#and loid canonically has a lot of Thoughts about identity

[kelseymichikoart]

non binary/gnc loid agenda

[yumeka-sxf]

Thoughts on Spy x Family: Family Portrait

I finally got around to reading the SxF light novel, Family Portrait...and I mean "finally" because it's literally been sitting in my shelf since it was first released in English back in December of last year! I was distracted by Code White and the SxF video game which came out around the same time, but even long after that, I was having trouble getting motivated to read it. For some reason, experiencing SxF in novel format instead of in anime/manga just didn't appeal to me, plus the fact that it's not written by Endo himself (these weird preferences of mine are also why I'm not into reading fanfics either). Don't get me wrong, in general I love reading stories in prose form too, but for a series like SxF that already has such an established visual identity, it doesn't feel as "authentic" to me if that makes any sense. But I did want to read it eventually, since it is an official part of SxF media and Endo did the illustrations and does acknowledge the book (he wrote a nice afterword at the end). So I finally sat down and read it in sections over the course of this week! I'll share my brief thoughts on each of the contained stories:

Novel Mission 1

Since this was the first story in the book, it took me a while to get used to experiencing the world of SxF in novel form. There were some things I felt would have been better conveyed in anime/manga, for example, one of the very first gags about Yor misinterpreting Anya's nature class as some sort of hardcore outdoor survival trip. As I was reading that part I was like "I get the joke, but it would have been funnier if I actually saw these images and the characters' expressions with Endo's comedic illustrations." It was also a bit jarring to hear the characters thoughts and feelings from third-person narration, but I got used to it. As for the story itself, it was Damianya focused, something I'm not particularly into, but I don't mind it either. I liked the rare, soft Damian moments, and the thing with the squirrel eating Anya's peanut trail was funny. I also liked the scene at the beginning where Loid and Yor feed Bond together while Anya watches.

Novel Mission 2

Oddly, this was my favorite of the stories! Of all the characters, I think the author nailed Yuri's unhinged thoughts the best - as I was reading, I couldn't help but hear every cringe thought in his voice, which is a good sign of how well the author gets the character! I actually chuckled at a few parts too, both from his insane Yor-obsessed and anti-Loid musings, as well as from his banter with Anya. The police interrogation scene was great and would be even better if it ever gets animated! I also found it interesting that this story has the first instance where we find out what Yuri thinks about Bond (that he's fat and useless - rude!) Also his first time hearing about Franky apparently...makes we wonder if Endo will make him feel the same way if these things ever come up in the manga.

Novel Mission 3

I liked this story a lot too! I think it worked the best in novel format out of all of them, probably because it was more focused on drama and emotions than comedy. It's ironic that the two official SxF stories that feature the deeper side of Franky's character - this one and the omake chapter from volume 13 - are both not even part of the main canon! Alessa would have definitely accepted Franky's job as an informant, but he felt that someone like her should only be surrounded by "beautiful things." The poor man really needs to see that inner beauty matters too, and he has that! I also think he should have swallowed his pride and told Loid the real reason why he wanted the disguise...not that it would have changed the outcome. Poor Franky.

Novel Mission 4

This was a cute Forger-focused story, but like the first one, I felt it had parts that would have been more effective in anime/manga form, for example, "hair monster" Yor and whatever hideous painting Felix ended up making! But despite that, it was still funny and cute. Though I do think the author went a tad overboard with Yor's flustered antics...they just kept going and going, lol. Also, like the movie, we have another scenario of Loid getting flung into the air by Yor but landing gracefully on his feet (though this instance was much tamer since she wasn't drunk and only pushed him instead of hit him). Again, maybe I would have appreciated the humor in this story better if I saw it in anime/manga with Endo's hilarious designs and expressions, but for what it was, it was enjoyable enough.

Short Novel

This extra short story would be perfect as a reintroduction story for a future anime season...maybe one day!

