Spy x Family Ch. 106 / Mission 106: Desmond Family Reunion [Review]

Spy x Family Ch. 106 / Mission 106 features a reunion of the entire Desmond family in the manga’s history. Alas, regular readers will know that this will not be a happy reunion. In fact, it’s such an unhappy reunion that it produces one of the tensest dinner scenes I’ve ever seen in fiction, and all with barely any words to boot.

Spy x Family Ch. 106 / Mission 106: Details

Spy x Family Ch. 106 (known officially as Mission 106) is the 106th main chapter of the action spy comedy manga by Tatsuya Endo (Blade of the Moon Princess, TISTA). Since the previous chapter was a short mission, you can be assured that this chapter does not continue its storyline, no matter how amusing it is.

Casey Loe returns as the translator for Ch. 106, with Rina Mapa returning as the letterer. Shueisha originally published this manga in Japan under their Jump Comics+ imprint in the magazine Shōnen Jump+. Viz Media is the company publishing this manga in English in the NA region.

When and Where to Read

Spy x Family Ch. 106 made its online debut on October 13, 2024. Alas though, you can no longer read this chapter for free on Shonen Jump on Viz Media. Once a chapter becomes the fourth chapter and beyond after the release of the most recent chapter, it goes into the Shonen Jump vault. Once in there, you will need to pay a subscription fee you read anything in the vault. Fortunately, the fee is only $2.99 per month, so it’s not that big a hit to your wallet if you do decide to pay it.

Anime Adaptation Details

As a side note: Spy x Family now has an anime adaptation that premiered on April 9, 2022. In fact, season 2 just recently premiered on October 7, 2023, and even more recently ended on December 23, 2023. There was even an anime film spinoff called Spy x Family Code: White that premiered in Japan December 22, 2023; and will finally make its NA debut on April 19, 2024. You can watch all episodes on either Crunchyroll or Hulu. Note, though, that only Crunchyroll has any of the dubs. So if you like watching the English dub for some reason, then you have to watch the anime on Crunchyroll.

If you want to purchase tickets for that Spy x Family Code: White anime film though, then you can do so from its official website. Note though that Spy x Family Code: White is now streaming on Crunchyroll, so you don’t have to head to theaters if you don’t want to.

Spy x Family Ch. 106 / Mission 106: Plot Summary

Spy x Family Ch. 106 begins this mainline chapter with the Desmond family bodyguards sweeping the mansion grounds and securing the perimeter, which includes even squashing luckless insects. All in preparation for the entire Desmond family, consisting of Damian, his older brother Demetrius, his mother Melinda, and his father Donovan. Oh, and the family dog Max, but alas, he’s not part of the dinner itself. Which might be a good thing, honestly.

The entire dinner scene is done in more or less complete silence. The air is so tense that you could cut it with a knife and serve it on the bread at dinner, but most of the guests would be too nervous to eat it. The only one who actually eats well is Demetrius, but only because he seems to have little to no comprehension of the tension in the air. Everyone else ranges from Damian nervously eating his food, to Donovan trying to appear calm as he eats, to Melinda who’s so nervous that she barely even touches her food.

And thus, the dinner concludes with relief from all for various reasons. Oh well, at least Damian thinks he’s getting closer to his family, and that’s all that matters. We’ll just have to see in future chapters of Spy x Family if that’s really the case.

Spy x Family Ch. 106 / Mission 106: The Good

It’s definitely the story of Spy x Family Ch. 106 that had me on the edge of my seat the whole time, but not for any action-related reasons. Quite the contrary, there’s virtually no action in this chapter at all. The entire dinner scene is practically a study in a psychological thriller. You can see above that every member of the Desmond family is seated perfectly according to their relationships with each other. Melina and Donovan are seated as far as they can from each other while still being at the same table, while Damian and Demetrius are both seated to the parent they’re closest to. And yet, none of them are actually sitting directly adjacent to each other, highlighting the gulf between even the closest members of the family. It’s no wonder that Tatsuya Endo has me hooked just on the story’s merits alone.

However, it’s not just the story that enraptures me. It’s also Endo’s artwork. Normally, he does fun and cute slice-of-life art for this manga. However, this entire chapter is anything but, and it teases the darker content that Endo loves writing. A good portion of that darkness comes from the facial expressions, clearly showing off each character’s mindset in the moment. As well as hiding what they might be feeling, of course. I doubt anyone can read the poker faces of Demetrius and Donovan.

Spy x Family Ch. 106 / Mission 106: The Bad

Alas, there is in fact almost no action or comedy in Spy x Family Ch. 106. The most action we get is of one of the bodyguards crushing what looks like a stonefly at the beginning, and the most comedy we get is of Max playing around with Damian. Everything else might as well be a dark psychological thriller story. Thus, if you are an action junkie who is only interested in action, then might I suggest watching Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba, Solo Leveling, Kaiju No. 8, DDDD, DAN DA DAN, Sword Art Online Alternative: Gun Gale Online II, and/or Zenshu? This anime should have more than enough action to satisfy any action junkie until the next time Endo gives us some action in Spy x Family.

Tune back into THS to find out more about Spy x Family and other manga and anime when we do.