Spy x Family Volume Six expands on Fiona’s role in the series, and we also see potential progression for Operation Strix.

Spy x Family Volume Six
Written by: Tatsuya Endo
Publisher: Shueisha Inc.
English Publisher: VIZ Media
Release Date: October 5, 2021

Volume Six opens with Fiona relaying the details of the mission that she’s been assigned on with Loid. It appears there’s a painting in the collection of a rich man that holds a clue to the Zacharis Dossier, which contains information that could reignite hostilities between the East and the West. Cavi Campbell, the rich man, is part of an illicit tennis club that hosts an underground tennis competition. The winner is allowed to take an item of their choice from Campbell’s personal collection.

Fiona enters the two of them into the championship as a husband and wife team with the last name of Foney in order to get their hands on the painting. After what we saw of Fiona in Volume Five, it’s not surprising that she would pretend to be Loid’s wife for a cover. But that fake last name, though. Heh. It’s also kind of amusing how Fiona keeps imagining that after winning the tournament, Loid would dump Yor for Fiona and use her as the mother for Operation Strix. The idea is so absurd that it makes it funny to the reader.

Since this is an illicit and underground tennis competition, you know that any methods are acceptable in the match. Because of this, there are insane things that happen, but Loid and Fiona overcome all of them. Their hardest fought match is with Campbell’s children, which includes quite a few over the top ways that they try to cheat in order to win. But Fiona and Loid overcome even all of this and are the eventual winners. Even though they win, it almost looks like they’ll be thwarted in getting the painting, but we see Loid being the crafty spy that we know he is. However, the ending of this story is quite amusing, since what’s ultimately discovered about the “Zacharis Dossier” isn’t what everybody thought it would be.

Afterward, Fiona and Loid encounter Yor and Anya at the park, and Fiona challenges Yor to a game of tennis. Fiona thinks she’s going to impress Loid by defeating Yor, but what happens during this “match” (if you can even call it that) isn’t at all what Fiona was expecting. As a reader, I really loved seeing what happens, because what it is so unexpected and funny. After this story, we don’t see Fiona again in Volume Six. But I wouldn’t count her out, especially since she makes a comment that she’ll never give up on driving Yor away.

Back in Volume Five, Yor was left feeling uncertain about her status with Loid after Fiona’s visit. Even though Yor “won” the tennis match, she’s still left wondering if she’s good enough for Loid. He notices that something’s off with Yor, so he takes her out for a drink to try to explain that Fiona is simply an associate and that there’s nothing more between them. Yor finds that she can’t get her words out, so she downs a bit of alcohol. It’s been previously established that she can’t hold her liquor, so we get quite the scene between Yor and Loid at the bar. However, even after some of the antics they go through here, Loid convinces Yor that she’s the right person to be a mother figure for Anya, and he also tells Yor about something he remembers from his childhood. The fact that Loid has opened up to Yor about anything from his past like this gives me the impression that he’s really started trusting her, especially after having doubts about her a little earlier in the series. This section of the manga also provides some decent material for the Loid and Yor shippers.

The rest of the volume focuses on Anya. The first chapter focusing on her sees Becky misunderstanding Anya’s interest in Damian, and she suggests going on a shopping trip together for new clothes. Loid sees this as a chance to build a connection with the Blackbells, so he has no problem with her going and securing some money from WISE for Anys to spend. This chapter sees Anya and Becky getting closer, and it also provides some character development for Becky through flashbacks that her caretaker, Martha, has. From Martha’s flashbacks, we see how monumental it is that Becky is making a friend. This chapter initially comes across as fluff, but the matching keychains that Anya buys for her and Becky become important in the final chapter of the volume.

The final chapter takes place on the day of the Imperial Scholars mixer. Loid, who is in disguise, is casing out the area, and through his observations, it’s made clear that he can’t simply infiltrate the gathering. He overhears Damian mentioning that he’s asked his father to meet him at a certain location after the event, and Loid uses this to his advantage. He created a replica of Anya’s keychain, which he subtly drops near Damian. Later, Loid approaches Damian as himself and asks about the keychain. After asking Damian his identity, Loid begins apologizing for Anya punching him at orientation as Donovan Desmond approaches. The volume ends right as the two fathers meet.

There are a couple of bonus manga included at the end of Volume Six as well. The first one sees Housemaster Henderson getting ready for his day. This felt familiar from the anime, but I can’t recall if the anime directly adapted this for a scene or that the anime had a scene that was similar to this. The other bonus manga takes place when Franky is watching Anya while Loid and Yor are out on their date. This one’s only a one pager, and it’s definitely there for humor and not for progressing either the story or the characters.

Even though I already knew what to expect from this volume due to watching the anime adaptation of Spy x Family, I enjoyed reading these events and I had very similar reactions to when I first encountered them in the anime.

In my opinion, every single chapter in this volume was important for progressing the overarching story, even the chapter focusing on Anya and Becky’s shopping trip. It was also nice to see all three Forgers getting some kind of focus over the course of Volume Six. Loid gets a lot of focus early on, but then it transitions to focusing on Loid and Yor, and then the volume focuses on Anya. It was also nice to see it work out that Loid’s first encounter with Donovan ends Volume Six, because it’ll make a reader want to come back for Volume Seven to see how this encounter continues.

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