Spy x Family Season 1 Review

Summary Spy x Family season 1's Blu-ray releases are packed with bonus features and merchandise, making them a great addition to any collector's library.

The writing in Spy x Family season 1 perfectly balances comedy and serious tones, creating a hilarious and engaging story that holds up even after two years.

Spy x Family's Blu-ray releases should be the standard for anime Blu-rays, going forward.

Spy x Family season 1 premiered in 2022 and quickly took the world by storm. The manga was already a big hit by then, and when Wit Studio brought all the humor and style of the story into animation, it didn’t take long for it to become a major hit with fans and critics alike.

Spy x Family is one of the biggest anime to come out in recent years, and season 1 is finally fully available on physical media. Season 1 is split between a regular Blu-ray set for the first half and a limited edition for the second half, and it’s safe to say that everything included with Spy x Family’s Blu-rays makes them a worthy part of any collector’s library.

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It’s one of the best and easily affordable collections Crunchyroll has released in years, and for old and new fans of Spy x Family, it’s an easy purchase.

Related Review: Spy x Family CODE: White Offers a Fun Adventure Even New Fans Can Enjoy With a fun script and an adventure made for the big screen, Spy x Family CODE: White is a film that will delight fans and newcomers alike.

How Spy X Family Season 1 Holds Up After 2 Years

The first season of the popular series is still a great choice for any anime fan to check out

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Spy x Family season 1’s Blu-ray release comes two years after season 1’s original premiere, so that invites the question of how well season 1 has held up after so long. For starters, as is typically the case with anime from Wit Studio, Spy x Family season 1 features consistently gorgeous art and animation from start to finish, with much of it typically having the fluidity to match the comedic energy of the story. From a purely visual standpoint, Spy x Family season 1 was a superb watch, and that hasn’t changed in the slightest after two years.

What sells Spy x Family season 1 the most, of course, is the writing. The series prides itself on being both a comedic romp and a serious character-driven story about war and espionage, and sure enough, Spy x Family season 1 perfectly knows how to balance its comedic and serious tones and properly switch between them, and whenever one ends up the focus, it always makes for hilarious and engaging writing. No matter the mood being set, it’s always easy to find something entertaining about Spy x Family’s writing, a clear hallmark of its overwhelming quality.

Going off of the writing, what especially drives Spy x Family’s story are the characters. Everyone in Spy x Family, most notably the main trio, has great chemistry with one another, with the cast always excellently playing off one another, especially as they begin to genuinely grow to care about each other as a family. The comedic delivery by the cast and the care they have for each other is always at the heart of Spy x Family, and along with the direction and writing, it’s a big part of why Spy x Family season 1 is still a great watch.

Related Spy x Family isn't Just Incredible, it Proves Just How Much Anime Fandom Has Grown Spy x Family has become immensely popular and garnered the attention of mainstream audiences, expanding the anime fandom rapidly.

Spy X Family’s First Blu-Ray Release Thrived Off Of Bonus Features

Spy x Family's exclusive bonus features

Spy x Family season 1’s first Blu-ray was released a year after season 1 on June 13, 2023, and it was well worth the long wait. While many Blu-ray releases for anime are notably light on special features, Spy x Family season 1’s first Blu-ray features both interviews with the Japanese cast and a recording of the English dub panel at Anime Expo 2022, so there’s far more content than the typical physical anime release. Add in the affordable price on Crunchyroll and other sites, and Spy x Family season 1’s first Blu-ray does plenty to be a worthwhile purchase.

Spy X Family’s Second Blu-Ray Release Perfectly Rewards Its Fans

Spy X Family goes all out with its second Blu-ray release

Spy x Family season 1’s second Blu-ray is notably light on bonus features, but it makes up for it with all the extra merchandise in its limited edition. Anyone who buys the limited edition version of season 1, part 2 will receive extra merchandise including, but not limited to, a WISE agent cufflinks, WISE sticker, a notepad with Anya’s face on it, and three special art cards featuring the Forger family. Those all do a great job of justifying both the price and the long wait for the release, and they’re sure to add a lot to anyone’s collection.

Another notable piece of merchandise included in the limited edition is the art book. Not only does the art book have character and background designs from season 1 to look at, but Spy x Family’s exclusive art book includes the recipe for Yor Forger’s stew and interviews with both the English and Japanese voice actors, allowing for unique insights into the anime that aren’t limited to just one region’s viewpoint. All in all, it makes for a very informative experience that’s sure to make fans appreciate the team behind Spy x Family even more, no matter the language.

Related Every Spy x Family Opening and Ending Theme, Ranked Spy x Family has had a long line of incredible OPs and EDs in just two short years. While each has it's own merits, there's one that's the best.

The biggest selling point of the art book, however, is its presentation. Rather than just being a regular book, Spy x Family’s exclusive art book is presented as the same type of newspaper Loid is always seen reading in the anime, and to further play into that, it has a sports section that summarizes Loid and Fiona’s tennis tournament like a news article, a crossword puzzle, and coffee rings on many of the pages. It goes above and beyond in presentation, and with merchandise like that and others, the limited edition is something that belongs in any fan’s library.

Related 10 Best Spy x Family Missions (So Far) Spy x Family has become worldwide phenomenon with some of the funniest and cutest stories in anime. Here are ten of the show's best missions.

Spy X Family’s Blu-ray Releases Should Be The Standard For Anime

More physical anime releases need to be like Spy x Family

Spy x Family season 1’s Blu-rays make for a great collection, and they should set the standard for what anime Blu-rays are like going forward. Over the years, there have been far too many cases where an anime receives a truly lackluster physical release that fails to justify the long time people had to wait or the often hefty price to pay. However, Spy x Family’s Blu-rays have an incredible amount of bonus features and merchandise that justify their price and the long wait, so it would be great for more physical releases of anime to be like these.

Granted, it might not be very cost-effective to include physical merchandise with every anime, especially for niche titles, so, understandably, only certain anime would receive releases like that. However, at the very least, something like Spy x Family season 1’s first Blu-ray featuring interviews and live recordings should become the standard for giving people something beyond just the anime, itself, to look forward to. It’s unknown if any changes of that sort can be expected to happen, but if more anime Blu-rays were like Spy x Family’s fantastic releases, then that would certainly be great to see.

A special thank you to Crunchyroll for providing us with a review copy of Spy x Family season 1's Blu-ray release.

Spy x Family Code: White is now available in select theaters.