Spy x Family Episode 6 Review: A Disastrous First Day Of School

Anya made it into Eden and got her flowers for doing so. In Spy x Family Episode 6, it is time to see what Eden is all about. Let’s get right into the review!

Spy x Family Episode 6 Overview

Spy x Family, sometimes stylised as SpyxFamily, is an action and comedy anime based on a manga written by Tatsuya Endou and serialised in Shounen Jump+. The manga quickly became among the magazine’s most popular ongoing properties, and thus, an anime adaptation was inevitable. The anime adaptation is being tackled by Studios Wit and CloverWorks, and it would be an insult to your intelligence as anime fans to tell you the shows these two studios have made. You are already well aware.

The anime is being directed by Kazuhiro Furuhashi, who has previously served the same position in shows such as Dororo, HunterxHunter (1999), and Rurouni Kenshin. This episode of the show is also referred to as SpyxFamily Episode 6 and Spy Family Episode 6. You can read our review of the previous episode of the show right here!

– SpyxFamily Episode 6 Review does not contain spoilers –

Spy x Family Episode 6 Review- First Setback

For the first time that we properly headed towards the objective of this show, this was strangely underwhelming. Again, this is something that has become common with reviews of this series, but this wasn’t a bad episode. These days, there is a trend of being too trigger happy with extremely high or extremely low ratings. Maybe I just expected a little more from the number 4 ranked anime of all time(!). Maybe the recency bias is humongous with this show, and it really isn’t deserving of this high a spot this early into its runtime.

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The first thing that we need to talk about is the animation. We have touched on this topic before, but below par seems too nice for what this show has turned out to be. The animation work by Studios WIT and Cloverworks is hugely underwhelming. There are too many still frames, too many cut corners, and many missed opportunities related to the animation. The show isn’t very polished, and while the frames directly lifted from the manga look great, the anime goodness you would expect to find isn’t there. One look at the supermarket in this episode is all it would take to come to this conclusion.

The pacing of the show is also pretty unappealing. There would be nothing happening for multiple episodes, and then the show would just run through with three weeks’ worth of material in about 10 minutes. Despite the obvious quality of the topics it chooses to cover, it either gives one of them too much runtime, like the play last week, or too little, like the introduction of Eden this week. It is almost like adapting one chapter of the manga isn’t enough material, but two chapters are too much material, putting the anime into an uncomfortable position.

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Spy x Family Episode 6 was fine. The kidnapping subplot was a weird one to put in this position, but it was something for Yor to do, so it gets points for that. The exploration of Loid’s spy job was an interesting, if a little overused, take on the entire system. If Phineas and Ferb do a better job portraying secret agents, you messed up somewhere. Anya was a joy to watch this whole episode, but what’s new about that? She stole the show with her expressions and actions, but that’s what she always does. This episode was no different in that regard.

The biggest takeaway from this episode was Eden College, which was a disappointment. Despite supposedly being such a huge deal in the show, it came across as a caricature of various British schools. The system of merits and demerits was also a little too anime to be practical, although it should lead to some entertaining scenarios later in the show. Anya’s classmates are also supremely generic for now, but they might surprise us if we give them a little time. Overall, not a bad episode, but not a very good one either.

Verdict

Spy x Family Episode 6 was a somewhat disappointing episode of the show, but it wasn’t one without its merits. There were things about it to enjoy, but they were overshadowed by the things the show didn’t get right.