Spy × Family (stylized as SPY×FAMILY and pronounced "spy family") is a Japanese web manga series written and illustrated by Tatsuya Endo. The story follows Agent Twilight, an enigmatic spy who has to "build a family" to execute a mission, not realizing that his adopted daughter is a telepath, and the woman he agrees to marry is a skilled assassin. The series has been serialized biweekly on Shueisha's Shōnen Jump+ app and website since March 2019, with its chapters collected in 17 volumes as of April 2026. It is licensed in North America by Viz Media.
An anime television series adaptation produced by Wit Studio and CloverWorks aired from April to December 2022, with a second cours aired from October to December of the same year. The second season, continuing from 2022's adaptation, aired from October to December 2023. A third season aired from October to December 2025. An anime film titled Spy × Family Code: White, featuring the cast from the television series reprising their roles, was released theatrically in Japan in December 2023 and in the United States and Canada in April 2024.
By April 2026, Spy × Family had over 42 million copies in circulation, making it one of the best-selling manga series of all time. The series has received critical acclaim for its storytelling, humor, characters, action scenes, and artwork.
Plot
In order to maintain the state of peace between the rival nations of Westalis and Ostania, a Westalian agent code-named "Twilight" is tasked with spying on politician Donovan Desmond, leader of the National Unity Party within Ostania. However, due to Desmond being notoriously reclusive, the only way Twilight can get close to him is to enroll a child in the same private school as Desmond's son, Damian, and pose as a fellow parent.
To accomplish this and present the image of a happy family, he creates the alias of psychiatrist Dr. Loid Forger, adopts a young orphan girl named Anya, and marries an Ostanian city hall clerk named Yor Briar. However, unbeknownst to him, Anya is a telepath, and Yor is in fact a professional assassin. Yor also sought a marriage of cover, because single adult women draw suspicion and attention in the paranoid Ostania. Neither Loid nor Yor are aware of each other's true identities, nor that Anya's powers allow her to know their true professions. The family later takes in a Great Pyrenees dog named Bond, who possesses precognitive abilities (unbeknownst to the entire family except Anya). Despite these unknown factors and Twilight's occasional lapses of common sense due to years of being a spy, he must learn to play the role of the perfect father and husband to carry out his mission. All while attempting to earn the trust of his brother-in-law, Yuri Briar.
Production In contrast to his previous works, manga author Tatsuya Endo was told by his editor Shihei Lin said that he and Endo are always conscious of the line where violence, a necessary aspect in a spy manga, is given a pass for comedy's sake. With Tista and Blade of the Moon Princess both having a dark tone, the editor told Endo to give Spy × Family a more cheerful one. Anya was inspired by the main character of Rengoku no Ashe. Her extrasensory perception was decided early on, and Lin cited its use for comedic effect as one of the series' strengths. Lin said that the series has a broad readership among all ages and genders. He also cited Endo's clean art and ability to convey emotions as part of the manga's appeal. Endo conceived the series as a on theme of a "fake family", and try a different type of spy that work fiction that tends employ. He had no experience with spy families so he decided that the manga should focus instead on Loid's families and the lies each have.
The author said the core of the cast was three people hiding their true identities from one another. This trait was in particular inspired by the anime series Code Geass as its main cast also have a tendency to hide their true personas. envisioned Loid as both as a cool character as well as straight man. Loid's characterization was made to be ikemen archetype of an individual being stylish when doing most of his actions. Endo originally wrote Loid as a charismatic and social person, but lacking good spy skills, causing his reputation to drop with every mission. He originally did not plan to use Yor in the series as he only came up with the idea of Loid and his adoptive daughter Anya. He eventually decided to add a mother figure and came up with Yor. Yor's personality was conceived so that he would mention violent commentaries on a polite fashion. Despite being an assassin, Endo researched clothing to make her beautiful. Due problems with his previous work Gekka Bijin, Endo wanted to try simpler costumes on Yor. Lin feels that the world and characters were firmly established as of volume two. As such, he revealed that he and Endo would start to include longer narratives in the series.
Endo and his editor Shihei Lin have known each other for over ten years; Lin was his initial editor on his first manga series, Tista (2007). When Lin was moved from the Jump Square editorial department to Shōnen Jump+, Endo happily followed, and they began developing a new work. Spy × Family takes elements from three of Endo's Jump Square one-shots: , , and I Spy. Lin said that its reception among the editorial department was so positive that serialization was practically decided before the official meeting was even held. The initial draft was given the working title Spy Family written in Japanese. When deciding the final name, Endo came up with over 100 options but he ultimately decided to use the same title but in English and with a "cross" in between, the latter influenced by Hunter × Hunter.
Media Manga
Written and illustrated by Tatsuya Endo, Spy × Family has been serialized biweekly on the Shōnen Jump+ app and website since March 25, 2019. The chapters, which are released every other Monday, have been collected and published into individual volumes by Shueisha. Shueisha also simultaneously publishes the series in English for free on the Manga Plus platform.
