“Spy x Family” Ch. 68: The Return Of Yuri Vs. Loid [Review]

Spy x Family Ch. 68 gives us the return of Yuri Briar, and by extension, his one-sided rivalry with Loid Forger. Let this battle of ridicule begin! Again!

Spy x Family Ch. 68: Details

Spy x Family Ch. 68 is the latest chapter of the action comedy spy manga series by Tatsuya Endo. Casey Loe returns as the translator for this chapter, with Rina Mapa returning as the letterer as usual. Shueisha originally published this manga in Japan under their Jump Comics+ imprint in their Shōnen Jump+ magazine. Viz Media licensed this manga for its NA release.

Spy x Family Ch. 68 was released on September 18, 2022. You can read it entirely for free on Shonen Jump on Viz Media. This chapter will remain free for 2 chapter releases. After the third chapter launches, Ch. 68 will go into the Shonen Jump vault, and then you will have to pay for a subscription to read it. So if you want to read this chapter, you might want to hurry.

Something of note: Spy x Family now has an anime adaptation from Wit Studio (Attack on Titan, The Ancient Magus’ Bride, Ranking of Kings) and CloverWorks (The Promised Neverland, Wonder Egg Priority, My Dress-Up Darling) that premiered on April 9, 2022. You can watch the anime on Crunchyroll or Hulu. That’s just for the first cour though. Cour 2 will premiere on October 1, 2022 only on Crunchyroll.

Warning: spoilers for Spy x Family Ch. 68 below. If you want to find out just what Yuri’s latest beef with Loi-Loi is, then stop here, and come back once you’ve survived this round of domestic athletics.

Spy x Family Ch. 68: Spoilery Plot Summary

Spy x Family Ch. 68 starts us off by introducing us to “Steel-Gut” Gullickson. Unfortunately (and hilariously), he doesn’t even get to finish his introduction before Yor crushes his steel gut with her bare hands and sends him flying. His only contribution to the story is to injure Yor’s wrists, which Yor excuses as due to a fire door slamming on her hands. Not that Anya believes it is due to her telepathy, but it’s a good enough excuse for Loid. Yor’s wrist injury though does set up the plot for the chapter, as we see when her younger brother Yuri Briar enters the story again.

Yuri just happens to choose that day to visit, and freaks out upon seeing Yor’s injured wrists, insisting that Loid does the cooking this time (even though he usually does that anyways). Somehow, this turns into a cooking battle between Yuri and Loid. Yuri has an…interesting style of cooking reminiscent of Yor’s, including what looks like a whole sardine (head, fins, and all) sandwiched between 2 slices of bread; lettuce with salt (including the salt shaker), and an asparagus fort around a raw turnip surrounded by creamed strawberries. Needless to say, Loid wins by a mile. However, Yuri doesn’t know the meaning of “give up”. No really, I don’t think he does.

Seeing Loi-Loi Outdo Him Fills Yuri With Determination!

Yuri engages Loid in a series of domestic contests, using up the Forger family’s entire supply of detergent and garbage bags in the process. Loid wins all of them without even trying, so Yuri tries for one last contest in getting groceries and other household necessities. Loid, not really caring, just heads to their usual local stores to get discounts. Meanwhile, Yuri heads to a shady black market dealer to get the cheapest groceries on the market. Needless to say, Loid still wins.

Yor comforts a distraught Yuri though by waxing nostalgic on a pack of whistle candy (exactly what it sounds like on the tin) he bought. With encouragement from Loid, Yuri is immediately back to his old self, announcing that he will never admit defeat to Loid, and runs off cackling like a maniac amidst a stunned and exasperated Forger family. All except for Anya, who’s just busy playing with the whistle candy. How will Yuri exact his revenge on Loi-Loi next time? Well, that’s what we’ll find out in a future chapter of Spy x Family.

Spy x Family Ch. 68: The Good

The story, as always, is the best part of this chapter of Spy x Family. In particular: comedy. The utterly ridiculous, hilarious comedy involves Yuri’s attempts to outdo “Loi-Loi” in every single little thing. Tatsuya Endo is a mangaka who’s really good at comedy despite his previous manga all having been pretty dark and serious. Comedic chapters like this one make me really glad that Endo’s editor, Shihei Lin, convinced him to write a more comedic story all those years ago.

Of course, that comedy isn’t complete without the characters. Yuri especially, since he’s the one driving the comedy the whole time. That isn’t to say that everyone else isn’t an important part of the comedy as well. After all, for every funny guy, you need a straight man to bounce them off of. Loid is a perfect straight man here, but even Yor and Anya pull their weight in this gag. The former with her awareness of how…frustrating Yuri can be, and the latter with her irreverent attitude, especially with the choo choo train feeding quip.

Lastly, the art of Spy x Family Ch. 68 completes the comedic triangle. Especially in the facial expression department. Tatsuya Endo has been consistently great at drawing the most hilarious facial expressions throughout the manga. I honestly can’t wait for this chapter to eventually get animated.

Spy x Family Ch. 68: The Bad

As a longtime fan of Spy x Family ever since I read the first chapter back in 2019, I happily admit to being completely and utterly biased in favor of this manga. This chapter is no different, so you’ll not hear any complaints from me about this. Not even the biweekly release schedule is going to get a complaint from me. If anything, it makes me savor each chapter release.

Source: Viz Media