The second half of SPYxFAMILY.
With Anya Forger successfully enrolled at the renowned Eden Academy, Operation Strix advances to its
second phase. To investigate Ostanian politician Donovan Desmond, Anya must either befriend his son
Damian or collect eight Stella Stars to become an Imperial Scholar. Fortunately, Anya has already
acquired her first star. In celebration, her adoptive father, Loid, decides to fulfill her wish to
adopt a dog.
During their canine search, Loid receives new orders from his superiors, who have found that a band of
Berlint University students is plotting to assassinate Westalis' Minister Brantz using bombs worn by
trained dogs. While Loid tries to stop their plans, Anya stumbles upon the terrorists' base of
operations. There, she befriends a kindhearted, clairvoyant dog who the family later names Bond.
Although the Forgers continue to lead their individual lives in secrecy, the family—with a new fluffy
addition—remains united through all of the unusual obstacles thrown their way.
(Source: MAL Rewrite)
~~~webm(https://v.animethemes.moe/SpyXFamilyPart2-OP1.webm)~~~ #####~~~(Video includes audio. Be sure to unmute)~~~ *Spy x Family* was based on a silly premise – a spy, an assassin, and an esper all coming together as a weirdly-constructed fake family, and each having their own reasons for wanting to keep up the charade. A part of the show’s initial allure wasn’t just from the premise alone, but from the sheer oddness of how all these disparate parts managed to come together. Even at times when I wasn’t laughing, I enjoyed myself. There was a kind of bizarre spontaneity to the series that made forming the family and establishing the universe they reside in quirkily fun, and each new element that was thrown in seemed to add another sweet and charming layer to a gradually-misshapen cake (with peanuts on top, because Anya). The whole thing plays itself off similarly to the old *Get Smart* or *The Double Life of Henry Phyfe*, so questioning the logistics of the whole matter is a bit of a fool’s errand. If the first cour of the show had been to gather the cast and crystallize the relationships and status quo, the second cour naturally would follow suit to see the characters in their day-to-day life, trying to make the most of their crazy situations and frequently getting in and out of trouble. The notion itself is perfectly fine; this is a world where there are essentially three stories moving in parallel – Operation Strix being carried out by Loid, Anya’s adventures at school to get good grades and into Damian’s good graces, and Yor’s attempting / failing to become a better housewife while maintaining her double-life as an assassin. Each one presents its own scenarios that feel at home with the cross between spy thriller and comedy that the show managed to pull off beforehand. But therein lies the problem – the keyword that I had used to describe the first cour was “spontaneity,” and that is what feels like it is sorely missing this second time around the block. The sheer collision of the absurd and crazy was a part of *Spy x Family’s* adrenaline. In trying to so often fit square pegs into round holes through its dynamics and interactions, the series had an off-kilter swagger that impacted both the scenarios, setpieces, and the characters within them. That swagger is absent, however. Because the series has now reoriented itself into a new norm, the scenarios feel less crazed and more trite. They’ve more or less settled into a routine, robbing the series of a sense of forward momentum. Most typically, there are two ways to express forward momentum from a storytelling standpoint. One is the way we generally tend to associate with stories: have the plot itself move from point A to point B and so on until you get to the end. The other way tends to lend itself better to episodic content like *Spy x Family* – rather than focus on the overarching encompassing conflict and eventual resolution, have the focus be geared more towards the largely self-contained episodes and get by through whatever the stylistic vibe the show is going for. The focus is less geared towards the resolution of the whole and more towards the resolution of the moment. This series adopts the latter approach, and on some level, this makes perfect sense. The franchise is structured like a sitcom through its idea of “mission of the week” and putting larger-scale conflicts on hold, delaying the sense of a finale until the mangaka Endou Tatsuya feels that the time for it has arrived. However, there is a misalignment between where *Spy x Family’s* strength ultimately lies versus where this cour thinks it does, at least in regards to its material – the charade of maintaining the family life and focusing the attention on the Forger family as a unit tends to work far more effectively. Operation Strix is not where the appeal is kept because that is not what the series has been about, at least as I have watched. The Operation being carried out may have been what gathered the ensemble, both from within and from without the Forger household, but that mostly served as a means to an end and a backdrop rather than being the main glue that kept me coming back initially. It’s within the comedic moments of Yor trying to become a better cook, Loid realizing that his marriage might possibly be in jeopardy, and Anya snarkily commenting on the various goings-on between everyone that gives the series its funky color. The grander overarching story of Operation Strix has far less appeal both comedically and dramaturgically than the everyday life of the Forgers and the natural problems that arise because, well, families experience problems, especially considering that everyone in this particular family has secrets that they **MUST** keep from one another. *Spy x Family* part two places too much emphasis on the drama with the comedy somewhat forcing itself in rather than the comedy taking the reins from the start. That’s not to say that the series is not trying to make Operation Strix work, because it is. There are remnants of that off-kilter variety there, such as from the first scenario of being threatened with the trained terrorist dogs, and needing to break into a secured area in order to change some test answers. The addition of Nightfall, another spy that has worked with Loid, is among the better aspects of the second cour, mostly because of her interactions with the show’s inner structure. She introduces a direct counter to both the spy and the Yor storyline by trying to prove herself worthy of being Loid’s new wife. Aside from the juxtaposition of a cold-on-the-outside, head-over-heels-in-love-on-the-inside facet of her character, she presents a threat disconnected to the East vs. West cold war that hangs over Loid’s mission. Her main concern is not the success of Operation Strix, but with proving herself to be a far-better housewife and marriage partner than Yor. By having her character written in this fashion, she manages to weave herself into the Operation Strix scenario anyway, which makes the connection between Loid’s home life and Loid’s work “marry” wonderfully. What this illustrates is that *Spy x Family* tends to be at its best when it’s examining the characters of the Forger household, with the other storylines moving as companion pieces alongside. The strength is in playing off the incongruities of both the people and the storylines that comprise it, yet tying them together in unexpected ways. The family thread acts as the real heart of the tapestry, the real cypher that makes everything fall into its proper place. With a film and a second season on the horizon (both slated for 2023 release), I do not know whether my misgiving about this cour result from the material not being as inherently funny as the first cour, or if I no longer find the premise as alluring as I once did. Only time will tell for sure. I do not believe the cour itself is bad, but rather that it is not nearly as entertaining as it once was. *Spy x Family* is a series that made me laugh more than I assumed it would when I first saw it, and I truly hope that future installments can make that happen for me yet again. webm(https://www.sakugabooru.com/data/25fa78d2a4c1c4eea51acd3241003fac.mp4)
