SPY X FAMILY CODE: WHITE - Mark Reviews Movies

Spy x Family Code: White, Crunchyroll

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Review by Mark Dujsik | April 18, 2024

A bit of introduction is required to the premise of Spy x Family Code: White, which serves as a standalone film in the world of the anime TV series "Spy x Family." Then again, maybe no introduction is necessary, considering the fact that a feature film version of the show, as well as the manga series (by Tatsuya Endo) upon which it's based, has arrived in the United States only two years after the television series began airing in Japan. There's a built-in audience for material like this, but even with that in mind, the turnaround from the show's debut to a feature-length film seems pretty quick, indeed.

Watching director Takashi Katagiri's big-screen adaptation, one immediately gets both the appeal and, because there already is this film, the obvious success of the series. It's fun and fast-paced, but the real selling point is a central gimmick that's overtly familiar but given a few layers of complication and humor.

Basically, it's the story of a spy who uses his family to hide his profession. The twist is that the man's wife is using him as much as he is using her, because she's a professional assassin. Both of them are using an orphaned girl to complete the illusion of a family, but there's a hitch in that, too. The girl is a telepath, who can read minds and knows what her parents are up to, and she's kind of using the adults to figure out how much of her telepathic abilities she can display without anyone realizing she's capable of reading minds.

Oh, the family also has a dog, named Bond and wearing a bowtie, that can see the future, but since the dog can only verbally communicate in particularly pathetic barks, the only one who knows of the canine's powers is the little girl. The screenplay by Ichiro Ohkouchi throws all of this at us near the start, and that's definitely the right move. The conceit is too delightfully convoluted to keep hidden for too long.

Also, it's sincerely sweet beneath the deceptions and cover-ups. It's not as if, for example, Loid (voice of Takuya Eguchi), the spy/husband/father, is a cold and callous man, taking advantage of a woman and young girl just to be better at his job. At home, he's attentive to his wife, even if their relationship is a sham, and treats the girl with the affection and care of a legitimate parent.

The same goes for Yor (voice of Saori Hayami), the assassin/wife/mother, who finds herself worried that her phony husband might have a previously established romance with another woman. She's worried about the marriage collapsing, not only because it would ruin the cover story she has established, but also because the two of them have an actual relationship based in respect.

Finally, there's Anya (voice of Atsumi Tanezaki), the telepathic kid, who stands out among the cast of characters, in part because she has the traditional design—all of those round, exaggerated facial features—of a stereotypical anime child, compared to the sharper lines and more "realistic" appearance of the adults. It's mainly, though, because the kid's a hoot, looking all innocent and childishly curious but getting into just as much trouble as her parents, if not more so, because she knows more than the spy and the assassin could imagine and just in general.

Take how the plot of this adventure actually starts. After being introduced to the parents (with Loid implementing multiple disguises to steal missile codes and Yor showing off her skill with a blade), we learn that Loid (who has dubbed his family the Forgers in a bit of showing off, perhaps) might no longer be participating in the top-secret mission that necessitated him forming a family in the first place. That mission requires him to infiltrate an upcoming ball at his target's mansion, and Anya's success in school could win the family tickets the event.

Forget all that, though, because Loid decides to start an unsanctioned mission to prove his worth. It means Anya has to win a dessert-baking competition in her class, and Loid believes the best chance for her victory is to travel to the judge's hometown, sample its most famous dessert, and re-create the recipe. The scheme is so silly, overly complicated, and oddly specific that it just might work.

It definitely puts us in the film's mindset, which is all of those descriptors and also imaginative in the ways the screenplay keeps upping the stakes, reveals the background of its world in the middle of a cold war threatening to go hot, and finds some sense of purpose for each of the family members in this mission. Loid has to contend with a military intelligence official (voiced by Banjō Ginga), who first dares to take Anya's dessert and later has a plan to start armed hostilities. Yor has to deduce if her husband is seeing another woman before battling a cyborg on a dirigible engulfed in flames. Finally, Anya finds a treasured piece of chocolate aboard the train en route to their family getaway, and the payoff to that has the girl fighting against her digestive tract, lest the bad guys obtain what was hidden inside the treat.

There's so much goofy charm to Spy x Family Code: White that it's easy to understand why the series has become successful enough to justify this film. If this is an appropriate translation of the TV show, the film is certainly going make newcomers—this critic included—seek it out.

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