Hello everyone, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today I thought we’d check back in on Spy x Family and the Forger clan, who most recently endured the terrifying gauntlet of Anya’s school interview. In spite of their flawless disarmament of the school’s pre-interview booby traps, Loid was unable to keep his cool when the faculty began prodding at Anya’s parentage, resulting in a premature exit from the meeting. That catastrophe has in turn prompted some collective reflections among the Forgers, serving as a harsh reminder of their family’s fragility.

Of course, this is the fifth episode of a show called Spy x Family, meaning Loid’s outburst will undoubtedly be interpreted as an affirmation of his family’s suitability for the school of elegance. I’m not worried about Anya, but I am hopeful about this threat to their family unit actually bringing them closer together, as they reflect on how much they’ve come to care about each other. As usual, I’m most eager to see more of Yor’s perspective; Anya and Loid’s relationship has already been grounded in their larger character journeys, while Yor and the nature of her relationship with the others is significantly less defined. Even just a brief reflection like Loid’s thoughts about his lonely childhood would go a great distance to humanize her, but either way, I’m sure there’ll be solid jokes and charming moments aplenty as we continue this preposterous adventure. Let’s get to it!

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Hey folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today I thought we’d take another look in on the Spy x Family, who recently celebrated their newfound unity with a group outing. After the first episode secured Loid a child and the second gained him a wife, episode three offered our first glimpse at their overall family dynamic, with the madness that is the Forger clan operating in full swing. Museums were visited, thieves were apprehended, and our trio began to resemble a functioning family, more or less.

That thief apprehension was Spy x Family’s most rewarding sequence so far, as all three of the Forgers got to show off their talents in pursuit of a common goal. But with so much deception baked into their relationships, I’m curious to see how often this story will allow them to be on the same page like that. What I’d most like to see is more tending to our cast’s fledgling points of connection – how Loid’s childhood makes him particularly sympathetic to Anya, how Yor’s sacrifices make Loid seem like a kindred spirit, etcetera. Close personal connections are generally built on vulnerability and honesty, and with Spy x Family’s premise almost necessarily forbidding such gestures, I’m extremely curious to see how it actually brings this trio closer. Let’s find out!

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Hello all, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today we’ll be diving back into Spy x Family, where the dreaded family interview is nearly upon us. Having at last secured himself a wife, Loid now possesses all the prerequisites to begin his mission – that is, so long as this absurd performance of a family can fool the school board.

Spy x Family has more than demonstrated its chops in terms of both celebrating and skewering its tongue-in-cheek premise, seeming equally confident at both comedy and genuine spy-on-spy action. And with Yor now in the mix, I’m beginning to see how this admittedly farcical set of characters might evolve into a genuinely loving family. Though Loid and Yor’s mutual bafflement at normal human behavior is exaggerated, it comes from an understandable human place: both of them had the opportunity to live normal lives robbed from them, exist on the fringes of society as observers, and essentially only know how to play-act conventional human behavior. And with Anya also generally basing her behavior on the mind-read desires of those around him, it feels like the entire Forger family only knows how to “perform,” rather than to simply be.

Though they each entered into this agreement for pragmatic reasons, I can easily see this makeshift family becoming the first place where any of them are valued merely for being themselves, rather than for performing the behaviors necessary to get them close to their targets. As Loid himself acknowledged, Anya’s success on the exam was the first time he can remember genuinely relaxing, and actually letting his guard down around another human being. I’m eager to see them continue to change each other, but in the meantime, I’m plenty excited for more of Spy x Family’s hilarious, beautifully executed everyday drama. Let’s get to it!

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Hello folks, and welcome as always to Wrong Every Time. The last episode I wrote up was Spy x Family’s premiere, and you know what, I think we’re just gonna dive right back into it. Spy x Family’s first episode was an absolute delight, impressing both through its fluid animated highlights and, more crucially, through its fundamentally crisp and character-driven sense of humor.

I say more crucially not because animation is less essential, but simply because it is what adaptation is bringing to the material – on the other hand, fundamentally repetitive, simplistic, or just-plain-bad jokes can’t really be “buffed out” through skillful adaptation. Fortunately, it appears that Spy x Family’s mangaka Tatsuya Endo has a talent for pacing and understatement, as well a solid understanding of how to build gags out of our assumptions about his cast. And beyond that, by establishing a point of connection between Loid and Anya through their similarly painful childhoods, Endo was able to hit some strong emotional beats even within this admittedly ludicrous premise.

With Loid and Anya’s bond established, it appears it’s time for them to go shopping for a mom. Let’s see what lunacy this peculiar family gets up to as we return to Spy x Family!

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Hello folks, and welcome the heck back to Wrong Every Time. Today I thought we’d check out a new production, both in terms of the site and the world at large, by diving into this season’s much-loved Spy x Family. I’ve been hearing lots of positive buzz about Spy x Family, and am well acquainted with the show’s larger genre space – so much so that I even jammed out a recommendation article for any recent arrivals to the adorable daughter subgenre. For my part, while it’s the exceedingly rare anime comedy that appeals to me, I’m a sucker for charming family dynamics, and hope to find this show slotting comfortably among anime’s many found family dramas. The hype was high even before this one came out, owing to the much-beloved manga, and given this production’s animation director Kazuiki Shimada handled that same duty on FGO Babylonia and a bunch of Cinderella Girls episodes, I’m assuming the show will offer plenty of its own aesthetic flourishes. Let’s check it out!

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