SPY x FAMILY Manga Review

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You are looking for a fun manga with the thrill of a spy story? Then SPY x FAMILY should be a good pick for you. Here is my review of the manga.

What is the SPY x FAMILY manga about?

SPYxFAMILY (pronounced “spy family”) is a manga by Endo Tatsuya. It tells the story of Twilight, the best spy of Westalia, who has the mission to save the peace between his country and its grand rival, Ostania.

The objective is for Twilight to approach one of the key politician of Ostania: Donovan Desmond. But the man does hardly go public, exception made for parents meeting at his son’s school. The plan is therefore for Twilight to become a parent and approach the man through the intermediary of this child.

He therefore moves to Ostania as Loid, a psychiatrist. There, he picks a young orphan girl, Anya, to become his daughter. And soon after, he is lead to find a wife. He therefore meets and marries Yor, a seemingly inoffensive employee of the Ostanian capital city hall.

What Twilight isn’t aware of, though, is that Anya is far from being intelligent but can read people’s thoughts. And Yor, on her side, is really ill at ease in her relation but is the best assassin in Ostania. An d she is also the sister of one of the lieutenants of the Ostanian security services.

This improvised trio will start to move on and create bonds. Each one trying hard to achieve his or her goal. Loid to make his plan happen by getting Anya getting good grades. Anya trying her best to keep her new parents. And Yor working hard to become a good wife and mother…

What should you expect by reading the SPY x FAMILY manga?

The main ingredients of SPYxFAMILY are intrigues, action and sentiments, the whole mixed in a good comedy.

The fact that the 3 lead characters have two faces, the one as a member of the Forger family and the one as a spy/assassin/esper leads to a lot of funny situations. Appearances are always mixed with backstage action and intrigues. Each one is striving to keep the family running while still making sure their own plan is progressing.

As for the visual part, drawings are refined and pleasant. They have a cold war style and a cartoony touch that perfectly fit and deserve the story.

Overall this makes for a really entertaining read (as for the 6 volumes published at the moment – mid 2021).

Who is SPY x FAMILY it for?

If you like parodic spy stories and intrigues and are not against sentimental situations, this story should please you.

On the sensitive content side, actions scene lead to a quite a few incidents and people getting killed. The situations can therefore become bloody at times. Hence you should expect some kind of action violence and blood. 

This, with the intrigue and the strong focus on sentiments and character psychology, would make me advise this manga for kids and people around 12 or 13 or more to fully appreciate it.

As for the targeted audience this manga shall please both boys/men and girls/women. The main characters have a quite balanced part in the play.

Conclusion

To sum things up, SPYxFAMILY is one of the really few manga of the spy and intrigue genre available outside Japan. And to be clear, in addition to having a good story, I find it really pleasant and fun to read.

I personally really like it and and would recommend you to try it. If you are pleased with this first volume, then you will be pleased with the others.

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Do not hesitate if you have questions and comments.

See you!

Stef