The Forger family remains one of the most entertaining families on modern television, with their quirkiness, cuteness, and comedy. They make for a wonderful Saturday morning cartoon vibe. However, with most ongoing series that we get a lot of in a short period of time, it can get a bit stale, and that was the case sometimes with this cour of Spy X Family. Don’t get me wrong, I still love it, it just feels like we’ve settled into the groove of this show, and it’s not as fresh anymore. In the last cour, we had more “peaks” in the show, like the ring proposal and Anya going to school for the first time, whereas this cour, it just felt consistent throughout, with no real highs, but no real lows either. STORY: I did feel the story took a bit of a hit this cour, since the main conflict at hand, with the war between Ostania and Westalis felt like it took a backseat, and that it was mostly more character-driven little skits, that some people may call “filler”. The structure of quite a few of the episodes were more like those cartoons you might have watched in your childhood where there were multiple skits in one episode. Perhaps we’re at a slower point at the manga right now, but that structure of an episode did hinder the plot progression to some extent in my opinion. That said, at its core, this show has a lot of slice of life elements, and even with those elements, it still delivers entertainment at a consistent quality. It’s the fact that we’ve gotten used to what made this show stand out in the first place that some of us might find this cour a little weaker than the last. ART: To be honest, I think the production wasn’t as polished as last season, but it was still very good. Some of the character expressions, some of the vibrant colours, those just weren’t hitting on the same level as cour one, but the production has still been solid overall, and I hope the animators don’t get too rushed for future seasons. MUSIC: The OP by Bump of Chicken was alright, but the ED by Yama was probably my favourite ED of the season with how catchy it was. The OST was still just as good as the first cour. CHARACTERS: The cast was still very entertaining to watch, especially Anya, as usual, with her faces and meme-worthy actions. She remains my favourite character of the show, and her adorableness always makes me smile and laugh. Loid was just as good as a character as last cour as well, as he continues to soften up a little for the people around him. I would like to highlight a few characters that stood out more to me in both a good and bad way. Firstly, Yor. The bottom line is, she needs more meaningful screen time. More depth into her assassin life would have been appreciated, and it would have made the cast stand out even more. Becky was quite a comedic character this season, and I appreciated how her and Anya’s friendship continued to develop, as well as her crushes toward various people. The last character that had more of an impression on me would be Nightfall, otherwise known as Fiona. For anyone who hasn’t watched to the latter half of this cour yet, I won’t spoil important details, but she introduced some little conflicts that felt more meaningful for me during this cour, so I liked her addition to the cast. ENJOYMENT: Some of my enjoyment did level off with this cour, but the fact still stands, I still smile and laugh a lot while watching this, and that’s good enough for me. THEMATIC EXECUTION: When the show executes a theme that is a bit different from the norm of the show, it’s usually effective. If there’s a wholesome moment, it’s done well. If it’s absurd comedy, it can do that too. If it’s action, that’s done nicely too, though I would have wanted to see a bit more action from this cour. OVERALL: I will say with certainty that I enjoyed cour one more than this cour, but that’s not to say this cour was bad at all. I’ll still recommend this show to practically anyone, especially with how family friendly it generally is. While I did wish more meaningful things happened this cour, the entertainment value was still strong even if the story didn’t progress too much. With Season 2 and an original movie to come next year, we will be blessed with a whole lot more of Spy X Family very soon, and I’ll be happy to see more when it comes around once more.
If you liked the first 12 episodes of Spy x Family, you're in luck because this is more of the same. You're essentially getting the same show with a few new add-ons. Part 2 continues to follow the adventures of a spy, Loid Forger, his wife and assassin, Yor, and their psychic daughter Anya. This new season adds on their pet dog, Bond, as they attempt to pass off as an average family while hiding their true identities. Meanwhile, Anya frequently must use her wits to get her parents out of trouble, whether in physical danger or with marital problems. This time, with the help of her fluffy clairvoyant dog. Her struggles to win the affection of her pretentious classmate Damian and earn passing grades are the focus of her subplot this season. So, more of the same as part 1. Yor's central conflict is becoming a trad-wife, aka learning to cook and care more for Anya. The show has always adopted a traditional definition of the nuclear family unit, which is not particularly exciting, in my opinion, but at least it gives her something to do. Seeing her attempt to cook with her own intense assassin knife work was quite chuckle-worthy. The animation studio, CloverWorks, ~~enslaved~~ collaborated with some of the most respected animators in the industry to bring the world of Spy x Family's eye-catching sequences. The series features a blend of 2D animation with dynamic camera motions, focusing on keeping the character designs on model while making movements as natural as possible. The intense tennis match in episodes 11 and 12 is an excellent example of these achievements. It also features various camera angles and match cuts, giving the series an energetic and dynamic feel. Even when the comedy is too predictable to generate laughs, it's a fine enough visual spectacle to hold your attention. I should address my biggest issue with the second part, Yor and Loid's stagnant marriage of convenience. Unfortunately, their chemistry has not developed at all. Yor's biggest concern is that Loid has left her for Nightfall, another spy from the same agency newly introduced. She's in love with Loid for his talents as a spy and dashing looks. Loid finally realizes that Yor is suspicious of an affair because old hags gossip about him on the street. Do you know what Loid does? He says, "This would be bad for the mission," not caring about how his actions affect Yor. He is a heartless bastard, and I loathe him. I have more words for him, but they got me suspended on Twitter. So I will hold my tongue (fingers). He treats Yor like Anya's babysitter. There's no love because they're married out of convenience, but twenty-four episodes later and little to no romantic development? Really?! You have a hot wife. Why don't you realize that you are an absolute CUCK? For some reason, people are in love with this mediocre man. His colleague and Anya's friend, a child, are into this slice of wonderbread of a man. I, as a gay man, find him utterly unappealing, which is the only opinion that should matter if we're being completely honest. Spy x Family Part 2 is a good continuation of the series, and fans of the first part will be pleased to get more of the same with a few new additions. The story is filled with thrilling action sequences, gripping suspense, and a bit of cuckold teasing for flavor, which I prefer to the incest bait in part 1. The characters are as goofy as ever, and the spy shenanigans strive to be as ridiculous as possible. The animation is top-notch and littered with sakuga. The overall story is a good blend of comedy and heart-warming family dynamics.
