It has been long enough since I made a little review on Spy x Family Part 1, so now I feel like doing the same thing with part 2! Yeee I'm like... a full year late but there's a reason for this: my interest for SXF has kinda died out. Not fully died out so to say, but part 2 came around a time when more interesting shows started to pop out (cough cough Bocchi cough Mob Psycho cough cough Bleach cough) and the general hype for the series wasn't all that present anymore. Obviously tho I didn't feel like dropping it as I stated from the previous SXF review "I'm interested to see what part 2 has to offer, hopefully on the same level of enjoyment or even better" so was that the case...? Unfortunately not so much.
It starts off with Anya wanting a pet to impress her classmates, after going to the pet store Anya is accidentally involved in a terrorist plan organized by a group of criminals, she was able to escape thanks to a imprisoned dog, let's say a special dog that can predicate recent future events. After figuring out that Anya's dad is going to be in danger very soon they both go in a little adventure to save him. After solving these events that last for three or more episodes the show goes back at being a "serene" slice of life, mostly about Anya highlights at school. Anya is very much the star of part 2, after all she is at the center of the poster! The problem is that every time she's on screen she's just... boring. It's a complain that I've already explained in part 1, the characters don't have much going on personality wise but saved a bit by some interesting/memorable scenes and I could see a bit of grown into the family dynamic for future episodes, here nothing improves and there's nothing to latch on to. I grown to not liking Anya anymore, I though of her as adorable and mysterious once I started part 1, now she's either boring or annoying to watch especially during her school routine, didn't care about any of her shenanigans as well as her classmates, they just... exist! (believe it or not they're getting almost as much screen time as the Forgers). As for the parents (now reduced more of side characters), well Loid is still pretty bland except maybe for table tennis side story that happen near the end. Seeing him spending some funny action time with his collaborator Fiona was pretty I suppose. Yor is honestly the star of the series for now, yeah I know she's kinda stupid and goofy at times but there's a big charm to that, seeing her doing stupid decisions and being ridiculously OP is the most fun SXF can get. Her stopping a speedy car with a single kick and throwing a tennis ball at the speed of sound might sound very ridiculous, and it is but remember this is an anime with a kid with esper powers, a future telling pet, and a spy that can perfectly disguise with a single costume so... yeah we clearly don't care of reality anymore. Anyway, what for the other side characters? There's the big new family member Bond, he exist! The bud was useful to solve the terrorist attempt for sure but that outside there's nothing else to speak about; Ruri is here just to vomit on Yor's food; Damian and Becky are whatever; Fiona is actually worth to mention simply because of her rivalry (since she's fallen in love with Loid) against Yor. To sum it up, Yor carries the cast and the series on her super strong back while everyone is average or below.
The production value is, for what I can tell, the same as it was in part 1, the one thing I will add is that the aesthetic starts to look more mediocre the more you watch up until the end (or at least that's what I felt like), but it's better then decent regardless. The animation shines the most during the OP and ED, actually it's incredible during the OP and ED, sadly the rest doesn't match the same level.
Well, to finish my overall thoughts; despite being critical to many aspects of Spy X Family Part 2 I think in its entirety it's alright! I don't have much to dislike about (except Anya), but it is a bit of a downgrade from part 1 and I can see why its popularity started to decrease with the past few months. Still it's a good anime to watch with friends and family, I don't have a lot of hope for when the next season and the movie come out. However it goes I won't have interest to review the rest of the series, so this is where my description of SXF will end. May the Forgers spend a good and happy life together!
