While SPY×FAMILY has always done a good job of lightly masking its more serious elements, this volume hit me right in the generational trauma. Eschewing its more typical "banter with a dose of emotional heft" style, this book opens with the reveal of Loid's past. We've had hints before that he was greatly affected by the in-world version of WWII, perhaps leading him to a career in spycraft, and the long opening chapter confirms that in a way that may be difficult or upsetting for some readers. Loid, whose real name is always censored by a black bar, was the only child of what looks to be an upper-middle-class couple, and his father was likely either a diplomat or in intelligence himself. Little Loid doesn't seem to know or care; he's more concerned that his dad doesn't want him to play "war" with his three friends. Because Loid lacks the requisite toys, he ends up playing the role of "advisor" in a nice bit of foreshadowing.

Loid's peaceful life ends abruptly when bombs rain down on his town. Previously, "war" had been an abstract concept to him, a game to play with his pals. He had believed the adults when they all said that rumors of war were greatly exaggerated, and when the bombs fell, his trust in them and the world around him turned to anger. Eventually, he takes on his first false identity as "Roland Spoofy" (Endo has a theme with pseudonyms) to enlist in the army, which eventually puts him on the path to WISE.

While this flashback is revealed to be Loid having a nightmare about his past, which is always a clunky literary device, knowing what brought him to the point where we first met him is important. Knowing about his history gives us real context for him as "Loid Forger," a role he still isn't entirely sure about inhabiting, as we can see when he wakes up and tellingly thinks that he's in "Loid's house." As a father, Loid struggles to reconcile what he believes needs to be done with his natural instincts as an orphaned child who grew up during unthinkable circumstances. He understands Anya on a level that he's barely even aware of; her fears of being abandoned may not necessarily be vocalized to him, but he automatically works to assuage them anyway. Even his relationship with Yor is informed by his past. Even as he mulls over how beneficial Yor's surprising new friendship could be to Operation Strix, he still automatically thinks about what will make Yor more comfortable. Loid doesn't realize it, but he's using his childhood trauma to prevent similar trauma in his new family.

The depiction of his childhood experiences is very well done, and it does color the whole book. While Anya and the master of elegance get a fun chapter and Yor's role continues to get more focus as she takes an entire chapter as the main protagonist, the war story has what may feel like outsize importance. This may be because my grandparents are from the generation that experienced World War Two; Loid's past could be told in their voices, and I don't doubt that Endo is trying to evoke that in his readers. But it also shows us how deadly important the base storyline of the series is. Loid's childhood was peaceful until it abruptly wasn't, and Anya's obsession with the in-world cartoon Spy Wars can be read as her generation's version of Loid's war games. In her way, Anya understands how important Loid's work is, probably more than he did at her age. It's played for laughs, but Endo does seem to want us to understand that something real is just beneath the surface.

How much that has to do with the Desmond family remains to be seen, but Yor's chapter in this volume certainly helps to make us think about that. Her cake mission takes a turn when she saves a woman from falling down the stairs, and that woman quickly turns around and offers her admission to a special club of what might be termed lady patriots. There's something that feels a little off about the group in an early twentieth-century Junior League sort of way (for a good example, see Anzia Yezierska's short story "The Free Vacation House"), and one speech bubble has some definite implications for Damian, the target of Anya's mission. It's still a silly chapter, but Loid's history forces us to look at the potential sinister undertones, or at least the moderately depressing ones.

Fortunately, there are still some solid laughs here. As always, we have Loid overthinking everything while Anya listens in, but Bond also once again gets the chance to show why he's manga's best boy when he attempts to play Franky's wingman at a dog park. What can I say? The return of "Wet Bond" will always be good for a chuckle, and the background conversation between Franky and the object of his affection is a terrific throwaway joke. Likewise, Henderson's attempt to console Anya for her most recent tonitrus bolt goes entertainingly haywire in a way that will be very relatable to anyone who's ever worked with kids. Sylvia's chapter isn't as funny as the others and is more thematically linked to Loid's past, but it's still good to get her in the spotlight occasionally, even if she may not appreciate the sentiment as a spymaster.

SPY×FAMILY has always excelled in sneaking in emotional intelligence alongside its caper aspects. This volume takes it a bit further, and while it isn't nearly as much fun as previous entries, it's also still very well done and important to Loid's development as a character. No child should have to experience what he did, and making sure that it doesn't happen again may be what drives him.