Spy x Family Season 2 Review - Good but Losing its Luster

Written by Rei Caldombra 1/7/2023 Video version: https://youtu.be/kQgCl3X7NBE

So, we got the next section of Spy X Family this season. I watched it and enjoyed it. But I want more from this series. I really want more changes to the status quo. 36 is a lot of episodes. And there has been little major development that has happened in that time. I feel there is a lot of potential that is not being got at. A lot of it is genuinely funny and sweet. But there is a lot of is that is extremely forgettable. One thing that I want to make very clear is that I don't think anything in Spy x Fam is bad in any way. It is all at least good. I just want more from it. I like the fun antics and slice of life elements as well as the spy/assassin elements. But I don't like how most of the time the spy/assassin stuff is played for jokes for the majority of it. Yor's arc in this season is one of the best parts of the series so far. We got to see Yor's job taken more seriously and have it actually resonate with her as a character. I love this. She finally got proper focus and good characterization, though it should not have taken this long. But it still irks at me a little because it ends with the status quo of Yor being an assassin and hiding it staying the same. In the last episode we get another episode of Loid and Bond bonding. Which I liked. It was fun and had a cool situation. But again, it too kept the status quo of Loid not knowing Bond can read minds. There are moments where I feel it has the perfect chance to shake things up, but those chances are never taken.

I still quite like Spy X Family but I can't say my passion for it has not waned over time. Yor's arc did help with my main issue of her being largely unexplored despite being one of the three main characters. There is great value in this season from that. But outside of that this season is mostly the same Spy x Fam it always has been. At the end of this season, we are still in the same place we ended last season. And while that is not bad, it's not exciting. I think this show has so much potential to be exciting and dramatic. I understand that this is meant to be largely a fluffy show. And that's fine. But I really feel like this series can hit that perfect sweet spot and truly do everything if it didn't stick itself in a box. Maybe it will happen down the line, but how much longer do we need to wait for that? I am worried about other people, and I will get bored of it before it finally decides to go all in on these things. On this note, I would like to point at the My Anime List scores this time, as I happened to look at them both while preparing for this and would like to discuss it. It can be debated how valid MAL's scores are as a metric for quality, but that is not relevant here. I am simply looking at the scoring trend for Spy X Family on the website. Season 1 has an 8.56, Season 1 Part 2 has an 8.28, and Season 2 has an 8.09. There is a consistent decrease in score over each subsequent part. In my opinion, the general quality of Spy x Family has not decreased and can be considered very consistent. And to my knowledge a lot of people think this way too. To me the most likely conclusion is that people think it's getting stale. Even something good can lose its luster if you get too much of it. It definitely seems like I'm not the only one that the status quo is getting stale.

Maybe we will get the story beats I want eventually, but unless the story goes on for ridiculously long, a bunch of them may have to come at once for that to come to fruition. Which I definitely don't want. I like the focus on the family dynamic and want to see that organically evolve as everyone learns more about each other over time. For example- I want at least Loid to find out Bond is psychic. Then life continues with that change, Loid using that information to his benefit. Then later I want one of Loid or Yor to find out the other's identity before the other. Then life continues with that change shaking up their dynamic. Then something else happens and so on. I do want fun slice of life moments and goofy antics, but I want them in between dramatic moments so that we can see this family grow and react. I don't want all of this to just come at the end so they can stop a big baddie, or them to not happen at all.

I can greatly enjoy series that go all on particular aspects like comedy, drama wholesomeness etc. rather than being well rounded. But for me the perfect series is one that excels at all of those (example being March Comes in like a Lion). I really feel Spy X Family is capable of being one of my absolute favorites. But it’s meandering. That is not fundamentally bad. I like what the show is doing most of the time. I enjoy the comedy, action and sweet moments. I also really like the crumbs of more serious story and drama we get. But this far in I don’t want crumbs anymore, I want a full piece. What I am trying to express is that there is so much potential here that I am excited to see. But the series is not as interested in that as I am. This time they didn’t even end with a dramatic hook that attempts to get you excited for what is coming next. It ended with a good but normal beat for Spy X Family, then said “see you next time”. To me this makes the intention of the anime as of now very clear. I think more of the same is what we can expect coming next, which is disappointing. If this is not the case, then I don’t get why they would end the season on such a nonchalant note. 

Final note is to say that the OP and ED are both absolute bangers.

As of now I do plan to continue watching it. I still get some satisfaction from its silly antics and wholesome moments, though that enjoyment is waning. And I truly am invested in seeing where this story can go, but I keep getting disappointed at it passing up great opportunities. I hope that I don’t have to wait another 36 episodes of same old same old to get to the interesting bits that I would love to see. Thank you for reading!

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