I have been a huge fan of Endo Tatsuya’s Forger family since the launch of the Spy x Family anime back in 2022. Not only did it prompt me to start reading Endo sensei’s manga, but I also began adding Anya figures to my collection about two years ago. She’s too adorable for words, and the found family dynamic of the Forgers gets better every new season.
With only four episodes left in Season 3, I find myself already dreading the end. For me, Spy x Family has easily been one of my biggest comfort anime over the last three years. It’s the kind of series I can just put on, no matter how many times I’ve seen it, and still get lost in its adorability. I’ve seen some complaints online, here and there, about Season 3. Some are saying it’s just not hitting the same high note the first two seasons hit, but I disagree.
Spy xFamily Season 3 Gets Deeper Than Ever
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Since episode one, Spy x Family has never pulled punches. It’s emotional on a level that gets under the skin, and keeps you rooting for the little family that could. We’re introduced to this cold, nameless character we’ve all come to know and love as Loid Forger, aka, Agent Twilight. Everything about Loid is spy business first, and he doesn’t let himself stay tied to any one place or person longer than needed to complete his mission. Agent Twilight’s assignment to Operation “Strix” leads him to create a fake family for himself, the Forgers, in order to infiltrate Eden Academy.
The mission target: Donovan Desmond, Chairman of Ostania’s National Unity Party. Desmond’s youngest son, Damian, is a student at the prestigious Eden Academy. The objective to enroll his “own child” at Eden is the first part in a convoluted plan just so crazy, it might actually work. Considering how easy it is for Twilight to become anyone, he should be able to pull it off.
The Forger Family Is Born
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But then he meets Anya at the orphanage. A little girl who can read peoples’ minds, Anya is in desperate need of a family. She does everything in her power to tell Loid whatever he needs to hear, including lying about her age. She wants to become not just his daughter, but a helpful part of his mission.
To make their little family complete, Loid winds up proposing to Yor Briar, a deadly assassin known as the Thorn Princess. Yor is working herself into a tailspin, worried she might be taken in by the government and exposed. Meeting Loid is just as much the perfect cover for Yor as it is for him.
And the best part? No one knows anyone else’s secrets… except for Anya. It sounds like an absolute disaster waiting to happen, but in true manga and anime fashion, it is absolutely brilliant.
Across Two Seasons & a Movie, Fans Fell In Love With Spy x Family & the Forgers
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Watching the Forger family grow over the course of the manga and anime has been such fun. From Loid’s unexpected soft moments to Yor’s absolute dedication to Anya, it’s impossible not to fall in love with the little girl alongside them. One of the most glorious parts of all has been seeing the bond Loid builds with Anya.
He’s all business all the time, but Anya’s ridiculous antics make it impossible not to get wrapped around her little finger. He may focus on Project Strix more than anything, but he’s been seen more than once trying to be an actual father. Until Season 3, anime-only fans didn’t know why it was so hard for him to play the role. It was hard to even imagine how he’d come to be such a cold man, always able to walk away from a mission without a single string attached.
As the series progresses, it becomes clear that Loid won’t be walking away from Anya. Not only will she not allow him to leave her, but I don’t think he can part with this family life he didn’t know he needed. We’ve also seen the obvious feelings growing between him and Yor. In the past, Loid faked it in relationships, but with Yor, it’s different. Their marriage is a ruse for them both, but as the bond between them grows, how long can the ruse hold up?
Agent Twilight’s Growth Has Been One of the Best Parts of Spy x Family Season 3
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Spy x Family Season 3 launched with the Fall 2025 Anime Season on Crunchyroll back on October 4. We are now entering December, and nine episodes into a confirmed 13-episode season. It already feels like it’s not going to be long enough. I’m dreading the long wait before the next season’s announcement and release. Yes, I have the manga to tide me over until then, but, I’ve said before (and will say it again,) I’m greedy. We’ve seen some major glimpses at Loid’s backstory in Season 3, which shed new light on his character.
One of the reasons Loid has so much trouble being a father is because he didn’t exactly have an example for most of his life. His father, whom he had a strained relationship with, was the first casualty of war to affect Loid’s life. Since he lied to his father during their last moments together, he carries that guilt with him long after.
Prior to the invasion, playing soldiers with his friends was the highlight of Loid’s life. But his entire life was torn apart by the war between East and West. First, his father was killed in that inital attack. His mother’s death soon followed. While staying with relatives, enemy forces dropped bombs while he was away from the house. The rest of his family was killed in the blink of an eye, leaving him alone.
Spy x Family Season 3’s Opening and Closing Drive Home an Important Point
Loid obviously lost the very definition of innocence during that part of his life. The man we meet in Season 1 doesn’t have a tolerance for shenanigans, but Anya is slowly changing him. He’s still stern, as the series progresses, but he’s growing softer with Anya by the episode.
In the recent school bus-jacking episodes during Season 3, Loid, who was supposed to be away on business, put himself at the scene. He probably wouldn’t admit it, but he was worried about Anya. He didn’t reveal himself to her, but, being Anya, he didn’t have to. She heard his thoughts and was overjoyed that he was there to protect her. Even if she didn’t wind up needing protecting in the end.
Early on, the fact that she earned a Stella for her bravery on the bus would have been all that mattered to Loid. Instead, he scolded her for putting herself at risk. Even when they’re in the car on the way to school, he’s worrying about her state of mind. Anya making up silly songs about his car being too small assures him she’s just fine. Still, he offers to get her the best cake he can find after school.
Through Anya, Loid seems to finally be learning how to let go of the past that drove him to be the cold person he’d become. The opening and closing animations portray this beautifully, showing Loid and Anya (and Yor at times,) playing together as children. Neither Loid nor Yor had the chance to be children when they were young. Loid lost his youth to war and devastation, and Yor lost hers to being the big sister who stepped in to care for her little brother, Yuri.
Short Anime Seasons Make Me Sad
Anya crying while playing cards in Spy x Family Season 2
Even as Spy x Family is meant to be lighthearted and fun, there is a lot of depth to it. Things growing more serious in story arcs like we’ve seen this season don’t feel like a change of tone to me. The feel like epic growth. But with only 13 episodes to explore that growth, it’s going to feel way too short.
When all is said and done, I just want more time with the Forgers. I need more episodes so I can feel good and cozy as I watch their found family become stronger than any blood family. I’m spoiled. With 24-episode seasons from so many of my other favorite anime, it makes me greedy. That alone is the telltale marker of an outstanding story.