What is the best aspect of Spy X Family? img1220(https://animecorner.me/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/spy-x-fam-ed-1.png) I'd say it's the funny interactions between the family members and everything involving our main plot, the spy stuff. The worst part would probably be Anya's school life. No matter how cute or funny Anya is, her school life is simply not that interesting. And unfortunately, the 2nd cour of Spy X Family heavily focuses on that exact aspect. Most of the episodes are also divided into two different stories, one longer and more important and one shorter that exists simply for the comedic value that would extend the episode. I'm not a fan of this because it simply feels that in those episodes nothing matters too much. It doesn't offer much value other than comedy, which can get repetitive if the main plot is on pause. It feels like filler, and that can't be good. img1220(https://www.crowsworldofanime.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/SPY_x_FAMILY_Cour_2_Episode_22_Figure-05.jpg) The parts where the plot is actually progressing are very good, especially the tennis mission that Twilight does in pair with a female colleague of his that is madly in love with him. It also helps that she's a hilarious character that I'd like to see more of in the future. Her rivalry with Yor has a lot more possibilities. Regarding Yor however, I feel she's not used much here. There are no assassin missions shown for her and if we didn't know better, you could mistake her for being just an ordinary woman in most episodes. And that's a shame because she's quite an interesting character that deserves her profession being explored more, and not be just a bizarre label. Also, you rarely even see the three of them all together doing something of note in an episode. Most of the time it's 2/3 characters going on an adventure together while leaving the remaining member behind. They also get a dog, but other than the first two episodes he's barely even used. His talent, which I won't spoil, is completely forgotten for the rest of the season other than one short comedy skit. img1220(https://i0.wp.com/www.crowsworldofanime.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/SPY_x_FAMILY_Cour_2_Episode_13_Figure-03-1-scaled.jpg?ssl=1) The big story progression in the last episode also leaves a lot to be desired. You simply get the feeling of... that's it? This is the big scene in which the "first contact" happens? I really like Spy X Family and its characters, but I feel like most episodes here simply aren't up to par with the 1st cour. I definitely want more and I'm anticipating the next season, but I hope they'll get rid of the 2 stories per episode format and pace the series a bit more while setting up its lead characters for more bizarre and funny interactions that we know and love.
Sorry but not sorry. This is the most disappointing thing I’ve ever seen. This anime is suffering from an identity crisis. You never know what the heck is the point or trying to show. Based on the poster, it’s obvious what’s about to happen. If you will compare the posters between the two parts, you will see the obvious difference. From an “amazing looking spy” show to a gag filler sitcom from OVAs. _“Spy x Family is perfectly blended with action and comedy...”_ Cut that crap already! I’ll keep this review short and to the point because no one thing in this show is worth mentioning. The first part was okay despite being a disappointment. It showed a feel-good vibe with a spice of action, even the action should be the important factor in this show. The second part so far is absolutely the worst sequel I’ve ever seen. I’ve been waiting for this moment since I teased in my review from the first part that the sequel would be ridonkeylous. If I will get a percentage for the good parts in this part, it would be 3% and it’s from the Bond part. Right, that Bond part. Sorry for those people who said that this segment is well-written, but I will explain why this part is so bad. A group of criminal guys who want to fuel a war between the two sides by bombing using dogs. Anya met this white fluffy dog (later called him Bond), but suddenly they were being hostage by those guys. The leader of the group said that his plan would be known and would be successful and no one could stop them. But suddenly, Anya got away. Okay, first of all, why wouldn’t they tie Anya first into a chair and put her in the middle when many of their men could see her? This guy is like: “YADA, YADA, YADA”, while he didn’t have the common sense to take care of his hostage. The whole situation perfectly worked for Anya and the author gave the most convenient situation, but in reality, he could have just killed Anya right away. The second dumb thing is the bomb part. Gladly Loid figured out Anya’s warning about not opening the door because the whole thing would get explode. The question is, how the heck they would disarm the bomb, while it detonates at the back of the door? They will push themselves at that small door where Loid saw the bomb through a mirror or glass shard. The only way in is the door and nothing else. How the fuck they will disarm it? The third is when Yor kicked out the car with her massive power and just HER LEG. Is Yor that muscular or some shit? Even though she’s an assassin, there’s no way she could kick a ton-weighted metallic car because assassins don’t get super strength. They only got the speed and reflexes in killing a victim. The car crashed into the lamp post and the people over there didn’t witness what happened. They didn’t call the police department and report it to them. The boss was arrested by the spy organization, but they didn’t think about who was the one who beat the gang leader, and the next day it nothing happened. As if they are not curious about what happened to that guy in the first place. The spy organization has to be the dumbest people I’ve ever known. I’m sure those members of the spy organization would create research about the person who beat it. The rest of the episodes were just filler-gag shows that can make your brain cells deplete. It’s like you’re watching special episodes from OVAs that are derived from the main story. Side stories, perhaps. It’s more of a slice-of-life than action, which is Spy x Family’s disappointment factors. The comedy makes you either cringe or didn’t slap hard, and even Adam Sandler’s comedies are better than this. The whole show is full of Anya and Anya only since she’s the one in the center of the poster. The main characters, Loid and Yor suddenly became the fucking side characters that no one is expecting. The comedy is fully repetitive like Anya’s meme faces, Yor’s cooking segment, Yor’s brother’s vomiting while eating segment, Anya x Desmond interactions, and many more. It’s repeating the same all over and over again like a broken record. And what a way to end the season, TABLE TENNIS. Jeez, what the fuck. It’s like the author has run out of creative ideas for making people entertain so he rehashed the same thing. And you expected us to enjoy that? I don’t fucking think so. The author should just focus on how to make a perfect spy story that focuses on the action with a pinch of comedy, but not a ridonkeylous one for fuck’s sake. The characters? Anya is the only character in this show. She’s still… meh. What about Fiona? Well… __MEH!