SPY x FAMILY

This isn't so much a review as just an outpour and reflection on my time with this show and why I rated it as highly as I did.

So I finally got around to find a block of time to catch up on new(er) shows that I missed the last season.
And no° 1 on the priority list was Spy x Family cause I've heard so much good stuff about it and it came out of nowhere to take top spots here on AL and on MAL.
I was worried that it was gonna be just a fad of the season, a "oh this is great but I'll forget about it soon" but oh boy was I wrong.

Let's start with the fact that I'm a sucker for good spy/conman/thievery/assassin stuff, just, you know, things that have a certain... swag to them. Growing up I was a fan of the James Bond movies, so that probably plays into it. But over the years and now in my very late twenties, I have also grown a lot more emotional and stories about families, friendship etc. just hit differently. Free of shame I can admit that upon a rewatch of Pixar's Inside Out I cried a river cause I was so touched. So combine that with each other and, bam, it's a natural fit. And that natural fit made expectations sky-high.

And things were... fantastic within the first few episodes of Spy x Family. The sheer wholesomeness of the interactions between Loid, Yor and Anya with and between each other are just so good. I can't really put concrete examples here without spoiling those who haven't seen SxF, but most every moment when all three of them are ons screen at the same time there's this... air of pure fluff. No one gets angry with one another, Loid and Yor respect each other deeply and clearly have a deep affection for Anya and it just shows. It's a comfy AF show is what I'm saying.

And it's also piss your pants hilarious and ridiculous at the same time. Episode 5 was heartwarming and pretty fun, the latter half of episode 6 (where the Anya Face meme was born had me rolling on the couch), episode 10 was just the right amount of hopelessly overdone and just the ridiculous situations the main trio finds themselves in are, at times, comedy gold.

Other types of gold I need to hand out are the action scenes and the animation itself. I mean, okay, it's WIT x Cloverworks with, if I'm not mistaken, MAPPA as supporting studio. Soooo... it just slaps. The aforementioned Episode 5 has a short but fantastically choreographed fight at its end, and episodes 1 and 2 showed some high-stakes action scenes. One of the very few things that stuck out were things like CGI cars, but that's easy to overlook. I'm also absolutely in love with the visual aspect of the opening and ending, they're just SO good. Especially that impromptu dance at the end of the ending made my heart melt just that much more per episode.

As for the characters, they're so whacky I love them. Loid is pretty presented as a a perfect spy and a top-tier human specimen in general, but with the "fake a family for your mission's stake" he's so far out of his comfort zone that watching him adjust is just fun; it's also really nice to see him thaw from somewhat of an ice-king only focused on his mission (which, to be fair, is a high stakes mission) and show his soft, caring side.
As for Yor, the contrast between her, dare I say, bloodthirsty / bloodlust-y professional persona and her civil identity as a stellar but ditzy mother (sans the cooking but hey, Loid got that covered) for Anya is so stark it's sometimes hard to forget they're the same person.
And then there's Anya. An ABSOLUTELY adorable kid who is very cunning and makes use of her ability to read minds... but she's also a complete and utter idiot who's really screwed when she can't read minds. However, she's also the catalyst for most of the show's humour and´, naturally, the heartwarming moments, so her characterisation works perfectly in the setting of the show.

Closing thoughts on this short write-up of my thoughts....
I dislike Yuri but luckily he wasn't in the show much this season. The wait until October for S2 luckily isn't that long. But other than that.... nothing comes to mind.

TL;DR - Spy x Family is comfy, it's cute, it's hilarious, it's very well animated, it's got a quirky cast and a cool premise....
Must watch.