Hello folks, and welcome the heck back to Wrong Every Time. Today I’m eager to return to the preposterous drama of Spy x Family, which most recently blessed us with its funniest goddamn episode so far. Anya’s high-stakes volleyball game was a symphony of playful animation and outrageous punchlines, elevating the manga’s excellent comedic fundamentals with generous visual embellishments at every turn. It was intelligent in its pursuit of humor in ways both subtle and obvious; sometimes a joke would emerge simply from the camera’s framing relative to Bill Watkins, and sometimes it would stem from the luxurious executed anticlimax of an incredible power-up animation leading into a super-deformed faceplant.

The episode was so funny that I didn’t even mind that it was only funny, with no real family drama to speak of. I often struggle to maintain interest in pure gag comedies, and tend to require some sympathetic human element to supplement the appeal of a comedy-centered production. For twenty minutes of lunacy, Spy x Family’s last episode proved the exception to that rule, and if this is a sign of Tatsuya Endo gaining more confidence in his writing, I can only imagine what madness lies ahead. Let’s dive back into Spy x Family!

Episode 11

“STELLA.” It’s hard to imagine Anya getting any Stellas for her academic performance, so perhaps it’s time to make nice with her classmates

We open on an unusually obscured composition, with the “camera” placed right behind the sink’s flowing tap water, making it almost impossible to see Loid through the blur. This opening creates a natural sense of mystery and expectation, priming the audience to feel better attuned to Anya’s feelings as we cut to her watching Bondman

This Bondman-derivative intensity is then playfully redirected towards Loid’s feelings, as he examines Anya’s latest failed test. Another of this show’s confident, unspoken jokes of juxtaposition, emphasizing the disconnect between Bondman’s melodramatic spy drama stylings and the actual substance of Loid’s “high-intensity” spy mission

The joke’s tenor gets louder as Loid flips through more failed tests, some character shouting “No, Bondman, this can’t be possible!” in the background

Then there are the jokes constructed from the simplest fundamentals of animation, like “Anya is tiny and gremlin-like, it is very funny to animate her awkwardly attempting to flee Loid”

Yor praises Anya on the one test she somewhat succeeded on, the math test, to which Anya replies “he has two-eighths of his bullets left.” The message is clear: Loid needs to find ways to incorporate Anya’s actual interests into her other fields of study

Loid immediately catches this, and to his credit, he actually comes up with a Bondman reference to help her remember some proverb. Both a quiet joke and an acknowledgment of Loid’s progress as a parent: he’s genuinely engaging with the things Anya finds interesting, but he’s of course attacking them with his Twilight level of rigor, meaning he can already call out obscure references from any episode of the Bondman cartoon

Anya is certain she’ll be able to get high scores by figuring out who to cheat from, but then Loid’s musing on how cheating might cause resentment from her classmates gets her scared. I have deep sympathy for Anya; you’re generally not supposed to develop this level of social awareness and anxiety about how you’ll be perceived until you’re older, but Anya’s powers make it impossible for her to avoid thinking about how others are assessing her

“A change of pace is necessary. There are ways of earning Stellas besides academics.” Loid has grown so much over this season! He needed Yor’s advice to soften his methods just a few episodes ago, but now he’s paying close attention to Anya’s comfort and interest level all by himself

Goddamn this show’s physical comedy is good. We sort of get a “reverse anticlimax” joke as Anya attempts to leap over a child sized pommel horse, only to completely eat shit. The impact of the landing is made inconsequential and comical by a brief cut back to a mid-distance shot, but then we zoom into Anya’s face for her tearful reaction, as if she’s responding to the indignity of the shot sequence more than the pain of the injury

And as always, “Anya’s face only half-reaches the frame because Anya is small” is a perennial

Loid is impressed by Anya’s dedication to the cause, and suggests they go on an outing the next day

Apparently you can also gain Stellas through community service, which frankly seems like a massive loophole

“Even if she’s not earning a Stella, it will be beneficial to Anya to learn the importance of community service.” He’s starting to think like an actual father to her without even realizing it

Tragically, Anya turns out to be terrible at every task, and the hospital sends them away. We appropriately shift to the furthest long shot of the episode so far, portraying Anya from as great a distance as possible to emphasize how small she feels after disappointing Loid

We briefly follow a boy named Ken, who soon falls into the physical therapy pool. In his terror, his thoughts reach out to Anya!

