With Spy X Family 2 (Season2) ongoing I seriously pondered one critical question in my mind. Was 2023 a good year for anime? On one hand, heavy hitters like Jujutsu Kaisen faced serious issues with MAPPA’s overworking schedules hitting a boiling point with the animators. On the other hand, small-time anime or adaptations from cult-classic manga got their well-deserved attention that they might not have received had the heavy hitters succeeded. Oshi No Ko, Ooku, and My Happy Marriage are a few of those.

But let’s put all of them aside and focus on the big ones. Or at least, one of the few that survived the bad luck that befell the heavy hitters of anime. Let’s talk about Spy X Family 2. The anime that struck hard in the Anime Industry raised the bar on the Kawaii factor. This year I talked about my expectations of the movie that was coming from the show. And now, I will talk about the second season, which I am thoroughly enjoying viewing.

Where We Left Off?

The last season of Spy X Family ended with Loid finally getting his chance to meet Donovan Desmond, his target and getting acknowledged by him. It was not much for Operation Strix, but it was a start for Loid as he was able to get in contact with his elusive high-profile target. But what happened afterwards?

Well, our typical “make-believe” family full of Spy, Assassin and Telepath, with a Clairvoyant Dog that can see the future, went about their way with life and dealing with the consequences of what followed. And the episode began with Yor literally being shot in the A$$. And that was not by Loid. For four episodes straight, the anime followed the typical stand-alone chapters of the manga till the second half of the season which changed the tide.

Cruise Ship Arc Deserves A Movie.

Episode 5 of Spy X Family 2 begins with Yor being assigned a mission out of her comfort zone, an escort mission. Tasked with protecting the last daughter of a criminal family with only her child and a loyal member by her side, whose family business had been taken over and has a target painted both on her and her child’s heads. Due to some prior favor the Garden owed to the former patriarch, The Shopkeeper tasked Yor with her safety, as she escaped Ostania through a Cruise Ship. Surprisingly enough, Anya won two tickets to that same cruise ship.

After years of service, Yor questions her motive to affiliate with The Garden and considers resigning her career as an assassin after the mission. But if that didn’t interest the viewers, surely Anya’s outlandish attempts to keep her family together by keeping each party’s identity a secret must have put a smile on everyone’s faces. And of course, if the bar wasn’t set high enough, Loid is challenged to balance his role as a father and a spy as he tries to please Anya while uncovering a threat to Princess Lorelei. It was an arc made for the movies.

Is Spy X Family 2 Worth The Watch?

Most definitely. Even though in my article about Code: White I mentioned my disdain of creating an Anime-only story while disregarding the two movie-worthy arcs. One being the Terrorist Attack Arc and the other being this one, and I still stand by that statement. However, we can’t deny the enjoyment we are getting from Spy X Family 2 nonetheless. Had it followed the same stand-alone story format, Spy X Family 2 would have been a massive disappointment and fallen victim to the sequel curse.

And of course, like the previous movie-worthy arc, this season had a similar flavor with different seasoning. We get to follow Yor’s journey as an Assassin while we follow Loid’s journey as a Spy in the prior season. And of course, Anya’s struggle to keep her family together is something that gives us a good time. Even if it meant putting Loid through Emotional Damage multiple times and making him overthink things. But I stand by my statement. This arc deserved to be a movie.

My Thoughts On Spy X Family 2

This year’s anime belongs to small-time productions and adaptations that stole people’s hearts while the big ones remained a hit-or-miss. Sure, we had Bleach’s TYBW, Luffy’s Gear 5 and so on, but with the recent drama with MAPPA, it seemed that the big-wigs of the anime industry took a big hit. At that moment we got Spy X Family 2 to keep our minds away from that drama.

It felt refreshing watching something known and genuinely enjoying it. And for that I am grateful. And I heard that Tokyo Revengers dropped its season 3, and it is doing better than season 2. So, I have to give that a watch as well. But before leaving, I have to say, that Spy X Family 2 kept me from ending this year’s anime viewing experience on a sour note.