Spy x Family vol. 12

Not only did Anya survive her class trip hostage experience (with a little help from Loid), but she managed to get another Stella Star from the ordeal as well.  Better still is that now all of the students in Eden Academy want to be her friend.  Except Damien and his cronies, of course – but even he’s warming to her after this experience.  Still, just what is going on with his mom?  And what’s the real secret behind the post-traumatic stress symptoms the teacher on the trip is experiencing?  A more pressing concern, however, is whether or not Yor will come off as a TOTALLY NORMAL HOUSEWIFE when she goes on a drinking dinner date with her co-workers.  It’s an experience that threatens to derail the fake family that she’s built with Loid and Anya… if it wasn’t for the fact that a mole inside Westalis has escaped with critical information regarding their operations (including Operation Strix) and everyone’s favorite spy-dad is going to have to save the day again.

The post-hostage-arc chapters are cute and are decent enough come-downs from it, even if Anya’s is the better of the two.  Then things take a turn for the dumb with Yor’s antics about seeming completely normal in front of her co-workers.  It’s a one-note joke setup that’s stretched for far too long and doesn’t benefit from the fact that it requires everyone involved to act like an idiot – something that’s not helped when Yor’s brother Yuri shows up.  So it’s something of a relief when mangaka Tatsuya Endo switches gears and we dive into a familiar spy action story about tracking down the mole who escaped from Westalis.  I wouldn’t say it’s a great spy caper, but it’s definitely an improvement from how things started here.

We do get some funny bits involving Nightfall’s return and her involvement in the arc.  While she’s something of a one-note/one-joke character, she’s been used sparingly enough in this series that she hasn’t worn out her welcome yet.  Even so, the final page revelation that she may be about to lose her mind and go completely medieval on someone’s ass wasn’t enough to get me to check out what happens next in my subscription to Shonen Jump.  Which is the best sign that this was a so-so volume overall.