Spy x Family vol. 15
Who was Martha before she was the elite retainer to the Blackbell family? A soldier for Ostania who fought in the last war against Westalis. There she saw firsthand the horrors of armed conflict and only escaped with her life through a combination of luck and the kindness of strangers. Though her return home was greeted with only more heartbreak, she’s made the best of it and we can only hope that by relating this history to Becky the young girl learns to not be a goddamn homewrecker and finally shakes her crush on Loid. After that, it’s all frivolous adventure involving a lost seal, a hunt for treasures of antiquity, and a look at what Franky gets up to in a regular day.
When I last talked about “Battle Angel Alita: Mars Chronicle” I mentioned how its mangaka, Yukito Kishiro, had lost the plot in terms of what the series had been about up to that point, but still managed to tell some good stories regardless of that. I feel that mangaka Tatsuya Endo is also losing the plot in this series as he plays for time, extending out the duration of Operation Strix for as long as he can while the series remains popular. This is just part of the reason I skipped talking about vol. 14.
Another part is the mangaka’s desire to tell stories at odds with the wacky, slapstick-y tone that was established at the start of this series. I’m specifically talking about Martha’s backstory here as it aims to be real Horrors of War stuff as seen through everything she suffers here. While predictable, it’s handled well enough here to the point that the story that follows – the Forger family going to find that cute stray seal – feels even more jarring in context. C’mon Shueisha, if Endo has an epic war story he wants to tell, then have him end this series so he can do it!
Vol. 15 isn’t a complete loss as there are some interesting narrative crumbs delivered in its closing chapters as the focus shifts to the Desmond family. Not only do we get to see what a family dinner looks like in their household, and it’s just as creepy as you’d expect, but we get some needed insight into matriarch Melinda Desmond. It may be a necessary course correction after we found out her thoughts on Damian, but learning about her other hobby here is weirdly charming. This does lead into a new development that has potential ramifications for the series’ long-term plot, but given how “Spy x Family” has been going nobody should get excited about seeing them anytime soon.