English Dub Review: Spy X Family Code: White

After a solid return to television with their second season last year, the Forger Family is back again, this time on the big screen with the first Spy X Family movie, Code: White. The show follows the unusual but wholesome story of a master of disguise codenamed Twilight, tasked with making a fake family in order to infiltrate a local prep school to investigate a powerful politician. To accomplish this, he takes on the cover of Loid Forger, while recruiting a seemingly normal fake wife, Yor, who is secretly an assassin for a rival agency, and Anya, a secret telepath who is the only one who knows the true identities of her new parents. Through nearly a hundred manga chapters and (as of this writing) 37 anime episodes, the Forgers have slowly formed their familial bonds in their own strange way, which has become a big enough of a hit to finally land them their own movie. This time, with his place in the mission in jeopardy, Loid decides to take his family on a sudden big trip to another country to secure ingredients for a dish one of Anya’s teachers may like. Naturally, this ends up almost putting the world’s fragile peace in jeopardy. Does the first Forger family mission in theaters live up to the hype?

Due to the usually pretty episodic nature of the main story, the placement of this movie could be anywhere between the beginning and end of the second season. And as with all anime spin-off movies, it may not be very consequential, or matter all that much in the long term but that doesn’t mean it can’t be a fun trip to the movies. Luckily, this is actually pretty fun movie, as it’s essentially a big two hour episode of the show, taking highlights and mixing them together into a sort of best-of compilation. Plenty of side characters get to give their usual shticks for a scene or two, like Yor’s jealous brother Yuri who works for the secret police, Loid’s spy co-worker Fiona who is not so secretly in love with him (and kicks off part of the plot herself), and Damian Desmond, a kid at Anya’s school who she is tasked to get along with for Loid’s main mission. But the main draw is naturally the Forgers themselves, as their usual fake family antics translate well to them now being on a big trip, with precocious Anya expectedly getting into trouble by eating some hidden chocolate that turns out to be secret microfilm for some insurgents.

All three of the Forgers get to bring to the movie what they bring to the show and manga, though in more concentrated ways. Loid is a disguise expert a la Mission Impossible, and so goes through multiple, almost inexplicable, costume changes throughout the film and has to use his adept cunning quite a lot. Yor, who usually takes up the action side of the story when needed, gets to have a big fiery fight scene in the climax with a hulking Terminator-esque goon, and Anya, being a telepath, is able to lead into major plot beats pretty smoothly while also being way too dumb to understand a lot of what’s happening, which can be pretty funny. Essentially, if you enjoy the show and manga like so many people have over the years, you’re sure to enjoy this movie. And if you’ve never heard of either, then this actually might be a good way get started and see if you would like it. While a third season for the anime has not currently been announced, the show is popular enough that it’s practically inevitable, but nothing beats anime on the big screen, so check out this movie while you can.