Spy × Family

Spy × Family (stylized as SPY×FAMILY; pronounced "Spy Family") is a action comedy spy manga written and illustrated by Tatsuya Endo and serialized since March 2019 in Shueisha's Shōnen Jump+.

Two neighbouring nations, Westalis and Ostania, have long existed in an uneasy peace that is now threatened by the death of a Westalis diplomat under suspicious circumstances. The Westalia Intelligence Services' Eastern-Focused Division (WISE) tasks top agent "Twilight" with Operation Strix, the investigation of the apparent mastermind Donovan Desmond, President of Ostania's extremist National Unity Party. Desmond is reclusive, however, and has only ever been spotted in public around Eden Academy, an elite private school attended by his sons. Twilight disguises himself as psychiatrist "Loid Forger" and sets out to create a fake family so as to infiltrate Eden Academy and accomplish his mission.

There are just two problems: The orphan girl he adopts, Anya, is a telepath, and the woman he chooses as a wife, Yor Briar, is an assassin.

Thus begins Loid's complicated, heartwarming, wacky mission.

An anime adaptation by Wit Studio and CloverWorks began in April 2022.


 * Action Girl: Yor is pretty worried about her femininity, cleans the house well, and is a lethal assassin with a high body count.
 * Alpha Bitch: Damian is a male version at the tender age of six, arrogant and treated with reverence between his peers at school.
 * A Mind Is a Terrible Thing to Read: Anya's telepathy means she repeatedly encounters unpleasant thoughts from outwardly-pleasant people. As just one example, in Chapter 3, Anya reads Yor's thoughts while they're holding hands and discovers she broke two of her brother's ribs by giving him a hug. She is obviously scared.
 * Becoming the Mask: Despite initially thinking of returning Anya after the mission is accomplished, Loid quickly comes to think of her as an actual daughter of his.
 * Big Bad: Chapter 6. In the role play scenario by Anya, Frankie is the main villain imprisoning her.
 * Christmas Cake: One of the reasons Yor accepts Lor's proposal to become husband and wife is that she is already twenty-seven and feels very bothered about not being married yet. Not helping is that one of her colleagues mentions how someone got arrested as suspicious for still being single.
 * Contrived Coincidence: Spy needs to construct fake family to infiltrate school where his target's son studies. Adopted daughter is a telepath. Woman chosen to be wife is an assassin. What are the odds?
 * Crazy Prepared: In chapter 3, both Yor and Lor thought their clothes and Anya's would get dirty and therefore brought spares. The thing is, they're simply going to an elite school for an entrance interview and had to rescue a fat boy from a sewer pipe and deal with an animal rampage, situations highly unlikely to happen in that place normally and in fact orchestrated by the housemaster.
 * Crosses the Line Twice: Normal person having homicidal thoughts? Worrying. Yor repeatedly thinking that the solution to nearly any awkward situation is to start killing those responsible, followed by frantically back-pedalling and scolding herself for it? Hilarious.
 * The Dragon: In the imaginary plot where Anya must be "rescued" by Loid in chapter 6, Yor (as "Yorticia") plays that role for the unnamed Big Bad, played by Frankie, as improvised on the spot by Frankie himself.
 * Experienced Protagonist: "Twilight" has already had more than 10 years of experience as a capable spy prior to being assigned Operation Strix. That said, some of the things Anya and Yor get up to still surprise and exasperate him.
 * First Episode Spoiler: Anya being a telepath and Yor an assassin are treated as surprises if one starts the series completely blind, but it's impossible to discuss the series without letting these fundamental parts of the premise be known.
 * Hot Mom: Yor is pretty and has a curvaceous body to boot. The mother part at the beginning is only nominal but she quickly gets attached to Anya.
 * Impossibly Low Neckline: Yor's assassin dress has a very deep neckline.
 * Large Ham: Frankie is such a nice guy, if a bit childish, but in Chapter 6 he chews the scenery as much as he can playing the villain in Anya's story.
 * Master of Disguise: "Twilight" is reputed as a man of a hundred faces, helped by Latex Perfection masks. His first onscreen appearance has him making use of this talent to intercept documents meant for an enemy.
 * Megaton Punch: Anya sends Damian across a corridor by giving him one of those, taught to her by Yor. Presumably she gets punished.
 * My Nayme Is: "Loid" Forger, as opposed to the identical-sounding but much more common Lloyd.
 * Nightmare Fetishist: In chapter 3, Yor blushes at the sight of a painting of an execution by guillotine.
 * No Communities Were Harmed: Westalis and Ostania are obvious stand-ins for West and East Germany. "Ost" is German for "east", and the latter's capital being "Berlint" is painfully blatant.
 * Recycled Script: In-universe and justified for Anya being a small child who obviously isn't very creative. The plot she comes up for her and her parents (and Frankie) to roleplay in Chapter 6 is just a plot of the episode of Bondman, with even less context. Yor doesn't even get a role until Frankie comes up with something because apparently there wasn't a secondary female on the plot of said episode.
 * Secret Test of Character: It should be secret and it is secret for most people trying to get their kids into the Eden Academy, but even the reception for the entrance interview is already a test to check if they are worthy of entering in accordance with the criteria of "elegance" which the housemaster values. However, Loid as an spy is trained to detect people observing him, so he quickly notices the hidden watchers looking at him, and therefore it's not a secret for him.
 * Serious Business: Loid calls on WISE resources and personnel to help with Anya's roleplay. Thanks to his passing it off as necessary for Operation Strix, no one asks questions.
 * Show Within a Show: There is an in-universe spy cartoon called Bondman that Anya likes watching.
 * Writing by the Seat of Your Pants: Chapter 6, in-universe. Anya wants to role play a imitation of a plot of her favorite tv series "Bondman" and invents a plot where her parents (and Frankie) play the main roles. Frankie also helps when Anya can't come up with a role for Yor.
 * Unusually Uninteresting Sight: Despite their otherwise competence, neither Loid nor Yor seem to notice anything odd about each other's abilities.
 * Zettai Ryouiki: Yor's assassin dress earns her an A.