“Spy x Family” Featured In Popular Japanese Women’s Lifestyle Magazine “an an”

What would you suppose is a mark of the immense popularity of Spy x Family? Is it the fact that the anime now has a second cours? Could it be all the fan art that various mangaka are doing of it? Maybe it could be all the promotions various products are doing of it? Nay, I tell you! It’s the fact that a popular Japanese women’s lifestyle magazine, which normally wouldn’t have anything to do with anime, is featuring Anya, Bond, and Loid Forger right on the covers.

Anime Now a Woman’s Lifestyle Choice?!

an an (all in lowercase) is a weekly Japanese women’s lifestyle magazine, and is not only one of the earliest such magazines in Japan, but also one of the most popular and best-selling of such magazines. Their target audience (at least, in the mid-1990’s) were “women aged between 19 and 27 years old who were mostly unmarried, office workers and university students”, and the magazine typically features articles on fashion, cosmetics, and relationships. However, an an has also been known for “changing attitudes of young Japanese women as well as in reinforcing new and subversive identities”. Thus, it may not be that surprising that an an is promoting an anime like Spy x Family, according to Crunchyroll.

The image above is an an‘s special edition front cover art for November 16, 2022; and very prominently features Spy x Family. Specifically, you can see it features Anya Forger dead asleep in her bed. Bond Forger is staring mournfully at her, but appears to have no luck in waking her up. Mr. Chimera is certainly no help here in this awakening operation. However, the title of this cover art is apparently “5 minutes until good morning”. This seems to imply that in 5 minutes, Bond will have had enough of Anya’s laziness. Thus, he has to take more drastic measures in waking young Anya up. What measures are those are up to the reader’s imagination though.

Loid Forger Looking Good as Always

Meanwhile, an an‘s back cover for that special edition issue features none other than Loid Forger. Admittedly, he’s a bit of an odd choice for a women’s lifestyle magazine. But then again, so are Anya and Bond, so it all evens out. Loid Forger’s art is simply titled “Mission complete”, and it shows. Loid’s posture standing unruffled amidst what looks like the smoke cloud from an explosion just screams “A job well done” for this spy. With this in mind, it’s no wonder that Spy x Family graced the covers of this women’s lifestyle magazine. In fact, if it gets even more popular, maybe the male version of an an might start getting into anime as well.

Source: Crunchyroll News