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Overall, the Family Portrait novel is a nice addition to the Spy x Family universe. Even though I feel the humor in the series is most effective in illustrated form, it's still nice to have more stories in the canon, especially ones that show new sides to the characters, like the Franky and Yuri stories. Like the movie, it's debatable if this novel should be considered true canon or not, but personally, I don't find anything in it that contradicts canon, at least not yet. So yeah, definitely check out the novel if you haven't already! 😁

[chaoticstarlightwonderland]

Spy x Family Naegiri + Izuru Kamukura AU

Kyoko Kirigiri as the spy suddenly tasked with making a family appear out of thin air. As a young girl, her father died in the early bombings and her mother, fearing for Kyoko’s safety, sent her on a train to her estranged grandfather. Said grandfather was the leader of an intelligence agency and from then on Kyoko was trained in all things related to spying. Even after her grandfather’s death she still continued with this career, believing that it was her duty to give other people a peaceful lifestyle that she will never be able to truly understand.

Makoto Naegi as the assassin who needed to swallow his moral quandaries to look after his sister. As he has gotten older he felt like he couldn’t leave because a lot of his targets were dangerous people. The current peace is so fragile, he wants to do everything he can so that more people can have hope for the future.

But who would their telepathic child be? I know Shuichi is often depicted as a naegiri baby but I don’t think he is chaotic enough to get into the same shenanigans that Anya does. What character would purposefully cause so much chaos for their own amusement?

Izuru (Kamukura) the young telepath who is desperate for anything to escape the eternal boredom. Everyone’s thoughts are so predictable. Even going to the outside world quickly become boring for the young boy.

Izuru is definitely smarter than Anya in canon, but not as smart as he is in DR. He is good at the sciences, the technical stuff and the hard rules the language and arts, but he is so apathetic that he struggles with emotional nuances in all these subjects. Perhaps the reason why scientists thought he was a failure is because Izuru didn’t care enough about what people thought and the results of the tests.

Whether he escaped or was kicked out, Izuru survives using his telepathy. He decides to use a different name to cover his tracks, calling himself “Hajime” when other people ask. Through all this, nothing reduces his boredom and he never tries to bond with anyone. He gets adopted for his intelligence and kicked out for his creepiness 4 times.

Then one day Kyoko arrives at his orphanage, and Izuru reads the most interesting mind he has ever encountered, the mind of a spy. Surely if there are any people in the world that could keep Izuru entertained, it would be the thrilling, dangerous life of a secret agent. Izuru also supposed they have something in common since Izuru created the “Hajime” identity.

The two have a different bond than Loid and Anya initially. Kyoko and Izuru initially find a decent rapport due to their naturally stoic and analytical personalities. Their first roadblock is when Kyoko has to get Izuru to do something he is not interested in (Such as studying subjects he is not interested in or befriending kids/targets). Kyoko realises the two haven’t actually been acting like parent and child before then. Kyoko buys parenting books for research and realises that Izuru’s behaviour may be a trauma response for his past. Izuru experiences an unknown emotion having an adult not throw him out when he’s being difficult. Also, Kyoko understands Izuru more than other cuz she herself can be very detached to individual problems. For Kyoko it’s due to her upbringing and because she is usually busy focusing on the bigger national issues.

In comes Makoto who takes Yor’s role as the “emotionally intelligent parent” in the family. Izuru immediately wants this harmless-looking deadly assassin under his roof, and tries to set the two adults up. Unlike Anya who sings about she wants a mama, Izuru is probably like “Hello, my mother is a single woman who is considered attractive by many people. How would you like to snatch her up before the rest of the competition.” Complete deadpan 5 year old here. Makoto and Kyoko are very shocked, but they do end up talking and eventually settle into the arrangement they do in canon.

Here Makoto acts as a stronger emotional glue to Kyoko and Izuru as the two are too stoic to develop a proper bond on their own. Makoto is also very caring towards Izuru and tries to be supportive when he knows that Izuru struggles with emotions. Both with his own or other people. Izuru is a soo a bit shocked by this because before he was always demonised for supposedly having no emotions but Makoto accepts Izuru just the way he is. I think Izuru quickly becomes attached even if the boy can’t explain why, and Makoto is happy to have such a cute stepson.

As for how Makoto covers his assassin skill, unlike Yor with clumsy lies, Makoto has a “talent” for disguising attacks and assassin skills as dumb luck- sometimes good sometimes bad. You know that martial art that is based on the fighter being drunk during? Well Makoto is similar except it’s not drunkenness but clumsiness that Makoto uses. Partly out of practice to disguise his skills, and partly due to Makoto-brand luck, it often looks like he slipped and accidentally hit someone so hard they passed out. Or he slipped, tumbled down a hill and landed on the bad guy. Kyoko never gets suspicious because Makoto’s klutziness is so extreme it can’t be faked. Surely.