__ The animation is still good. Not perfect but watchable. Holy moly, the sound is still the same. I will give extra points to the OP since the sequences are superb. It is familiar with the style in 3-gatsu no Lion S2’s 2nd OP and it is sung by BUMP OF CHICKEN, so I’m slightly biased. Still, it didn’t capture the vibe of the whole show because it’s more of a SoL than an action. The ED is nice too and it’s better than the first. Good, but forgettable. I couldn’t say this enough, but this part made me think that even KanoKari S2 had made some progression. It made me remember when I watched Komi-san that the story is still stuck on a broken record. The point and the message that is trying to convey made some or most of the audience feel that this show is like trolling. If you’re living under a rock, this show can be enjoyable. But for those people who want solid action-oriented spy shows, do me a favor and don’t watch this. A truly wasted potential and the sole reason why this is popular... ANYA. Average comedy at its finest. Do you want a solid spy show? Watch Talentless Nana. Want a solid action gun show? Watch Black Lagoon or Ghost in the Shell. Want a solid wholesome slice of life? Watch 3-gatsu no Lion (Momo >>>> Anya). Want a solid blend of action, comedy, and slice-of-life? Watch Mob Psycho 100. ___Story: 3/10 Animation: 7/10 Characters: 4/10 Sound: 5/10 Entertainment factor: 3/10 Enjoyment: 3/10___
__THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS__ ___ __ABBREVIATIONS/TERMS__ __KA__: Key Animation ___ Writing about Spy X Family (SxF) is difficult, because while I still do enjoy the show as it is, I have to admit that it lost some of its charm which it initially had on me. SxF has pretty much anything needed to be a very enjoyable show - It has action, fun jokes, likable characters, a strong emotional core, and a really solid production which knew when it needed to take the extra steps to make certain scenes memorable. SxF is without doubt, a long-term project. img(https://imgur.com/mwUvjxk.png) It’s a project taken on by two studios, who took the necessary steps to make a consistent, good-looking co-production. They’re not looking to create something which blows the viewers mind, but they want to create a solid, consistently solid, product. Which shows, as the difference between WIT and Cloverworks episodes is barely noticeable, even with splitted staff, with all kinds of talent assembled for different episodes, but even these don’t manage to overwhelm the overall, consistent image for SxF Tetsuya Nanatake (WIT producer) and Yuichi Fukushima (Cloverworks producer) go for. With Kazuhiro Furuhashi as the director, SxF is supposed to be a fun, memorable series. Maybe even a series which can be a classic and remembered for a long time, like the series Furuhashi previously directed (Hunter X Hunter 99, Rurouni Kenshin). webm(https://www.sakugabooru.com/data/827465b925e383fdb05ebdc90c6d8437.mp4) _KA: Unknown_ SxF does have the ingredients for such a show, and it certainly resonated with me in the first cour, as I really loved the show at that point. I had some really good laughs, Anya was the embodiment of cuteness, and I enjoyed the spy-related antics Loid has to go through just to reach his goal, or clean-up because Anya is doing unpredictable things. I enjoyed Loid, Yor and Anya bonding with each other despite being a patchwork-family, it was just a very enjoyable show I thoroughly enjoyed watching. img(https://imgur.com/GmUKmwo.png) So why did it drop the ball, at least for me, in the second cour? It could be something simple like just that I grew bored of its formula. Which is true to an extent, because many things which worked for me at the beginning don’t really work for me now, as the show relies a lot on repetition in its gags too, due to its episodic and slice of life nature. For instance, Anya lost immense charm for me, and while she still has charming moments ( and there are good episodes like her shopping with Becky), many gags revolving around her, like her absurd variation of faces, her overconfidence, and so on, don’t work as much for me anymore. The jokes not landing could also be a problem of the medium and/or direction choices. Jokes in the manga are more snappy from what I’ve seen, because it’s told in panels. With Furuhashi emphasizing what happens between the panels, you could say the jokes and puns lack a certain punch to them, which is needed to make them funny. What it ultimately could also be, is that SxF showed its face: It is first and foremost a slice of life show, when the setting hints that it’s a wacky mixture between different genres. Which is not a bad thing per se, but when the jokes didn’t really work for me and I grew tired of the antics of some characters through the sheer amount of repetition, its slice of life aspect became sometimes rather dry to me, even if it worked out in the first cour. img(https://imgur.com/th2vwN2.png) However, I still like SxF. I think it still is a good show, with a generally likable cast, while some jokes don’t land and some do (I am a big fan of the addition of Bond, by the way!). I just don’t love it anymore. It’s not easy to understand why - But it does feel like a pity. I do hope the series can at least maintain its current charm, or help me love it again in the 2nd season, we’ll see how it goes. img(https://imgur.com/KIrh6Zp.png) Last word to the ending and opening - Big fan of the ending. Takayuki Hirao is one of my favorite directors, and he showed it by elegantly constructing some intriguing visuals around the idea to show the forger household with each character having an interaction there. The opening song is great as well, I love Bump and Chicken, the visuals do feel a bit confused though what they want to go for, apart from kinda being a messy AMV without a cohesive theme.
