I Failed at Cooking Again: Representation of Womanhood and Motherhood in the Action-comedy Anime SPYxFAMILY

Aug 26, 2026

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The paper examines portrayals of mother and wife identities in the action-comedy anime SPYxFAMILY, focusing on Yor Forger and on episodes where those roles are foregrounded. Using stylization and positioning, it analyzes how characters adopt identities to accomplish social practices. Results show Yor reflexively and interactively positioned as mother and wife, embracing both despite her non-normative job as an assassin. Her consistent speech style and efforts to improve for Loid and Anya align with norms of femininity, reflecting expectations that resonate with gender ideas familiar to Japanese audiences.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages26

Reading Time1 h 6 min

AccessFree to download

1 Introduction

2 Literature Review

2.1 Women, Motherhood and Childrearing in Japanese Society

I Failed at Cooking Again: Representation of Womanhood and Motherhood in the Action-comedy Anime SPYxFAMILY Zhi Ying Samantha Tan Abstract This paper examines the portrayal of mother and wife identities in the action-comedy anime SPYxFAMILY (Akifumi, 2022; 2023), using the frameworks of stylization and positioning (Davies and Harré, 1990) . I focus on a main female character, Yor Forger, and how she is positioned in select episodes where these roles are foregrounded for her. In the anime, characters adopt various social identities to achieve certain social practices. Findings reveal that Yor’s identities as mother and wife are both reflexively and interactively positioned, where she consciously embraces both roles despite her non-normative profession (i.e., an assassin); Yor maintains her speech style and her consistent efforts to become a better wife and mother to Loid and Anya. Yor’s characterization also aligns with the societal norms of what is expected of a wife and mother, despite the flaws which are presented to the audience. These expectations in turn reflect the social practice of how women and femininity are portrayed and expressed in the frame of the fictional world in which the anime is set in and how that still has to resonate with what the consumers of anime know about gender expectations in Japanese society. Key words: positioning, anime, motherhood, womanhood, performativity 1 Introduction This paper examines how the identities of mother and wife in the action-comedy anime SPYxFAMILY (Akifumi, 2022 ; 2023) are portrayed via stylization and positioning (Davies & Harré, 1990) . I focus on one of the main female characters, Yor Forger, in select episodes where Yor’s role as wife and/or mother in the show is foregrounded. The anime was very well-received when it first aired in 2022 and its popularity can be attributed to the characters in the show. Apart from being a wife and a mother, Yor also has an additional hidden identity (an assassin) and therefore is also able to fight. However, Yor’s identity as an assassin is not known to the other characters (except the audience and another character who is a telepath) . In the episodes, Yor is mostly seen performing the duties of wife and mother and occasionally her tasks as an assassin. However, Yor also utilizes her speed and agility as an assassin to her advantage when she is in a pinch when completing her wife or mother duties. By analyzing Yor’s interactions with other characters and how she is positioned as mother/wife in different episodes and scenes, I hope to shed light on how femininity and women are portrayed in a fictional world that resonates with a general audience. 2 Literature Review 2.1 Women, Motherhood and Childrearing in Japanese Society The traditional ideology of ryōsai kenbo (good wife, wise mother), which appeared in the second half of the 19th century, was used to justify why men were tasked with the responsibility of taking up jobs while women were tasked with staying at home to take care of children and the household (Koyama, 2012) . This ideology is still present in postwar Japan and has similar qualities which resonate with modern western societies (Sakamoto, 2014) . The Japanese society is still heavily patriarchal, where highly gendered practices in the workplace and at home are still in place (Yu and Kuo, 2018). In other words, once a woman gets married, pressure is placed on her to conceive and she will become a stay-home mother in order to care for her child. If she is currently employed, it will be difficult for her to split her time between providing ample care for her child and her job, so mothers will eventually give up on their careers (Tendo & Takahashi, 2021) . This is still a decision made by many women despite the fact that most large firms in Japan have parental leave policies in place (Mun and Brinton, 2015) . Yet, many women end up not utilizing that parental leave and instead leave the workforce entirely

FAQs

What framework does the paper use to analyze Yor’s roles in SPYxFAMILY?

The analysis uses stylization and positioning frameworks (Davies and Harré, 1990) to examine how Yor is positioned as wife and mother across episodes and scenes.

How does Yor’s hidden identity as an assassin affect her portrayal as mother and wife?

Yor performs mainly as wife and mother, with assassin tasks appearing occasionally. Her skills become useful in moments when she must complete duties, while her assassin identity remains hidden from other characters.

What does the literature review suggest about gender expectations in Japanese society?

The review describes the ryōsai kenbo ideology and continuing patriarchal pressures that expect women to conceive and become stay-home mothers, shaping how motherhood and childcare are framed in discourse and media.

Aug 26, 2026

Upload by Paura