I don’t know why I should even bother reviewing this. You all watched it? it’s the anime that everyone was talking about and watching, it’s now competing for the title of highest rated anime of all time. So why wouldn’t you have been watching it and have to get me to talk about it? ah well maybe you were lost in the Amazon rainforest for the last anime season.

Spy X Family is a comedy series… though the start of the first episode may mislead you. Adapted from the manga by Tatsuya Endo. Set several years after a war between the nations of Ostania and Westalis the story starts with a car veering off the highway and exploding killing a diplomat from Westalis. Suspecting pro war groups to be responsible Westalis’s intelligence agency sends one of their best spies known only as Twilight to get close to the reclusive head of Ostania’s national unity party who is pro war and seems to have lots of secret connections going on. Problem is he is extremely reclusive to the point he only is known to go to the top social gatherings at Ethen Academy. So, Operation Strix is formed, Twilight must get a Child and Wife, get said child into the academy.

You have a super spy having to have a fake family… but wait there’s more. When going to an orphanage to pick up a child the one he adopts is Anya who appears to be the smartest… but in actuality she was able to cheat his test because she’s a telepath, she’s also very childish. After a heartwarming first episode that implies deep down Loid Forger (as Twilight is now being known as) genuinely loves and cares for his new daughter, they find they need to get a wife/mother. That woman Yor Briar… is actually unbeknownst to Loid (but known to Anya who can read minds remember but also finds all this super cool) is a super assassin who accepts the fake family deal thinking it was just to help Loid get his late wife’s daughter into the top school because she was getting concerned people were talking about how she wasn’t married and concerned it might blow her cover for her assassin work.

So to recap, we now have a fake family, consisting of a super spy, a super assassin and a telepathic little girl who is the only one that knows the whole story, that has to get into a top school so the spy father can get close to someone and help assure world peace… yes this  is the premise of the show and it is hilarious.

As well as all the spy stuff there are sweet moments with the family, the funny attempts to cover up from the rest of the family what their actual job is. The fact that Loid despite very much being the straight man when it comes to the comedy (though having a habit of overthinking things) is completely blind to the fact his wife has super human strength as well as precision attacks that can stop charging animals instantly.

The show has plenty of characters outside of the Forger family. Those people that Loid works with from his informant friend Frankie to his bosses in the intelligence service. The staff and other children in Ethen Academy which includes the second son of Loid’s target Damian Desmond and who can forget Mr. Elegance Henry Henderson.

Praise must be given also to the aesthetic of the series. From the clothes, buildings and technology it all gives the feeling of a 60s to 70s European setting, which is perfect for a spy series set after a major war. The opening of the first season called “mixed nuts” even looks a bit like an old stylized European art work.

But of course you should know all of this already by having watched the anime. This show was the high point of the season, and it was a good season at that. I had lots of shows I was watching with only 1 I dropped. So come and catch up with this show… maybe rewatch it, the dub is out too if you are not a sub person. The second season is scheduled for an October release, or you could hunt down the manga if you just can’t wait.

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