Viz Media began publishing Spy × Family in English digitally on their website for free on September 22, 2019. The Viz version is translated by Casey Loe. They released the first volume in print on June 2, 2020.
The manga series has one companion book, Spy × Family Official Fanbook: Eyes Only, published on May 2, 2022. A comprehensive collection of information, it includes detailed information and analysis about the series' characters and worlds, colored artworks, early character designs, guest artist contributions, a long interview with Endo, and commentary on most chapters by Endo and Lin. On February 3, 2023, Viz Media announced that they had licensed the companion book for English publication. The companion book was released on October 3, 2023.
Light novel The light novel , written by Aya Yajima, was published on July 2, 2021. The book contains four disconnecting chapters and a seven-page "short story". The first chapter, , tells the story of the time Anya and Damian got lost in the forest on their school nature camp. The second chapter, , recounts the day Yuri took Anya to experience a mock-up of future employment for kids. The third chapter, , tells the story of Franky's short-lived love with a blind opera singer from a prestigious family. The fourth chapter, , tells about the day the Forger family modeled for a famous painter in the park. In the "short story" chapter, , two waitresses were talking about their ideal family, the Forgers, among many unhappy families they saw. On December 20, 2023, Shueisha released an audiobook version of the light novel, featuring the voices of Miyuri Shimabukuro and Ryōhei Arai. This marked the first time a Jump J-Books light novel received an audiobook release. On February 3, 2023, Viz Media announced that they have licensed the light novel for English publication. The Viz's English-translated novel was released on December 26, 2023. It was translated by Casey Loe, who was also the translator for official English manga published by Viz; it was edited by Holly Fisher and designed by Francesca Truman.
On April 7, 2023, Shueisha's Mirai Bunko announced that a novel adaptation of the manga is in the works. The first volume, , written by Hitomi Wada, was released on May 26, 2023. The contents of the novel is described to follow the plot of the manga's first volume. The second volume, , is also written by the same writer as the first book and was released on August 4, 2023. The contents of the novel is described to follow the plot of the manga's second and third volume. The third volume, , is also written by the same writer and was released on November 11, 2023. The contents of the novel is described to follow the plot of the manga's fourth volume.
A novel adaptation of the movie Spy × Family Code: White with the same name was published on December 22, 2023, the same day as the movie premiere. It is written by Aya Yajima, who also penned for the first light novel Spy × Family: Family Portrait. The novel was based on the plot of the movie, which is screenplay by Ichirō Ōkouchi.
Anime
On November 1, 2021, an anime television series adaptation of Spy × Family produced by Wit Studio and CloverWorks was announced via a trailer video and the anime's website. The series was directed by Kazuhiro Furuhashi, with character designs handled by Kazuaki Shimada, and music composed and produced by (K)now Name. The series ran for two split cours and contained episodes. The first cour aired from April 9 to June 25, 2022, on TXN stations. The second cour aired from October 1 to December 24, 2022. Crunchyroll licensed the series outside of Asia. Muse Communication licensed the series in Taiwan, South and Southeast Asia; they are streaming it on their YouTube channel, Muse Asia (limited release in some of the available regions during the first-air run), Netflix, iQIYI, Bilibili, Disney+ Hotstar and other regional streaming services. On April 11, 2022, Crunchyroll announced that the series would receive an English dub. It had an early preview on Crunchyroll's Twitch channel on April 15, before premiering the following day.
Accompanying the anime, the guidebook Animation × 1st Mission, which includes anime character designs, storyboards, key animations, promotion images, interviews and comments from the staff and the voice actors, was released on April 4, 2022. The book acts as a starter guide for the anime series and does not contain many details about later episodes after the first two. The second guide book Mission Report:220409-0625, which provides in greater details of the first half of the first season, was released on September 2, 2022. It includes information for the main characters; details of the first twelve episodes; key arts for location settings and stories; storyboards; interviews and comments from the staff, the actors and the singers of the first opening and first ending songs, Official Hige Dandism and Gen Hoshino. The third guide book Mission Report:221001‐1224, which provides in the details of the second half of the first season, was released on September 4, 2023.
On December 18, 2022, a second season was announced at the Jump Festa '23 event. Ichirō Ōkouchi replaced Furuhashi as scriptwriter, while the remaining staff and cast reprised their roles. The 12-episode second season aired from October 7 to December 23, 2023.
On October 4, 2023, Wit Studio announced an art book for the anime adaptation, titled Spy × Family Animation Art Book. The book was released on December 8, 2023, containing 200 pages of character designs, background designs, prop and item designs, anime and collaboration artworks, storyboards for season 1's second cour's opening animation by Tetsurō Araki and ending animation by Takayuki Hirao.