With the successful airing of the 2nd part of Spy x Family, a notion has been going viral that the author of the series, Tatsuya Endo, hates his creation, but how much is this true? Where is this information emerging?
Why did this question emerge?
Recently, an official fan book for the popular anime and manga series Spy x Family named “Eyes Only” got released. This fan book had an interview of the author, Tatsuya Endo, who answered some questions asked of him. The headline of this interview was when he was praised for the design of one of the protagonists of the series, Loid Forger, by the author of the famous manga Blue Exorcist, Kazuo Kato. In reply to this praise, the response of Endo-sensei was:
I gave up on what I originally wanted to draw and drew what the world wants to see, not myself, so I have no attachment to the characters (laughs)
Tatsuya Endo on getting praise for the character design of his characters
This line made people believe that Endo-sensei was not fond of his characters as he had to draw them with no excitement and to praise his fans. In addition, Endo-sensei also explained how he had to create “cute” and “cool” characters to get praise from the masses, as told by his editor. “Non-attractive character design” was why his previous work “, Ishi ni Usubeni, Tetsu ni Hoshi” didn’t get much popularity, so, Endo-sensei had to consider the advice of his editor and draw attractive character designs.
Tatsuya Endo also added that he didn’t like spies. The only thing he is fond of is “having a secret identity,” which is why he said spies in the original manga, i.e. Loid Forger as Twilight the Spy.
Does Tatsuya Endo hate his characters?
The answer to this is probably no. Endo-sensei might have drawn them with no personal motivation, but he didn’t say anything that would point to the fact that he hates them. In the fan book, Tatsuya Endo also added the fan book:
Spy x Family is a rehabilitation work for me to revive as a mangaka when I fell into a slump,
Tatsuya Endo on his motivation to work for Spy x Family
This line shows how not getting praise from his previous works put Endo-sensei in such a tight spot, and now, he is working on the story of the Forger Family to stay motivated in his real life, too, showing the importance of this series in his life.
Later, an interview with the editor of Spy x Family, Shihei Lin, on MangaPlus showed how excited Endo-sensei was about working on the series. She said that after completing two one-shots with Endo-sensei, they decided to start a new long-running manga.
This manga would combine the good works of Endo-sensei like Ishi ni Usubeni, Tetsu ni Hoshi and ISpy; thus, they decided on Spy x Family as the name of this manga. And the serialization of this manga was “practically decided” even before the joint meeting for the manga.
Spy x Family follows the story of a spy named “Twilight” who has a mission to infiltrate a school to gain information about its principal, a possible criminal. He is given the name Loid Forger and has to make a family in a few days.
He adopts a little girl named “Anya” from an orphanage and agrees with a woman named “Yor” to be his wife. He does not know that his daughter is an Esper and his wife is an assassin named “Thorn Princess.” Will these three be able to live together and see the feeling of having a family?
