The Fall 2023 Anime Preview Guide

Spy×Family Season 2

---

Twilight, the greatest spy involved in the cold war between Westalis and Ostania, is continuing his mission as Loid Forger, an unassuming psychiatrist and family man. He's gotten used to watching cartoons when his (psychic) daughter Anya asks, and he's learning to depend on his (assassin) wife by asking her to do things like pick up the groceries. But what's this? Yor seems to be in a terrible mood! Loid must preserve his family at all costs, so he plans a perfect date day to cheer Yor up...too bad what's wrong is that Yor's been shot in the butt and can't tell him. It's a good thing Anya and Franky are ready to tail them to make sure that nothing goes wrong.

Spy×Family Season 2 is based on a manga of the same name by Tatsuya Endō. The anime series is streaming on Crunchyroll on Saturdays.

---

Rebecca Silverman
Rating:

One of the things I love about the Spy×Family anime is that it always takes care to adapt the sillier chapters along with the ones about the main plot. This is one such case – when Yor comes home having been shot in the ass and unable to tell anyone, Loid freaks out and decides that she needs to be spoiled, stat. But with Anya once again the only person aware of what's going on, even if she can't quite understand it, his plans are absolutely not going to come off as he hoped. It's a great way to bring us all back into the fold because it reminds us of everyone's core skills and personality traits, including Franky's. It's also a very nice reminder to manga readers that we should get the series' first Yor-centric storyline this season, which I think we can all agree she richly deserves.

That said, there isn't quite as much to dig into here. Loid's concerns are primarily surface-level compared to what he dealt with in the previous season, and Anya fans may be sad that she doesn't make more of her trademark Anya faces. She still steals the show, though, especially at the end when Starlight Anya becomes a super…hero? Villain? It's hard to tell, but she's combining the skills she's gathered from both of her parents to take down the sole survivor of Yor's misadventure the night before. I'm not sure how she learned how to make a peanut bomb, but still, more power to her. This episode isn't technically about her, and she's still the lifeblood of it.

As is often the case, what people in this story don't know keeps it interesting. Loid is entirely out of touch with the reason for Yor's terror faces, and she isn't emotionally astute enough to see that he's trying to wine and dine her because she's upset. Meanwhile, Anya is impressed that her mom survived being shot with a gun, apparently unaware that being shot in the butt is rarely fatal. And Franky? He wants to throw the cards in the air and see where they land, torn between jealousy of Loid and genuine enthusiasm for playing spy with Anya. Poor Bond gets left at home, but he would have made Fra-luigi and Anya stand out too much.

He does get the best part of the new opening theme, though. My doubtless unpopular opinion is that I really don't like it. Masaaki Yuasa is a talented director, but his work is too busy for me; rather than enjoying it, it just makes me feel overwhelmed and headachy. But the scenes of Loid having to step over Bond to put things on the table are so amazingly real if you have a dog (especially a big dog) that I can forgive a lot of sins. All in all, this is a solid return to the misadventures of the Forger family, and if you know what's coming, it should get even better from here.

---

Nicholas Dupree
Rating:

There's a lot to appreciate about SpyFam as an adaptation. From episode one, it's always looked fantastic, capturing the madcap slapstick and action of the premise right alongside the sitcom hijinks. However, my favorite aspect is that the anime is happy to put all its resources into even the goofiest side-plots and one-off episodes rather than hoarding it all for the “plot” episodes. So I was thrilled to see this season start off with this episode in particular. Because, as far as I'm concerned, an episode about Yor getting shot in the ass encapsulates basically everything I love about this show.

Seriously, what's not to love? By cartoon law, any gag about butts is at least a little funny, and that's especially true with Yor's increasingly desperate attempt to hide her literal butthurt. There are tons of wonderfully animated Anya shenanigans, aided by her deeply irresponsible Uncle Franky. Loid plays the perfect straight-man, desperately trying to plan his way through Yor's apparent bad mood. Anya learns how to make a bomb and commits a small act of domestic terrorism. It's a wonderful encapsulation of all the fun that Spy×Family can bring to the table, delivered with great animation and pitch-perfect comedic timing. To steal an out-of-fashion meme, stuff like this sparks joy, and I had a big, toothy grin on my face the whole time.

If you're somebody who got impatient with the second half of season one and wanted more plot-heavy happenings or more character development from the main cast, I'm afraid you'll have to wait at least another week. Personally, I find SpyFam to be at its best with this kind of material, and I appreciate how even the silliness feeds into a sweet moment between Yor and Loid at the end. When you make an episode look this good and fill it with as many funny gags as we have here, I can't be bothered to complain about anything ancillary to that.