Hello and welcome to Project Nitsuj. You know it’s hard to believe SpyxFamily has cooled down. Now to be fair this series is still quite popular but it’s cooled down particularly in the west. Along with Demon Slayer, MHA, and Jujutsu Kaisen, SpyxFamily became a big hit thanks in large part to its anime. The family comedy of a spy, assassin, and esper living together was a nice break from some of Shonen Jump’s more intense and action-packed anime. It’s also ironic that out of the four animes I named SpyxFamily is the one that’s still going. After a successful two-course first season and movie, SpyxFamily would return for a second season in the fall of 2023. Was it a good follow-up to the first season? Let’s find out. This is SpyxFamily S2.
Opening and Ending Theme
The second season’s opening is “Kura Kura” by Ado. Boy am I gonna get a lot of hate for this. I didn’t care for this song. Which is crazy because I like Ado, I think her songs are good, and I have nothing against this song. I don’t hate it, nor do I think it’s a bad song, I just don’t care for it. The song does feel like it’s being sung from Yor’s pov. For most of her life all she’s done is care for her brother and protect him, but now she has people in her life who she truly cares for and wants to protect.
The ending “Todome no Ichigeki” by Vaundy (ft. Cory Wong) was one of my favorite endings from 2023. Just like the first ending this song you can feel the love these characters have for each other. In this case it feels like Loid and Yor finally confessing to each other and admitting that they really do want to be with each other for real. The beat is good, the lyrics are good, and it’s just an all around pleasant song. Fun fact, this was the first song I heard from Vaundy.
Episodes 1-4
The season starts off on a laugh. Yor comes home in a rather foul mood (that’s scary). It turns out that on her last mission she got shot in the butt (what! How dare you harm a national treasure) and is in a lot of pain. Loid thinks Yor is mad at him and does everything in his power to make her feel better. He takes her out on a date with Franky and Anya following them. When the two go to have dinner in a fancy restaurant, we see one of the servers is one of the criminals who luckily escaped last night (wow, you found a job quickly). Hoping to get revenge, he attempts to poison her but it has no effect as she’s immune to poison (have you seen her cooking? It makes sense). The drink does however make her butt feel better and her mood improves. Seeing no other options, the criminal attempts to make a bomb but Anya Home Alone’d him and he gives up. The rest of the date goes well until the next morning where the poison wore off and Yor’s pain returns (scene here: https://youtu.be/X_C4S0MuNIU?si=uYRUq2f3HPpPxjAk).
The laughs continue in episode 2 as we get two stories. The first story focuses on Bond. The family is out of dog food and Loid is working (aka he’s on a mission) which means Yor will have to cook for him (you’re fucked dog). Wanting to live, Bond heads out and searches for Loid where he finds him on a mission trying to steal from some pharmaceutical company. Bond helps Loid on his mission (scene here: https://youtu.be/L_-KTIn3Oh0?si=1orpeGCLjH6mRzv9, this is the most ambitious spy combo since James Bond and John Wick) which allows Loid to come home early and cook him a meal. One thing I do like in this story is that they don’t give Bond a VA. We see his thoughts and way of thinking through his reactions and precognitions which tells us everything we need to know. It’s funny and gives us an idea of what goes through his mind (even though he’s a smart dog he’s still a dog. Scene here: https://youtu.be/3KFtzw_Bm2I?si=1W_RFhj8AxdyWghD). In the second half we focus on Damien. After oversleeping, he gets punished with chores and his minions prove just how loyal they are by getting in trouble as well just to help him out and stay by his side (true bros). The teacher then takes the boys on a camping trip on school campus as a way to help Damien relax and help him realize that he doesn’t have to be in hurry to collect stars. Take it easy and enjoy life (a lesson I think everyone needs to learn).
Episode 3 focuses on Yuri and his job as a secret police officer. He’s investigating a man named Frank who has been writing fake stories, conspiracies and propaganda that paints the country wrong (welcome to the 21st century). Yuri spends a number of days tracking the guy where we see he lives with his frail father and really doesn’t like how the country favors the rich and does nothing for the poor. After days of tailing him, Yuri finally spots Frank in the act of passing on his information to his client and makes the arrest. We see Yuri show some compassion by not arresting Frank in front of his father and even requesting financial aid for him.
In the first half episode 4 we focus on the school life of Anya. Midterms are around the corner and Anya is looking for an edge to help her pass. After overhearing some students talk about the cafeteria selling special pastries that’ll make you smarter, Anya and Betty rush over to get them. Damian and his stooges also had the same but they arrive too late as George got the last five however, he agrees to give four of them away (and we got five students who want them. Now how are we going to solve this? Hmm~, have you kids seen the Deer Hunter?). They decide to play Old Maid to decide who gets the pastries (I like my idea more). Thanks to her powers, Anya easily wins but Damian calls bullshit and says she cheated. In order to avoid suspicion, Anya calls for a rematch where she doesn’t use her powers. When it comes down to her and Damian, Damian has a chance to win but once he sees Anya’s sad adorable face he throws the game to make her happy (scene here: https://youtu.be/AacSLQnIrnU?si=mY0ZlkH2OLvxuo2V, his tsundere crush on Anya is adorable). Midterms come around and once again Anya gets low grades (the pastry has failed us). In the second half, Franky is trying to find a cat in order to win a woman’s affection. With the help of Yor he manages to find and catch the cat only to discover that the woman already has a boyfriend (https://youtu.be/fVeAEwrL1Ts?si=78pnABEe4md3r-17).
