For My Last Anime Expo '24 Post, I Wanted To Share Some Of The SxF Merch I Found Around The Con!

For my last Anime Expo '24 post, I wanted to share some of the SxF merch I found around the con!

Firstly is Animate's selection, including some exclusive CODE: White merch that they only sold at the expo.

Below are the lovely ThreeZero figures on display (pardon my reflection in the glass).

New Anya figures~

Some other merch, including T-shirts.

Loved seeing the season 2 illustrations on display ❤️

I got the below pin from the MangaPlus booth for downloading their app. There were different manga featured on the pins and they were giving them out at random, but when I showed the lady all the SxF stuff on my Ita bag, she gave me the Anya one 😄

In the end, the only SxF stuff I bought at the expo were the playmat and acrylic board from the aforementioned CODE: White merch at Animate. Guess that's one advantage of being such a proactive SxF collector...since I'm so familiar with all the SxF merch that exists and I'm always ordering the stuff I want when it releases, I don't need to buy much at physical shops 😅

Spy x Family season 3 announced!

Season 3 was just announced at the Anime Extra Mission event that's currently going on today in Japan!

No release date yet but it's in production, so we should get more info soon!

The above image has so many hints about the chapters the new season will adapt 😃 I won't discuss what each one is here for those who aren't caught up with the manga and don't want to be spoiled (plus it's almost my bedtime now, lol). But I'm sure other people will get on it!

I'll just end this post by saying...HYPE!!!

(source here)

I would have included this scan with my recent miscellaneous collab scans post, but I decided it deserves its own post, not just because it's one of the loveliest official Twiyor illustrations I've seen, but also because the story of how I got it is...interesting 😅

This image is from the chara fine graph (which is basically a framed picture) that was included as a preorder bonus for buying the complete season 2 blu-ray set from a shop called Rakuten Books (together with badge pins of the same designs). I briefly mentioned it back in October of last year when season 2 was airing, along with preoder bonuses from other shops like Animate and Amazon. I only wanted to get this one though, so as per my usual process of trying to secure rare SxF goods, I made a note to myself to keep an eye out for when it released. Rakuten, which I believe is the main company for Rakuten Books, has their own proxy buying service, and as the season 2 blu-rays were released, I saw them appearing there. But as noted on their main site, the condition for them to send you the chara fine graph is that you must preorder all of the three season 2 blu-ray discs from them. Once you buy the third one, if they know that you've already bought the others, then they'll send you the preorder bonuses along with it.

I was concerned that if I bought the discs via proxy, they wouldn't know that I bought all three and would cancel my order at the end! I would be devastated if that happened after waiting months and spending all that money on the complete set. I knew people would sell the chara fine graph second-hand as soon as it released, so I decided to wait until then and try to find it on Mercari.

So the months went by and eventually I found out that the final blu-ray volume of season 2 would release on April 17th, 2024. I made a mental note to check Mercari for it then, but unfortunately something else released around that same time...CODE: White in the US, which had its first screening on April 18th. Admittingly, I got distracted by the CODE: White release and had seen it twice by the following weekend. I did do some preliminary searching for the chara fine graph, but not with my usual refined search terms. It wasn't until the 21st that I finally sat down and really started searching for it. And while I did find a few listings, they had already been sold.

I was hopeful that more people would sell it, since it had only been less than a week since release. But I guess I underestimated how popular this chara fine graph was because, after the initial five listings I saw that were sold within the span of a few days, none appeared after. I had, like, ten Mercari tabs open on my browser with different search terms that I refreshed many times a day, but nothing was showing up. I would groan whenever I'd see the preorder bonuses for the other shops like Animate and Amazon pop up, but not Rakuten Books. I did finally see one new listing of someone selling just the badge pins, but that was sold within a few minutes, which made me even more nervous. I would also be nervous getting up in the morning since I didn't want to see that a new listing was posted and sold while I was sleeping! Thankfully I work from home so it wasn't too much of an inconvenience for me to refresh the Mercari tabs on my personal computer whenever I had a minute. But as the days went by and I didn't see any new listings, I started getting mad at myself that if I had only started seriously searching for it right on release day, I would have had at least five chances to get it and could have saved myself this hassle. I even sent a message to Rakuten Books via their online form, asking (in Japanese) if they could somehow sell it to me and ship internationally, etc. But their response was pretty much what I expected...a polite "no."

