It's Been A Few Months Since My Last Merch Haul Post, So Time For Another One! As Usual, Acrylic Stands

It's been a few months since my last merch haul post, so time for another one! As usual, acrylic stands are my main purchases, with the below set being one of the rarest I've found 💖

The reason these are so rare is because I couldn't get them from my usual places on Amiami and Mercari JP. They're from a company called Ultrizon and are currently only sold in China. I saw them advertised on Twitter from a shop in Thailand and decided to reach out on the off chance that the shop would ship to the US. And much to my pleasant surprise, the shop, Chibishiba, replied and said that they would ship to me 😃 I was a bit concerned because they seemed to be just a small "mom and pop" shop, with only Twitter DMs as their form of communication and they kept track of everyone's orders in a google sheet. But I looked around on their social media and they seemed legit, so I placed an order (a few other fanatics I know on Discord did as well!) And thankfully, they were totally legit! They ordered the items from China, then once they shipped to Thailand, they then shipped to me in the US! Only took a few weeks 😁

Here's some more photos because they're so lovely~ For some reason the two Twiyor sets make me think of a scenario where they're going to a dance or other fancy event together (the left ones), but then something happens and they have to switch to "action mode" to stop a villain, save Anya, etc (the right ones).

Bond looks so adorable in his suit~ Also the one of Anya on the left is her totally thinking "Papa and Mama are so cool 🤩"

Even though I typically only buy merch with the Forgers, Yuri, Damian, and Franky were also part of this set. Lol, when I made the below photo of the three of them, I laughed because it looks like they're posing for a photo, with only Damian having fun…Yuri's like "whatever" and Franky's like "how long will this take, I have a date!" 😂

Besides the Ultrizon acrylics, the other ones I was most looking forward to getting were these chibi ones from the cruise arc (two different sets)

Between all of these, I now have acrylics of the Forgers' full wardrobe from the cruise arc 😅 My favorites are suit Yor, "I won't stop fighting" Yor, and Fun Dad Loid!

I really liked these Twiyor acrylics from the recent Tsukuba collab. It's like they're going on a hiking date ❤️

I also got these chibi "famous scene" acrylics from the Waku Waku Park event.

I've been trying so hard to get the complete set of these big acrylics for a few months now...I managed to find Loid and Anya, but no one is selling Yor 😭 (or Bond). I won't stop looking though!

As for non-acrylic figures, I've been looking forward to getting this Yor & Anya figure for over a year! It was actually one of the first SxF items I preordered, way back in November of 2022! Considering they had the colored prototype available way back then, I'm surprised it wasn't officially released until March of 2024. But worth the wait ❤️

For Code White's release, I got the set of Luminasta figures (all three for a good price on eBay).

Also chibi Loid & Yor~ I know there's a ton of chibi Loid and Yor figures out there, but I really liked these for some reason.

Last month I went back to Kura Sushi for the last merch from their recent collab: this nice shirt~ You were able to get it if your bill was at least $70, which isn't hard to do if you bring a friend with you and you both eat a bunch of sushi! (well, he did most of the eating, lol). I'm planning to wear it for the first time at Anime Expo in July 😁

They also had this little Anya dessert.

And miscellaneous items I recently got were these pretty picture cards that I plan to make scans of.

The McDonald's collab booklet, the season 2 complete set box, and the Loid & Anya cloth poster that came with the box. I also plan to make scans of these!

A mug from the Tobu Zoo collab.

And lastly, some new decals for my car! I found this set at Walmart of all places, lol. Found room for them among my other decals.

Since I bought so many new acrylics and figures lately, I had to do a major reorganization of my display shelves. But I'll save those photos for another post~

Spy x Family workbook scans - part 3

Here's the last batch of scans from the SxF workbook series (at least until they make more!) This one is about learning how to draw and color.

I especially liked the below two illustrations~ Anya helping Mama shop and cook ❤️

The book artists did a fantastic job with Anya's expressions!

Anya dressed as Loid, Yor, and Becky 😂

The next four pages is an activity where you either have to paste stickers or color objects for Anya and Bond's many outfits (I put the stickers on but didn't bother to color anything, lol). I love little confused Loid off to the side 😅

My favorites are mermaid Anya/lobster Bond, and their pirate and devil outfits 😁 I also love Anya's だいまんぞく(completely satisfied) expression in the lower right of the last page.