Like the original all 3 grow to become a family, even if they don’t realise it for a long while. Perhaps the character who ends up with the most change by the end is Izuru turned Hajime.

I see Izuru’s character progression in this AU like this:

In danganronpa, a boy named Hajime turns into lab creation Izuru Kamukura.

In this world, a lab creation called Izuru becomes a boy named Hajime.

[thelreads]

JP Reader for the third time lol. But actually, some extra tidbits for you from the latest chapter you reacted to - in the raws, after Yor kicked him, Loid’s ‘I’m sorry for getting ahead of myself!’ Was actually ‘うぬぼれましたすみません!’ which more accurately means ‘I’m sorry for being conceited!’ which I find totally hilarious XD Both are pretty similar so I’m not complaining but I think it adds an extra nuance that Loid was like ‘how could I be so conceited as to think that Yor of all people had feelings for me…?!’

Then, when he’s thinking if it’s a reverse honey trap, the line ‘No, Twilight, you’re being absurd’ actually has an additional line before it. JP is ‘ヨルさんもスパイだったのか?! いや落ち着け黄昏それはない!’ where for a moment he actually goes ‘Is Yor a spy too?! No, get a hold of yourself, Twilight, that can’t be it!’ www like idk why the ENG removed the line where he thought she was also a spy?? It’s so funny! I laughed so hard I cried when I first read it. Oh, Twilight. So close, yet so far.

Finally, when he’s blacking out the line ‘maybe being with Yor really has thrown me off balance’ is actually ‘ヨルさんといるとどうにも調子が狂う…’ which is literally and beautifully ‘I malfunction terribly whenever I’m with Yor’ which just 🥺 that is the most romantic thing I’ve ever seen Twilight say or think about Yor and I’m so sad more people don’t talk about it because it actually explains a lot.

I mean in all fairness, both lines are lovely, and being thrown off balance or going crazy totally works instead of the word malfunction for the translation - I’m just being more literal because I think twilight often sees himself as a machine so malfunction works pretty well imo

But yeah like they’re both nice lines but they have different nuances, like the ENG implies Yor has slowly worked her way into his heart to finally wreck him (which she has in all fairness), whereas the JP implies that Twilight, the great spy machine, always finds himself malfunctioning when it comes to Yor, which is also true and really really sweet and I think the closest thing we’ve gotten to a confession form Twilight, even if he himself may not understand the significance of it yet.

If nothing else, the line explains how his spy senses haven’t picked up on her identity yet - Twilight’s brain literally doesn’t work right around her!

Oh yeah! Loved it! I'm so delighted to know that even though Twilight isn't "mature" enough to handle this sort of feelings and relationship, it is canon without a doubt that they are there and they are slowly creeping into his mind. He's not aware of the cause, but even he can notice the effects, and eventually he'll get to the point that he'll be able to handle them, we just need to be patient...

[sxfobsessed]

Idk about y'all but I'm fucking READY for this potential jealous/possessive! Yor arc. The little hints from the past couple of chapters,,, I'm ready for angsty/confused! Yor because she's never felt this way before. She spends days trying to deduce why she feels this way then realizes she feels happier when Loid dotes and pays attention to her and she's like, "Ah shit, I like my fake husband fuck."

THEN we either get blushy, low-key posesive Yor who tries to get closer to Loid under the cover of her becoming better a better wife ( it would be true but like now there are more reasons,,)

OR emo sad Yor because she thinks he doesn't like her 😔 and she isn't good enough 😔 you know ANGST city population us 😔✌️

Given how Endo has handled Loid's responses to the situation in the past, I feel like Loid would never connect Yor's changed behavior with her being (potentially) jealous/posesive. In other words if Endo handles it the same, Loid is probably gonna not be focused and if he is, he will likely be hella Dense about it; HOWEVER, I hope Endo delves more into what we saw this last chapter in regards to Loid reflecting into more depth about how feels about lying so extensively to his family.

Speaking just from a personal standpoint, I feel like Twiyor would not feel satisfactory in canon if Twilight doesnt ever come clean to Yor about his identity. The morality behind this whole spy situation is something I've thought about a lot lol.

In other words I'm HYPE as hell for what's coming next and

The next chapter can't come soon enough 😔