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Summary
Spy x Familyis a unique series to me, a blend of multiple genres I enjoy as a reader, but also with a special connection to a career I once pursued during, of all things, an M.A. History program. Fresh off graduating from my B.A. degree in the same field, I pursued an advanced degree and endorsement for work in the intelligence sector. Naturally, the flair of popular spy fiction appealed to me like it does to anybody. Still, eventually, I fell away from that pursuit,only to have that passion reignited unexpectedly bySpy x Family.
Working in the intelligence sector is a common pursuit for history graduates for a pretty straightforward reason: they must verify and analyze their information sources, something that is veryfar from the glamor and excitement ofSpy x Family. Having to eventually back out of the program amicably due to mental health and financial concerns started a years-long rough period for me where I reassessed myself in the professional sphere.
But in rediscovering my passions, the opportunity to coverSpy x Familyas a budding anime journalist arose, so I latched on as it restored some of my missing joy.
Anya’s Origins in Spy x Family Are Darker Than Fans Think
Spy x Family’s adorable psychic Anya may be hiding a surprisingly dark and disturbing past that could forever change the Forger family if revealed.
Spy x Family Is a Gateway Manga, and It Helped Me During Dark Times
Spies, Assassins, and Telepaths Unite to Draw Public Interest
By the time I had left my M.A. program, it was 2017, and I was barely watching any anime,fresh off the disappointment withthe recentBerserkadaptation. I had to adapt without an advanced degree in the business city of Waterloo, Ontario, which was a challenge. My time over the next five years would be spent gaining real-life experience as I fell in with a massive movie theater chain, climbing the ranks to Theater Manager. Still, my boredom and regrets began to set in, exacerbated further by multiple pandemic lockdowns,until I found my gateway back into manga withSpy x Family.
It was an unexpected development, as I leveraged my history degree and live-streaming experience for a game journalism job a full year before I ever got to coverSpy x Family. But as our site grew and I created their entertainment vertical, I would soon break into the anime coverage, my first series beingSpy x Family.Tracking the escapades of a deep-cover WISE agent and his farcical family enticed me out of my shell and into anime and manga enthusiast journalism.
In a way,Spy x Familyis my way of coming to terms with the past as a former history student, especially since my focus was on Cold War-era Soviet interlopers crossing the Canadian border into the United States. I find an eerie amount of commonalities between this series,FX’sThe Americans, and the thesis I was drafting about that exact type of infiltration happening in the reality of the twentieth century.The fact that I now get to study a heavily fictionalized approximation of that concept while enjoying Tatsuya Endo’s comedy is cathartic.
Spy x Family’s Creator Is Relatable to Fans
Tatsuya Endo Got Back on the Horse With a Global Smash Hit Manga
WhileSpy x Familyis considered Tatsuya Endo’s most important work at the moment, for him, this was a way to rehabilitate himself, to “get back on the horse” after numerous one-shots. As discussed in the officialSpy x Familyguidebook,Eyes Only,this series was meant to be a therapeutic experience for him to reignite his joy as a creator.Still, with it becoming a massive success, this would soon change, as Endo found himself in the driver’s seat as a mangaka and not simply an assistant, as described below:
The original idea was “Let’s get to a place where I can enjoy drawing manga.” For a long time, I found making manga painful. And I mean that at a deeper level than just “It’s painful not being able to draw manga that my readers enjoy and I can be satisfied with.” Just the act of sitting down to draw manga was itself emotionally painful.
However, I was really enjoying working as an assistant. There wasn’t the pressure of working on a project with my name on it, and getting to talk to other creators was very stimulating. And in the process, I was gradually healing on a mental level. But as soon as I had to confront a creation of my own, I ended up turning inward again and lost all that.
-Tatsuya Endo
The creative and intellectual process of writing and composing art is hard; ask me and my zero published novels, and I’ve had nowhere near the gangbusters success ofSpy x Family. Working as a game journalist was sometimes rewarding. I would essentially sink into writing guides and occasionally enjoy it, like with Elden Ring, or writhe in frustration with more contentious projects expected of me, like Hogwarts Legacy coverage.But coveringSpy x Familywas liberating, reminding me of the joy of spy fiction while seeing how Endo’s meticulous research could pay off.
Only One Spy X Family Can Fix One Of The Fans' Main Criticisms For The Series
Chloe, Yuri’s coworker and new partner, could be the one to help Yor’s brother to let go of his intense attachment to his sister.
Tatsuya Endo and Other Mangaka’s Research Is Inspiring for Young Creators
Research Isn’t Just for Academic Papers
The fact that Tatsuya Endo performs his research so meticulously is exciting and lets me live vicariously through his work onSpy x Family.
One of the most grueling processes of my time in the M.A. program was that my chosen field’s research often meant waiting months for documents to be declassified and physically mailed on DVD-Rs. The main drawback was that I had completed my coursework to go along with this, so there was only my thesis left, and I’d be paying tuition only to wait and endure the stress, draining any of my remaining interest in the work. The fact that Tatsuya Endo performs his research so meticulously is exciting and lets me live vicariously through his work onSpy x Family.
