JAINITUOS ANIME REVIEWS – SPY X FAMILY – HOW DID I FELT ABOUT THIS ADAPTATION

Spy X Family

Genre: Comedy, Spy, Adventure, Action

Studio: Wit Studio/Cloverworks

Hello my friends. Welcome to another entry fo my blog.

Now. A month ago, I posted my entry blog about My First Impressions about the manga, or what I could read about the manga of Spy x Family. Here is the link for you to find out.

JAINITUOS MANGA REVIEWS – SPY X FAMILY – FIRST IMPRESSIONS (HOPEFULLY THE BEGINNING OF MORE)

And now, I am about to do something that I have not done before. And that is, first write about a manga, and then review the anime. Having said that, I must tell you that I just saw the first two episode of… Well… Spy X Family. And I was so happy, so excited about this time that I couldn’t just let it go.

So, let’s talk about the first two episodes of Spy X Family, and some of the impressions they felt me, and then the story and the characters.

But before I start, I must ask you the typical question:

Are you guys ok? Feeling healthy?

If the answer is yes, then I am happy to.

Now, let’s start talking about the anime of Spy X Family.

PREMISE

I already talk about the premise of Spy X Family on my previous entry, so I will simply summarise now.

«Twilight» is among one of the best spies of the nation of Westalis. Now, he is assigned a very important mission, to spy on Desmond Donovan, the leader of the National Unity Party, under the suspicion that he and his party want to start a new war with Ostania. In order to achieve this, Twilight must adopt a child and enroll her on the prestigious Eden Academy, because that is the only place in which Donovan makes appearances. So he adopts Anya, who is secretly an esper and can read minds, and alter he «marries» with a receptionist, Yor Briar, giving himself the cover of Loid Folger, psychiatrist. Unbeknownst for him, Yor is an assassin, in fact, the only one who discovered their secret professions is Anya herself, so now Loid/Twilight must accomplish his mission while learning how to manage this crazy new life.

EPISODE ONE

Episode 1 starts showing us the tensions between Westalis and Ostania through the death of a very important diplomat, and how Twilight successfully spies on Edgar, a fishy minister of Ostania, from which he obtained some compromising material. After his mission, we have a glimpse on how Twilight works and how he was affected by his job and his past, from which he decided to create a world where no child needs to cry. Later, he officially receives the mission of spying on Donovan, for which he adopts Anya and work together to have her enrol in Eden Academy. Then, Anya is rescued after being kidnapped by Edgar, after the former sends a transmission to him.

The episode ends with Anya passing the admission exam, but being informed that the second part of the process is a formal interview with both parents.

STORY

I got to say that Episode one exceed my expectations. It is better than I thought, and for someone who read the manga, that is a lot to say. Loid is a pretty well defined character, and despite showing too little about his past, it is solid enough to understand and sympathise with him. Wit Studio and Cloverworks really wanted to be loyal to the story as much as possible. And the bond between Loid and Anya is so natural that it quickly becomes heartwarming. Especially after realised that she passed the admission exam.

All I can say is… AWWWW!!!

Twilight/Loid is a true badass as a spy, and it is clear that he is starting to love Anya despite his mission, and for us, the memories of Anya being used as a guinea pig for her powers is sad. And overall, the animation makes the atmosphere exciting and natural.

Like Anya says:

«Dad is a liar, but such an awesome liar.»

EPISODE 2

Episode Two kicks off with a very hilarious scene. Loid’s informant, Franky, trying to pass as his wife, with disastrous results.

Neither Anya nor me want a mom like that either. LOL.

Meanwhile, we cut to Yor Briar, a 27-year-old receptionist at the Berlint City Hall who is secretly an assassin, known as «The Thorn Princess». For years, she has assassinated important names in order to provide her and her younger brother, Yuri, with money and a decent life. However, Yor is ostracised by her peers, who suspect she is a spy, despite this, Yor is invited to a party on a friend’s house.