After the foundation of the series being laid in cour 1, cour 2 takes more of a slice of life kind of approach, with small missions weaved in between. The missions which stood out were the terrorist attack and the tennis match, both action packed and thrilling. These missions prevented the show from being too bland. This cour managed to give attention to characters whom were not given in the first half. For example, Yor, Sylvia and Franky. I felt we were able to see Loid’s goofy side when Fiona was posed as competition to Yor. The show kept to a small main cast, with Bond and Fiona being the new additions. Fiona’s entrance managed to spice things up and reinforced Yor’s doubt of being a suitable wife, a sentiment which was introduced in the first cour. She is also an interesting character: gloomy and stoic on the outside but full of emotion and passion on the inside. This aligns with the show's philosophy of hiding your true self in order to maintain peace. Although I felt the lines in her monologues were more than what she actually says out loud, she was fun to watch. The climax of the show was when Loid finally made contact with Donovan Desmond, reminding us the purpose of Operation Strix. This occurrence seemed a bit sudden as it was not brought up in the episodes before it. However, it was not rushed. We were given ample time to see the interaction between Loid and Desmond and we got a glimpse of Desmond's personality. The meeting was important not only for Loid but also for Damian. Loid used Desmond’s position as a father to earn his trust but the conversation also enlightened Damian of what his father thought of him. While Loid saw him as a threat, Damian saw him as a guiding figure. There was an upgrade to the animation. The inner monologues were creatively presented, especially with Fiona’s. Hers was really dramatic and that made her character entertaining. I particularly liked the animation of the tennis rackets in the tennis episode as they heightened the intensity of the match (it also reminded me of the dodgeball episode from the previous cour). The OP had an upbeat and matched the mood of the show: strangers who found a family in each other. The visuals were good, set in the fall but I felt the scenes moved too quickly. I liked the ED more though, which was also upbeat but had a more catchy tune. Overall, this cour fared slightly lower than its predecessor but it still managed to maintain the wholesomeness and comedy that it promised us. Anya’s antics will never get old and we learn more about her this cour through interactions with her friends as well as Bond. I could not figure out where the show was heading before the last episode but the meeting and Desmond’s enigmatic persona did give us something to look forward to in the next season
The second half of Spy X Family is a lot of fun! The second cour focuses more on the slice of life aspect of the characters rather than the action. I get why that's a turn off for some - however I think the show really benefits from it. Seeing characters like Yor and her brother get fleshed out a little more was nice. Fiona is a really entertaining addition to the cast and though her time in the show was brief - her set of episodes were some of the best across the whole season. If I had to list out some actual gripes, I do wish we saw Yor a little more. Like her character development in this half is nice, I really like her arc where she (tries) to learn how to cook. But she comes off as less of a "cool badass" like she did in the first cour and more of just "wife who happens to be really strong for some reason". Like if you only watched this second half of the first season (for whatever reason) I think you would only see her talk about her job as an assasain and not actually do any of it. Also something that sort of annoyed me is that there's this pretty good episode where Anya sends a code for people to meet at a certain spot. It's a pretty entertaining episode and ends on a bit of a cliffhanger which I was excited to see what happens next, but then it just. Goes nowhere? Like the next episode starts a new arc and I thought I had missed an episode. Also want to talk about the music real fast. The OP/EDs are some of my favorite of the fall 2022 season. I almost never skip them. The actual OST for the anime is also really well done, as I've become familiar with this world over the past several months, a lot of it's background music has become stuck in my head. I should mention that I didn't watch this weekly, I watched a few episodes at a time every couple of weeks. That sort of helped with the pacing a bit in my opinion. There are a lot of episodes that don't "contribute to the story directly" or whatever. Doesn't bother me but if you're one of those types that gets annoyed by that, I think it's worth mentioning. Something I've seen a few slice of life anime do is adapt 1 or 2 stories per episode. Spy X Family does this quite a bit in it's second cour, where for the first half of the episode it'll be about tense drama between Loid and Yor, and then the second half is just Anya and Becky shopping. I think they pull it off pretty well, but it can be a little jarring at times. But I think this show is best watched in batches of 2 or 3 episodes, really makes the filler feel less filler. I don't know if I prefer this half to the first half or not, but I intend on doing a rewatch of the whole thing to find out! If you haven't watched Spy X Family yet, do yourself a favor and give it a watch! It's a lot of fun.
#__Scattered Thoughts__: _Spy x Family Part 2_ (Very minor spoilers ahead) #__Should you watch?__ If you’ve watched the first cour of the first season, you’ll probably enjoy this. Maybe a little less so, but enjoy it nonetheless. (Note: This review is primarily building on my [previous review](https://anilist.co/review/17317) for the first cour of season one. Much of the show has stayed pretty consistent from this first cour, and so frankly there is not a ton of detail to discuss. I have also updated that previous review with a few extra thoughts, so feel free to check it out for more detailed context.)
I had a lot of expectations going into the 2nd cour of _Spy x Family_. The first 12 episodes were a joy to watch and were brimming with potential. The show in general has room to explore a plethora of ideas and take its characters in intriguing directions. For that reason, I was genuinely curious to see where Cour 2 will take its burgeoning story. Well, the direction it eventually chose for the Forger family had me taken aback. I had an entire mental list of possible avenues _Spy x Family_ could explore in its second cour, but it opted for an avenue that I never considered before. The option Cour 2 chose was something that revolutionized how I envisioned storytelling: __Nothing__. Cour 2 is either content or complicit, depending on who you ask. It doesn’t even try to shake up the formula already established. We do get deeper insight into the characters, such as Loid’s friendship with Franky, Yor’s feelings of inadequacy, and Damian’s daddy issues. But Cour 2 takes great caution to keep the essentials intact. Even with these new insights, the way we perceive these characters stays fundamentally the same. Loid is still the cold, calculated straight man. Yor is still the talented assassin and dim-witted mom, albeit with more emphasis on the latter this time around. And Anya is, well, Anya (waku waku peanuts chichi to haha icha icha). The core dynamic among the Forgers, even with the addition of an entirely new member (Bond), remains the exact same with or without Cour 2’s character ‘development.’ And I think that’s intentional. Cour 2 is perfectly satisfied with sitting on what Cour 1 has established. It simply brings more of that sweet goodness we know as Forger family hijinks. It doesn’t seek to shatter expectations or elevate _Spy x Family_ to a literary masterpiece. And, honestly, that’s totally fine. I had a great time with what Cour 1 had to offer, and Cour 2 delivered well on that front too. I can’t deny, however, that this latter half of Season 1 is noticeably weaker than the episodes before it. Its contentment/complicity caused it to slump into a routine. Whereas Cour 1 maintained a feeling of haste and unpredictability, Cour 2 seems a lot more telegraphed. We know that Loid is going to overthink certain situations as ‘bad for the mission.’ We expect that the training montage with Anya will end in futility. These gags are no longer new, and they lose some of their excitement because of that. Furthermore, I find myself somewhat frustrated with the avenues that Cour 2 didn’t take. In particular, the balance between Loid, Yor, and Anya that was so effortlessly achieved in Cour 1 is a lot more shaky this time around. _Spy x Family_ always privileged Loid and Operation Strix over Anya’s (vaguely hinted) origins and Yor’s life as an assassin, but it feels… oppressive now. There are episodes centered on Anya and Yor, but Cour 2 treats them more like side stories—distractions from the main plot. The core cast of characters and their interactions between one another were and still are the show’s greatest strength. Yet, I hoped that _Spy x Family_ would dedicate more time meaningfully fleshing out the women in the family. Maybe they could drop hints here and there about the experiment that bestowed to Anya her telepathic powers. I would also be super stoked to see a deep dive into Yor’s occupation as an assassin, paralleling how the anime already depicts Loid and his spy activities. None of these wishes were fulfilled in Cour 2, and I can’t help but be a tad bit disappointed. I could spend all day knocking Cour 2, but all these criticisms do not take away from the highlights. In the end, the Forger family is as delightful to watch as ever. The opening high-octane mission matched the exhilaration of the first 12 episodes. Yor’s mini-arc with her cooking was both wholesome and funny. And the romance between Yor and Loid in the final episode made me melt (I’m a hopelessly romantic teen so I eat that stuff up-). Cour 2 may lack the novelty and polish that the original debut had. But it does reaffirm what made _Spy x Family_ so much fun in the first place. And if you are anything like me, then that’s more than enough. Random Note #2: I swear the animation team dedicates most of their budget to the opening and ending songs. Why is the animation much more fluid and the colors much more vivid?