As we shift to following Anya directly, the direction shifts as well, pulling in for consistent close and low-angle shots that emphasize how large and imposing the world is from Anya’s perspective. This style culminates in an ambitious panning shot, wherein the relatively simplistic pool room backgrounds facilitate a wild sweep around and below Anya as she dives towards the drowning boy. This show makes aesthetically switching genres look effortless; it defaults towards the information-rich mid-distance shots you expect from a sitcom, but possesses the staff talent to pull off a genuine thriller or action setpiece

Terrific character animation for Anya swimming, too. You can really feel the effort as her tiny arms push downwards through the water, punching rapidly forward and then laboriously attempting to drag water behind her

And so Anya gains her first well-earned Stella!

More tiny gags of aesthetic contrast, as we shift from this lushly animated cut of Anya’s classmates clapping, complete with a dreamy post-production glow added over their hands, to this flat, unaltered shot of Anya smiling with a dumb look on her face, seemingly disassociating altogether

“Anya’s powers actually helped someone?” A crucial moment for Anya as well as Loid. She’s accustomed to feeling isolated because of her powers, or at best considering them “sneaky” and “like cheating.” But this time, she was able to use her powers for an unquestionable good, earning the praise and pride of everyone who cares about her. This Stella signifies affirmation that Anya’s powers can absolutely be worthy of praise, alongside Anya herself

Later on, Loid meets with his handler on a train. Handler suggests the same idea Loid himself floated earlier, about using agency members to fake heroic events, but Loid claims such a strategy would be too great a risk. At this point, I assume Loid’s also feeling an urge to let Anya genuinely earn her own stars

For the second time this episode, we receive a hint that Desmond may soon be making a move. This entire show has taken place in a moment of relative peace between its two nations, so I’m interested to see how the dynamic might change if open war seems likely

Even for totally incidental moments like Becky getting out of her car, the character animation for this episode is just absurdly generous

I appreciate Anya’s impressions of Damian and Loid’s voices in her grand fantasies

In class, some uniquely unfortunate-looking boys start mocking Anya for her big head. Tatsuya Endo truly has a special talent for designing ugly children

Damiam’s actually the one to stand up for her, though he characteristically frames their complaints as foolishly insulting the school’s assessment methods, rather than offering genuine praise for Anya

Panning in on the cafeteria at lunchtime, I have to admit that this school’s consistent and somewhat shapeless uniforms do a fine job of masking CG background characters

“Rewards are difficult.” A funny and sad beat; Anya’s so accustomed to neglect that she can’t think of anything she wants

Becky floats the idea of a dog as a reward. And so the wheels are set in motion!

And the final sequence reveals some… scientifically augmented superdog? Right, I suppose this is the Forger family, they couldn’t possibly get a normal pet

And Done

Congratulations on your great victory, Anya! Honestly, her psychic powers mean this whole Stella situation might go far more smoothly than expected, so long as she keeps finding herself in proximity to near-death situations. But Stellas aside, this was a key episode in both Anya and Loid’s development, as Anya learned to take pride (perhaps actually too much pride) in her unique abilities, while Loid demonstrated his full, unquestioned commitment to raising Anya as a daughter, not just a mission accessory. The family actually feels so comfortable now that the show is having to find more external sources of humorous conflict, but it’s clear that Endo is still full of ideas, and the production only seems to be getting more impressive as it goes. Another solid entry in this absurdly accomplished comedy!

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