Title: Spy x Family Vol. 11
Author: Tatsuya Endo
Publisher: Viz Media
Language: English
Format: Physical
Pages: 207
Genre: Action, Comedy, Shonen
Publication Date: March 19, 2024
The Story
We open up with Twilight at work where his boss, Chief Medical Director Gerald Gorey, had become insanely jealous of Twitlight’s popularity among the patients. So much so that he tries to sabotage his career! However, little does he know that Twilight is a master-class spy and is already ten steps ahead of him. He works up a way to cause Gerald’s plan to backfire as well as put the fear of God in him!
Next up, we have a visit from everyone’s favorite SSS agent with a severe sister complex, Yuri. In order to prove his superiority over Twilight, he challenges him to a series of…. Household chores. Yes, you read that right. From doing the dishes to cleaning the bathroom to taking out the trash, Yuri aims to prove that he is better than Twilight in every way, shape, or form!
Lastly, we get to the main story of this volume. The students of Eden are on an educational class trip when, suddenly, their buses are hijacked by a terrorist group known as the Red Circus. Their demands are simple… to release the seventeen members of the Red Circus from prison and to oversee their safe crossing into a neighboring country. Twilight and Yor are not there to save them this time so what will happen when Anya begins to use her telepath abilities on the terrorists?
Characters
There was quite a bit of development between Anya and Sy-on boy (Damian). Because of Anya’s thinking and nerves of steel (it kind of helped that reading their minds made her discover that a lot of the terrorist’s threats were empty.) won over his admiration… slightly. What this could mean for the future of the two of them remains uncertain because just as things were looking up, the last couple of pages were something not even I expected to see happen and it could prove to be a major monkey wrench! At least, their love/hate relationship got a bit deeper, though!
One of the members of the Red Circus, Billy, received a nice backstory about his daughter, the origins of the group, what they used to stand for, and because of an incident with his daughter and the government, what the group had become. Because of this, you end up sympathizing with him which makes some of the moments during this volume very bittersweet. Typically, a lot of the antagonists in this series seem like throwaways but Billy had some real depth to it. Sucks that he was only around for a cup of coffee in the big time.
There was one other piece of development that infused this comedy series with some unexpected darkness. I won’t spoil it but, pay attention to the ending pages! Oof!
Final Thoughts
The two filler chapters before the main arc were pretty entertaining. Twilight sticking it to his boss was nice to see and Yuri is a blithering idiot as per usual… but, at least, he does love his sister. We have to give him that much, right? His little competition with Twilight was amusing but after a while, I just wish Yor would smack him and get him back in line.
The class trip story was a lot better than I expected it to be. Leaving Anya in charge meant that I expected a lot of comedy and while we did get that, because of Billy’s backstory, there was a lot of depth to it that had me invested. Deepening the relationship between Anya and Damian was needed but I like how it didn’t fully commit to it. By pulling back on the reins a bit while still progressing that aspect of the story was a wise decision but it was still enough to give us a step in the right direction. I’ve lost track if this was Anya’s Plan A, B, C, or any other designated letter but, needless to say, regardless of placement in the alphabet, it’s finally starting to work!
Overall, a great volume that leaves things both wide open and on a cliffhanger. One that can easily follow up on in the next volume or simply put it on the back burner and let it stew in our minds. Either way, I’m interested to see where this goes!
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This item was provided for review by VIZ Media.
