SpyXFamily is a major hit because of its unique blend of shonen and sitcom. That combination of Full House family comedy, Hallmark romcom, and Shonen Jump action all rolled into one coherent, exciting, and hilarious package. The series is about a spy, Loid Forger, and an assassin, Yor Forger, who have a fake marriage and adopt telepathic girl Anya Forger in order maintain their secret missions. Nobody in the family knows each other’s secrets and hijinks ensue. Towards the end of season one, Bond the precognitive dog joined the family. Season one was a huge hit, so how does season two hold up?
The answer is: even better than season one. This season features a major multi-episode arc (half the season) set on a cruise ship featuring Yor Forger having to act as bodyguard for a young woman and her son. This arc features an intense battle scene featuring an action scene just as good as your standard “serious” battle shonen series. No, the series never loses its comedy and some of the best comedy also comes from this arc. Not going to spoil any jokes, but I will tell you to watch for hilarious Loid and Anya being Loid and Anya antics as they are on their cruise ship. Yor shines as the central character of this arc, and she is given a strong internal conflict between her duties as an assassin and her duties to her new family. The characters continue to have great chemistry and seeing this allegedly fake family bond is heartwarming in the cutest way possible.
Aside from this arc, the rest of the season follows the episodic wacky shenanigans of the week format. For most anime, these episodes would be considered “filler” as they are usually comic relief side-stories not in the manga, but these events are actually part of the source material for once. As was the tradition in season one, many episodes have separately titled segments. For example, the second episode of season two featured two storylines: “Bond’s Strategy to Stay Alive” features Bond attempting to avoid the horrors of Yor’s cooking, while “Damian’s Field Research Trip” features the title character struggling with tardiness at school. Segments are not uniform in length like a Western comedy cartoon with the two fifteen minute segment format (counting commercials) as segment lengths tend to vary. Some episodes have as many as three segments. These episodes did not feel as eventful as the main arc of the season, but they were cute and funny.
As to how much the plot and Loid’s overall series goal of
achieving Operation Strix advances, well it doesn’t. This series is not going to end anytime soon. The final episode is more wackiness with the dog as an example of how the comedy is more important than the main “myth arc” to use a term from The X-Files. Because season 2 was able to mix the formula up by combining silly sitcom antics with a serious action plot, the formula was shaken up enough that this didn’t hurt the series. My hope is that season three will continue to keep the show from getting stale.
My overall assessment is that SpyXFamily season two was the most fun I had watching anime in the 2023 calendar year. Not to say that competing series were bad, but I am hoping it does well at this year’s Crunchyroll Anime Awards (since quarter 4 shows count as 2024, it will be eligible for the 2025 awards ceremony. Yes, that is confusing and most people probably would prefer if awards were done by calendar year rather than the complicated system they use). Anya did get an award for being the “Must Protect at All Cost” character, so that’s a victory for the lovable character. Anyway, if you like Shonen Jump titles, watch this. In a sea of generic battle shonen, this series manages to mix the formula up to create something that truly stand out among its competition and has been one of the best anime of the 2020s. Yes, I am gushing because I love this show.