Spy x Family is a beautiful anime isn’t it? It is a series about a spy in a mission for peace and he needs to get a (fake) family, all of which have their special quirk which they try to hide from the others, all the while trying to have a stable façade. It presents us with an episodic series which showcases us the difficulties and the beauty of having a family. Now, if I say this is a beautiful anime then why the low score? Well, the answer is easy, the series fails at developing these ideas in an interesting way or in a comedic one. At the end I will talk about what I thought was beautiful in the anime. Anya is definitely the biggest selling point of the series, you don’t even need to watch this anime to know her, my little sister knows her name and I don’t even know how since she doesn’t watch this series. She is the biggest case for Spy x Family’s virality on social media due to her quirks like her faces. I have to give credit to her since she at least actually behaves like a child, I have seen many anime in which child just behave like the most saintly thing on the planet and if you have seen a little kid you know that isn’t true. Anya can read minds which she can use to take advantage of it in order to get some stuff she wants. Anya is the one that gives us an outlook of what everyone is thinking due to her powers and it is contrasted in that, since she is a child, she cannot grasp everything completely about the adult world or even in simple things like not knowing how to read a clock. Funny thing, a lot of the sources of her good points are actually sources of her bad points. Like I said at the beginning, her quirks are the main source of her popularity, but in no way are these funny, her faces are so overused that even if you found them funny it should be getting pretty old even before halfway the second cour, because they are sometimes the punchline of a joke or the entire joke in itself. The Anya centered episodes where there is no one else aside from her school friends are very boring to watch because Anya is the whole joke and the problem with that is that she isn’t funny, her faces are like dumb meme templates that stop being funny the same day you watched them. Loid is proficient at everything he does except in one thing, which is the central theme of the series, he isn’t knowledgeable about how to be a parent because it is basically impossible to teach oneself how to be one unless you are one, he has to learn how to take care of Anya step by step. The situation of his mission is pretty much out of his hands since it comes from his child and his wife to stay on their script instead of him individually handling everything. The bad part with Loid isn’t the part with his family, but rather when he is alone. Remember that I said that he is good at everything? Well, exactly that, not only the series fail to make his spy persona interesting since he is basically flawless in this aspect so we know he will always be fine even in missions and fights, but also it fails to do it comically. Just a little example in this part, in episode 6, Loid goes undercover to Anya’s school to change the answers of her test to make her pass the exam, but in his way he finds another spy (whose name I had to check) called Daybreak, then this goes about him just watching Daybreak being stupid while saying he is a better spy than Twilight which I suppose was supposed to be funny but it came out as lame and silly, it was really hurtful to see, because the boke and tsukkomi type of jokes barely work when half of the time they aren’t even interacting directly. He is still my favourite member of the cast, however, since he is the one with the best moments. I remember I had problems at the start with the fact that he couldn’t catch up of Yor’s real identity despite even witnessing her super strength multiple times, but I came to realize that I was being dumb there and it makes perfect sense that he can’t discover it, after all, if I wasn’t told in episode 2, I wouldn’t be able to tell it either because Yor never does something related to her assassin job. And this leads us to another of the main characters, Yor. Ever since the start, Yor has been the character I have had the more issues with, she is quickly reduced to one big joke that isn’t funny, she is the weakest character of the main cast due to being like a third wheel in a bicycle, but not only she is a third wheel, she is a deflated wheel. You see, I had some hopes with Yor after episode 2 of the series, which I honestly think was one of the best ones, as you can get the gist of her character there: she is an assassin that hides herself and that she is dumb/veeeery naïve, but I think I underestimated how dumb she can be. You see she seems ret*rded, no joke, and I think I should have noticed this by episode 2 where Yor, you know, the assassin, saw as if it wasn’t a problem to kick your patients and throw them grenades. But then, in episode 2, you see another side of her, a very strong and serious side of her when she is in her assassin job, which doesn’t align with anything else you see of her. This is to have 2 things, the badassery of a strong girl and the dumbness and naïvetés of an innocent girl, which, if you didn’t catch it, is to appeal as many people as possible to like her despite being a failure as a character due to her portrayal. As I hope you can see, there are many questions about Yor that aren’t answered at all. There is no answer as to why she is an assassin at all, we know that she needed money to take care of his brother, but in no way this suddenly justifies her being an assassin when she could take any number of civilian jobs instead. You also have her being super strong beyond any human, which is used as one of her main gags, and guys, this wasn’t funny in a series like One Punch Man, it is even less here, we aren’t even given a reason as to why she is very strong, it is related to her being an assassin or did she become an assassin because she is strong? We don’t know because Yor’s job as an assassin is never shown. She is not interesting, the episode where she learns how to cook, while I see it as a nice attempt for her to be a better wife, it is told like an unfunny joke “haha, she cook so bad”, but I think she has potential to grow like actually developing normal levels of human intelligence, like there is this part in episode 8 of the second cour where Anya asks her about her job, and Yor in all of her wisdom comes to the great question of whether she should tell Anya about her job, which she uses as a cover for people not to suspect about her assassin job or about her job as an assassin which she is trying to hide, and I think I lost some braincells there, because it seems this is just too hard to think for her despite the answer being quite obvious. Things like this is what makes me feel disappointed, not only her side as Yor the housewife is uninteresting, her side as Yor the assassin is superfluous. Later in the season you get this new character, she is called Fiona and she is also a spy and one of Loid’s coworkers. When we get to see her, we immediately are shown that she is madly in love with Loid, because this is exactly what Spy x Family needed, a new love interest that’s also going to go nowhere, because of course, Yor isn’t developed so we now need a new girl to not get anything from her either. She wants to replace Yor as a wife since she thinks she would be much better than her, and I wouldn’t disagree since she isn’t making me lose braincells with her actions and she knows what is at stake, but she acts as emotionless as she can, so somehow Yor has more of a personality. This leads us to what she accomplishes: absolutely nothing. Her own character doesn't get to be funny because she is too exaggerated and at the same time not, because she always shows herself as stoic and her mind is the one that exaggerates things, making it painful to digest, and she shares the biggest problem I have with Loid, which is she is basically perfect at what she does, which made the tennis matches boring to watch because for their opponents to not even be equals they had to make like a hundred traps, so the tennis tournament where she was with Loid were tensionless and we got nothing from it. The animation is fine, WIT episodes look better than Cloverworks episodes to no one’s surprise, and you can even see which studio is the one that is handling it without getting to the credits, you can notice it even by just looking at the background most of the time. The visuals of the opening are on fire, they are great but the song is not, it is like something is lacking on there, meanwhile the ending is the better one as in the previous cour. Don’t think I didn’t like moments in Spy x Family, as I said at the beginning, this is a beautiful anime with some wholesome moments that I will surely remember as much as it fails in other important aspects. Moments like Loid being happy and lifting Anya after she passed her entrance in the school, when Anya gives Bond a name which was cute to watch, when Loid tells to Yor about his mother… but my favourite moment in Spy x Family is at the end of episode 9 of the first cour, where it showcases a pretty nice conversation between Loid and Yor talking about how many people fake their way of being putting themselves in a role and that he thinks Yor should continue being herself, Loid feeling guilty for doubting about Yor before and throwing the mic he put on her, it was a moment that actually put a smile in my face and that I will surely not forget because of how nice it felt. Thank you for reading.
