This article is long overdue but since the second half of season 1 is out and my sister and I are nearly done with it, I figured now is as good a time as any. A coworker told me about this show when I was asking for anime recommendations so we gave it a try. And as far as the first season is concerned…two thumbs way up. Now, I’ll open by saying even in the first season this show is not as cool as My Hero Academia, as expansive and complex as Naruto, or as intense as Fullmetal Alchemist brotherhood.  Those shows are definitely in another league than this one, but regardless–Spy Family manages to be a charming, clever anime with turns to keep the viewer invested in all the characters' adventures. Also, this should go without saying, but this breakdown of the series will contain spoilers and references to events throughout the series. However, since there’s no Itachi Uchiha caliber twist, I still recommend that if you’re curious about this show you can read this review as it will give you insight into what kind of an anime this is.

The set up of the show:

The show takes place in the fictional city of Westania where the east and the west are on the brink of war. Espionage is going on from both sides and our main character is a Spy code named Twilight. In order to gain an audience with a reclusive scientist whose only link to the social world is his son Damian Desmond, Twilight must acquire a wife and child of his own. Twilight must enroll his child in the Eden Academy with the scientist's son and hope for a chance to gain contact with the scientist. Twilight adopts an adorable little girl named Anya (who, little does he know, can read minds), and now he must find a wife to play the part of the mother. Naturally, the first single 27 year old inconspicuous woman of strong motherly character Twilight finds…is an assassin named, Yor Briar. To make things more complicated, Yor has a brother who’s a member of the secret police in the interrogation field. Twilight (undercover name Loid Forger) doesn’t know his wife Yor Briar is the assassin codenamed Thorn Princess, and Yor doesn’t know her husband is a spy or that her brother is secret Police. The only character who knows everything, is little Anya Forger who hears all their thoughts. So there’s the set-up: the perfect little family is in place with three different agendas and none of them have all the motives.

The thematic style of the show:

If you’ve ever seen the 1965 Get Smart TV series this anime is like that show, Nikita, and Full House had a child and then they gave it to the Japanese to raise.  So it’s a spy series full of explosions mixed with crazy comedy, family hi jinx and exaggerated anime stylized action. I mentioned this at the beginning of this article, but I’ll be more specific here. This show is fun and entertaining but don’t expect the levels of intense storyline that other anime like Naruto or FMAB bring. There are good plot points which could be used to far darker and deeper, like an assassin being in a pretend marriage to a Spy where neither one of them knows the other's agenda. While in a show like Naruto if this were a plot point both characters would get a complex storyline to flush out every dramatic detail in their false marriage, here it’s played for family comedy. The marriage, the mission, and even Yor’s brother being secret police is utilized to create awkward family situations instead of to add weight to the plot. If you realize this, and like the show being more lighthearted and family friendly–than this isn’t necessarily a bad thing. I enjoyed this in the first season, but I was aware the show would probably never take a darker turn and actually address the consequences of characters actions like in other shows. What makes a show dark is the weight given to certain actions, and when things like terrorism, assassination and such are played for laughs it becomes clear to the viewers that the show has no plans of going deeper. Most of the entertainment and plot points in the show are skin deep and simply for cool sake.

• Yor is an assassin but we aren’t told who she kills or who she thinks she’s working for. She thinks she’s serving her country but there’s no elaboration. We also have no idea how she got into it, we’re simply told she did it to help provide for Yuri.

• Yuri is secret Police and therefore would be at odds with Twilight if he knew he was a spy. This could be played well and result in a confrontation between the two characters. The comedy would come from the fact that Yuri gets to fight his sister’s new husband (who he can’t stand), but also that he’s going head to head with a spy. Twilight would have to decide how he wants to handle it and if it’s worth blowing his cover. This is simply me spit balling ways in which the show could have consequences for the complex world of lies and espionage it’s set up. It would be going too dark for this show yet I get the feeling the writers won’t go there.

• Twilight and Yor pretend to be married, though it’s clear they grow to enjoy playing a regular family, none of the characters discuss this or pose the possibility they could be a real family. I know anime doesn’t tend to write romance but this is kind of an obvious point and the show just chooses to avoid it and play up the comedy.

What makes the show on the lighter side is the fact that none of these points are played to raise stakes but only to create humor and awkward scenarios. I don’t expect the show to be Casino Royale, but having the characters have relevant confrontations which lead to the plot thickening or the stakes being raised shouldn’t be out of the question.

What made the show:

• The characters: The characters were definitely a big selling point of the show. Loid Forger/Twilight is like the wannabe James Bond of Westania only he’s more true to the original character meaning he’s unhappy, callous, and detached from human society aside from his missions. Seeing this character who lacks any interpersonal skills and can only feign them for the sake of missions, pretend to be a single Dad and raise a daughter is heartwarming and entertaining. Yor is like a combination of the most demure, introverted, socially inexperienced grown woman and a femme fatale. She kills people for a living and yet she’s 27, lives alone, has no friends and jumps into a maternal role when it’s offered to her. Anya is a doll on several levels and she basically loves the idea of the cool parents and the secret mission lifestyle, only she never wants the mission to be over. 

• The Get Smart/Full House/Nikita vibe:

The show has content that belongs in a darker anime or a thriller spy show like a country split by war and espionage, secrets, scandal and lies, a woman who became an assassin to provide for her family, but all of these aspects are played for cleverness and humor as much as the family hijinx in the show. There are aspects where you have to just set aside your incredulity for the sake of the show being the way it is. For example, Twilight is supposed to be the best spy in the field and can observe details about everyone he meets as well as psychologically analyze the best way to deceive or manipulate them. However, he can’t tell that the woman he married is an assassin. He doesn’t question her physical prowess, her ruthless instincts or anything else suspicious about her. At the same time Yor cares about being a good pretend wife when she knows the whole thing is fake. So the family aspect of the show and the character’s relationships is treated with almost as much severity as the life threatening scenarios. This was played tactfully in the first season and balanced in a way that made it charming and fun while not being mind numbingly silly. After seeing this season my sister and I were highly anticipating the second half of the season….that’s a whole different story.