Spy×Family 01

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis

“Twilight” is the code name for the best spy in the country of Westalis. His agency gives him a new assignment. He is to target the leader of the National Unity Party, Donovan Desmond. Twilight is to become the  psychiatrist Loid Forger. However, he needs a child to get close to the target at a private school. After renting a suitable apartment, Twilight goes to a skeevy orphanage to adopt a child, to make things easier.

At the orphanage, the drunk proprietor shows him to Anya. She is desperate to be adopted, having been returned by multiple other families. Due to her being a creation of science, she has telepathic abilities and as such, is able to convince Twilight to choose her. For Anya, she’s excited to be adopted by a spy, since she’s a fan of a spy series on TV.

Anya goes with Twilight on a shopping trip. Due to her telepathic nature, she reacts to his thoughts, even at one point making a scene when she thinks he’s going to return her to the orphanage. For his part, Twilight struggles to understand kid behavior, but thinks back to his own, orphaned childhood. He consults with a contact, who can only find information on Anya going back a single year.

At home, Anya finds Twilight’s spy gear. She sends a signal that causes some bad folks looking for Twilight to come kidnap her. Twilight disguises himself as one of the thugs and rescues her. Still in disguise, he sends her with a note to find the police. Twilight takes care of business and is reunited with Anya. He accepts her and has her study for her entrance exam. She gets accepted. However, Twilight needs a wife for the next school appointment.

Thoughts/Review

As tends to happen, I became aware of Spy x Family via Twitter. Some Japanese artist/manga-ka I follow on Twitter were sharing the trailer for the series. The trailer was lovely and evoked a feel of the movie Undercover Blues, only where the child in question was old enough to realize what her parents where. But that was not at all what Spy×Family 01 was about.

Anya

As expected, Anya is a heartbreaking, scene stealing, adorable little girl in Spy×Family 01. On the heartbreaking side of things. She’s a creation of science (#007…har!har!), who want to use her telepathy as a tool. Anya breaks away, only to be caught up in a horrible orphanage, run by a drunk loser. She was adopted a few times, only to be returned to the horrible orphanage. This aspect of her life is quite depressing and heartbreaking.

It is also heartbreaking to see Anya’s desperation to not be cast off again. With Twilight, she has the perfect dad figure. He’s a spy and shy likes a spy TV show. So this makes Twilight cool and trustworthy to Anya. And she’s desperate to be the perfect daughter for Twilight. So she uses her telepathy to constantly scan him to meet his expectations, thus reducing the odds of her being rejected.

Still, Anya is super cute and ultra adorable in this series. The only laugh I got out of the episode was when she asked Twilight for a pistol with a silencer and he agreed, if they could get one on sale. It would be cool if he did buy her one at some point.

That aside, I did appreciate Twilight laying down some boundaries for Anya.  She was planning to use her telepathy to cheat her way into the private school. However, Twilight made her study, and good thing too. Thus we get an adorable moment when she is accepted and Twilight is so relieved, he ends up collapsing onto the ground. But now, he has to find a “wife”, which should be fun.

Final Thoughts and Conclusion

As usual, I’m insanely far behind, so let me wrap up my review of Spy×Family 01 with some final thoughts.

• It is interesting that this fictional world is set in a European environment, circa 1960s. So it is kinda fun seeing TVs, radios, cars, and other stuff from that era in Earth history.
• In know this series is adapted from a source manga. I have not read said manga, thus I will not be making manga to anime comparisons.
• I suppose that since Twilight needs a wife, his agency will simply send a female spy over to fit the bill. However, I did see the trailer and I think she was billed as an assassin. So maybe that’s who comes over instead.
• The series does seem to be geared toward Twilight finding a family out of what was just a simple mission. I admit the premise is a bit cliched, but I’m okay with that.
• I’m curious to see how Twilight will react when he learns Anya is a telepath.
• I hated it when CR “translated” Papa (actually said in the Japanese) to “Daddy. That has never made sense to me. But what confused me more is how “Chichi” got translated to “Papa”. I don’t object to that, but I do object to changing the original, actual “Papa” to something else.

In the end, Spy×Family 01 had some depressing moments, one funny moment, and some incredibly adorable moments. I’m intrigued to see where this goes.