Words from the Wayside

Personal rating 9/10

SPY×FAMILY is one of those manga that's been to my to-read list for long enough that it got adapted into an anime and I still haven't gotten around to reading it 😂 But I decided to finally start watching the anime in November because I went to buy milk tea from Serenitea and I saw that they had SPY×FAMILY reusable bags for sale and who am I to ignore a sign from the universe?

The series starts by introducing us to Twilight, a highly competent super spy who is assigned to work on Operation Strix. The goal of Operation Strix is to prevent a war breaking out between Westalis, Twilight's home country, and Ostania, where he's currently located. To do that, Twilight must get close to politician Donovan Desmond. And to do that Twilight must ... create a pretend family and have his pretend-kid enroll in the same prestigious school as Desmond's son. It's a premise that's ripe for shenanigans! And spy shenanigans were had. But also, family and friends fluff, and a sprinkle of serious contemplation.

( How did this get so long? )

You'd think the shenanigans, fluff, and seriousness would be too much, but I think SPY×FAMILY is able to balance it all nicely. I think my only nitpick so far is that I wish the serious Operation Strix subplot would move a bit faster.

Random stuff:

• Me, seeing Damian for the first time: Ah, the rare male tsundere. Don't quote me on this, I don't actually know the gender ratio for tsundere characters.
• I am extremely fond of Bill Watkins, the 6-year-old that might actually be 30. At first I was, "Is no one concerned that this child eats steroids for breakfast?" and then I saw how cute(??) he was with his dad 😭 (who might be M. Bison???)
• Yor during the Luxury Cruise Ship Arc! I'm so happy they gave my girl her time to shine. Wishing for more of Yor absolutely annihilating her enemies and anyone else who stands in her way.
• The reactors I follow for SPY×FAMILY are not fans of Yuri 😂 They seem to take his siscon weirdness at face value which ... I don't think Yuri legit wants to marry Yor. (Though I also wouldn't be surprised if there are Yuri/Yor shippers. More power to them, it's not my ship but I respect it, etc.)
• If Yor didn't exist, I would ship Twilight/Nightfall so hard. I legit teared up at the end of the episode where they introduced her and she was crying in the rain. I hope you find your own husbando, Nightfall!!

🦵🏽 Thursday was leg day at the gym and lord I'm still feeling it. My inner thighs scream in protest any time I try to move my legs.

🎨 Finished doing some more tweaks to my layout! Made sure the rainbow gradient's applied to all links (except tags and the entry interaction stuff), applied a hover effect where the link text goes white and there's a black background (because the zone in Sk8!), tweaked some fonts on my icon and tag pages, changed the main body font, and some other fiddly stuff I can't recall.

🀄 Played some mahjong with Mom and the sisters after lunch per Mom's request. Won 2/5 games \o/

🏃🏽‍♀️ Sister G is attempting to get me to go jogging with her and Dad tomorrow morning. I know I need to incorporate more cardio into my life but also am I capable of dragging myself out of bed to be ready to leave by 5:30 AM? Who knows.