Spoiler Warning: Spy x Family
The new show Spy x Family has quickly risen in popularity over the last few weeks, as it was one of the most anticipated manga adaptations making its way to the screen. With such a fun premise of a spy marrying an assassin for a mission while neither knows the truth about the other and completing their family by adopting an adorable orphan with secret telepathic abilities, who wouldn’t be counting down the days to watch?
This anime has everything from action and espionage, to brilliantly written comedic scenes and a cast of characters that range from charming to unnerving. This anime really has it all.
And while it is the perfect show to watch for entertainment and escapism, it also has a lot of beautiful themes that audiences should pay attention to. Spy x Family reveals a lot about the different types of love, both good and bad, that audiences are sure to find both relatable and illuminating. Here’s a look at what the show has shared with its audience during its run so far.
Found Family
The fatherly spy of the family, Loid, started this family for the sake of a mission but quickly grows fond of the other members. The show begins with him adopting Anya who takes very quickly to calling him “Papa” and trying to follow him wherever he goes in order to be close to him. When she gets mixed up in a gang and held hostage by them, Loid goes to rescue her in disguise and protects her fiercely, even though he had considered exchanging her for a better child earlier in the first episode. Loid’s heart softens towards Anya more and more throughout the episodes, and he begins to regard her as his own daughter rather than a pawn for a mission.
Yor then joins the family, making Loid’s mission easier with a perfect family while making herself look less suspicious as a married woman. She quickly takes to Anya and protects her as Loid does, while also being a source of comfort. Yor is the perfect complement to the other two. The three of them needed each other for different reasons, and even regarded each other as more of a means to an end, but they become more of a true family over the course of each episode.
This trio reveals the connection and comfort that a family provides and how not all families are conventional or even bound by blood – and that doesn’t make them any less of a family.
Romantic Love
While Loid and Yor start their marriage as just part of their own agendas, they begin to show suggestions of genuine feelings for each other. Even though Anya teases them about flirting, which they always deny with red, flustered expressions, the two of them are a perfect powerful duo. And while not every viewer may be a fan of romance, the growing bond between Loid and Yor is still heartwarming.
Both want what is best for Anya and do their best to keep her safe. Each of them have had to save Anya from kidnappers on separate occasions, revealing the intensity that each parent will fight with in order to protect her. And Loid needs Anya to do well in her new private school in order for his mission to go smoothly, but when she struggles with learning he does his best to educate her and help her learn while Yor makes sure he doesn’t push her too hard. The two of them know that they work well together, and they like spending time with one another.
During each episode there are always soft smiles and sweet gestures of appreciation and care shared between them. Whenever they get close to one another, they get shy and flustered like teenagers on a date, nervous about where these growing feelings will take them. Audiences can only guess where the romance between them might go and what might happen when the two of them find out their secret identities.
Love of Friends and Comrades
There’s also much to be said about love for friends and community. Yor doesn’t have as much of that in her life, though she does have her coworker friends at City Hall. They support her in her marriage and look out for each other, but she doesn’t spend much time with them outside of work. Loid also has his own work friends, but there’s a tighter bond between them. His friend Franky is helping him on his mission, hiding in plain sight and providing the information he needs. But Franky also takes it upon himself to stop by occasionally to check in or bring a bottle of wine for a fun night. He even persuades Loid to be part of Anya’s imaginary spy scenario based on the tv show she loves, and Loid requests help from his fellow spies in order to make the game feel real.
While Loid doesn’t give the other spies the whole truth about why they’re helping him, it doesn’t matter. His friends are just excited to be able to support him and strengthen their own skills in combat against top-spy Loid. The other spies do their best to be part of this adventure game for Anya, marveling at Loid and saying how grateful they are to be part of it. This anime shows how love from friends and comrades creates a good environment and how support from those you care about goes a long way.
Possessive Love
And while the show does a great job with the comedic and heartfelt types of love, it began to show something a little more warped in the recent episode 8. The audience was introduced to Yuri, Yor’s younger brother, who she raised almost entirely on her own. Yuri supposedly worked for the Military of Foreign Affairs, or so he told his sister, but he actually works for a secret unit capturing and interrogating foreign spies. It is clear from his interactions and internal monologues that he’s a little unhinged, and his secret life adds another layer to the tower of reveals that will inevitably bring things crashing down for our main cast.
Even though Yuri has a sinister job, he claims he does it in order to keep the country safe for Yor who he treasures more than anything (even one of Yor’s work friends said it was weird how attached he is to her). Yuri does everything with his sister in mind, trying to keep her safe and close like how they used to be when they were kids to repay her for raising him. He has good intentions but executes and presents his love in the wrong ways. Yuri doesn’t like Loid because he feels like his sister is being taken away from him, and he is willing to do anything to prevent that. As episodes continue to air, viewers will be on the edge of their seats in anticipation of how Yuri will play into the story of the Forger’s lives and how his possessive love for his sister might be the undoing of them all.
Anime and similar styles have been growing more and more popular in cinema, increasing fans and appreciation through multiple generations, and the adaptations and original stories have only improved. Though Spy x Family is a comedy show at its core, there’s still plenty of sincere and realistic themes it presents to the audience. The show highlights the truth of love and the different types people have in their lives, both the good and the bad.