While some research had to be conducted by getting an Access to Information and Privacy (ATIP) request approved, publicly accessible documents likeThe Mitrokhin Archiveare a great springboard into research on Cold War-era intelligence operations.
Creative types are no strangers to research for their work, such asMakoto Yukimura’s travels to Scandinavia for research when starting to createVinland Saga.Research breathes credibility into academia or journalism and authenticity into biographical or fictional work. It doesn’t have to be extreme cases like Charles Bukowski’s prolific depictions of people at their lowest points in life;it just has to be about a subject where the audience can grasp and appreciate the effort put into it.Tatsuya Endo is known for his meticulous dedication to detail and research onSpy x Familyand beyond.
Spy x Family Thrives Thanks to Compromise
Growing as a Creator Means Accepting Change
In creatingSpy x Familyand earlier works likeBlade of the Moon Princess, Endo continuously bucked at the idea of creating a conventionally attractive male character, even though it’d surely boost the series' popularity. While discussing his work with Kazue Kato and Amu inEyes Only, he noted that he had previously purposefully made male characters less attractive almost on principle, but the handsome Loid Froger was an instant hit. It’s a compromise, Endo noted,claiming that he doesn’t get attached to his characters because of how often they’re changed.
Artists and creators of all stripes must be willing to accept and adapt to criticism and professional advice when looking to be published in a periodical as popular as those under Shueisha’s umbrella.Spy x Familyhas sold 35 million copies across thirteen volumes as of March 2024, as reported byprtimes.jp, so Endo’s willingness to accept compromise has paid off. However, readers still find a twinkle of “suffering from success” mentality, such as in his fourth-wall-breakingSpy x FamilyVolume #10 moment, where he jokingly laments that the series would need eighty volumes at its current pace.
Spy x Family’s Fandom Craves the Joy of the Series
The Thrill and Suspense of a Spy Novel and Whimsy of a Slice-of-Life
Spy x Familydelicately traverses the tightrope of razor-sharp tension and zany comedy thanks to the juxtaposed straight man that is Twilight (Loid) with his goofy family.Yor Forger is hopelessly clumsy and inept at communicating with Loidabout their marriage arrangement. At the same time, Anya is keenly aware of Loid’s thoughts yet is doomed to bumble through her days at Eden Academy as she is still an ordinary kid.It creates tense sagas like the Red Circus and Mole Hunt Arcs, yet it also results in heartwarming moments likeHenry and Martha’s recent flashback chapters.
Readers and viewers ofSpy x Familymedia don’t necessarily have to follow the story closely to gain immense enjoyment from the plot, aseach arc is well-defined and relatively self-contained while building the world outwards. In the most recent Research Mission chapter,a tease of London is introduced to the series worldbuilding, mainly focusing on Westalis and Ostania, stand-ins for West and East Germany. There’s so much excitement around the corner, yet it’s a wholesomely shared joy among the reading community.
There’s still plenty of theSpy x Familyworld yet unexplored, and with allusions to Hugaria as a fictional stand-in for Hungary and the recent London research trip, there could be more worldbuilding on the way.
Unlike contentious fandoms likeOshi no KoorMy Hero Academia,Spy x Familyhas a delightful fan base that eagerly consumes even the smallest installments. I am part of one of the most vocalSxFdiscords and enjoy that passion alongside them because I crave the same joy they get from the series. It’s gotten to the point where VIZ Media’s PR team has now shipped me three different review copies ofSpy x Familybooks for review. While their intuition is correct about my adoration for the series, they still don’t know how important it is to me.
The Spy x Family Manga Let Me Embrace a New Career Path
Enthusiast Coverage of Manga is a Dream-Come-True
While my initial coverage ofSpy x Familywas modest and focused on release date guides, I would eventually grow my authority on the series while enjoying it purely for pleasure. In this field, it can be challenging to enjoy a series when you’re constantly dissecting it for research and content,but it means a source of joy that can offset the doldrums of the job. Instead of worrying about leaks and spoilers, withSpy x Family,I could let the joy of the manga’s latest releases propel me to conceive new content angles,diving into fan theories and analysis.
When I backed out of the M.A. program, it was a dark period; I drank and smoked far more than I should have, feeling like a failure while clinging desperately to whatever work I could do. I couldn’t afford to pay tuition to wait for the resources to trickle in, and work became a chore with the goal of survival. I felt I had outgrown manga, but rediscovering it in my thirties, withSpy x Familybeing bizarrely tailor-made for my interests, saved the last embers of joy in my heart, and for that, I say thank you, Endo-sensei.
Spy x Family
Cast
Created by Tatsuya Endo, Spy X Family is an action-adventure comedy anime that follows the misadventures of a found family with unique quirks. The story follows spy Twilight (known as Loid Forger), who, while on assignment, builds a fake family to get closer to his target. Unbeknownst to him, his new family carries their quirks. His wife, Yor, is a kind but deadly assassin, while his daughter, Anya, has telepathic powers - and is the only one who knows their secrets.
