The premiere of Spy x Family is now streaming on Crunchyroll.
Some shows take a couple of episodes to really sell their premise, but Spy x Family (the x is silent, like in Hunter x Hunter) comes out of the gate swinging. In under 30 minutes, it delivers an impressive premiere episode that introduces a lived-in world and fleshed-out characters you can’t help but love, all while doing a tricky balancing act of tones and genres that somehow blend seamlessly. Whether you’ve been waiting years for one of the most popular current manga to be adapted or are simply curious enough to watch a collaboration between the studios behind Ranking of Kings and My Dress-Up Darling, this is already the most impressive premiere of the season.
Spy x Family is set in the middle of a cold war between two giant superpowers aptly named Westalis and Ostania, where espionage is the only thing keeping the world from armageddon. It is here we meet a Westalis agent codenamed “Twilight,” who is the best there is at what he does. He is a bit of a cross between James Bond and Ethan Hunt, but with the moves of John Wick and the smoldering looks of Chris Evans. When we first meet him, he’s pulling a Mission Impossible-style heist wearing an elaborate face mask he used to steal incriminatory photos of a politician from a would-be blackmailer, right before meeting the criminal’s daughter for dinner and coldly breaking up with her right as she’s about to suggest they get married one day.
For his next mission, Twilight has to get close to the leader of an extremist political party. The catch? He is a notorious recluse who only goes to public events for his son’s private school. So what is an agent to do but assemble a fake family and infiltrate the school to get close to his target during parent-teacher conferences?
What instantly catches the eye during the premiere of Spy x Family is the balancing act at the center of the story. It’s equal parts wholesome, funny, and thrilling, a true four-quadrant show the likes of which Hollywood has been desperately looking for. Twilight, now going as Loid Forger, is completely deadpan and deadly serious about his work, a man with the charisma of Levi from Attack on Titan. And yet, he adopts a 6-year-old girl from a very shady orphanage and she’s his polar opposite – a funny, emotional child who also happens to be a telepath.
Within minutes, this girl, Anya, becomes the standout character of the show, and a strong contender for best character of the spring 2022 season. She is innocent, overly enthusiastic about life (and anime shows about spies, funny enough), and very emotional without being overly infantilized. Anya is not all sunshine and rainbows, however, as her precious smile hides a lifetime of trauma and abandonment.
And herein is the other ball thrown into the show’s juggling act, because as fantastically wacky and funny as it is to watch Anya instantly see through her new dad’s façade and his every lie like a more family-friendly version of The Disastrous Life of Saiki K., it’s also a rather wholesome slice of life. Indeed, seeing a stone-cold killer learn to open up to others, and a lonely child finally getting a family brings as many misty-eye-inducing moments as it does laughs, as we start learning about Loid’s past as a war orphan and how he bonds with Anya.
Of course, this is still a spy show, and it works wonderfully as one. Studio WIT and CloverWorks did not have to go this hard with the animation, but I am very glad they did. Even outside of the action scenes, it boasts an impressive amount of expressive character animation even in the smallest moments of comedic bits. The fights – and you better believe there are fights – hit surprisingly hard, with fluid and peppy choreography that brings to mind the best John Wick kills.
It is too early to say whether the show will maintain this level of quality over the course of its first season, and it is also hard to judge a new show based on one single episode. Still, Spy x Family has one of the most impressive and memorable anime debuts in a while, one that promises a fun, exhilarating, wholesome, and also action-packed experience.