Episodes 5-9
Episode 5 starts with Yor going to the Garden to meet the Shopkeeper who has a special assignment for her (scene here: https://youtu.be/88_hRlTxfk8?si=6CIWjKSXNDz_qS82). Yor is being asked to help protect a mother and son of an underworld family who are seeking asylum in another country. That means they have to cross the border and be wary of hitmen out to get them. She’ll be crossing the border via sea and Yor will keep them protected until the change is finally done. Yor accepts the mission and Anya and Loid will be joining her as Anya won tickets at a raffle (that was rigged like all raffles. Scene here: https://youtu.be/1rSBxUP2rE0?si=4hQDLJ1RJDa8Rtzx). After that, not much happens. We see everybody settle in and get ready for some action on the high seas.
So in episode 6 we get some action as Yor protects the mother and son from hitmen throughout the episode. The episode does a good job of showing off just how much of a badass Yor is (I mean, we all knew she was a badass but this episode really hammers home that if she wanted to she could kick everyone’s ass and they couldn’t do anything to stop her. Scene here: https://youtu.be/XnKDHcv2y68?si=tj5qhf29gVxDO5g0).
Episodes 7-9 gives us more action as Yor takes on the hitmen single-handedly beating them all herself. She does get an assist from Anya who throws her weapon to her and Loid who disarms the bombs that were planted on the ship (scenes here: https://youtu.be/rRcTblKbPn4?si=zIuclDgMpjELWohB, https://youtu.be/j2LJqq5ho2k?si=kPGABCPJimdAS0Zp, and https://youtu.be/ct3kxkSfwLQ?si=3Oh5pglrYv4vixST). The mother and son are able to successfully escape and Yor is given the next day off to spend time with Loid and Anya.
Episodes 10-12
In episode 10 the ship finally docks and Yor is able to meet up with Loid an Anya where they have a family day and have fun together. It’s a nice episode and helps Yor realize that she has to continue fighting in order to protect what’s precious to her and how deep down she wants this relationship to be real (you and everyone else). In the second half of the episode, we see Anya trying to brag about her trip to everyone but they all think she’s lying and even Loid, Yor, and Yuri tell her it’s wrong to lie (you are all literally a “family” of liars).
Episode 11 sees Becky finally visit Anya’s place (there’s a panther in the house. (Neo): Is that a euphemism?) where she meets Loid (scene here: https://youtu.be/uiBif3tRIn8?si=5ntF8AY03Hw_Ul91) and tries to make a move on him. Even when Yor returns home she doesn’t let up (this whole scene is embarrassing to watch because it’s so realistic. Becky is someone who doesn’t know how to interact with kids her own age so she watches adult dramas in the hopes of trying to interact better with adults and everything she does is something we have all done in our life and look back on with embarrassment). When Becky finally sees she’s no match against Yor (scene here: https://youtu.be/f1l1ZY507ek?si=j8a6_pDjC9Ozx4_3), she decides to become her apprentice to get strong and win Loid’s heart. In the second half we see the return of Fiona where we see she worked tirelessly handling all of the missions that were originally meant for Loid. She accomplishes his missions and Loid gives her a souvenir which she secretly loves but won’t let him know (she has to live up to her name).
In the final episode we focus on Loid and Bond (an underrated duo in my opinion). When Loid takes Bond for a walk they come across a building on fire. Everyone got out safely but Bond goes inside with Loid chasing (doggone it!). Bond finds a small puppy that was left inside and with his powers is able to protect Loid from the collapsing building. Once outside Bond’s fur catches on fire and he has to be put out where we see what he looks like when he’s wet and Loid almost burst out laughing (so you do have a sense of humor). Bond then finds the arsonist responsible for the fire and Loid takes him out for the police to arrest. Once they return home and Anya reads Loid’s mind to find out what happened, she awards them with origami stella stars for a job well done.
Final Thoughts
Season 2 of SpyxFamily was fun, enjoyable, action-packed, funny, and wholesome. There’s a lot of good moments throughout the season such as character interactions and some good action as well. For a series that doesn’t really focus that much on action, the fight scenes on the cruise ship were very well done and show off just how much of a badass Yor is. I also like how we get to focus on other characters. We see a new side of Damian and how his stooges are real friends who stick by his side and remind him to be a kid. Becky meeting Loid and Yor was funny and went better than I expected. While we don’t get much development on the plot of the series, the season did deliver on laughs and shows us once again how these characters are getting closer and closer to becoming a real family.
Final Score
The final score for SpyxFamily S2 is an 8/10. One point lower than the first season but still a great anime that brought the laughs and the action. Here’s hoping the third season can do the same. Thanks for reading and I’ll see you next time on Project Nitsuj.