SPY×FAMILY Volume 10 Manga Review
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In a world where modern writers don’t know how to write, I am thankful that End0-sensei does. Thus the release of SPY×FAMILY Volume 10 (which I actually read ages ago, but only just found the time to blog about) was a welcome one and another good entry in the series.

* * * S P O I L E R S ! * * *

The Story, in Brief

As a kid, the boy who would become Twilight (Loid) had the name Advisor when playing soldier with his friends. In order to fit in, he lies to his dad to get money for a book, which he then spends on a toy gun and toy military helmet. He feels guilty about this, but before he can apologize to his dad, war breaks out and his town is bombed, killing his father. In another air raid, he loses his mother, thus as a young teen, he joins the military as Rolland.

While on duty, he encounters a deserting enemy soldier (Franky). He initially has pity on Franky, but gets angry and goes to shoot him when the enemy troops shoot Rolland in the helmet. Franky gets away and the military assigns Rolland as a cook. There, he encounters his childhood friends, who’d survived the initial attack. However, their unit were sent on a foolish mission, leading to their deaths. This reunion causes military intelligence to discover Rolland’s true identity. They decide to recruit him, leading him to WISE.

In the present, Handler takes a mission to save a politician. Anya has to work with Housemaster Henderson. Yor goes to buy cakes for Anya and happens to save Melinda Desmond from falling down stairs. Melinda invites Yor into her circle of friends. Yor reports this to Loid, who encourages her to be friends as part of his Plan C to get close to her husband. The Garden also approves of this friendship. As such, Anya decides to step up her game to befriend Damian.

Twilight’s Interesting Backstory

Despite the cover image, seeing Loid/Twilight as a kid in SPY×FAMILY Volume 10 came as a surprise to me. Endo-sensei did a really good job with this backstory while teasing us by not giving us Loid’s real name. It is good to see how Loid’s past shaped who he is now. His own father was a bit harsh, so Loid isn’t harsh to Anya, though he remains firm.

We also come to understand Loid’s attitude toward war. He lost his mother, father, and group of friends due to the war. And that obviously impacted his attitudes in the present. It makes complete sense as to why he would take his current mission so seriously.

Finally, we get to see how Twilight and Franky first met. One could argue that this is a bit convenient, but the fact that Twilight attempted to kill Franky after initially showing him a tad of mercy fit the character. And yet it fit to me. Now I’m curious as to how Franky and Twilight reunited. Regardless, I really loved the backstory for Twilight.

Yor’s New Friend

The other major thing that happened in SPY×FAMILY Volume 10 is Yor becoming friends with Melinda Desmond, mother of Damian and obviously, the wife of Donovan. This is where Melinda makes her debut, and I have to say, she’s an interesting character. To be honest, she seems a bit psycho. I mean, she even unnerves Yor at times with her attitude changes. So I’m very interested to see where that goes.

As to their meeting and friendship, yes, one could argue that it is very convenient for Yor to encounter Melinda and her party. But I liked that Yor didn’t know who Melinda was, and Melinda recognized this. So we get to see Yor doing her “I’m trying to hold back” version of volleyball with Melinda and her friends. In the end, Melinda befriending Yor doesn’t feel forced.

That brings us to Loid. He understands the opportunity that has opened before him. I can’t help but wonder if Yor’s new friendship with Melinda is what ultimately leads to Yor and Loid discovering each other’s secrets. (Should they ever learn the truth about each other, I hope it will lead to them working as a team, with Anya assisting.) That aside, I did note how Yor’s assassin boss didn’t react too well at learning of Loid’s apparently political beliefs. We’ll see what happens there.

Finally, I really like how Yor becoming Loid’s “Plan C” encouraged Anya to actually try to study and such so that she’s not defeated by her adoptive mother. I know part of the humor with Anya is her not wanting to study. But to be honest, there are lots of humorous things about Anya that don’t rely on her being bad at school. I’d like to see her grades steadily improve as she’s motivated to succeed.

Final Thoughts and Conclusion

Let me wrap up my review of SPY×FAMILY Volume 10 with some final thoughts.

• The chapter where Anya spends the afternoon with Housemaster Henderson amused me, more so because Anya tried to use her telepathy to say the right things at times, but then spoke her mind at others, nullifying it.
• Handler gets a chapter, which was fine. It just wasn’t anything special to me, other than showing why she’s the boss (I suppose).
• The omake chapters were kinda meh, but still enjoyable in their own way. Having an episode of Anya’s favorite anime/cartoon was fine as it made fun of harems. The other omake chapter with Franky and Bond trying to pick up girls was okay, but wasn’t anything special. I enjoyed it for what it was, but I’m weary of the “loser who can’t get a babe” stories.

In the end, SPY×FAMILY Volume 10 is another banger of a manga volume from one of my favorite manga franchises.