Spy x Family - Season 1

 Spy x Family is a comedic slice of life espionage series based on the manga of the same name by Endo Tatsuya.  The first season originally aired during the Spring and Fall seasons of 2022 for a total of 25 episodes.

 

    Twilight is the top spy for the nation of  Westalis.  There has been an uneasy peace between his country and their neighboring country, Ostania, following a costly war between both nations.  Twilight's' primary operation is to ensure the current peace and to work towards making is permanent.  He goes to any lengths to achieve success in all of his missions, abandoning his past, present and future for the sake of peace.  He is given a very difficult mission in hopes to thwart one of the most influential radicals in Ostania's government before a new war can be sparked.  His mission; get close to the leader of the National Unity Party, Donovan Desmond.  Desmond is a notorious recluse, who rarely makes public appearances.  Twilight's superiors feel the best way to get to him is through his youngest son via school functions at the exclusive private school he attends.  In order to fulfill this mission he must assemble a fake family and enroll his fake child into the academy.

    Twilight assumes the identity of a young psychiatrist named Loid Forger.  The first step of his mission is to find a child he can adopt to pose as his own.  He finds one in a less than reputable orphanage, a strange girl named Anya.  Unknown to Loid, Anya is the result of secret and illegal experiments which have unlocked the ability to read peoples minds.  Anya, fearful of Loid rejecting her and knowing immediately that he is a spy that needs her for his mission, does everything she can to hide her abilities from him.  Anya is absolutely enthralled with Loid being a spy since her favorite cartoon is a fantastical spy show.  The next step, given the prestige of the private Eden College, that Anya needs to enroll in, find a mother figure for Anya.  In a stroke of luck he encounters a beautiful and single woman names Yor.  Before he can ask her to pretend to be his wife, to help his daughter succeed in the admission process, she asks him is he will pretend to be her boyfriend for a work party.  Yor works in city hall and is struggling to not draw suspicion from the Ostania Secret Police.  The nation is uneasy and paranoid following the peace accord.  Neighbors and coworkers routinely report people for any perceived deviations from normalcy on suspicion of being spies.  Yor, being beautiful, a public servant and single means she is a likely target for espionage suspicions.  In reality, Yor is a highly successful assassin for a shadowy group working to eliminate threats to the country.  She fears that her true line of work will get her executed...or at least make her younger brother incredibly disappointed in her.

     With her proposal to be a fake boyfriend, Loid suggests she pretend to be his new wife as well.  Yor, not suspecting that Loid is not a widower psychiatrist father of a young girl attempting to enroll in Eden College, agrees to pretend to be his new wife, to help her stave off suspicion on herself as well.  The preparation for Twilight's' mission has now been completed, the next step...Anya's success in enrolling to the academy.  Even with her amazing mind reading abilities, Anya's success is not guaranteed.  The strange little girl isn't the brightest bulb in the pack and she is definitely not six years old, based on her mannerism and lack of self control.  The admission to the college includes more than just success in testing, it also requires proper etiquette and social conciseness.  Twilight can prepare all he wants and train the girl as much as he can, but he can't control any randomness she could undertake in her daily activities.  Is his mission doomed to fail before it even has a chance to truly begin?  The greatest spy from Westalis struggles to control vital aspects of his mission that are out of his own hands.  But, he will do everything he can to ensure the success of his mission, since the sake of continued peace relies on it.

    Spy x Family is deftly crafted homage and satire of the classic cold war spy story.  The setting is fictitious but vaguely mid 20th century European in design.  Its hard to not compare this series and its tropes with the James Bond franchise, the later of which has left a strong legacy to the genre.  the characters and their situations border on the absurd at every corner.  Twilight/Loid is uncanny in his perception and physical prowess.  Yor literally switches personalities between her job as a a top assassin and her normal everyday existence.  Though, her extended contract killing work has definitely tainted some of the way she interacts with the world, almost on a subconscious level.  The star of the story is with out a doubt Anya.  Her larger than life expressions and quirky monologues push the comedy to a satisfying level.  The show would also be enjoyable to see Twilight go through his motions, with all the amusing twists and turns, surrounded by a cast of off beat allies and enemies.  But Anya makes the show as amusing as it is.  Yor...well shes really just waifu material unfortunately.  Her character is really the least interesting aspect, she shines the best when she reacts instinctively to mundane situations, but in general she is the weakest of the three characters.

     Both the artwork and writing is really strong in this series.  The character designs add to the satire of the series, with more and more characters being unnaturally odd in appearance and mannerism, but still within the realms of reality.  The resolution of the individual episodic plot lines is able to execute amusing bait and switch solutions, leaving you wondering more about what insanity will transpire instead of trying to figure out how it will happen.  The plot though does seem like it's moving a little too slowly at this point.  while these characters and their antics are enjoyable and amusing, I fear that the story may overstay its welcome in the long run.  As the second season dawns we will see how long the story can stretch out its conclusion and what that may entail.  Either way, I will enjoy the Forger families exploits while I can and hope that it doesn't become cumbersome before we say good bye to them.

    The series is widely available and is streaming in both dub and sub formats.