Spy x Family, Volume 1: 05/22/22

Spy x Family, Volume 1 by Tatsuya Endo and Casey Loe (Translator) is the start of a manga series that is now part of the spring 2022 anime season. Volume 1 features a master spy, code name "Twilight" who must put together a family in order to infiltrate a private school. It's a matter of national security and could help turn the course of a long running war.

The first person the spy brings into his ersatz family is the child. He wants someone with no paper trail. That means going to a less than reputable orphanage. It's there that he finds Anya. She's a telepath and she uses her powers to learn how to convince Twilight to take her. She also learns that he's a spy and she thinks that's cool!

The next piece is a wife/mother for the complete set. The school has a ridiculous rule that they must interview both parents. There doesn't seem to be any wiggle room for single parents of any sort.

For a ridiculous internal logic that would take too long to explain here, the perfect woman for the role ends up being a hired assassin. She's as good at her job as Twilight is at his. The glue holding the together is Anya, although the two have a chemistry that reminds me of Jim and Angela from the Stainless Steel Rat series by Harry Harrison.

Volume 1 covers the anime season's episodes one through five. I have volume 2 on hand and plan to continue. There are ten volumes so far, and Viz has released translated volumes up through number 7. Number 8 comes out in translation in September 2022.

Five stars

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