“Spy x Family Ch. 63”: The Head of WISE Gets Her Spotlight [Review]

Spy x Family Ch. 63 finally gives Sylvia Sherwood her day in the spotlight. As it turns out, she’s actually pretty kickass. Both physically and mentally, as befitting the leader of WISE, and thus Loid’s boss.

Spy x Family Ch. 63: Details

Spy x Family Ch. 63 is the latest (as of this writing) chapter of the manga by Tatsuya Endo. In fact, it’s the first official chapter after Loid’s backstory arc (you can read reviews for Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3 here) and the side story involving Bond the family dog (you can also read the review here). Shueisha published the original Japanese manga, while Viz Media licensed and published it for its English release.

Spy x Family Ch. 63 was released on June 12, 2022. You can read it entirely for free on Shonen Jump at Viz Media. This chapter will remain free for 2 chapter releases. Upon the release of Ch. 66, this chapter will go into the Shonen Jump vault, and thus behind a paywall. You’ll have to pay for a subscription to read it then, so I’d advise that you do so now while it’s still free.

Spy x Family also now has an anime adaptation. You can watch it only on Crunchyroll. Note that only the first 3 episodes of this anime are free as part of their “seasonal sampler” program. If you want to watch past those first 3, you’ll need a premium account.

Warning: spoilers for Spy x Family Ch. 63 below. If you want to watch the head of WISE kick ass for yourself, stop here, and then come back once you’ve learned the truth. Or not.

Spy x Family Ch. 63: Plot Summary

Spy x Family Ch. 63 starts us off by introducing us to Ostanian opera singer Jonas Wellman, who’s currently wracked by scandal after scandal. The scene then cuts to WISE reading about these scandals, and with Sylvia Sherwood herself ignoring all of them. Instead, while teaching a WISE rookie about the realities of intelligence work, she focuses on the single death threat that has popped up among the flood of incoming information. The threat itself looks amateurish, made out of newspaper clippings and a cut-up photo of Wellman, but something about it triggers a red flag for Sylvia.

It’s upon examining some live security footage at where Wellman is staying that she finds her perp: a seemingly random and innocuous security guard apparently doing his job. Only, he doesn’t have the standard-issue baton he’s supposed to have, and he’s out on patrol in a place where he isn’t supposed to be. It’s a big enough red flag for Sylvia to order an on-site agent (disguised as a kebab salesman) to tail him, while Sylvia and 2 other agents head over there in person.

Assassin!

As it turns out, Sylvia’s hunch is right. The “security guard” pulls out a suppressed pistol, and is prepared to shoot Wellman as soon as he makes himself a nice target. The kebab agent informs Sylvia and co. of this development, and then thinking quickly, distracts Wellman’s security detail right as he’s exiting the building while also blocking the line of fire with his own body. This buys enough time for Sylvia to whip out her belt, slap the pistol right out of the perp’s hand with the belt buckle in a downward strike, and then break his lower jaw with an upward strike. All without breaking a sweat, although her shoulder will scream at her later. The agents quickly arrest the suspect without anyone noticing, and all is well again.

Sylvia and co. return to base, with Wellman likely deciding to stay in Westalis, but not for any love of the West. As it turns out, one of his scandals involved him having an affair with the wife of an Ostanian mafia boss. That one turns out to be real, and he likely has to go on the run. So what’s the truth here? Well, it’s up to you to decide. Thus concludes Spy x Family Ch. 63 on a rather philosophical note.

Spy x Family Ch. 63: The Good

The story of Spy x Family Ch. 63 is pretty top-notch. The philosophical insights and debates on the nature of truth between the rookie and Sylvia, mixed with the right amount of espionage drama and action, make this one of the most intellectually stimulating chapters in a while. Even compared to Loid’s backstory, which is quite the challenge. Tatsuya Endo has once again proved himself as both a writer and an artist.

Speaking of artists though, the art of Spy x Family Ch. 63 continues to be as great as ever. The would-be assassin had a disturbingly hinged appearance, fitting for his actions. The action scene with Sylvia and her belt buckle felt appropriately energetic as well. All in all, it’s the same great art we’ve come to know and love about this manga, and it looks like it will continue for the foreseeable future.

Oh, and one last thing as a bit of a gun nut: that was a nicely detailed and accurately drawn Makarov pistol the assassin was using. Even the safety was on the correct side of the pistol. It’s a great job from Endo here, building on his accurate depiction of a FN FAL from Loid’s backstory.

Spy x Family Ch. 63: The Bad

My one minor complaint about this chapter was the lack of the Forger family. Although, that was explained early in this chapter by Sylvia, who made a nice callback to Loid fainting in his own home in the recent previous chapters. Thus, I can pretty easily forgive this.

Source: Viz Media