Anya and Becky shopping! (some of the illustration is white for you to color in). Anya's says, "Anya wants to drink cocoa and eat peanuts" and Becky replies, "You're such a child, as usual." 😅

And last but not least, one final cute family image! (the plate is empty because you're supposed to draw whatever you want to be their meal). I wonder what Loid's "WINE" wine tastes like 😆

If more of these books are ever made, I'll definitely try to get copies and make more scans!

<- Return to Part 2

I have a question that's been kind of itching at my brain. It's probably not that deep, but I noticed that while we have had specific mention of the Briar mom, we don't have any of the Briar dad. Granted, we have only seen the bare minimum of Briar Mom but that's still more than Briar dad. But other than that one mention, Yor and Yuri always refer to their parents in the plural, in English at least. So I've been wondering: does the original Japanese also use "parents", plural, or can it be read as "parent", singular?

Japanese doesn't have plural forms the same way English does, for example, 犬 (inu) can mean "dog" or "dogs" depending on the context. If you want to make it clear there's more than one dog, you would add additional words like "many dogs," "two dogs," "some dogs," etc. However, the word 両親 (ryoushin) is used to refer to both parents (the kanji 両 means "both"). I can't recall every time Yor and Yuri talked about their parents, but I found a couple panels below where they used "ryoushin."

From chapter 12:

And chapter 90:

There's another word for parent/parents, 親 (oya), which can mean both parents or just one parent. Camilla uses it in the below panel from the cooking lesson chapter, when she's asking if they remember the delicious taste of their parent(s) cooking, which causes Yuri to remember their mother's cooking.

I do hope we get a Yor/Yuri backstory arc and get to learn more about Briar Mom and Briar Dad!

Japanese Linguistic Observations in Spy x Family - part 4

Part 4 - Furigana and double meanings

I discussed in Part 2 how Japanese is comprised of three different alphabets: hiragana and katakana (together referred to as "kana") which represent pronunciation, and kanji which represent meaning. With there being over 2,000 kanji in common use, as well as various ways to pronounce any one kanji character depending on the word it's in, children learn kanji gradually throughout their school years. So manga and books aimed at a younger audience will typically have kanji "translations." These are comprised of small kana called furigana which are printed to the right of the kanji to show how to pronounce it. In the below panel for example, the one word that has a kanji is the 嬉 in 嬉しい. The furigana shows that 嬉 is pronounced うれ ("ure") to make the adjective "ureshii" (happy).

Sometimes manga authors will use furigana+kanji in creative ways to convey different meanings to words that specifically suit their story/characters. This alternate way of translating kanji is called 当て字 (ateji). One way of using ateji is to help introduce fictional terminology. In SxF for example, Ostania and Westalis are made-up words, but Endo assigns them their own kanji: 東国 for Ostania and 西国 for Westalis. The second kanji for both of them is 国 which means "country," and the first kanji for Ostania is 東 which means "east" while 西 for Westalis means "west." However, to differentiate them from the actual words these kanji represent ("toukoku" and "saikoku," which mean "eastern country" and "western country" respectively), Endo writes out their pronunciations in katakana next to the kanji. You can see this in the panels below.

Even though they're not real words, by assigning them kanji that represent what they are – "east country" and "west country" – even without any context, Japanese readers get more information about these terms than English readers do thanks to the use of kanji and furigana.

Another way manga authors can use ateji to suit their needs is by telling readers to pronounce otherwise normal Japanese words in the "language" they want. For example, the word used for "codename" in SxF is 暗号名, which is a real word that is pronounced "angoumei." However, when we look at the furigana that Endo assigns to it, he specifically tells us to pronounce it like the English word "codename" (コードネーム).

Since SxF is a series that takes place in a fictional version of Europe, Endo must have found it more fitting to use English for specific keywords like this.

While the above examples are fairly common throughout all manga, especially those that have a lot of fictional terminology, Endo also gets creative with using ateji to form double meanings that lend insight into the characters' thoughts/feelings. And we get one of the best examples of this in the very first chapter:

This is the scene where Twilight's saying that he became a spy to create a world where children don't have to cry. The word for children, 子ども, should be pronounced "kodomo," however, the furigana is telling us to pronounce it as じぶん (jibun), which means "self." By creating this double meaning of Twilight saying he'll make a world where children and/or he himself doesn't have to cry, points out in a subtle yet poignant way just how much Twilight's trauma as a child shaped his determination to make sure other children don't have to suffer the same fate. It's a brilliant way of showing a deeper side of the character that he wouldn't outwardly show.

