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Spy x Familyis a series I hold dear despite it not being nearly as prominent throughout my life as many of my other favorite manga or anime.It’s acclaimed for everything a comic franchise should be, including its artwork and writing, and it provides a consistently strong sense of satisfaction with each new installment while leaving fans craving more. But thanks toits publication onShonen Jump+and its more relaxed biweekly release schedule,Spy x Familychanged how I look at popular shonen manga for the better.
With stories likeHenry and Martha’s origins inSpy x Familyand the considerable intricacy in the worldbuilding of Ostania, Westalis, and beyond,the series is a compelling example of patience being rewarded. Tatsuya Endo’s imaginative take on a Cold War-inspired world living in anxiety about the relations between two neighboring central countries is brilliantly layered with tension-simmering comedy.
But following a series that is strictly not weekly likeSpy x Familyhas allowed me to become a better manga reader with more realistic and grounded expectations.
Spy x Family’s Forgers Get The Final Arc Fans Have Been Dying To See In New Fanart
A new piece of fan art by Redditor Doc_Improbable shows the Forger family on the run, and it gives fans everything they want for the show’s ending.
Spy x Family Being Biweekly Is Good for Pacing
Weekly Manga Schedules Are Increasingly Hard to Defend
I remember first coveringSpy x Familyfor work in the middle of the Red Circus Arc, and to spare the anime-only audience any spoilers, it’s sufficiently tense and leaves with a cliffhanger as Anya’s about to make a bold move. Released on July 13, 2025, the chapter was the last before the New Year’s break,giving room for excited speculation among fans as to what would happen. At the time, this felt like an eternity, but it was thrilling to see how the community would process the chapter’s events alongside predicting what’d happen next forSpy x Family.
Spy x Familyis a “water-cooler” manga and anime series: easy enough to understand, hilarious to quote, and compelling to discuss between friends when a major plot development occurs. The wait for chapter #74 was especially painful because the New Year’s hiatus wasn’t over even after the usual two weeks. Endo’s manga would return in the next two weeks, June 26, 2025.This gave the creator free time to enjoy outside of work as well as maintain a healthy work-life balance, not forcing him into crunch from weekly manga expectations forSpy x Family.
The fruits of this wait were immediate, with the next chapter practically solidifying the Red Circus Arc as possiblythe best serious arc inSpy x Family, featuring iconic Anya moments, callbacks to Loid’s motivations for joining WISE, and more. It’sexcellent, andrushing this arc could have compromised the art, pacing, or storytelling to render it weakerthan other installments. I see the benefits of a series likeSpy x Familyregularly drawn as biweekly, and it pushes me to recognize other excellent stories that fall outside the weekly shonen formula.
Enjoying Spy x Family Relaxes Consumption Habits
Quality Over Quantity Should Be the Guideline For Manga Future
Spy x Familyis similarly non-weekly,helping me relax and enjoy the elevated detail and care put into each installment.
Like most average readers, I was introduced to manga through Shueisha’sWeekly Shonen Jumpproperties while familiar with series hailing from other publishers, including non-weekly manga likeBerserkandTrigun.For those who have not yet experienced the wait times between chapters ofBerserk, the series has, at best, been a monthly series, and with the quality of Kentaro Miura’s (and later Studio GAGA/Kouji Mori’s) artwork, it’s worth the wait.Spy x Familyis similarly non-weekly,helping me relax and enjoy the elevated detail and care put into each installment.
Part of this less intense publication schedule allows writers and artists to operate at a similarly strong output for each installment or, in the case of Yūki Tabata, allows stories likeBlack Cloverto have a fitting finale. While part of the fun of enjoying manga is the hype surrounding a flurry of newly released details,another major part is reveling in the uncompromising quality of a well-written and intricately drawn chapter.Spy x Familythus only has just over a hundred chapters despite running for five years, and even short hiatuses have become incredibly worthwhile.
No Spy x Family Hiatus Has Been a Letdown
Tatsuya Endo Wastes No Time Preparing Future Arcs
It reminds me of a simple yet valid reason many readers choose to consume manga: to enjoy quality storytelling and consistently strong artand not to merely come back for the chapter of the week, rain or shine.
Breaks in any major manga are to be expected, but Tatsuya Endo has often treated us either to delightful short missions or illustrations with readers reminded to return in two weeks to see what comes next. This has resulted in special cases likeSpy x Family: Research Missionwhich preceded expansionsin Martha and Henry’s arc where the horrors of war and the serene beauty of the Westalis countryside were rendered. In the most recent instance of an extra break, readers are assured a new story arc will emerge now that Martha’s flashback, however tragic, is concluded.
It reminds me of a simple yet valid reason many readers choose to consume manga:to enjoy quality storytelling and consistently strong artand not to merely come back for the chapter of the week, rain or shine.Spy x Familydoes well to steward the fellow properties onShonen Jump+as its most crucial success, standing as an example of consistent quality while taking the appropriate yet never excessive amount of time for extra polish. It’s part of whyBlack Clover’slatest chapters are completely free of previous issues plaguing its production: low breathing room for the creators.
Spy x Family Is Beneficial for the Author as It Is for the Readers
Mental and Physical Health Are Paramount
Spy x Familyhelped me out of some dark times,but it has certainlydone even more for Tatsuya Endo, the creator. Endo’s creation ofSpy x Familywas his way of rehabilitating after a brutal and long period where his motivation was much lower. Scaling up his production to meet the enthusiastic demand would be foolhardy, as this would inevitably put added strain onto the process, potentially hurting the series' quality, not to mention Endo’s health.
So, in a way, acknowledging that the series is biweekly at best, with occasional extra hiatuses as needed, is good for anySpy x Familyreader and a healthier mindset for manga-reading audiences. Not every series needs to havea weekly output likeOne PieceorKingdom, and the best currency we can have as an audience who loves the work of our favorite artists is patience.Spy x Familyis a special series because of the circumstances that shaped its conception and what it represents as a symbol of quality and joy for the manga industry.
Spy x Family
Cast
Created by Tatsuya Endo, Spy X Family is an action-adventure comedy anime that follows the misadventures of a found family with unique quirks. The story follows spy Twilight (known as Loid Forger), who, while on assignment, builds a fake family to get closer to his target. Unbeknownst to him, his new family carries their quirks. His wife, Yor, is a kind but deadly assassin, while his daughter, Anya, has telepathic powers - and is the only one who knows their secrets.
