There we have it, folks, with the 12th episode of the season, the first half of the Spy x Family is over. In a short time, this series has managed to surpass other anime series as one of the highest-rated shows. Thanks to this anime’s wholesome and creative premise, Spy x Family may become a classic for years to come. This week’s episode did a great job of reminding us about the show’s premise and then showing us how things have changed in only 12 episodes.
Agent Twilight, a spy, is tasked with creating a fake family to save the world. What he doesn’t know is that he adopted a telepathic daughter and married an assassin. His life used to be just back-to-back missions, being an anonymous man with many disguises. He was fine living a life like that. More recently, he’s lived as Loid Forger, a psychologist and family man. Now, he not only fights for world peace but needs some peace in his life. Agent Twilight may be realizing he no longer lives for back-to-back missions, but to make sure his family is happy. From episode one to episode 12, Spy x Family has remained consistent with Twilight’s mission, only now he views it differently.
A LESS THAN MUNDANE FAMILY
On top of Operation Strix, Agent Twilight has been called by the WISE Agency to do side missions because there is a personnel shortage. Meaning Twilight is carrying out dangerous missions during the day and comes home at night to pretend to be Loid Forger. As a master of disguises, he’s signed up to have one on all day and it’s exhausting for him. In this episode, he comes home one night to his neighbors talking about his family. They’re convinced that Loid is cheating and doing other shady things because he comes home late. If they even attempt to spread rumors that the Forgers aren’t being a good family, that may jeopardize Operation Strix.
In previous reviews, I’ve explained how this series takes place in Cold War Germany. During that era, we got so many spy shows like The Man from U.N.C.L.E and Get Smart depicting spies getting into both serious and silly situations. Spy x Family plays out like a 60s sitcom and it took me 12 episodes to finally realize that. You’ve got nosy neighbors, hidden powers, and secret identities. Sounds like Bewitched to me. That’s what makes this series so loveable. It harks back to the same silly sitcom tropes like miscommunication in episode nine and strange family members in episode eight. This one calls right back to nosy neighbors and the problems they bring to our main characters. Meaning, that not only does Spy x Family take place in the Cold War era, it maintains it’s the comedic tone of the era’s sitcoms. The English major in me is singing.
A TRIP TO THE AQUARIUM
In order to keep up normal appearances, Loid takes his family on a trip to the aquarium. At the train station, the informant tells him there’s another mission. Loid immediately says no, Operation Strix is his priority today. He has to take his daughter to the aquarium as a normal father would. But the mission followed him this time because the threat is at the aquarium. The enemy has made a penguin swallow a roll of film with dangerous information so Twilight must collect the film before the enemy retrieves it. On top of that, the nosy neighbors are also at the aquarium so Loid has to wear at least three masks. One is Loid Forger, endearing father, and husband to Anya and Yor. The second is that of a penguin caretaker to get the film and the third, is Agent Twilight, WISE’s greatest spy. The man just can’t have a break.
Loid is a little too relatable in this episode. He says yes to an additional mission even though he’s exhausted and burnt out. Loid must’ve reached elite spy status by being a yes man. The anime touched on his exhaustion in the first episode when he collapsed but never dove into it further. Loid was always busy taking care of Anya and Yor. It was smart to see how Loid is balancing spy and family life. Now he seems to appear like a family man, hustling to make sure Anya is happy. I have no doubt that he’ll continue to grow as a fake father and husband and eventually take those roles on for real. All the more reason to continue watching Spy x Family.
FORGER FAMILY VALUES
This episode came back to my favorite aspect of the whole series: the family team-ups. Loid needs to retrieve the roll of film and the only other person who knows is Anya. As always, she listens in and tries to help him without revealing her own secret. She told him which penguin might have the film. When the enemy tries to get in Loid’s way, Anya enlists Yor’s help. Together, they prevent the enemy from winning and convince the neighbors that they are a family unit. To explain being away for so long, Loid gets Anya a giant penguin plushie.
When they get home, Anya uses the new penguin plushie that Loid won her to play as a spy. But when she tries to go into Loid’s room, he snatches and yells at her making her cry. Her threat to leave the family also jeopardizes the mission, so Loid and Yor think quickly. They pretend to be characters in Anya’s spy mission, even if it’s embarrassing. Seeing Anya smile once again reminds Loid of what he’s doing this mission for; it’s so kids never have to cry again. He knows he needs to bring world peace and will do anything to get it. That brings the first half of the Spy x Family anime to a beautiful full-circle close. Loid is always reminded not to get off track with his mission. We know now that his family keeps him on the right track.
The second half of the season begins in October 2022. It looks like it’ll be a high-stakes mission between the Forgers and a terrorist bomb threat. I can’t wait for Spy x Family to return, for now here’s the trailer:
OVERALL THOUGHTS
- Yeah sure, tell the guy with the telepath daughter and killer wife to continue his mundane life.
- Loid is too relatable because I’m writing this on a packed weekend.
- Yor is still carrying out assassinations, how come we don’t see any of them?
- I love Anya and Loid’s “wow” to seeing Yor kick ass.
- Yay! We finally get Bond in the second half of the anime!
- I need more of this anime right now, please, and thank you. XO, someone who doesn’t read the manga.
I thought it was a really good but fairly simple ending for the first cour. Had some good moments, and the part where Anya and Loid both said “wow” cracked me up pretty good.