An impressive new Spy x Family cosplay has come in from an unexpected source.
Saya Hiyama, an anchor for the 24-hour news network Weathernews, took a break from reporting the news to show off her cosplay of Yor, the matriarch of Spy x Family's Forger family. Hiyama portrayed Yor in her "Thorn Princess," outfit, which the character wears when she takes on an assassination gig.
Hiyama previously went viral when a clip of her newscast was shared online. At the beginning of the clip, Hiyama engages in some light-hearted banter about the traditional Japanese board game of shogi, before instantly switching to a dead-serious tone as breaking news of a major earthquake comes in. The clip pulled in over 16 million views and earned Hiyama, a newscaster who broadcasts exclusively in Japanese, a sizeable international following. In addition to reporting the news, the anchor also maintains a career as a model and spokesperson. Hiyama frequently discusses her hobbies and has previously shared pictures of her Violet Evergarden cosplay online.
Spy x Family was the breakout hit of the spring 2022 season, being greeted with strong ratings and an overwhelmingly positive reaction from critics when it debuted earlier this year. The anime is being produced as a collaboration between two of Japan's most well regarded animation studios: Wit, the studio behind the first three seasons of Attack on Titan and 2021's critically acclaimed fantasy-adventure series Ranking of Kings; and CloverWorks, the company behind the winter season's biggest surprise hit, the cosplay-focused rom-com My Dress-Up Darling. The anime recently concluded the opening half of its first season; the rest of the season is scheduled to premiere later this year.
The anime is based on a manga of the same name, which was created by writer and artist Tatsuya Endo in 2019. The manga was originally released as an exclusive for Shonen Jump+, the digital manga spinoff of Shueisha's hit-making Shonen Jump magazine. The series has become one of the most popular franchises to emerge from the service, with over 21 million copies in circulation around the world. Endo's manga has already been nominated for two Eisner Awards; first in 2021, where it ultimately lost to Junji Ito's Remina, and again in 2022.
The now complete first half of Spy x Family's first season is available for streaming on Crunchyroll. The manga is available in English from VIZ Media, which releases the series in both digital formats and in a collected print volumes. New chapters of the series are published on a bi-weekly basis on VIZ's Manga Plus service.
Source: Twitter