Then, by an extremely convenient encounter, Yor and Loid meet and agree to help each other. Loid by passing as Yor’s boyfriend at the party and Yor posing as Anya’s mother on the interview. Coincidentally, Loid is in a mission to stop a band of smugglers with Franky.

Loid and Franky stop the smugglers, Loid arrives late to the party and makes a hilarious mistake – he says he is Yor’s husband, not her boyfriend as we was supposed to. Finally, the smugglers find Loid, try to kill him, and that leads to a very unusual alliance with Yor fighting the gang and survive, with Yor and Loid making their «union» official.

In sickness and in sorrow…

I must say that the proposal is both hilarious and heartwarming. It is absolutely one of the best moments of Episode Two, ending with a high note. Saori Hayami is extremely perfect as Yor Briar, giving a bit of innocence and strength to her role.

While episode one was the time of Anya, episode two was the time of Yor.

Fantastic time, that’s all I can say.

CONCLUSION

When I started reading the manga of Spy X Family, I was very excited, because it was exactly what the people said it was, original, hilarious, exciting, and full of pretty wonderful characters, but now that I have watched the anime, I can say that this is one of the best anime of autumn 2022 (Or spring depending on where are you living now.)

I will be waiting for episode three, because there is no way I will miss this.

And thanks my friends for stepping by, I hope you return for more entries.

See you soon.

JAINITUOS MANGA REVIEWS – SPY X FAMILY – FIRST IMPRESSIONS (HOPEFULLY THE BEGINNING OF MORE)

SPY X FAMILY

Tatsuya Endo

Publisher: Shueisha

Genre: Spy, action, comedy

Hello my friends.

Again, I have been very diligent these days, because of work, my third dose, and writing my book. But now, I have the time to add another entry of my blog. And again, the title says it all.

That’s right. I will do something different… again.

I will review and give My First Impressions of…

In April 9th, an anime adaptation will be released on Crunchyroll, done by a collaboration between Cloverworks and Wit Studio, and I recently checked that Spy X Family is constantly on the lists of the top-selling manga of 2021, along with Chainsaw Man, Demon Slayer, Jujutsu Kaisen and many others. And my curiosity was prepared, for I am reading the manga of Spy X Family, and I decided to write my impressions before the manga is released.

But before that, I must ask the typical question:

Are you guys ok? Feeling healthy?

With that said, let’s start with Spy X Family.

PREMISE

Loid Forger is one of the best spies of the world, becoming one after being orphaned during the war (Geez! No comments due to world news), so he will be able to create a «world where children do not cry». His abilities include impersonification, information gathering, and close combat, in other words, he is everything we adore about James Bond and Ethan Hunt. He operates under the code «Twilight». But now, he is tasked in for «Operation Strix» where he must adopt a child and create a fake marriage, in order to get close to the leader of the National Unity Party, Donovan Desmond, so he adopts a young orphan, called Anya, and marries a young clerk, called Yor Briar.

What Loid ignores is that Yor is actually a professional assassin, called Thorn Princess, who is extremely cold and ruthless when performing a job.

Honestly. The simple thought of being stabbed by those gives me chills.

Also, that Anya is a telepath, or simply put, she can read minds. Now Loid and Yor must find a way to complete their missions while hiding their identities toward each other, and avoiding Anya’s mind-reading powers, at all cost.

Will they succeed?

Spy X Family started publication on March 25, 2019, reaching eight volumes by March, 2022. In English, the manga is being published by Viz Media, and the anime adaptation is planned to be released on April 9th.

One interesting fact is that the author of Spy x Family, Tatsuya Endo, have experience as an assistant for stories like Blue Exorcist and Fire Punch.

I specifically point out Fire Punch because, as you can read in the cover, it is written and illustrated by Tatsuki Fujimoto, who also created one of my personal favourite manga now.

But well. Let’s continue with Spy x Family.

STORY

Ok. I know I have been using a lot pictures from the trailer of the anime. But fro now own, I will focus only in the manga.

