“Spy x Family” Ch. 68.1: Loid Vs. Animation [Review]

You might notice that Spy x Family Ch. 68.1 is a bit on the short side. However, it’s still a pretty good chapter, especially since it stars Loid this time. What’s more, he’s even taking a dab into the world of animation in the most hilarious way possible. All for the sake of trying to cram some edumacation into Anya.

Spy x Family Ch. 68.1: Details

Spy x Family Ch. 68.1 is the second latest chapter (as of this writing) of the action comedy spy manga by Tatsuya Endo. Casey Loe returns as the translator, with Rina Mapa also returning as the letterer. Shueisha originally published this chapter of the manga in Japan under their Jump Comics+ imprint in the magazine Shonen Jump+. Viz Media is the company publishing this manga in NA.

Spy x Family Ch. 68.1 was released on October 2, 2022. You can read this chapter for free on Shonen Jump at Viz Media. This chapter will remain for 2 chapter releases after this one. Upon the release of the third chapter, this chapter will go into the Shonen Jump vault, and thus you will need to pay a subscription fee to read it. So if you want to read this chapter, then you might want to hurry.

As an added note: Spy x Family now has an anime adaptation that first premiered on April 9, 2022. The second cour of the anime recently premiered on October 1, 2022. You can watch all episodes of the anime on Crunchyroll. However, the first cour is also streaming on Hulu if you have an account there.

Warning: spoilers for Spy x Family Ch. 68.1 below. If you want to read this chapter of the manga for yourself, then stop here, and come back once you’ve watching Loid’s short foray into the world of animation…with the expected comical results.

Spy x Family Ch. 68.1: Plot Summary

Normally, I would post the first 5 pages in this review as a preview of what’s to come. However, due to the very short length of Spy x Family Ch. 68.1, that would mean I’d be posting half the chapter if I did that. So from here on in, there will be no preview pages. Just plot summary.

Spy x Family Ch. 68.1 starts us off with Anya scoring an impressively low score on her latest history test. Apparently, getting only 1 question right out of 6 nets you a score of 7 in Eden Academy. Unsurprisingly, Loid is unamused. However, he doesn’t give up. Even as Anya is patting his back and trying to console him, Loid’s brain is busy thinking up possible solutions to this problem. His desperate mind immediately seized on a long ago incident when Anya solved a math problem because it featured in an episode of her favorite cartoon Spy Wars. Thus, Loid embarks on a task to create original stories in cartoon form to try and educate Anya. Basically: Loid decides to get a part-time job as an animator.

Loid and his Adventures in Animation

Loid then gets together with long-time…friend(?) Franky to form their own impromptu animation company, specifically just to make an “unaired” episode of Spy Wars for the sole purpose of trying to cram as much education into Anya as possible. No really, I mean it. Loid has apparently done so much research into Spy Wars that he can draw a passable imitation of the show’s art style. With Franky helping with coloring, Loid now has the animation itself done. However, that’s only the beginning. Loid then proceeds to record all the voices himself, with Franky responsible for sound effects and music. A bunch of post-production later, and Loid now has his “unaired” episode of Spy Wars to show to Anya, hopefully, to further her education.

Unfortunately, while Loid has the animation, voices, music, and other stuff down; as it turns out: he can’t write a good story if his life depended on it. The few scenes of the “unaired” episode of Spy Wars we get is full of the main character going on long-winded rambling expositions/lectures even in the middle of action scenes. Loid succeeded in cramming as much information into the episode as possible, but he sucked at trying to put it all together into a coherent story. Thus, Anya’s verdict of: “This cartoon sucks. I can’t follow this at all.” And so we get one last look at Loid’s shocked face before Spy x Family Ch. 68.1 comes to a close.

Spy x Family Ch. 68.1: The Good

What’s amazing about Spy x Family Ch. 68.1 is how much story there is packed into this 6-page long chapter. No, really. This chapter is only 6 pages long if you take away the color spread title page and blank pages. And yet, Tatsuya Endo not only managed to cram a coherent story into this short chapter but a really good (and hilarious) one to boot. It’s even hilarious on a meta level, since this is exactly what Loid couldn’t do. You know, because he doesn’t write stories for a living and so naturally isn’t good at it. It doesn’t quite break the 4th wall, but it does lean very heavily on it. It even highlights just how hard Endo’s job is for extra meta humor points, and is especially relevant because of why Endo posted such a short manga chapter this time to boot.

Of course, as usual, even in spite of the short length of Spy x Family Ch. 68.1, it’s still a wonderful example of the mangaka’s distinctive art style. Especially in the face department. Loid’s shocked face at seeing all his hard work go to waste in the last panel, in particular, was priceless. It was the best visual punchline I’ve seen in a while, and a perfect ending for this short manga chapter.

Spy x Family Ch. 68.1: The Bad

I want to say that my only complaint about Spy x Family Ch. 68.1 is the ridiculously short length of this chapter. However, that wouldn’t be fair to Tatsuya Endo. As you may or may not know, Endo recently posted a Tweet apologizing for this chapter’s short length. He cited exhaustion from working on the tankoubon volume of the manga at the time, and even included a picture of an exhausted Bond for added effect. Honestly, I think this is a sign of just how overworked mangaka are in this current industry. So yeah, don’t blame Endo for this. The poor guy has had a rough time. If you want someone to blame, then Shueisha might be a more appropriate target.

Source: Viz Media