Spy x Family CODE: White Movie Review

Date: 2024 April 22 19:11

Posted by Joe

Hugely popular anime Spy x Family is going to hit cinemas in the UK and Ireland from Friday 26th April 2024. To find a screening near you can visit spyfamilyfilm.co.uk.

But before you do, don't you want to know what we think about the movie?! Read on to read our review about the Forgers first cinematic outing.

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© 2023 SPY x FAMILY The Movie Project © Tatsuya Endo/Shueisha

Spy x Family CODE: White is the movie debut for the Spy x Family franchise. The hugely popular manga series has sold over 34 million copies (making it one of the best selling manga titles of all time). Once it was adapted into a popular anime series, a cinematic outing was pretty much inevitable!

For those unfamiliar with the set up, Spy x Family is set in a cold war era Europeanesque world, where the two nations of Westalis and Ostania are rivals.


© 2023 SPY x FAMILY The Movie Project © Tatsuya Endo/Shueisha

The Westalis Spy codenamed Twilight is tasked with creating a family in order to infiltrate an elite school to gain access to a reclusive high ranking politician. Twilight takes on the identity of psychiatrist Loid Forger, adopts Anya as his child and enters into a marriage of convenience with Yor. Unbeknownst to Loid, Yor is a skilled assassin and Anya is telepath. Neither Yor nor Loid know each other's true identities. Anya knows both her parents real identities, but keeps the secret as she wants the family to remain together. Much of the humour for the series is around the whole lack of understanding from each party.

The official movie press release doesn't go into any details of the plot and in true Otaku News tradition we'll remain spoiler free for this review too.

The movie starts by setting the scene and explaining the Spy x Family scenario, so if you're new to the franchise you'll have an understanding of what's going on. It feels very much like a feature length version of the anime with immediately higher stakes, when due to a series of unlikely events (this is Spy x Family after all) world peace is jeopardy. The movie works as a standalone story, so if you haven't seen any Spy x Family before, you'll be able to follow everything, while if you're an aficionado you'll know exactly what to expect.


© 2023 SPY x FAMILY The Movie Project © Tatsuya Endo/Shueisha

While the familiar supporting cast get some screen time, this movie is very much about the family and their feature length adventure, so it focuses on Loid, Yor and Anya.

There are some good big budget scenes and lots of detailed sets. This feels very much like a bigger budget version of the TV anime. It's exactly what you'd expect from a Spy x Family cinematic outing. High stakes, high action and highly enjoyable.

There's a lot to like with the movie, but my only real criticism (if you can call it that) is that everyone's favourite scruffy-scruff Franky doesn't get enough screen time!


© 2023 SPY x FAMILY The Movie Project © Tatsuya Endo/Shueisha

If you like Spy x Family, then you'll find this movie thoroughly enjoyable. If you want to discover the world of comedic espionage, then the movie is a great introduction.

Handily if you haven't seen any Spy x Family yet, you can also catch Series 1 on Netflix or Series 1 and 2 on Crunchyroll.

Spy x Family CODE: White arrives in cinemas in the UK and Ireland from Friday 26th April 2024. To find a screening near you can visit spyfamilyfilm.co.uk.

Also, for those who like to know there's also a tiny scene after the end credits worth catching.