Spy X Family Vol 1 by Tatsuya Endo REVIEW

Started: 16/04/22

Finished: 16/04/22

spoilers: No

I'm still very new to the world of manga and I found the concept of this one a lot of fun. I really liked this though it wasn't totally without its faults.

Many of the things that didn't work for me are simply personal preference.

I don't mind when characters break the fourth wall (actually that can be hugely entertaining) but I hate when the writer breaks it. Feels so unprofessional to me and like I'm being spoon-fed. Like the writer doesn't trust that I'm smart enough to connect the dots so they have to tell me in brackets on-page and point at things with arrows.

I realise this style could well be a usual thing in manga, I'd need to read more to confirm, but this style just grated on me a little. When I'm immersed in a story, I don't need the author butting in every page to explain things to me.

Something else that did its share of grating was the general lack of set-up, which lead to more fourth wall breaking from the writer. Scenes are rushed through and so certain things aren't previously established as they should be. For instance the bug under the table so Twilight can listen to conversations in the room. We never see him plant it nor do we ever see him use it, it's just randomly and literally, pointed out under the table by the writer. The bug itself was never really utilised to any great outcome so it seemed pointless even mentioning it. It felt more like it was just randomly added in the moment because, hey, it's a spy thing so let's remind the reader that Twilight is a spy.

But now I've got the negatives out the way, let's talk about the positives.

I can already tell this is going to be an incredibly cute series and that master spy Twilight is going to become a soft boy and fall in love with his fake wife and child. The concept is so much fun, what with Twilight's latest mission being to get married and adopt a kid to infiltrate an elite school in order to get close to a high profile parent. But what he doesn't realise is the wife he's chosen is a highly trained assassin and the daughter he's adopted is a telepath. Naturally, this leads to a lot of fun, as neither Twilight nor Yor know of each other's professions, but Anya, being able to read both the minds, does.

The story is interesting and clear, making the manga very quick and easy to read. I raced through this volume and then bought the second before even finishing. The artwork is likewise very clearly drawn making each panel easy to read. Some of the images are really beautiful.

I didn't want to boost my rating unreasonably just because I love the idea. An idea can be both great but also could be executed better. That being said, I didn't find this to be a bad story at all. I genuinely had a lot of fun reading it. Certain things even made me laugh out loud. I'd be interested to see if the writing style is the same throughout or if there's noticeable growth. But either way, I'll still read this series. I'm already invested in the characters and would love to see where the story takes them.