'Spy x Family' First Impressions: Two Episodes of Love and Chaos

Screenshot from the first episode, dubbed “Operation Strix”, of ‘Spy x Family’. Credit: Wit Studios and CloverWorks

Any anime set anywhere but Japan is most likely going to be a good time. Plenty of manga artists take great inspiration from Europe to craft fantastical nations built on magic, alchemy or war. Such as ‘Fullmetal Alchemist’s’ nation of Amestris, its culture based on Germany, or ‘The Ancient Magus’ Bride’, a rural fantasy set in the fictional land of pre-Brexit Britain. Many of these stories aren’t necessarily considered niche—or at least, after receiving a well-deserved adaptation, they gained more traction for their refreshing world-building and stories that pull you in for more.

‘Spy x Family’, written and illustrated by Tatsuya Endo, started out as a small comedy spy series with just one or two volumes tucked away in the manga section within the average bookstore. But it was a series predicted to take off once the anime industry decided to make a 2D moving picture out of it. So, the question is, are people talking about it?

‘Twilight’, the top agent of the WISE organisation, is sent on an infiltration mission in order to track and cull any political movements that threatens the peace between two nations. The catch is, he’s ordered to fabricate a family to gain access to private social gatherings, and he only has one week to do so. Adopting his new identity as psychiatrist Loid Forger, the cold, calculating and emotionally steeled spy may be facing his toughest mission yet.

To start off, the first episode (and even the second, for that matter) wastes no time in getting to the heart of the chaos. There’s a sense of urgency in Loid’s mission, whereby he picks out a random orphanage to find a fake daughter to take under his wing. He ends up adopting Anya, a six-year-old girl who so happens to be a telepath. Immediately she’s keyed in to Forger’s identity as an undercover spy and pathological liar, simply by reading his unusually expository thoughts. And, of course, Forger has no idea.

The second episode maintains a similar momentum. We meet Yor, a twenty-seven-year-old woman working as an office clerk in the city. After overhearing her co-workers gossip about a young woman who was arrested under suspicion of being a spy, simply because she was single, Yor feels pressured to find a bogus boyfriend in the hopes she won’t look like a quirky old spinster. After all, being an elite assassin behind closed doors, Yor can’t afford to stand out.

Upon meeting each other by chance, Loid and Yor enact a Disney plot by deciding to get married within twenty-four-hours of complimenting each other’s physical attractiveness. And neither has any idea as to the other’s true identity or intentions, except for Anya, who is totally excited by the prospect that both her new parents are deadly by trade.

Dysfunctional families are the norm in television, after all.

To break the pedal on things, the story has shown potential for its steadier moments. Episode one, especially, takes a turn for the easy-going as we see the newbie dad, Loid, fail at being a domestic. Originally he picked Anya out of the bunch based on intelligence alone, but he’s quick to familiarise himself with the real Anya through intensive shock parenting. His inexperience spills through, which is cathartically humanising. He genuinely tries to connect with her and noticeably lets his guard down. For a spy on a mission, that’s nothing less than a fatal flaw.

As for Loid’s relationship with Yor, they barely know each other but run with the punches, if only for convenience. However, they’re a pair who seem apt to accepting each other’s bizarre quirks for more than just the sake of a mission. They’ve met someone who matches their own emotional range, which is unusual but it’s easy and it works for two people who strictly cannot form intimate connections otherwise.

It's safe to say the rest of the series will likely nurture these emotional moments, let them grow and overlap the espionage storyline until the family and their imperfections becomes the overarching plot.

As soon as Loid puts a literal grenade ring on that finger, you know the story’s going to be a ticking time bomb that delights in its own absurdity. Everything from the sitcom-style synopsis to the character designs just pops. Two episodes in has generated plenty of excitement for what’s to come next.

According to the reviewer website MyAnimeList, ‘Spy x Family’ - after only two episodes - has received a 9.09 rating based on feedback from over 100,000 users, currently deeming it the third highest rated anime on the site. It’s also garnered a fair share of gloaming reviews from other articles and YouTube videos for effectively breaking everyone’s wholesome scales.

‘Spy x Family’ airs on services like Crunchyroll and Hulu every Saturday at 4.30pm BST