But then, on the evening of May 4th, I found a new listing and immediately bought it! What should have been a red flag though is that the person was selling it for $30 (with the badge pins included), while everyone else had been selling it from around $80-$100. The title they gave to the item was weird too; they simply called it "Spy Family" instead of "Spy Family Chara Fine Graph" or "Spy Family Rakuten Books Bonus" or something descriptive like that. But the seller had a decent rating so I didn't think there was a problem. After I got the email from Buyee (my proxy service) that they successfully bought the item, I thought I was all set. I closed out all my search tabs and went to bed feeling satisfied.

However, when I got up the next morning, my heart sank when I saw that about an hour after I had gone to bed, Buyee sent me another email saying that they refunded and cancelled my order! The reason they gave was "due to the convenience of the seller" 😫

But what was most frustrating about this is that, when I checked the searches again, I saw that the same seller had relisted the item, with a higher price and more descriptive title, and it had been sold already. What probably happened is that the seller realized they made a mistake with the title and price of the listing and wanted to change it, which Mercari apparently allows them to do even after it had already been sold and paid for!

I was furious with Mercari for allowing this. The least they could do in a situation like this is give the original buyer, like, one day to buy the item again with the increased price before the seller is allowed to relist it again. I wanted to write to the seller and/or Mercari, but I wasn't able to make a Mercari account since it's restricted to Japan. I was also internally yelling at myself that if I had just started searching for it within a day or two of release instead of procrastinating, I could have avoided all this. So it was back to square one, but I wasn't going to give up! I opened up more search tabs with even more refined search terms. I also expanded to other proxy-supported shops like Surugaya and Yahoo Japan Auction. I even got my mom to help me, since she's often up in the middle of the night and can check in case anything is listed during that time while I'm asleep. I downloaded the Buyee app too so I could check listings even if I was away from my computer. With all this, I was hopeful I'd be able to buy it again, though it was more of a question of "when" than "if." With second-hand collectibles, you never know when they could pop up...I could find a new listing the next day, or not for a year or two. But I just kept up the searching, and finally, after another month went by, on June 3rd (June 4th in Japan, so technically Twiyor day 😁) I finally found it again...on Yahoo Japan Auction of all places!

I had never bought via auction before so I was a bit nervous I'd get outbid or something. But I immediately clicked the "pay buyout price option" (which was only a few dollars more than the original price) and, thankfully, a short while later Buyee informed me that I successfully won the auction! But after what happened before, I was still paranoid that it could get canceled for whatever reason. But that didn't happen, and after waiting for shipping, it finally came~

I always like to add a "lessons learned" in these situations, so I'd say the lesson here is don't be blasé or procrastinate when it comes to something you really want. And of course, being persistent pays off more than not!

Do you think there's gonna be an arc somewhere where Yor comes to regret her assassin work? I'm definitely hoping for one. We know she holds some very black and white beliefs regarding Garden and Garden's targets: Garden is Good, and it improves the world by telling Yor to kill people who are Bad Guys.

This has definitely resulted in Yor doing a lot of things and killing a lot of people she would probably regret killing if she understood the full consequences of her actions.

Especially assassins like the ones on the cruise ship that she fights. Of any people she's killed, they're probably the most likely to have lead lives she can relate to unless being trained and brainwashed to kill as a child is unusual for assassins in the world of Spy Family.

It's certainly possible we could get an arc like that! But some conflict would have to arise to make Yor come to this realization. The assassins in the cruise arc were portrayed as typical "bad guys," and even though the lead guy made Yor question her motives for killing, we didn't get to know the assassins well enough to say if they were led to underworld life the same way she was. Personally, I don't think she'd have much reserve killing fellow assassins as opposed to someone more "innocent," like someone who's portrayed as a kind person but is committing crimes in order to protect their family, just like she is. If she developed a friendship with this person first before Garden assigned her to kill them, that would definitely make her hesitant. For example, what if, after spending all that time with Olka, she was later assigned to kill her for whatever reason? Like, some falling out between Olka's mafia family and Shopkeeper? I could definitely see that sort of situation making her question Garden's morality. Being ordered to kill Twilight and finding out that he's actually Loid, is another way she could come to this realization, if Endo wants to go that route in the endgame. Since Garden is the most mysterious aspect of the SxF universe as of now, there's so much open to possibility!

According to this tweet from Endo, today's new chapter will be the final installment of the "Henry x Martha backstory" arc...and it definitely went out on a high note! The part where Martha meets Henry's wife was absolutely heartbreaking...in particular the below page, starting with an upside down view of the scene, showing how the world is literally warping for Martha, followed by shards and shreds of her various memories with Henry, all the while the "throb, throb" of her heart is overlaying all the panels. Definitely one of Endo's best portrayals of a truly shocking moment.

