SPY×FAMILY Volume 13 Manga Review
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I admit, I read SPY×FAMILY Volume 13 when it first came out. However, as is often the case, it took a while before I could write a review. Still, it did give me an excuse to reread the volume. That’s not a bad thing.

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

The Story, in Brief

Yuri gets taken to safety. Elsewhere, Nightfall (Fiona) snaps when Wheeler threatens to harm Twilight (Loid). In her insane rage, she’s able to do the impossible and beat him. The injured Loid prevents Fiona from killing Wheeler. Fiona’s injuries force her to the hospital. Loid gets home, where he finds Yor in good spirits after their disagreement of the morning. Yuri shows up, but Loid manages to escape Yuri’s suspicion.

Fiona recovers in the hospital and gets a visit from Handler, disguised as a nurse. Yor spends time with Anya while Loid rests at home. Later at school, Damian tries to work out how to give Anya tea cakes to pay off his debt to her. However, his attempts to do it covertly, combined with Anya reading his mind and knowing he has the cakes makes things much more challenging for Damian.

Yuri’s defeat by Twilight causes him to to be distracted and reckless. His partner Chloe is forced to slap him back to reality. Instead, it causes him to train harder. Meanwhile, Yor and Anya encounter an old man who’s senile and lost. Eventually, they find his home, which is in their apartment building.

At a charity bazaar, members of the Lady’s Patriot Society cause issues for Yor’s coworker, Millie. Yor defends her, and Melinda Desmond stops them. She also reaches out to Millie. Finally, Anya does last second studying for her finals in school.

Mole Hunt Arc Ends

We get to see Nightfall lose it in SPY×FAMILY Volume 13. As I said early on when Yor was introduced, I generally have a problem with a 120 pound girl easily defeating a 200 pound man. Not happening. In Yor’s case, I suspect she got treatment as a child to be as strong and fast as she is now. If science created telepathy in Anya, then why not strength in Yor?

That aside, there’s no indication that Fiona has had any special things to give her strength or the like. Yet she is able to defeat a strong, burly man who defeated Loid. However, I can go along with this since they had Fiona mentally snap. So in my mind, I can accept that her rage and temporary loss of sanity caused her to briefly have the power to defeat Wheeler. The fact that she has to literally be carried to the hospital backs that up. So good job, Endo-sensei!

While chapter 88 breaks the flow of the aftermath of the arc, I liked the character work Yuri got in chapter 89. Earlier, he’d come close to unmasking Loid as Twilight. His obsession with his sister and his frustrations over Twilight has made him blind. Thus the proper introduction of Chloe proved to be an excellent one as she’s one character who can literally slap Yuri and get away with it. Further, I love the dynamic between Chloe and Yuri. I really hope we see more of them in the future.

Term Finals Start

The next major story arc that starts in SPY×FAMILY Volume 13 is the Terms Finals, where Anya has to study to get better grades. I like how this begins as it introduces us to the elderly couple Sigmund and Barbara. On one hand, this provides for pseudo grandparent figures for Anya. As such, I found myself really digging the chemistry between Anya and the Authen’s, specifically Sigmund since he’d been a professor.

I also like that he’s such a good teacher. My only complaint is that the focus was on classical language, which Anya has a better grasp of for some reason. Sadly, the story doesn’t go into that, but at the end of the arc, I suspect that Anya will do great in the stuff she studied with Sigmund, and terrible in the other subjects.

Of course for the gag, she could blow that too. I hope not. As much as I enjoy the gags in the series, I do want characters to grow. As such, I fear that Endo-sensei will keep Anya “dumb” to maintain some kind of status quo within the Forger family.

Omake and More

Before I get to the omake stuff in SPY×FAMILY Volume 13, I wanted to say that I really enjoyed the story that continued the relationship between Anya and Damian. Also, I really liked the story where Yor defended her coworker and won the respect of the girls in the office. Plus, it continues the friendship Yor has with Damian’s mother.

As to the omake, short mission 11 deals with Anya’s misspelled name doorplate. I figure Endo-sensei learned that Ania isn’t how you spell Anya, thus made this mini-chapter to make things right.

The bonus manga chapter has Franky (as himself) and Loid (in disguise) at the same bazaar that Yor attended. It gives Franky a bit more character work, yet keeps him in the doghouse when it comes to romance.

The remaining omake material consists of a thanks from Endo-sensei, an alternate splash page for this thirteenth volume, featuring Loid, and sketches for the elderly couple.

Final Thoughts and Conclusion

In the end, SPY×FAMILY Volume 13 is another outstanding and fun addition to the franchise. It is no wonder that SPY x FAMILY is one of my all time favorite manga series.