A similar example occurs in chapter 49 during the cruise arc, in the scene where Yor is guarding the room at night, thinking about how she was dragging her feet during the Barnaby fight. Her last thought during that scene is wondering what she's fighting for, however, even though the word used is いばら姫 (ibarahime), which means "Thorn Princess," the furigana tells us to pronounce it as わたし, which is the "I"/"me" pronoun that Yor uses.

The ambiguity of reading the word as "I" or as "Thorn Princess" emphasizes how she's struggling with her Thorn Princess identity at that time. It can almost have a different meaning when reading it one way or the other. For example, reading it as わたしは何のため ("For what reason am I [doing this]…) or as いばら姫は何のため ("For what reason is Thorn Princess [doing this]…) gives the impression that she's trying to distance herself from "Thorn Princess"…that she's unconsciously seeing herself and "Thorn Princess" as different people.

Another example that's not as deep but still interesting is from chapter 87, where Sylvia visits Fiona in the hospital and tells her not to push herself so hard, even for his sake, with "his" referring to Twilight. The kanji used is 黄昏 (tasogare) which means "Twilight," but the furigana translation is あいつ (aitsu) which means "that guy/that person."

This is a clever way to use kanji/furigana to indicate that Sylvia is indeed aware of Fiona's feelings for Twilight by having her not refer to him by name, but also informing the reader that she definitely knows who she's talking about.

I also find it interesting that all three of these examples are spoken from a character we're viewing from behind. I think it's just a coincidence, but still interesting 😅

I'll wrap up with one more example from chapter 58, where Loid notes that his understanding of Bond is lacking, just like Anya. Once again, the word for children, 子ども (kodomo) is used (Loid likes making double meanings with that word, doesn't he?) but the furigana translates it to アーニャ(Anya).

I interpret this as him saying he needs to understand children better, but he specifically means Anya (even though he doesn't want to admit his particular yearning to understand her).

If you're wondering how the anime handles these ateji, it seems to vary. In the anime version of the chapter 1 example, Loid says the correct kanji translation "kodomo," but in the chapter 49 example, Yor says the furigana translation "watashi."

The anime seems to use the reading that would make the most sense if spoken out loud by the character.

I haven't read enough manga in Japanese to say that this use of furigana+kanji to create double meanings is a common thing, but even if it is, I'm sure Endo has his own unique style of doing it. I know there's more examples in SxF that I missed, and unfortunately I don't have the time to look through every chapter to find them. But if you happen to come across any others, feel free to let me know 😃 I may amend this post or create another one if more interesting examples pop up.

Continue to Part 5 ->

<- Return to Part 3

Is it mentioned on the SxF Workbooks who the artist is? I'm super curious because I absolutely ADORE their art style, it's so darn adorable! 🥹

Here's the staff for the first book, but they're mostly the same for all three books. It looks like the person credited for the illustrations is named "Pekio" (must be a penname), the cover design is by Hideaki Shimada and Eri Arakawa, and the body design is by Daiju Asami and Hikaru Tateno. I'm guessing they all had some contributions to the art, put probably "Pekio" did the actual illustrating.

(for those who don't know the books this post is referring to, click here)

Since Endo was recently on a trip in London, the next main chapter will be delayed. But he was gracious enough to create a short, non-canon extra mission to tide us over until then, featuring the Forgers in London as well! 😁

I like that Endo used their outfits from the exhibition! Heh, I knew this wasn't going to be a "serious" chapter as soon as Loid mentions Japan.

In the Japanese version when Yor asks what Japan is, it's spelled with katakana, the writing used for foreign/unknown words.

Guess Japan doesn't exist in the SxF universe, at least not with that name 😅

Even in a joke chapter like this, Yor is still being the encouraging mother to Anya ❤️

I love the final panel of them all running away from the "noticeably not from the SxF world" guards! (also Yor's giant and definitely not suspicious leap 😅) It reminded me again that I'd love to see all of them do just one real mission together, either post-identity reveal or before.

Also, for those who don't follow Endo on Twitter, he's been sharing fun illustrations of the SxF characters amongst photos from his London trip. I'll share them here if you haven't seen:

And here's a new illustration he made today, Buckingham Palace guard Anya with her trusty fountain pen 😂

Once again, kudos to Endo for making this mini chapter even though he was originally going to take a break this week!