It's also interesting that we never see Lucia's face, despite her having a big panel when she first appears.

Endo has done this before with other characters, Loid's parents being the other big example. We also never see their faces, despite them appearing several times during his flashback arc.

With the few examples we've had, to me it seems like Endo hides the faces of characters who 1) appear as flashbacks only and 2) who have had a significant emotional impact on the character whose memories they appear in, but at the same time, that character has since done their best to get over the painful memories associated with them. So they basically represent some past trauma for the character (even if they don't necessarily dislike them) but in the current time, they've more or less left that part of their past behind. Hence why their faces are obscured in the character's memories. This is also why I think we'll never see Loid's parents or Lucia's faces outside of flashbacks. This is just my interpretation of course, and I'm curious if there will be more examples in other characters' flashback arcs.

But back to Henry and Martha, I also liked the fact that, despite her broken heart, Martha still saw Lucia as a good person and became friends with her. Henry seems to love her as well. This actually ties back very well to what Martha tells Becky at the end of her story about how dangerous it is to latch onto preconceptions and prejudices without knowing the truth.

In Becky's simple world, she would see Lucia as the "evil seductress who stole Henry away" and Martha has to get him back. But as Martha said, things aren't always that simple and don't always adhere to our preconceived notions. Sometimes things can't end up exactly how you want or expect, so you have to be grateful for what you have and see things as they truly are, despite living with lingering regrets. In fact, this whole speech from Martha at the conclusion of her flashback was extremely deep and profound. Not many people can write both comedy and drama so well, but Endo is certainly one of them.

Also, is this Wiesel's first appearance? Still waiting for the doggy play date chapter with Wiesel, Bond, Max, and Aaron! 🐶

Since it's been so long since I read the first chapter of this arc, I couldn't remember if Martha had actually revealed the identity of her lover in her story, but makes sense that she didn't. I can imagine Becky storming into school yelling at Henderson and causing total embarrassment for all 😅 Funny that she almost guessed correctly though.

I'm surprised we never found out how Martha started working for the Blackbells, but that's an easy enough mystery to solve - she needed work after the wars were over, and being a bodyguard suited an ex-soldier. Also seems like she never told Henry her true feelings either...maybe by the time Lucia died, it was too late and they had both grown somewhat apart by then, and/or they had some additional falling outs about Martha joining the other wars, etc. It just wasn't meant to be and the message of the story was Martha coming to terms with that and being wiser for it.

In conclusion, this was a great arc that really shows Endo's range as a writer who can do both comedy and drama very well. Despite Henry and Martha being side characters, I have a feeling that the struggles they experienced will have relevance later in the series. But for now, I look forward to seeing the Forgers and other characters again (and getting back to the last major uproar of Anya telling Damian about her powers...seems like ages ago, lol). Endo will be taking a well deserved break, so the next new chapter will be on August 19th!

I also have some new posts planned in the coming weeks, so stay tuned for those as well 😀

After 5+ years, Spy x Family has finally reached triple digit chapters! Congrats to Endo and the team for hitting chapter 100 😀

But despite that, seems like Endo isn't done with Henry and Martha's backstory just yet! Instead of having fun fanfare to celebrate this milestone, he's still tearing our heartstrings out with this tragic flashback arc 😭 As usual, even though it's a comedy series, he doesn't shy away from depicting the horrors of war if the story calls for it, as we can see with what happens to poor Martha and her comrades.

We see the seed of Martha's loyalty to the Blackbells here as well.

Martha's parting reaction to Anabel, though not as hostile, mirrors Loid's reaction to Franky during the next generation's war...each side blames the other when it's really the people at the top who instigate and benefit from the war who are to blame, the people we don't see who never dirty their own hands. To quote one of my favorite Bob Dylan songs, "The executioner's face is always well hidden."

I like how the chapter ends with a parallel to the Stella Lake chapter...despite being on different sides, we share the same sky.

I guess more Henry/Martha angst awaits us in the next chapter 😭 We still have yet to see how Martha starts working for the Blackbells and how she somehow gets back in contact with Henry (as I mentioned in my previous chapter review, their reaction upon seeing each other in the current time at the end of the Red Circus arc did not seem like their first meeting after all this).

Also, just a quick announcement that my thoughts on the next chapter, which comes out on July 7th, will be delayed since I'll be at Anime Expo for the early part of that day!