Spy x Family, Vol 2, (English edition)
Endo Tatsuya, Casey Loe (translator)
Forming a family
Spy x Family is a sneaky little manga. Ostensibly it is an absurd comedy about a Spy, an assassin, and a telepathic child. It is that ostensibly, and it is also that, really. But in addition, and this is the sneaky part, it's a story about a relatable family. It's sort of like Get Smart crossed with Leave it to Beaver. Although I doubt he would reference Maxwell Smart and Beaver as his models -- Endo Tatsuya is not as old as I am -- I am convinced he knows exactly what he's doing. The absurd secret agent stuff is the superficial appeal of the series. But the emotional heart is the story of a family.
It is, at this point, only a family in becoming. In Volume 1 agent 黄昏 (Twilight) assembled his makeshift family, the Forgers. He goes by the name Loid Forger. His wife, who was Yor Briar before she married him, is an assassin for hire. She needs the shield of a family to remain above suspicion. Their daughter, Anya, was an orphan, a product of a secret government lab. The Forger family was her escape from the orphanage. Each of the Forgers is using the others for his or her own purposes. Loid and Yor are open about this to each other. They are also, unknowingly, open to Anya about it, because Anya reads minds and knows everyone's secrets.
In Volume 2 they take some steps towards forming a real family. I'm not sure if Anya can really be said to love Loid and Yor, but she is fascinated by them and wants to be with them forever. It's a good start. Yor is a naturally protective person and Anya engages her possessiveness and protectiveness. It's not exactly a mother's love, but it's easy to believe that it could become that.
Loid is the weakest link in this little family. He is not unemotional -- he had a difficult childhood and is motivated by the wish that that not happen to others. But for him this motivation comes mostly in the form of devotion to fulfilling his mission, which he sees as necessary to World Peace. He is intelligent, and Anya and Yor frustrate him, because they are necessary to his mission, and he can't seem to get them to behave in accord with his wishes. He's gradually realizing that his personal emotional relationship with Anya and Yor is essential.
His mission requires him to get Anya into the elite Eden Academy so that he can spy on the father of an Eden student. The last chapters of Volume 1 were about the admission interview, which was rocky.
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It's fun!
Spy x Family Volume 2 on Amazon
We learn when Volume 2 begins that Anya failed the admissions interview. She is wait-listed and eventually gets in. Most of Volume 2 concerns her experiences at school. She meets Damian Desmond, the second son of Loid’s target Donovan Desmond. Damian immediately conceives an intense antipathy for Anya (although there are signs that this will change). This, of course, frustrates Loid, who wants Anya to become friendly with Damian in order to approach Donovan. Anya also makes a friend of Becky Blackbell, a spoiled daughter of wealthy parents.