Spy x Family Code: White

Story

Young Anya Forger (voice of Megan Shipman) is adopted. Her father, Loid (Alex Organ), is a spy, and her mother, Yor (Natalie Van Sistine), is an assassin. Loid and Yor are unaware of each other’s identities but have come together to make a ‘pretend’ family. Anya, however, is telepathic, so she knows what’s going on in her parents’ minds. The family also has a dog called Bond, who can see into the future.

Loid is told he’ll be taken off his current mission, Operation Strix, much to his displeasure. Loid thinks that if he helps Anya win a cooking competition at her school by making the director’s favourite dessert, Meremere, this will put him back in the good books. The family go away together, apparently for a holiday, but the real goal is to obtain the secret recipe for the dessert.

Things go very awry, however, when Anya accidentally eats a microfilm hidden inside a chocolate. The microfilm contains vital information, which will disrupt world peace and is being sought by nasty Colonel Snidel (John Swasey). Snidel sends out his military force to capture the microfilm by any means possible, because he wants to end the ceasefire between East and West.

Themes

Spies; adoptive families; a child in peril

Violence

Spy x Family Code: White has a lot of cartoon-style violence and some blood, including:

martial arts-style punching and kicking
the use of various weapons, like knives, swords, guns, automatic weapons, grenades, guided missiles, and an armoured suit with automatic weapons for hands
continuous shooting that doesn’t harm anyone.

There’s also more threatening violence. For example:

Anya learns to shoot rifles at a rifle range.
Yor yells at Loid, accusing him of cheating. She kicks him out of a carriage at the top of a Ferris wheel.
Snidel shoots dead one of his men, whom he suspects of being a traitor.
Soldiers capture Anya. Bond attacks the soldiers, who retaliate by knocking Bond unconscious.
Anya screams at Snidel. He orders his men to make sure she poos out the microfilm. Anya turns blue, desperately trying to hold in her poo.
Snidel says they’ll just have to cut her stomach open. The men don’t want to ‘cut a kid’s guts’. They say it’ll be messy. One of the men holds her down, while the other draws a knife. Fortunately, there’s an explosion, which stops them from doing it.
Snidel orders his men to fire a guided missile at Loid’s plane from their spaceship. This is quite a dramatic sequence, during which Loid’s plane crashes into the spaceship. This causes a huge explosion and starts a fire, which quickly spreads throughout the plane. Yor walks through the fiery interior and is confronted by a huge man/machine with automatic weapons for arms. He shoots continuously at her. She manages to plunge a knife into his head, but he seems indestructible. She then attacks him with an axe, and the man pulls it out. She eventually sets him on fire.
During the spaceship battle sequence, Anya is seen tied to a radiator. Snidel asks if she’s ‘crapped it out yet’. If not, he threatens to slash her himself with a boning knife.
Snidel sets off poison gas grenades, which permeate the room. People without masks struggle to breath.

Sexual references

Spy x Family Code: White has some sexual references. For example:

A spy takes a woman to his room. The woman has had too much to drink. In the man’s room, she puts her leg on his shoulder, slightly revealing her underwear.
There’s romance throughout the movie. Yor has feelings for Loid but doesn’t’ know whether he feels the same way.

Alcohol, drugs and other substances

Spy x Family Code: White shows some use of substances. For example:

Characters smoke cigars and cigarettes.
Characters drink at various venues including balls and restaurants.
A female character is asked whether she’s ‘a bit tipsy’.
Yor drinks about 6 glasses of wine when she thinks Loid is cheating on her. She turns red in the face and collapses. Anya says she’s drunk.

Nudity and sexual activity

There’s no nudity and sexual activity in Spy x Family Code: White.

Product placement

There’s no product placement in Spy x Family Code: White.

Coarse language

Spy x Family Code: White has some coarse language.

Ideas to discuss with your children

Spy x Family Code: White is an animated Japanese spy movie, based on shonen manga.

Spy x Family Code: White is quite intense and violent. Together with the themes of the movie, this makes it unsuitable for children aged under 10 years, and we also recommend parental guidance for children aged 10-11 years. In fact, this movie is more suited to teenagers and adults.

These are the main messages from Spy x Family Code: White:

Families are important and should stick together.
It’s important to protect vulnerable people.

Values in Spy x Family Code: White that you could reinforce with your children include bravery, commitment, female strength and care for others.

Spy x Family Code: White could also give you the chance to talk with your children about the way the movie presents the ability to read minds and tell the future. You could share your views on these issues with your children.