MANGA REVIEW | "Spy × Family" - Volume Ten
How does someone become a secret agent? More importantly, why would someone walk such a dangerous path in life? For Twilight, it’s very personal why he’d attempt to take down a leading member of the Ostanian government. And in the tenth volume of Spy × Family, we finally see the road that he walked on to get to this current place in life.
Twilight has had a large interest in joining the fight for Westalis, but his parents wanted something different out of him. His father, who aimed to work for peace between the two nations, tried to get his son away from the evils of war. But in a flash, an attack occurs, and the boy who’d become Twilight would lost his friends, his home, and his father. If that wasn’t enough, one more air raid results in him becoming an orphan.
What follows is the life of a boy aiming to become a man of war. Old paths become too rundown to be walked on, and new paths lead him towards working at the intelligence agency. Franky enters Twilight’s life quite early, and in a way one wouldn’t be able to expect. On top of that, the young agent-to-be gets one last chance to see those who were dear to him, before one final incident made him feel truly alone in this world.
Spy × Family does a great job putting a light on the horrors of war. From violent battles to the art of misinformation, it goes to great lengths to showcase how the public eye can have their minds warped by the perception of both the “heroes” and “villains” of war. Even though what Twilight is doing is considered good for the country, who’s to say that it’ll do good for the people of the country? As such, his Operation Strix mission may have some problematic layers to it the more the story unfolds.
After the flashback, both Anya and Yor get a chance to shine in this volume. The young telepath has a one-on-one conversation with housemaster Henry, giving the Eden Academy staffer both hope and despair over Anya’s reasons behind wanting to earn her stars. She later gets a chance to better her relationship with Damian, only for it to literally splatter all over her classmate. These moments dive deep both into the psyche and can-do attitude of Anya, which have their solid moments of comedy.
But it’s Yor who makes some progress in Operation Strix’s future success. After helping out a stranger, she’s invited to a game of volleyball. Like the dodgeball chapter awhile back, it gives way to some great physical action, with Yor’s skills with the sport being beyond human. At first, she’s embarrassed, only for her teammates to cheer her on thanks to her untouchable skills.
That’s when Yor finds out who her new friend is. It’s a moment that comes out of the blue, and could be a key factor in Twilight’s mission going forward. The faux husband has questions as to how such an incident could’ve happened, but for now, allowing Yor to see this woman may be the best course of action. It could lead to some exciting development down the line, and — perhaps — we may have a dual family get-together occur closer than we may think!
Perhaps the only downside to Volume Ten is a chapter involving Sylvia Sherwood and an incoming opera singer. It’s not a bad story per se, but it does nothing to forward the story of the Forgers. Yes, it shows how words can be twisted and why smear sheets are called such a thing (because they’re smeared with bullshit!), but with it happening immediately after Twilight’s flashback, it took some of the wind out of the main story’s sail. Had it been a bonus story (alongside the very funny Franky/Bond one involving a park date), then perhaps it would’ve just been a fun side-story to have read.
Despite that one chapter, the rest of Volume Ten is both fun and heart-wrenching. We finally see why Twilight does what he does, and some progress is made in Operation Strix. It’s also got plenty of the trademark humor we’ve come to enjoy in Spy × Family, which serves as the soul of the series overall. But who’s to say that the goods times with the Forgers will last? After all, as Twilight learned in the worst way possible, everything precious in life could be snatched away in the blink of an eye.
FINAL GRADE:
Promotional consideration provided by Chantelle Sturt of VIZ Media.
