Why We Love the Uniqlo Spy x Family Collaboration!

The Spy x Family manga has gained a mass level of popularity since the latest anime adaptation aired. And nothing goes better with the newest and hottest Japanese anime, than a Uniqlo collab!   

Spy x Family has shot to becoming one of the most popular anime series in 2022. The slice-of-life spy comedy has even risen to top ranking, and even surpassed the cult classic Attack on Titan. When Spy x Family anime was first released it skyrocketed to the top 40 of ranking of all anime on MyAnimeList. A site where fans can rank anime they have seen from a scale of one to ten. So, it was just a matter of time before Uniqlo hopped on the Spy x Family hype train! 

The Japanese clothing label, Uniqlo announced in spring 2022 a collaboration with the anime series under one of their sub-brands, Uniqlo UT. Uniqlo is predominantly known for the mass following for basically everything they sell from socks to high fashion designer collabs. In the sub-brand also known as UT Collection stands for Uniqlo t-shirts, which solely focuses on t-shirt collaborations.

Before we get ahead of ourselves, let’s have a look into a re-cap of Spy x Family! Spy x Family is a Japanese Shonen manga series written and illustrated by Tatsuya Endo. The story follows a spy that has to build a family in order to complete a mission. But, without realizing it, the girl he adopted can read minds and the woman he agreed to marry is a skilled assassin. 

The manga series has been serialized biweekly since March 2019 on Japan’s longest-running and best-selling manga magazine – Shōnen Jump. Then, just three years later Wit Studio and CloverWorks adapted the action-comedy anime television series. The first 12 episode installment of the series was released in April 2022, with the second part rumored to be  announced in October 2022. 

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Anime Genre

When it comes to anime there are many subgenres that pique viewers interests like post-apocalyptic, vampire, martial arts and slice-of-life. Often slice-of-life are about stories that focus on the more quiet parts of everyday life. These themes often follow a main protagonist that may work in a café, participate in school clubs, or other day-to-day activities.

So, when you think of this subgenre, Spy x Family may not be the first that pops up into your mind. It involves telepathy, spies, and assassins. But in reality the espionage and assassinations take up very little time in the anime. The majority of each episode is about the undercover family trying to appear normal to the outside world. But in a bizarre turn of events does the opposite, and creates even more suspicion!

Spy x Family Anime Overview

Loid Forger’s main mission in the anime is to gather intelligence on the politician Donovan Desmond, who rarely appears in public. The only sighting of Desmond is at his sons’ school, the Eden Academy. In order to collect info, Loid needs a natural opportunity to meet Desmond without raising suspicions. To do this, he enlists the help of an unmarried city hall clerk Yor Briar to act as his wife. They then adopt a curious six-year-old orphan Anya as his daughter. To enact his master plan and get close to the target Desmond he will enroll Anya in Eden Academy.

A simple plan for an experienced spy? You’d think so, but with all of Loid’s talents, he didn’t expect that playing the loving father and husband figure would be so challenging! Now, Loid isn’t the only who has a secret identity. Yor is an underground assassin with the code name “Thorn Princess”. Anya, formally known as Test Subject “007” has her own secrets too, her paranormal abilities allow her to read people’s minds. Even though she knows about her adoptive parents’ true identities she decides to keep a very tight lip on her vast knowledge. 

Although this picture perfect family is working undercover, the Forgers family gradually come to understand that the love they share for one another trumps all else!

Inside the Uniqlo Collection 

It’s easy to see why Uniqlo (under the Fast Retailing brand) jumped onto the mighty successful Spy x Family fanfare and designed merch for us enthusiasts! The latest collection for Spy x Family consists of 4 short-sleeved tees that have their own unique flair! If you’re an avid Spy x Family fan you will definitely have a preference on which one you’d fall in love with.

Firstly, is a light mint green tee with the three main characters, Loid, Yor and Anya  posing together in front of the standard anime logo. There’s also a black tee with three panels depicting the three main characters posing next to each other. 

Then there is a Loid Forger tee. This tee shows a red outline of Loid, code-named “Twilight”. He’s wielding a weapon and running with the black standard logo over the outline. 

Lastly, we have the meme queen herself, Anya on a yellow tee! Anya is shyly hiding behind the pocket, but once you pull the pocket down you can see her happily smirking straight at you! 

It’s easy to see why this merch flew off the shelves when it was first released back in June. Hopefully this won’t be the last Spy x Family collaboration that Uniqlo releases! Either way, we hope we don’t have to wait for too much longer. 

If you could choose one of the Uniqlo + Spy x Family tees, which would you choose? Let us know in the comments below!