Is Spy x Family Code: White Canon? Explained

Spy x Family has quickly risen to become one of the premiere anime comedies currently streaming. For the past two years, Tatsuya Endo’s spy comedy manga has quickly found a rabid fanbase online who delight in watching the Forger family go on various escapades ripped straight from a sitcom while each family member attempts to keep their own secrets. It should be no surprise that the series got a feature film, Spy x Family Code: White, releasing on April 19th, but now the question arises is the film canon or not?

Is Spy x Family Code: White Considered Canon?

The plot of the film centers of Loid Forger, AKA Agent Twilight, learning that he is going to be replaced in Operation Strix, the clandestine mission to prevent war from breaking out between Westalis and Ostania. Because of this, Loid tries to do does whatever it takes to try to stay on the operation, such as helping his fake adoptive daughter Anya win a cooking competition and goes all out in doing so, including traveling the world to find a recipe that will help Anya win. And, of course, Anya gets herself involved in a terrorist plot by eating some chocolate with a microfilm inside (just roll with it), which causes a wild globe spanning adventure to not only prevent criminals from performing whatever nefarious plan they have, but making sure Twilight proves to his handlers that he and his family are valuable assets to the success of Operation Strix and keep him on for the remainder of it.

While it’s not uncommon for an anime feature film to be canon to the anime’s main narrative — just look at anime films like Demon Slayer: Mugen Train — it has been made very clear by the folks at Wit Studio and CloverWorks that Spy x Family Code: White is not canon.

Despite how Tatsuya Endo oversaw the production of the film, there are plenty of reasons to assume why this is a non-canon film entry. While the second season of the anime adapted chapters up through volume 9 of the manga, none of the three volumes after volume 9 make any mention of Twilight being replaced on the mission or traveling around the world to learn a delicious recipe for a cooking competition. To add, the drama surrounding whether Twilight would be replaced or not feels very manufactured. If this was meant to be a very serious development within the plot of Spy x Family, it would have been heavily advertised saying that this would be an essential part to understanding the overarching story.

Now, that being said, it’s not impossible for ideas from this film to make their way into the manga. A later arc of the manga could take elements from this story, like Twilight being replaced, and flesh them out more and create a meaningful and imapctful storyline surrounding Twilight’s attatchment to his family, much in the same way Yor had a somewhat similar arc in the second season. But if you’re wondering if you need to watch the past two seasons to understanding what is happening in Spy x Family Code: White, the answer is a resounding no. Watch those earlier seasons if you want, but newcomers and fans alike can both equality enjoy Spy x Family Code: White for its silly and non-canon adventure.