Film Review: ‘SPY x FAMILY CODE: White’ is the Perfect High-Stakes Family Adventure

Note: the original Japanese version was screened for review. The film is available in both subbed and dubbed versions.

It’s almost miraculous that an anime whose entire premise hinges on a complex geopolitical conflict between two nations is equally beloved by both (small) kids and adults. But it’s also a testament to just how incredible SPY x FAMILY is, where, to maintain peace between Westalis and Ostania, Loid Forger (Takuya Eguchi), a master spy also known as “Twilight,” is tasked to create a family and get close to National Unity Party leader Donovan Desmond (Takaya Hashi), whose son, Damian (Natsumi Fujiwara), attends a private elementary school. 

This mission is Operation Strix, where Loid “marries” city hall worker Yor Briar (Saori Hayami) and adopts a young girl named Anya (Atsumi Tanezaki) so they can enroll her in the school Damian attends. However, Loid does not know that Yor is actually a skillful assassin known as “Thorn Princess” and that Anya is a telepath. Eventually, they adopt a dog named Bond  (Kenichirō Matsuda), who can see into the future, and introduce Yor’s brother, Yuri (Kensho Ono), who works for the State Security Service and vows to capture Twilight, not knowing that he’s married to her sister. There’s also Fiona Frost/Nightfall (Ayane Sakura), one of WISE’s best agents…who is too infatuated with Loid and plots to replace Yor as his wife for Operation Strix. 

The show’s first season ended with Loid establishing first contact with Donovan, while its second season delved into more individual stories without much progressing the plot forward (with the exception of the cruise ship arc, which remains the best the show currently has to offer). It’s funny that their excuses are still working, and the pretend couple haven’t discovered their special skills (of course, Anya can read their minds and knows the truth), no matter the coincidental situations they’re always thrown in. 

With the franchise’s first movie, SPY x FAMILY CODE: White, director Takashi Katagiri and screenwriter Ichirō Ōkouchi not only beautifully adapt Tatsuya Endo’s manga to the big screen but celebrate the best parts of the anime via a high-stakes, thrilling adventure, acting as massive fun for the entire family. Unlike previous imported Crunchyroll titles like Jujutsu Kaisen 0 and Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – To the Hashira Training, anyone who isn’t familiar with the source material will be able to catch up on the most important parts of Operation Strix (Loid is a spy and doesn’t know that Yor is an assassin and Anya is a telepath, while Nightfall consistently makes advances to become his wife), via a voiceover recap at the top of the movie. 

The narrator also fills in the gaps throughout the movie (such as the scene where Loid and Nightfall speak in a coded language. It’s familiar for fans of the series, but not so much for the uninitiated), so anyone who hasn’t been exposed to SPY x FAMILY and was curious enough to seek it out won’t be lost. Of course, it does help to view the series beforehand, as many of its subtle details may not be appreciated by non-fans (Anya and Second Son’s rivalry, Yuri’s sister complex, the constant questioning of Loid’s behavior via Yor’s internal thoughts, Nightfall’s obsession of Loid), but it won’t make or break your enjoyment of the film, regardless of your familiarity with the source material. 

And it’s not hard to be immediately charmed by SPY x FAMILY’s perfect blend of intricately timed humor via the presence of such an ineffably charming protagonist like Anya Forger, who accidentally eats a chocolate which contains a microfilm that Colonel Snidel (Banjō Ginga) planned to use to instigate a war against Westalis. The Forger family were on their way to Frigis (an ooting! an ooting!) to get Anya to try a famous dessert called meremere, which she would cook for the school’s principal to obtain a Stella (eight must be obtained to attend the social gathering Donovan goes to). 

However, after accidentally eating the chocolate on the train, Anya is kidnapped by the Colonel, anticipating she will defecate the microfilm soon (more on that later). Loid is tasked to rescue Anya and retrieve the microfilm before Snidel obtains it to start his war. Of course, not knowing that Yor is an assassin, she secretly boards his plane to help Loid out behind the scenes. The bulk of the movie’s massive stakes occurs in its third act, where Katagiri dazzles with incredibly choreographed and animated action sequences. In particular, Yor’s fight with a military robot/hybrid prototype called “Type F” (Shunsuke Takeuchi) is one of SPY x FAMILY’s most dazzling setpieces. 

Yor’s strong, hyperkinetic fighting style is almost a match for Type F, who bombards her with a machine gun arm that never needs to be reloaded, desperately trying to avoid the constant fire he creates. Of course, going “guns-a-blazing” on a zeppelin isn’t the best idea, and fighting Type F quickly makes the ship catch fire, but the use of flames in such a sequence creates a pure sense of awe and spectacle, immediately making its IMAX price of admission worth it. The animation is far more developed in the film than in the anime, with a few staggering moments of inspiration that elevate the action and comedy on display. 

One such scene (and the movie’s best sequence) occurs when Anya desperately wants to make a number two in the bathroom but desperately holds it in (as Snidel made it clear to assassinate her as soon as she flushes the toilet). Almost fainting, she hallucinates a vision of her meeting the “Poop God,” who thanks Anya for her service to the country and her insistence on holding it in for the preservation of world peace. 

As silly as it may sound, the sequence is so wonderfully drawn that it’s hard not to laugh at the sheer absurdity on display, resulting in the best fart/poop punchline since Steven Spielberg’s The BFG. Usually, jokes like these are lowbrow and aren’t funny since they act as a cheap cop-out for well-written humor, but Katagiri is one of the few filmmakers who know how to get audiences to actively laugh at such a situation because the fate of world peace quite literally hinges on Anya not taking a dump. It’s even funnier when audiences find the location of the microfilm, which, of course, is never in the place everyone thinks it is with a character like Anya. 

But it’s also a testament to how incredible of a character Anya Forger is, a perfect representation of childlike wonder who translates her imaginative love of espionage into the real world, thinking she’s the only person who can help attain world peace, while his father infiltrates and his mother kicks major ass. Of course, that’s not what’s happening here, but Anya’s constant involvement in some of SPY x FAMILY’s best storylines always brings out the laughs first, elevating its thrills on a large scale. The best part of any good SPY x FAMILY story is seeing how the family works together without even knowing they’re present in the same situation, which inadvertently puts the fun in dysfunctional. 

It’s also the main reason why the show (and manga) has attracted such a massive fanbase. It’s not hard to attach ourselves to any of the characters and care for a family Loid supposedly shouldn’t have any attachment to since they’re merely pretending. But they’re not – the three work incredibly well together, and their chemistry completely pops off the IMAX screen, which, to be honest, is the perfect way to watch an extended SPY x FAMILY episode with fans who appreciate the anime as much as you.

As a result, SPY x FAMILY CODE: White won me over almost immediately. Katagiri’s dynamic animation style looks immaculate on the big screen, and the character dynamics are as electric as they are in the anime, beautifully retaining its spirit in a mission that’s equally thrilling and side-splitting. Action and espionage fans will be served, just as children will immediately attach themselves to Anya on her big ooting, continuously proving why she’s one of the best current manga/anime characters.

One wonders how Operation Strix will eventually end in subsequent seasons (and films) of the franchise, but one thing’s for sure: Loid loves his family. And so do we. 

SCORE: ★★★★