Spy x Family was the anime of the season. Although the first episode cycle is not yet complete - as Spy x Family will return in October with the remaining 12 episodes - we are now in a halting phase for viewers and staff to take stock of the WIT Studio project and Cloverworks.
And one of the two animation studios starts an interview. The Anime Expo was attended by Kazue Hayashi and Kazuki Yamanaka, who spoke to Comicbook about Spy x Family.
Inquiry: Spy x Family is already considered one of the best anime of the year by fans. As the producer of the anime, can you tell me when you were introduced to the series? What did you notice about Spy x Family?
Kazue Hayashi: With the original manga, it was impossible to ignore the huge sales. But from an animation standpoint, we were introduced to Spy x Family when we released the first promotional video last December. The release timing got fans excited for the anime.
Question: When it comes to production, Spy x is Family interesting because WIT Studio and Cloverworks are collaborating on the episodes. Can you tell us how this partnership came about? And what does it mean to work behind the scenes on a co-produced series?
Kazue Hayashi: Yes, actually WIT and Cloverworks split the episodes in half. First and foremost, like WIT Studio, we co-produced six specific episodes, and the other studio produced the rest of the first cour. So with this structure, the biggest challenge was to ensure that both studios were working at the same level of quality in every episode.
Question: You have overseen a number of Spy x Family Season 1 episodes so far. Do you have a favorite moment from the series? Or maybe a moment you worked on that you think turned out exceptionally well?
Kazuki Yamanaka: We recommend episode five because it contains original scenes from the anime. The plot of the episode prompted WIT Studio to make it cool, the cool twists in the story... We did too enjoyed episode nine. It makes the audience think if Yor and Loid are going to kiss or not. It also has a great ending.
Question: In America Anya has become a very popular character on Twitter, with manga memes and more, and I understand why it happened in Japan too. What do you think of Anya's popularity? Why does the character agree with the fans?
Hayashi: Well, Anya's funny facial expressions came first in the original manga. She has a really fun character, so we worked hard to translate and materialize her into animation. We're glad to know that we were successful because the fans seem to like it a lot.
Don't miss our Spy x Family Part 1 review.
