First Impression: SPY x FAMILY

It’s the Cold War. Somewhere in East Berlint, world peace is under threat. What would happen if this came out? If the world realized that the foreign minister…duh duh duh…wears a toupee?! Thankfully, Twilight, Master of Disguise, the one-man wonder and greatest spy to have ever donned a mask, is equal to any task and handles the situation with ease. Another day, another heroic defense of humanity. As Twilight decodes the orders for his next assignment though, he’s hit with a curve ball with enough force to see him shower the newspaper in a fine spray of coffee. For his next mission, he must have a wife and child. He has seven days. Twilight isn’t the world’s top spy for nothing, and recovers quickly, securing an orphaned child in under a day. What he doesn’t realize though is that little pink-haired Anya has a special skill all her own: she can read minds. And so the long-awaited adventure of a spy with an unconventional family begins!

First Impressions from the BtT Family!

We here at BtT were so excited for this premiere that we decided to cover the First Impression post in proper SPY x FAMILY style, pooling our various special skills and tackling this one as a family! So here are our thoughts:

Laura A. Grace

Absolutely wonderful! It well exceeded my expectations (which were extremely high since the manga is in my top 5 favorites) and I had just as much fun watching it as I did when reading it! I felt the animators were very faithful to the manga, which was the thing I was most nervous about. While Anya definitely took the spotlight, as she does in the manga, I absolutely loved Loid, especially the closer it got to the end of the episode! He looks even cooler and I just loved seeing him animated! I think the only thing that personally caught be by surprise was Franky’s voice because it was the first time I had heard it and imagined him having a deeper voice. Otherwise, I am very hyped for the next episode and seeing this incredible story unfold via animation! (The closing song and the preview to the next episode was perfection!) Spy x Family fans, you will NOT be disappointed!

Franky on children

thathilomgirl

Speaking as someone who’s read the manga since its release, the anticipation of waiting for the first episode has been something I haven’t experienced for a long time, and I’m glad SPY X FAMILY delivered for the most part! Maybe it’s from the exhaustion of waiting for Crunchyroll to release it in my timezone [ED: midnight! Props for the dedication!], but it did feel like the episode was moving a bit fast at times. Otherwise, everything has been adapted completely from the first chapter. The animation has been impressive so far, and I love the extra touch of small sparkles appearing around Anya whenever she uses her telepathy on other people. Honestly, if they keep at this adaptation faithfully, it’s one baby step for me to regaining my trust in CloverWorks as a studio. As for the music, while I loved the laidback ED of Gen Hoshino’s “Comedy”, it sucks that we didn’t get to hear the OP mostly because I love the band Official HIGE DANdism, and I wanted to hear what “Mixed Nuts” was like. Overall, if this is the quality we’ll get for the other episodes, you’re gonna have a great time with SPY X FAMILY!

JeskaiAngel

Magnificent (to borrow from the catchphrase of a spy thriller light novel called Spy Classroom). This adaptation flawlessly hit all the beats that make the Spy x Family manga great, then topped it with strong music, voice acting, and animation (while faithfully adhering to the manga’s visual style). The humor, the Cold War spy thriller vibes, Anya being best girl of the season…it’s all here. I tend to feel trepidation about new anime adaptations because they so often fall short of the source material (all the more when the dreaded Cloverworks is involved!), but this is an incredibly promising start to the adaptation of an incredible manga. I can agree with my colleague’s comment about the episode feeling slightly rushed, but I figured it’s because they want to get all members of the titular family introduced ASAP. The manga is at its best with the interplay of the three leads, and a slower introduction would push back the appearances of Anya (again, best girl!) and Yor (the mama who doesn’t exist).

I feel seen right now. ~claire

Claire

This was all I dreamed it would be and more! I was impressed with how rich this episode was, as it managed to capture the dynamic interplay of genres that makes the series as a whole so compelling: action, comedy, melodrama, political intrigue, superpowers (of both kinds)—it’s all there. The pacing of this adaptation is on point, with not a single frame wasted. In addition to the strength of the animation, sound/music, and voice acting already noted by my esteemed colleagues, I would add that the backgrounds are stunning, and bring a fresh layer of depth and appeal to what was already spectacular in the manga. I just happen to have been in the former East Berlin last weekend, walking along where the wall ran, and I gotta say, whoever sourced the reference material for the anime has done a great job. Even the fact that Anya and Loid ride in a tram, as opposed to a bus, is historically accurate: even to this day you can see where East Berlin leaves off and West Berlin begins by whether there are tram lines or bus stops. The history geek in me is very, very content right now. Also, shout out to [K]NoW_NAME, who are scoring the series: the music composition really intensifies the contrasting genre elements of the episode and makes it come alive!

Anya is right: Loid is so cool.

SPY x FAMILY can be streamed on Crunchyroll.

Ok, one more image for good measure!

claire
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12 thoughts on “First Impression: SPY x FAMILY”

  1. As a fan of the manga I was really excited for this to come out. Glad to hear that it lives up to the hype. I will be checking out the first episode later today.

    1. Enjoy! They really have done justice to the series, which is so wonderful to see! Didn’t expect anything less from Wit Studio, though I know we all had our concerns about CloverWorks. Anyhow, it’s looking good!

    1. I agree! It was also such a blast to watch all together (virtually) and share the excitement!

  5. One of the things I really liked about this anime is how… perfect it seems to introduce other people to anime. I mean, people who aren’t usually into anime where talking about this show.

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