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. ~~~img600(https://static.animecorner.me/2022/06/spy-x-family-part-2-trailer-thumbnail.png)~~~ 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. ~~~img600(https://gameranx.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/SF_Op2.png)~~~ 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! ~~~img400(https://64.media.tumblr.com/cb1ad7df7256266f68ec4f30059c91b6/38622a4a5b04e64f-b6/s500x750/2e25b24123cec7954852d8c89e9e2d2885f4b5bf.gifv)~~~
comparado á primeira, a segunda temporada de spy x family toma um rumo bem menos movimentado, se aproximando um pouco mais do gênero de slice of life. missões ainda são presentes, mas sua frequência e peso são diminuídas de forma significativa, o que eu não necessariamente acho ruim, mas pode fazer algumas pessoas (como eu) enrolarem bem mais pra terminar o desenho. apesar disso, ainda continua uma exímia produção que faz jus e até exalta a obra incrível que já era no mangá. em quesitos técnicos, eu realmente não consigo me lembrar de um episódio que tenha sido mal animado. existe uma consistência enorme no quesito audiovisual, com animações sólidas até em momentos rotineiros. as luzes, trilha sonora e abertura/encerramento recebem um toque especial da produção que é simplesmente incrível de se ver. os personagens também recebem uma personificação que representa muito bem os mesmos no mangá. cada um tem características distintas que, quando colocadas juntas fazem o desenho ser simplesmente agradável e leve de se ver. além de ser engraçado, é muito satisfatório ver porque todos os personagens recebem um pouco de atenção, eventualmente, em algum episódio. eu, por exemplo, achei muito engraçada a relação da Becky com o Loid, foi um ótimo episódio! a yor é super linda e forte, e comicamente desastrada. é muito bem representada na animação também. o loid dispensa comentários, o mais descolado do elenco e mesmo assim é humanizado frequentemente apesar das suas tarefas de espião! a anya é, pra mim, a mais engraçada do desenho. a dinâmica dela com o damian também é uma gracinha de se ver! eu diria que meus personagens favoritos são a yor, não só por ser muito bonita mas também por ser um amor de pessoa. gosto muito da nightfall e do damian, também. o damian é um garoto super tranquilo e eu me identifico muito com ele quando ele fica envergonhado perto da anya. a nightfall é um caso parecido com a yor, mas acho a nightfall mais engraçada, a saga do tênis foi satisfatório demais de se ver! APESAR disso, o único motivo de eu não dar nota 100 pra esse desenho é pela relação constrangedora e perturbadora do Yuri com a Yor. ele é um personagem com um potencial enorme e com um design super legal, mas essa parte é definitivamente um incômodo pra série. seria super legal se ele tivesse um arco ou episódio dedicado á ele mesmo onde ele aprende que ter esses tipos de sentimentos pela irmã é errado e muda isso, mas não acho que venha a acontecer. mesmo assim, ainda recomendo bastante, tanto pelo personagem não aparecer com lá tanta frequência tanto por ter outros personagens que compensam esse problema dele!
