I drink and watch anime

Spy x Family episode 27 – A Very Good Boy

Irina

My schedule is going to be a bit all over the place this week. As in I going to try to catch up over the weekend. I just got back from vacation and it was one of those vacations where I am going to need a week off just to get over the vacation. It was fine and all just really exhausting. I’m looking forward to getting back to work so I can relax a little!

One thing that really helps me feel like I’m back home and everything is back in place is watching anime! And what a good episode to come back to. This was the heartwarming little escape I was longing for. First off, we have a small adventure entirely from Bond’s point of view. This is the first time Spy x Family has done that even though we have seen the world through Bond’s eyes for short segments before.

One of the things I really like about Bond is that even though he’s a superpowered dog that can predict the future, he’s still a dog. Like he has access to all this information but he processes it as a dog would. Anya is similar in that regard, she’s still just a small kd regardless of whatever powers she has. It would be tempting to make Bond super intelligent or rather to give him something closer to human reasoning to go with his prediction ability. In practice just making him another character in a dog’s body but instead, the author opted to try and make Bond feel like a real dog regardless of everything else. It’s actually a pretty novel approach and in my opinion very endearing..

And once again, we got a good view of how Loid doesn’t understand anything. He’s fantastic at his job and pretty much everything else but he’s just so clueless when it comes to personal matters that it’s hilarious. It’s one of my favourite running gags and just a wonderful way to subvert the archetype he represents at first glance.

I said it was a little adventure but in fact, Bond and Loid infiltrated a heavily guarded lab to steal some top-secret samples and had to battle a bunch of bad guys. But that wasn’t the important part. The important part is that Bond will get a tasty dinner. Priorities folks! Also, I love the name T. Bandit!

The second story was just as cute. Maybe cuter depending on your feelings about large dogs. Another archetype that gets subverted, actually 3 when you think about it, were illustrated in this really sweet little story about a boy feeling down and being cheered up.

Damian is the closest thing to a recurring antagonist the series has. As Anya’s rival and occasional tormentor, it would be easy to see him as a classic spoiled rich boy who thinks too highly of himself. We quickly learn that the pressures of his family name and his father’s lack of interest actually make him more of a poor little rich boy who is misguided and misunderstood rather than “evil”. That’s still a pretty common trope, I’m sure you can name half a dozen off the top of your head. But what gives Damian just a bit of an edge is that he’s a bit of a goofball. He earnestly cares about his friends and wants them to be happy. He takes things way too seriously and literally and he doesn’t actually think he’s better than most people. He just thinks he has to be in order to earn his father’s approval.

Moreover, Ewen and Emile aren’t his lackeys. They actually are his friends. And each other’s friends as well. There was that bit towards the end of the episode when the boys were talking about their dreams for the future and Emile talked about his very reasonable goal of eating a lot of tasty treats. It’s a silly thing to say and sounds particularly immature next to the lofty ideals of becoming an astronaut or changing the world by becoming a politician. But no one made fun of him. Not even a little. Sure they tease each other but deep down they’re friends. And that’s pretty unexpected when you think about it.

But my favourite is and always has been housemaster Henry Henderson. I like that all the supporting characters have alliterative names. He is a strict idealist who values property and elegance in all things. And he sees elegance everywhere. I also want to live in a world where shows of friendship can be seen as the most elegant thing you can think of. It’s just so sweet!

Previous Posts

Exit mobile version