(This review covers cours one and two, mainly in light of the fact that another season and a movie are outr, and because I feel like talking about them individually would be tedious and redundant)

As of this writing, Spy x Family has become one of the most popular anime and manga to ever leap onto the scene in the late 2010s-early 2020s. I don't remember how I first heard about it, but I did read a couple chapters of the manga online, but didn't continue it due to other obligations...and because those chapters ran kinda long, though I do plan on rectifying that. I do remember thinking the premise sounded interesting, and when the anime was announced, I thought it'd be nice to watch it. It seemed like a fun little show, and sure enough, while not without some hiccups, Spy x Family is a nice little piece of popcorn entertainment that lovingly wears its James Bond inspirations on its sleeve.

But what's the story, you ask? The countries of Westalis and Ostania are locked in a cold war rife with espionage and assassination. After flawlessly completing yet another mission, Westalis's top agent, the master spy known only as Twilight, has been tasked with investigating the activities of Donovan Desmond, leader of Ostania's far-right National Unity Party. The problem? Desmond is a social hermit and only ever makes public appearances at his sons' school functions. Thus Twilight has been ordered to get close to Desmond...by getting married and having a child within a seven-day deadline. Assuming the identity of psychiatrist Loid Forger, Twilight adopts an orphan girl named Anya and marries Yor Briar, an Ostanian civil servant who needs a husband to avoid drawing attention in the heavily suspicious Ostanian society, to play the part of his daughter and wife. Making things more complicated, however, is that Anya and Yor are keeping secrets of their own: Anya escaped from a lab that gave her telepathic powers and Yor is an infamous assassin code named Thorn Princess. Thus begins Loid, Anya, and Yor's attempts to pretend to be the best family they can, all while hiding their secret identities from the others...and trying to ignore the growing signs that they're not just pretending.

Okay, before I get into the nitty-gritty, there's one little thing about Twilight that annoys the piss out of me: Why the hell is his pseudonym spelled as Loid? Wouldn't it look better if it was spelled as Lloyd instead? I know this is a weird thing to get bristly about, but every time I see the name Loid, my brain makes me think of a certain offensive, ableist slur used to refer to people with Down Syndrome. But that's the spelling the manga and the anime went with, with a screenshot in the latter even flat-out showing the spelling on screen, so I might as well just roll with it. Anyway, as far as animation goes, Spy x Family gets the job done. It's not as flashy and dynamic as something like Chainsaw Man or Attack on Titan, but it fits the aesthetic the show is going for, the character designs are faithful to those in the manga, the backgrounds are well made and nicely rendered, and while the animation isn't exactly the most consistent, impressive, or visually engaging all the time, the times it does are always put to good use, especially during the action scenes. Considering the anime was made in a joint venture between both CloverWorks and Wit Studio, I think this was a good choice on the part of whoever greenlit the anime. I do think the CGI passerbys in the background are pretty obvious and poorly rendered, clashing horribly with the 2D backgrounds.

The soundtrack is definitely Spy x Family's biggest highlight, as it lovingly and shamelessly embraces the show's James Bond and 80s spy movie influences, complete with loud saxophones, low basslines, brassy trumpets, heavy drum rolls, and everything in between. Though the soundtrack is actually much more versatile and has plenty of calmer, slower tunes—especially for classy, high end stuff like Headmaster Henderson's theme—to balance out the spy-influenced ones. I will admit, I like the first opening song better than the second one, mainly because the visuals do an amazing job at depicting several different animation styles at once and because the lyrics for said song fit the show better than the second one. I also prefer the second ending over the first one, not because the first one is bad or anything. Far from it. But I think the second ending song had better visuals, a catchier beat, and also fits the atmosphere of the show.

I'm rather mixed on the characters. The Forgers are a fun bunch, as are many of the side characters, several of whom are consistently over-the-top and pretty hilarious, even if they're not exactly the most three-dimensional. I especially appreciate the show's emphasis on the fact that Anya, while she can read minds, is still just a little kid who actually acts her age, barely understands half of what she hears, and can be a smug, mischievous little gremlin when she feels like it without going too overboard, which prevents her from falling into the stereotype of the super pwecious uwu kid who can do no wrong and whose only purpose is to be a saccharine moeblob. That or something like Frederica from 86 season 2. The rest of the cast...are just kind of there, serving their purpose and not doing much else. Buuuut there are two characters who, quite frankly, annoy the hell out of me and seriously bog down the series with their mere presence: Yuri Briar and Nightfall/Fiona Frost, mainly because these two are so freakishly, creepily obsessed with their targets of interest that it borders on unsettling, yet the show expects the audience to still find them funny. Yuri is the biggest offender because he worships the ground his sister Yor walks on, to the point of hating everybody who doesn't do the same (Even Anya, a literal child, which is just petty to me) and his obsession with her borders dangerously close to incest territory. Like...was this even necessary? Granted, nothing comes of it in both the anime and the manga, but Yuri's whole shtick with Yor and hating everybody for not groveling before his sister is a dead horse of a trope that needs to die and just isn't funny at all. The same goes for Nightfall/Fiona, who is a competent spy like Twilight and is in love with him, but I just hate that the show decided to make her a petty bitch who hates Yor just because she's with Loid and absolutely refuses to take a fucking hint. Sorry, characters that are creepily and single-mindedly obsessed with a person and are needlessly cruel to others about it, often for unfounded reasons, don't really jive with me, especially if said behavior is either played for laughs or not called out for what it is. Granted, the series doesn't take Fiona's side, so kudos to it for that, but I can't stand even seeing Yuri and Fiona on screen for more than two seconds. I admit, I cheered when Yor slapped Yuri twice in the same episode. He honestly deserved it.

But annoying characters aren't the only problem Spy x Family has as a series. Now, Spy x Family makes no secret of the fact that it's meant to be one part action comedy with the occasional dark storyline, and one part wholesome family romp full of hijinks, which is fine. I certainly appreciate the show for doing that and not going for another "Spy retires and has a family but enemy kidnaps family and he has to go back to working as a spy to get them back" plotline, which has been done to death in many other movies. Since the main story is based on a long-term mission in-universe, it makes sense that progress is slow, but there are quite a few times when Spy x Family meanders and drags. Like, a lot. For people who came here looking for just spy action or commentary on the horrors of war, you're not gonna like the fact that a good chunk of this consists of wholesome family antics, spacing out the more action-y episodes. Granted, the fact that the show does have darker episodes to balance the lighter, happier ones keeps Spy x Family from bordering on being too bland or saccharine for its own good, but the series can be hit or miss with its episodes. I hated the segment about that George Glooman kid, because he was just annoying as shit, but I loved all the episodes involving Bond's introduction. Also, Damian's introduction when threatening Anya really broke my suspension of disbelief, because no kid I knew, know of, or grew up with has ever said things like "I'm going to bully you" out loud, and that's because most people don't see themselves as being bullies, nor do they just announce it like they're in a Saturday morning cartoon, and I say this as somebody who was bullied pretty often throughout my school years. Plus, the status quo doesn't change much over the course of 26 episodes, so if you're looking for progress that happens really fast, Spy x Family isn't the show for you. Though with the announcement of a second season and a movie with original content coming out, this might change.

Overall, Spy x Family is a nice little piece of popcorn entertainment that isn't necessarily breaking any new ground, but is still funny and a fun watch if you're looking to turn your brain off. And yes, I saw the second season and I will see the movie when it comes out, along with reading the manga when I'm able.