Spy x Family #1-9

Spy x Family #1-9

Originally released in 2019

Written by Tatsuya Endo

Art by Tatsuya Endo

It's Mother's Day, so I wanted to do something related to that while sticking with Shonen Jump manga.  Unfortunately for that plan, in my experience, shonen manga rarely focus on mothers - the main protagonist is often an orphan or has a single father. (who may or may not have abandoned them)  However, while I've read most of it before (I think I missed a few chapters), the series "Spy x Family" came to mind - it's about two parents trying their best to raise a child, with all three of them having secrets that can't be revealed under any circumstances.

The nation of Westalis is in a cold war with its neighbour Ostania, in a setting reminiscent of Berlin between the 1950s and 1980s.  Westalis's top spy, code-named Twilight, has taken on a new mission - discover if political leader Donovan Desmond is planning to start an open war between the two nations.  However, Donovan is paranoid, reclusive, and has an extremely tight social circle - he only interacts with Imperial Scholars and their families from the prestigious Eden Academy, forcing Twilight to find a wife and child for this mission.

Taking on the name "Loid Forger", he heads to an orphanage that's in such poor quality that they won't bother to keep accurate records and finds a young girl named Anya.  The person in charge of the orphanage claims that Anya is bright for her age, and indeed, she manages to complete a difficult crossword puzzle with no difficulty at all.  However, the person in charge just wants to get rid of her, and unbeknownst to anyone (aside from Anya herself), Anya is a telepath - she could read the answers from Loid's mind.

Anya is an adorable little ball of sunshine and chaos.  She knows that Loid is a spy shortly after meeting him, but she finds spies to be super cool.  Her facial expressions are one of the highlights of the series, and she's a great source of comedy between her exaggerated expressions and lack of understanding about how the world works. (for example, shortly after entering Eden Academy, Anya meets the son of Loid's target, Damian Desmond, but her attempt at smiling to brush off his insults makes her come across as smug)

With a shortage of spies, Loid can't rely on having another spy play the role of his wife, and he needs to find someone who's willing to pretend to be married him for a while.  Fortunately, he stumbles upon Yor Briar, a woman who recently heard that unmarried women like herself are viewed with suspicion, and wants to be in a relationship as a result of that.

Also, she's an assassin, and she can't afford to have anyone think that she's out of the ordinary.  Loid and Yor remain blissfully oblivious about the other's occupation, and while Anya knows both of their secrets, she finds the whole thing to be fun.

It's touching to watch Loid and Yor worry about raising a child and terrified of any sort of perceived failure to appear "normal", such as Yor's inability to cook, not realizing that the things that they're so worried about are seemingly just a normal part of parenting. ...for the most part.

I enjoyed revisiting this series - the premise allows for a lot of flexibility in the plots of chapters, while the comedy is well-written.  Yor, Loid, and Anya are all endearing characters, with Loid's meticulously-crafted plans falling apart in the face of reality, Yor's uncertainty about being a mother (her assassination work doesn't get much focus in these early chapters), and Anya's attempts at helping to bring peace without giving away that she knows that Loid's a spy.

All in all, I thought it was a good choice to read for Mother's Day.