can't tell Yor is an assassin. He can tell a thief by his walk, but can't tell an assassin while seeing her do ninja moves. And she's terrible at hiding it.

[Ryllharu]

Yeah, as skilled as they want us to think Lloyd is, it makes no sense he can't tell Yor is an assassin. He can tell a thief by his walk, but can't tell an assassin while seeing her do ninja moves. And she's terrible at hiding it.

To be fair, he recognized the way the guy walked when he mugged the woman to the way he was walking after changing clothes. Recognizing someone's gait isn't that hard in real life. You probably do it too without even noticing.

Physically, Yor is superior to Loid in every way. He doesn't notice her walking around for instance, since she subconsciously walks around in assassin-silence. Her physical prowess is amped up to a cartoony degree, like jumping down those hills or even just unpacking all her things in seconds (her "only housework skill is cleaning up") to the point that Anya was stunned.

Loid's spy senses are probably limited to a sense of aggression and threat, like in most anime. Yor isn't in a killing mode, and is a scatterbrain when she isn't, so he isn't gonna notice anything, nor suspect it.

[Buffalobiian]

She chalked it up to "I know self defense" last time, which covers most thing to do with "how did you move like that?"

I'm kinda expecting the old woman to be the final boss of the interview, despite that old dude being in the preview. She didn't seem to dress that nicely, but the thief told us she's loaded. It'll be a way for them to completely screw up the interview but still get in.

[KrayZ33]

Next week's preview made me hope for a very specific scene when I saw Papa getting ready to punch someone.

[Buffalobiian]

Episode 04

---------------













Lol @ Henry Henderson losing his shit at everything elegant, but still probably not quite as funny as the animals backing away from Yorh.

The teachers' names and subjects were a nice detail. Murdoch Swan being the asshole who teaches economics while Henderson is all prim and proper with his history.

[Kraco]

I feel a bit sorry for Anya needing to go to a school like that, but on the other hand, if she had remained in the orphanage, I suppose her academic prospects would have been next to nonexistent. As it is, it's hard to imagine that school actually would actually have the academically best teaching and environment, but it probably produces people with the best chances to get forward in life through the normal routes, in that particular society, regardless of their intelligence or wisdom.

[DarthEnderX]

Future Yor dialog: "I learned the Five Point Palm Exploding Heart Technique in acupuncture class!"

[Ryllharu]

The kid stuck in the sewer, obvious and very poor acting skills to boot, it my personal highlight of this episode.

And the corresponding triple change of clothes.