Spy x Family vol. 6

If you were hoping that Fiona “Nightfall” Frost would play a larger part in this series after being introduced in the previous volume, then vol. 6 has you covered in a big way.  The first chapter starts off with the spy telling Loid “Twilight” Forger that Westalis has uncovered some information on a dossier that could “reignite the flames of war” between the East and the West.  It’s hidden in a painting currently being held by a chief of industry with an unusual hobby.  That would be the holding of extreme underground tennis matches where the only rules are that there are none!  The winner of this latest tournament gets to pick one item from the host’s collection, which is how Twilight and Nightfall are planning to get their hands on the painting they want.

This is ridiculous even by “Spy x Family’s” normally tenuous grasp on reality.  Then again, I did just watch “You Only Live Twice” for the first time over a week ago.  That’s the James Bond film where the agent has to go to Japan to foil a plot by SPECTRE.  How does he stop them, you ask?  By loudly infiltrating their secret volcano base with an army of trained ninja!  So for a series whose logic is defined by the logic from those movies,  I’d say it still has a way to go before it jumps the shark.  Fortunately the action is kept brisk and the arc doesn’t overstay its welcome.  Which means that this tennis death match storyline is entertainingly ridiculous for the entirety of its duration.  It gets bonus points for establishing Nightfall as a capable partner to Twilight and a quality comic asset to the series as a whole thanks to her utterly delusional yet straight-faced pursuit of her partner’s heart.

Fiona’s sincerity is such that you almost feel sorry for her even after Yor (unintentionally) makes it clear that she’s not going to give up on her (fake) marriage.  This is just one thread that’s explored further in the volume’s back half as we get stories about Loid taking Yor out to dinner to smooth over any issues in their marriage, Anya goes on a shopping spree with Becky, and Damien angsts over his father’s absence in his life.  These are all decent in their own right, even if it’s to be expected that they lack the utter zaniness of the opening arc.  That last story does imply some consequences for the overall story as it looks like Loid will be taking the main goal of Operation Strix into his own hands for the immediate future.