Ok. First and foremost, I must say that I am a big fan of spy fiction, including James Bond, Missions Impossible, The Man from U.N.C.L.E., Get Smart and The Bourne Identity. In fact, I have watched EVERY single movie of the James Bond film series (Sadly, except for No Time To Die), so when I checked the title of this story, I immediately went and check out what was happening, starting with the manga with a very simple question.

How will a story with this premise balance two genres that I consider incompatibles, at least, from the beginning?

And with that in mind, I decided to let myself go and read the chapters, finding myself with a good beginning in which the characters and their backstories keep unraveling more and more. And I think that is a plus. Spy x Family starts introducing us Twilight, who is a spy completely dedicated to his missions and a motivation, that despite not being complex, is solid enough to tell us about both the protagonist and the backstory of the series.

And the more I read the manga, the more I learn about the setting, and that is something I always enjoy from mangas. I felt that with Peach Boy Riverside, with Chainsaw Man, and now with Spy x Family.

And that gets me to the next point – The Art.

I think it is my own impression t, but I can feel the influence that Tatsuki Fujimoto had on Tatsuya Endo, especially during the contrast between light and shadow, check the first picture, where Loid is carrying Yor and Anya. It reminds me a lot of the iconic scene between Denji and Power on the train, from Chainsaw Man.

But I will understand this is only my opinion.

Furthermore, the action scenes are very well drawn. Check this out.

You can check the attention to speed and strength when you throw a kick, and the impact and damage one person should take after receiving it. After all, it is an action series.

Like I said before, the rhythm and pacing of the story allows it establish reasonable world-building, the daily life of the main protagonists and add some mystery and tension to the story. Nonetheless, you must know that Spy x Family is not as frenetic as series like Chainsaw Man. Instead it is more patient, like Peach Boy Riverside, but when the moment comes for an action scene, it perfectly delivers what you are looking for.

All of these details make Spy x Family a very entertained story. Perhaps it will take you some time to enjoy it if you are looking for something louder in terms of actions.

CHARACTERS

I got to say that we are have a good glimpse of what is happening with the characters of Spy x Family, Loid being a top-class spy, willing to take any mission, with a pretty noble motivation, Yor being an assassin with amazing skills, and Anya, a five-year-old girl that already discovered the identity of her «parents» and is willing to keep her mouth shut in order to make things more interesting.

I already said that Loid is a pretty solid protagonist, and so far one of the best characters of the manga.

Anya is pretty cute, and practically a living factory of memes.

Watch it, Chika. You already have a competition.

Finally, we got Yor. I must confess that, when I saw her for the first time, I thought that she was the perfect wife for Loid. And she, without too much effort, can be deadly…

ART BY hashibiro kou (garapiko p) 

…and glamorous within her personality.

And I insist. This is how you construct a solid female character – strong, but empathetic; independent, but humble; assertive, but tactful.

I think someone should tell that to some… Kevin, and her Teela about that.

There is that really didn’t convince about Yor Folger though, but I haven’t reached that part, because it also involves a spoiler, so I better keep my pokerface and keep reading the manga.

The other characters are pretty interesting, including Yuri, Yor’s younger brother; Donovan Desmond, his son Damian, and Sylvia Sherwood, Loid’s Handler among others.

CONCLUSION

Spy x Family is a pretty good story with pretty good elements. Definitely is not perfect, but its characters, plot, premise and action is nice enough to give you a good theme. No wonder why everyone can’t wait until April, because we want to see how the work of Tatsuya Endo reaches animation.

No need to send any spies, just wait and have fun when the time comes.

And now… I must leave, because I got a new Job… Spy, and my first assignments are as follows.

1. Find out the exact date of the release of the Chainsaw man anime.
2. Spy on Saori Hayami.

Hope Henrietta and San Magnolia does not find out…

GIVE ME MY MONEY!!

Oh! Crap!!