Spy X Family's second season gives us more of what we have come to expect of the series while maintaining its stride. Most of the show's improvements in its structuring of stories and division of time between cast members have continued from the tail end of season 1 and into this season. Despite this, it would seem that the show is nearing the upper limit of its quality. While Spy Family is still undoubtedly entertaining and has a high level of polish in everything, from its comedic timing, animation, and voice acting, nothing truly exceptional distinguishes the series. This is not to say that the show has been mediocre or that there is no further capacity to up the ante in its comedy or stories. More so that the show's maximum potential in terms of its setting, themes and characters has become clearly defined by what this season sets up. That and some flaws in how the show manages viewer expectations have become a distinct limitation on its appeal to certain parts of its audience. While this level of quality and depth far surpasses what is required for a broad appeal, feel-good comedy to be considered a good watch, its potential to go from good to great is likely now beyond the trajectory it has established. The most prominent issue that season 2 irons out is the lack of focus on Yor's character. Despite featuring prominently in the marketing and being billed as a leading cast member, she gets surprisingly little screen time in the first season despite its long 25-episode run. To the point where it felt like she was a supporting cast member more on par with her brother Yuri in terms of relevance to the spy premise and time spent on her character. Season 2 does rectify this, with the bulk of it being focused on a story led by her perspective. At the same time, the structuring of the season and its component sub-stories have been improved in how they try to distribute narrative time among the remaining characters and integrate them into a story instead of having them sit out entirely. The shorter, almost slice-of-life style, comedic scenarios are used to buttress the main multi-episode story of the season instead of the former being packed together in large chunks. This structure does away with the meandering feeling previous seasons had at times with how little narrative throughline there was between the short stories. At the same time, these "appetiser" shorts and occasional cutaways to the supporting cast members during the longer story help them maintain a presence in the viewer's mind. This could merely reflect an improvement in the adapted source material instead of a deliberate choice to rejig things, but it is still welcomed nonetheless. It would be too harsh on the series to criticise Spy Family for not using such obvious narrative solutions until now. The very premise of the series, with every character keeping secrets and leading double lives, makes it challenging to have complex stories that include all of them simultaneously. While that secrecy is a major source of comedy, it has also made narrative efficiency difficult since it forces many characters into stories that necessarily sideline others. The cruise ship arc does change this by integrating the family in a major story, albeit with Anya and Loid still forced into minor roles, and realising the narrative potential of its premise. This also allows for greater character development in the Forgers as a family unit. Though this season's development is still fairly limited, with Anya being the only character that bridges things between Loid and Yor, it is still a step forward regarding their characters. However, it is still somewhat disappointing that Yor's greater allegiance and relationship to the spy game as a member of an assassin organisation is still left vague. While this information is not particularly important or even helpful in creating more comedy, it does feel like the writer is holding back what should be known to the audience only to draw out a few more scenarios from the mystery later. Although the desire to sustain the longevity of this whole spy premise is understandable or even prudent, it does feel a little cheap with how obvious it is. In addition, the character growth we do get still felt very by the numbers. The trajectory of the season, and what it sets up for the series as a whole, follows the intuitive path of the Forger's fake family arrangement growing into a genuine one as the characters bond further. While it is being done at a convincing pace, at least by the standards of a show that is mostly a situational comedy, there is also nothing particularly compelling about how this dynamic is portrayed. This is not to say that Spy Family should try to "subvert" expectations with something out of tone or give up their character depth for more situational comedy. Their character work, as it stands now, is competently executed and at the expected depth for a show in its genre. However, it also means that it is hard to give it any additional praise since this is more akin to meeting a hygiene factor than something exceptional. Especially since Spy Family wants to have its cake and eat it when it comes to being both a sitcom and a more plot-driven series. Spy Family still places a great deal of emphasis on the premise of the series being Operation Strix. Going so far as to have multiple recaps mention the tension between Westarlis and Ostania when they could have been shortened further. This does benefit the series in that the characters and setting have never felt "floaty" or unreal in the sense that they exist merely for comedic situations. There is a larger narrative throughline that ties together the various scenarios into something more coherent and bestows them additional meaning or importance. Even the most preposterous ways of linking things back to Operation Strix have been well used to extract some comedy in the absurdity of it all. However, this has also created a clash in viewer expectations since the series operates mainly like a sitcom but keeps signalling to the audience that its plot has the same importance as those in drama or action shows. This leaves a lot of Spy Family's short stories and situations feeling meandering since they are often only tenuously linked to Operation Strix. Of course, most viewers with even a moderate amount of genre savviness will conclude that the whole spy angle is merely a means to establish a sandbox and create a fun aesthetic for all the stories being told. If not from the art style and opening episodes of the series, then by recognising, consciously or not, that the series functions as a sitcom that aims to maintain the status quo for as long as it serves the comedy. Nevertheless, to have the narrative of the show constantly remind the viewer and pay lip service to Operation Strix creates the impression that the advancement of the plot is where the meat of the show will come from. Admittedly, it is difficult to tell if criticism the show gets about failing to advance its plot is made in good faith, given how obvious the show is about its sitcom style and feel-good tone. A lot of this "critique" seems to simultaneously complain about things like the "power level" of characters like Loid and Yor in a comedy of all things. This seems to misunderstand the show, willfully or not, as something closer to a shonen action series where the fighting and stakes are its ostensible draws. Although it is easy to dismiss this as being sophistry meant to masquerade a personal dislike or disappointment as an actual justified opinion, there is still a kernel of truth in that the show does not manage expectations particularly well in this regard. It would be understandable that a viewer still expects Spy Family to operate on a dual track as more of an action comedy that places greater importance on furthering its plot than a sitcom or slice-of-life show. The problem is that there are just enough continuous reminders of the importance of Operation Strix to sustain this idea that the real "plot" of the show has yet to begin. In this respect, that show does feel like it wants to have the best of both worlds without having the means to execute it since the series relishes in all its tangential stories like a sitcom would despite partially promising otherwise. In addition, the other elements that would support a plot-driven series, like world-building and character depth, are sorely lacking. While the world of Spy Family being a pastiche of 1950s Cold War Europe is perfectly fine for a sitcom just playing around with that as an aesthetic, it makes for a shallow setting for anything with a plot. The tension between the two nations is nebulous, and there is little functional distinction between East and West, with both sides being capitalistic societies despite Ostania being based on East Germany with its secret police, among other things. One could argue that there is some kind of depth or subtext here, like that the show is attempting to point out that both sides are really the same and equally bad or something to that vague effect. But frankly, that is grasping at straws and giving the show an unwarranted amount of credit. There has been some repeated emphasis this season on former soldiers from an apparent World War 2 analogue, it is frankly still not enough to set up much beyond an interesting tidbit. Combined with the competent but fairly by-the-numbers character development and depth, it is hard to say that Spy Family is poised to do or say anything particularly interesting on its premise of nations in a cold war spying on each other. Overall, Spy Family is somehow both precisely what is advertised on the tin and not at the same time. It is a well-done and polished sitcom that is easy to recommend, but also nothing particularly exceptional or ambitious when it comes to adding to the genre or blending it with other elements. At the same time, it also suffers from a frustrating habit of talking up its plot as if it is actually attempting to blend a comedy with a spy thriller when the whole espionage and secrecy angle is merely a means to an end for the laughs. The characters are charmingly animated and voiced but also lack any interesting depth beyond what can be anticipated by the audience. While all this still makes for a perfectly entertaining and enjoyable watch, it is hard to score the show more than an 8 out of 10 in its best moments, and for most of the run, a score of 7 is more apt. It is perfectly understandable why someone would love Spy Family since it has elements designed to appeal to the widest possible audience and deliver on them. Yet, it seems to be biting off far more than it can chew when it comes to attracting viewers who are more interested in shows for their plots. While there is still room for the show to grow, it seems to be mostly in terms of spectacle and comedy rather than anything particularly intricate in its plot or characters. Though I will be happily surprised if it does eventually ratchet things up and make good on its constant promises to blend its two ostensible genres together, it will still have taken far too long to reach that point given the expectations it sets up.