Anime and manga fans know that in any franchise, there's usually a character dubbed with the title "best boy" or "best girl." The much-awaited hit comedy Spy x Family by Endo Tatsuya features a roster of eccentric characters whose mix-and-match personalities contribute greatly to the story's hilarity. Among these characters is the telepathic child of the Forger family, Anya, who has rightfully earned her spot as the best girl of the series.
Anya is introduced immediately in the story after Loid arrives at the orphanage searching for a child to adopt for his mission. Loid estimates that Anya is only four or five years old at most, but she tells him that she is six after hearing his thoughts about needing a six-year-old. She also fakes her intelligence level to fit the necessary requirements for Loid's mission. She possesses excellent street smarts and has a quick-thinking wit, but she hates studying. Given this fact, she usually resorts to reading the other students' minds to get through her tests.
On the surface, Anya is a cheerful-looking kid, but she has a dark past. She was formerly called "Test Subject 007" -- a product of an unknown research experiment where she was not treated like a child at all. Eventually, after escaping, she ended up in the orphanage but has been fostered in and out four times. Anya seems to have a knack for exciting situations, and as such, she wants to go with Loid after finding out he's a spy. She takes that excitement level up another notch after scheming to play matchmaker with Loid and Yor after discovering that Yor is an assassin.
There's no doubt that Anya is adorable, but her wide variety of facial expressions adds to her charm as a character. Endo Tatsuya does a fantastic job of expressing the characters' emotions and reactions in general -- although many would say Anya has the best ones. Throughout the series, her face probably has the most range. There's the infamous "heh" expression, the utterly shocked face when Damian says he doesn't care about her dog, her crying or on the verge of tears expression and many more. For some fans, Anya's reactions are what one would consider "meme-worthy."
As a telepath, Anya is the only one who knows about everyone's secret identities. Since she knows what's really going on, she helps out as much as she can to keep the Forger family alive. Each member of the family has their respective objectives for wanting to keep the family together -- and in Anya's case, the thought of having a spy dad and an assassin mom was initially incredibly appealing. However, ultimately, Anya probably just wants a family of her own.
Anya therefore does her absolute best to keep her parents' secret identities safe from each other. If Loid is busy with spy work or Yor is busy with her assassin job, Anya is there to distract the other parent. She even goes as far as risking her own life to prevent the family from separating. Sometimes, she misunderstands or misreads the situation, potentially making matters worse -- but of course, things manage to comically work out in the protagonists' favor.
The story of Spy x Family isn't over, and there's still a lot of room for Anya's character to grow. After all, she's just a child. Moreover, Loid's mission would not have moved forward if it weren't for her. Ultimately, one of the key factors to world peace is a telepathic child who loves peanuts -- and while that doesn't sound very reassuring, with a girl like Anya around, the world will be just fine.
