Wit Studio Producers Talk Spy x Family Season One and Anya’s Internet Fame (Exclusive)

Spy x Family is one of the biggest anime series on the air right now, and as the show is on a break right now, audiences are combing through the show ahead of its comeback. Of course, this means the team at Wit Studio and CloverWorks have their schedules full. But even with their tight timetables, a couple of producers from Wit took the time to speak with ComicBook about Spy x Family!

During Anime Expo, Wit Studio producers Kazue Hayashi and Kazuki Yamanaka sat down with ComicBook to go over the highlights of season one. The staff shared which Spy x Family episodes the team is most proud about, and of course, they had some words to pass on about the Internet’s Anya memes. 

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Spy x Family is already considered one of this year’s best anime series with stateside fans. As producers on the anime, can you both tell me how you were introduced to the series? What caught your eye with Spy x Family?

Kazue Hayashi: So, the original comic, the sales were too huge for us to ignore. But from an animation point of view, we were all introduced to Spy x Family when we launched our first promotional video last December. The timing of the release got fans very excited for the show. 

When it comes to production, Spy x Family is interesting as Wit Studio works with CloverWorks on episodes. Can you tell me how that partnership came about? And how does the show’s co-production work out behind the scenes?

Hayashi: Yeah, so WIT and CloverWorks actually split the episode order in half. Mainly, at WIT Studio, we co-produced six specific episodes and the other studio produced the rest of cour one. So with that kind of structure, the most challenging issue we faced was ensuring each studio could keep the same level of quality for each of its episodes while matching the other studio’s episodes.

Now, you both have overseen a number of Spy x Family episodes in season one so far. Do either of you have a favorite moment in the series? Or perhaps a moment you worked on that you felt came out exceptionally well?

Kazuki Yamanaka: We recommend episode five as it includes original scenes to the anime. The episode’s action pushed WIT Studios in order to make the great, the cool twists of its story pop.. So he implement episode high. We also like episode nine. It makes the audience wonder if the Loid and Yor will kiss or not. It has a really great conclusion as well. 

In America, Anya has become a very popular character on Twitter with manga memes and more, and I understand that happened in Japan as well. Why do you all think Anya is so popular? Why does the character resonate with fans?

Hayashi: Well, Anya’s funny expression first appeared in the original manga. She has a very funny appearance there so we worked really hard to translate and materialize it into animation. We’re glad to know we succeeded because fans seemed to enjoy it a lot.