Spy X Family – 5 [Will They Pass or Fail]

Welcome everyone, to another episode of SpyXFamily! This week has everything. Action, wholesome family moments, a few jokes. It’s the perfect example of what an anime adaptation of an existing property could, and should, be. What do I mean? Well lets jump in and talk about it.

To say that SpyXFamily is getting a good adaptation would be an understatement. Kazuhiro Furuhashi and his team are going above and beyond this week, taking what was an otherwise pretty standard wholesome family chapter and turning it into an action-packed event. The whole sequence in the castle? With the balls, the quiz, the tower? That’s all anime original. The manga had the concept yes, the agents that got brought in and playing “Save the Princess” with Anya. But it only went so far as to knock over a table and call that a “prison”. The small fight with Yor was the only action the chapter had. So to see it expanded upon like this, to be turned into a sequence that can carry an episode, an excuse for absolutely fantastic animation? I think it just goes to show how dedicated this team are to making SpyXFamily a success.

Now in case it wasn’t obvious from everything I said above, the animation was fantastic. Stand outs include scenes from Keisuke Okura, responsible for the clip above, as well as Satoshi Iwataki, Tooru Takano and many many others. The cool thing about this stuff being anime original is that it let these animators go wild. They weren’t constrained by existing manga panels fans usually want to see, or pre-choreographed fights. There is a degree of freedom to be found in original content. And I think we got to see that freedom in the scenes with the giant balls and the guns in the stairwell. It wasn’t just the animation that sold the episode for me though. I also want to call out Hiroyuki Yoshino for his performance as Franky Franklin, who truly sold that sort of warm, friendly trolling nature of his in regards to Loid. Great stuff.

As for the episode/story contents itself, it was nice. On the heartfelt wholesome end, I found everyone coming together to congratulate Anya to be sweet. I especially liked the small moment with the Housemaster giving them a bunch of bullshit extra points for that mosquito to ensure they got in, despite the risk to his position. SpyXFamily is doing a great job of establishing him as a good person, yet one who still might be an obstacle to Loid’s mission. Similarly Franky was great as Loid’s, perhaps only, friend. Him knowing they got in almost immediately, continuously egging them on and escalating their little party more and more. He’s a fun guy and adds a lot to the family dynamic.

Meanwhile the comedy from all of this was about as layered as I was hoping for. I vastly the prefer the kind of clever humor that comes from summoning an entire Spy Agency for a little girls party and passing it off as a Double-S rank super important mission. Better yet, everyone believing and buying into it because of their respect for Twilight. Even going so far as to fanboy over him and ask for his autograph, etc. I love taking what is an otherwise super serious concept and, through added context or slight changed to the situation, turning it into a complete farce. The bookend of course being the bill the agency got despite praising Twilight so much at the start of the episode. The action shifts the tone away from the comedy a bit sure, but overall I think it was a very successful blend of the two.

The only unfortunate part of the episode was that it made Yor into a bit of a lush. I get it, making her drunk for the entire evening was basically required to make this work. How else would she not question what is happening or play along with hundreds of people showing up out of nowhere, or the plane, or fighting Loid etc. It’s completely necessary for the premise of the episode. But because of the anime-original extension on the concept, she ends up spending a lot more time drunk off her ass than expected. I suppose I’m just hoping for Yor to be portrayed as a tad more competent, what with being a super-assassin and all. Of course I know we will get that eventually, especially with SpyXFamily being a 2 cour show. I’m going to keep asking for it until we get it though.

All in all I would call this another successful episode of SpyXFamily. Knowing what the content would be I was a tad afraid this would be more like episode 3. Something that’s very light on comedy and more SoL-like. It was a pleasant surprise that it ended up becoming much more, and actually makes me very comfortable with where the rest of the series will be going. I’m looking forward to all the stuff that can be expanded upon, that have room for this sort of anime-original content treatment. And the best part is that I think this will make the anime worthwhile even for people who are current with the manga. Special little treats in a series where they already know most of what is going to happen, like me! So yeah, things are looking good for SpyXFamily.