My winter trip to Japan last year gave me the opportunity to see Spy x Family Code: White, the very first Spy x Family movie. As a fan who has kept up with both the manga and the anime, I was curious to see how they would approach a theatrical release. I sat down with my buttered-potato-topped hot dog and my sour-cream-and-onion popcorn, ready to find out.

Spy x Family is the story of Twilight, an unrivaled master of espionage whose latest mission is to create a false family so that he can get close to a former prime minister, all with the goal of preventing another war from breaking out. To this end, he marries an office worker named Yor and adopts a girl named Anya. Unbeknownst to him, Yor is really one of the deadliest assassins alive. And while neither husband nor wife know the truth about the other, Anya certainly does because she’s actually a psychic. Despite all the secrets, though, the three manage to form a family that on the surface is the envy of all, yet also increasingly seems to be motivated by genuine love and affection.

The recent trend with some Jump series (such as Demon Slayer and Jujutsu Kaisen) has been to adapt an arc or major plot point into a feature-length work, and I wondered if Spy x Family would do the same. However, it turns out that the makers went with a different tack. Rather than going for something canonical, they created an original story. It’s the common choice for mega franchises, e.g. One Piece, Precure, Doraemon, Detective Conan.

In fact, Code: White is pretty much a Detective Conan movie with way less mystery solving and way more action. The story is all right, but spectacle is the name of the game: gorgeously animated chase scenes and fights, a story that takes the trio to ridiculous(ly cool) places, wild stunts, and plenty of explosions. The actual plot developments stretch the limits of what would plausibly keep Twilight and Yor from suspecting each other and wouldn’t be feasible if the movie wasn’t standalone. But given what it is, the makers are allowed to go ham, and they have enough for ten Christmas dinners. It’s a short but sweet popcorn flick.

I think the fact that Spy x Family Code: White is a non-canon entry says a lot about how the franchise is regarded in Japan. Basically, it’s a pop culture hit, almost on par with the heavy hitters. That much was clear even when discounting all the merch available in chains and other big stores to promote the movie. At one point, I stopped in a stationery store that barely sold five manga, and one of those titles just happened to be Spy x Family. 

It doesn’t look like the hype will be dying down anytime soon.