The Forger Family Returns

A Review of the First Episode in Spy x Family Season Three

Photo from DeviantArt / CC BY-SA 4.0 

After a long-anticipated wait, the story of “Spy x Family” continues with the release of season three’s first episode on Oct. 4.  The anime, which is based on the Japanese web manga series written and illustrated by Tatsuya Endo, follows the story of  Westalian secret agent “Twilight.” Tasked with the mission of spying on reclusive politician Donovan Desmond, Twilight goes undercover, taking on the alias “Loid Forger,” and adopts a five-year-old orphan girl named Anya and marries an Ostanian city hall clerk named Yor. Unbeknownst to him, Anya is a telepath and Yor is an assassin. Neither Loid nor Yor are aware of each other’s true identities or of Anya’s powers as well, which makes for an entertaining series packed with humor, espionage and slice-of-life chaos.

Season three of “Spy x Family” starts with episode 38, “Berlint Panic | The Informant and Nightfall.” The first half of the episode is set at the park, where Loid, Anya, Yor and their dog Bond are enjoying some family time together. Bond possesses the ability to see small snippets of the future, which only Anya knows due to her telepathic abilities. While Anya and Bond walk around together, Anya reads Bond’s mind and sees a vision of someone controlling a nearby excavator, using it to destroy the park and hurt people. Immediately, Anya convinces Loid and Yor to go back home, and on the way, they pass by a man at a nearby construction site. Anya realizes that this was the man who Bond saw in the vision. Pointing him out to Loid and trying not to reveal her powers, Anya helps Loid deduce that the man doesn’t actually work there, and is only posing as one of the construction workers. Loid uses his spy abilities to take the man down, and he successfully saves the day. 

The second segment of the episode shifts focus to Agent Nightfall, one of Twilight’s fellow Westalian agents. Nightfall begrudgingly pairs up with Franky - one of Loid’s informants - in order to convince a man named “Quill” to forge a fake permit that Nightfall needs. The duo have contrasting personalities, and throughout this episode, the situation highlights their mismatched dynamic. 

It is safe to say that episode 38 expands the world building and character development, especially between Nightfall and Franky, whom viewers don’t see often. The family time between the Forgers is also a very sweet and humorous interaction where viewers can see how they all save the day while concealing their abilities from one another. However, as the first episode back, especially after a long time since the end of season two, the episode missed out on the opportunity to bring back focus to the main plot with Desmond, especially considering how season two ended with the Cruise Adventure arc, which lasted several episodes and primarily focused on the Forger family. Furthermore, while the latter half of the episode does show a nice slice-of-life with Nightfall and Franky, there could have been more entertaining alternatives for the second segment, such as a date between Loid and Yor or Anya’s interactions with Desmond’s son, Damian, at school. These storylines do have a better connection with the main plot, and they would help viewers refresh their memory by bringing focus back to the original storyline. Episode 38 would have likely benefited as one of the later additions to season three, and a different, more directional episode may have been a better choice as the first episode of season three. 

“I was a little disappointed that in the first episode back there weren't any scenes with Anya or Damian,” freshman Sophie Yu said. “I just felt like it was really slow and focused on character development instead of the actual point of the whole series.”

Overall, while episode 38 does show viewers a fun family bonding moment between the Forger family and character development between Nightfall and Franky, the episode would have likely benefited as being a later add-on to the new season. Viewers have been waiting three years for season three, since season two ended in December of 2023. With this in mind, it would have been nice to see a more directional approach to the first episode back, where the plot centered around “Operation Strix,” the main mission that Loid is undergoing. 

“For the rest of season three, I really want to see more fun moments with Anya and Damian and a lot more focus on the actual mission,” Yu said. “I feel like that would be very entertaining and interesting, and I am excited for the upcoming episodes.”

<Star Ratings>

Continuation of Story: ★★★★★

Animation: ★★★★★

Plot: ★★★★★

Overall: ★★★★★