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 a world that's almost a carbon copy of ours. They've always fought it out, but at the moment there's 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 its top agent with Operation Strix, the investigation of the apparent mastermind Donovan Desmond, President of Ostania's extremist National Unity Party.

Said top agent, a handsome man known only as "Twilight", is told to get close to Desmond and probe for anything suspicious about the politician. Twilight, however, is definitely not prepared for what he do to get close to Desmond: marry and have a kid, because Desmond is an extremely reclusive man who only makes public appearances for social gatherings at Eden Academy, the elite school his son Damian attends. The sheer concept terrifies him, a man that is naturally lonely and only seduced targets for as long they were useful.

Having taken up the identity of the psychologist Loid Forger, he ends up picking up (of all kinds of kids) one who is secretly very unique: Anya, a little girl with the ability to read minds. She tricks Loid in thinking she's older and smarter she actually is by reading his mind, and he ends up taking her home. Loid, however, is obviously very awful at parenting, and keeping the kid near spying tools end up attracting Loid's enemies to her when Anya ends up sending a taunting message to them, without knowing how dangerous things are! He manages to rescue Anya but end up almost giving up on her, thinking putting a girl like her in danger is not worth it, and remembering of why he doesn't like when children cry: his Dark and Troubled Past as a orphan on a war-torn country. Reading his mind, Anya however decides to stay, and Loid changes his mind.

He ends up mentoring Anya into passing the exams for the Eden Academy, that she does. The first step of the mission is now complete, but they still have a long way until Loid can get to his target. And he decides to reinforce his mask by marrying a local woman... and the chosen one just happens to be Yor Briar, a beautiful office lady who's actually a Professional Killer known as The Thorn Princess. She decides to marry Loid to strengthen her own cover story, but also starts growing fond of him and Anya. And Anya herself also finds out about her secrets, and is absolutely thrilled to have her tag along!

Thus begins Loid's complicated, heartwarming, wacky mission. One where he and Yor will have to keep their covers on as much as they can, while struggling with any feelings they may catch for each other and their growing affection for Anya, who despite knowing their identities, still wants to be with them since it's HER chance to have a family that loves her. . .

An Animated Adaptation by Wit Studio and CloverWorks began in April 2022, and as of 2024 it has two seasons and a 2023 movie. It's directed by Kazuriho Furuhashi, who also directed Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn, and its voice cast includes Takuya Eguchi as Twilight/Loid, Saori Hayami as Yor, and Atsumi Tanezaki as Anya.

Tropes used in Spy × Family include:

• 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 by his peers at school. But Anya refuses to take his shit.
• 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 Yuri's ribs by giving him a hug. She is obviously scared.
• Astonishingly Appropriate Appearance: Anya's horn-like hair decorations look like certain kind of antennas, that fits someone who can interpret cerebral waves of those nearby as verbal messages.
• Bad Boss: Edgar, the villain of episode 1, guns down a mook for questioning his plan involving a toupee of a minister.
• 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. Same to Yor, who also starts growing fond of her -- and of Loid himself.
• Big Sister Worship: Yuri, Yuri, Yuri... uh, did anyone say YURI?
• Bound and Gagged: Anya is bound and gagged by the villains of Episode 1 to serve as bargain in convincing Loid to steal a toupee of a minister.
• 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 not one but two sets of 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.
• Dark and Troubled Past: Loid grew up alone and as a Child Soldier and Sole Survivor of the group of friends he managed to make on the aftermath of war. As result, he is a bit socially stunted and has difficulty to relate with children because they remind him of his own past.
  • Yor didn't have it much easier, as she and her younger brother Yuri were orphaned as well and that's why she's a hitwoman in the first place.
• 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.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Loid convinces Edgar to walk away by threatening his daughter in a vague way, saying she will never live a normal life if Edgar keeps going after Loid.
• 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.
• Good Smoking, Evil Smoking: Edgar lights a cigar just seconds after he killed one of his own mooks.
• The Greatest Story Never Told: Loid's superior invokes this trope while saying recognition matters little as long they're doing what is right for the country.
• Honey Trap: As a super spy for his country, Loid has done this many times. Heck, his whole marriage to Yor can be seen as a huge example of this: he married her (and adopted Anya) as a part of his cover story as a normal psychologist, destined to keep tabs on a super important politician from a neighboring nation. And of course, he starts growing fond of his "fake family" for real...
• Hot Dad: Loid may be VERY inept at parenting (especially at the beginning), but he has the looks absolutely down.
• 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.
• Mama Bear and Papa Wolf: Both Loid and Yor become VERY protective of Anya, in their own ways. In fact, Loid showed a streak of this even at the first chapter / episode: despite his (understandable, considering his past and his work) failures, when Anya is kidnapped he's willing to even put his Secret Identity at risk to rescue her.
• Master of Disguise: "Twilight" is reputed as a man of a hundred faces, helped by Latex Perfection masks that are perfectly able to replicate someone's else face. 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.
• Mundane Utility: Yor's experience as an assassin who's used to hide corpses is one of the reasons why she's so good at housework and cleaning. Now, as for her cooking... (Good thing Loid is the opposite of her...)
• My God, What Have I Done?: Loid realizes that using a kid to do a mission was incredibly irresponsible and put her into danger. This however, makes Anya not give up on being his daughter even after being given directions that would place her on a better orphanage.
• My Nayme Is: "Loid" Forger, as opposed to the identical-sounding but much more common Lloyd.
• Nightmare Fetishist: Early on, 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.
• No Social Skills - Paternally Challenged: Loid is so incredibly unable to raise a child that makes you wonder what kind of childhood he has before the show ends up justifying the trope: he grew up as a lonely orphan on the ruins of a war, and ended up as a pre-teen soldier.
• Older Than She Looks: Anya pretends to be a six years old that looks four. Of course, considering her crappy upbringing, it's not implausible, but Loid's initial deduction is right on point, but she manages to trick him anyway.
• Orphanage of Fear: Loid deliberately picks up a pretty crappy orphanage because a kid with complete lack of documentation will be easier for infiltration.
• Post-Victory Collapse: Played for Laughs. Loid collapses after Anya passed an elite's school entrance exam at the end of Episode 1.
• 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 a 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 is a spy and therefore 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.
• Shout-Out: Anya's name is one to Anya Amasova, the main Bond girl of The Spy Who Loved Me. Her codename as a science experiment was "007", and she is a big fan of the cartoon "Bondman".
• 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.
• Wrong Genre Savvy: Though certainly a spy comedy with sci-fi elements, this show is nowhere as goofy as the Bondman show Anya watches, and therefore she makes some very deadly mistakes, like sending taunting messages in plain text to people who she doesn't know.
  • Loid himself is an example. He seems to not even think of the idea of mind reading, despite the fact Anya reacts to what he is thinking in real time.
• Zettai Ryouiki: Yor's assassin dress earns her an A.