Recap / SPY×FAMILY - Anime: S01 E10

Tropes that appear in this episode:

• All for Nothing: A subversion. The rumour about the most valuable player at the dodgeball game receiving a Stella star turns out to be unfounded, but for some seconds Henderson thinks of giving a Stella to Anya's team for their determination despite the adversities... just for him to change his mind after seeing the kids bickering.
• Child Soldiers: Implied with Bill. His father is a high-ranking general who took part in training his son to be superior in his physical abilities. There's also the fact that he's super analytical when it comes to playing and how he frequently shouts "Die!" every time he targets someone.
• Coincidental Dodge: At one point, Anya dodges a ball coming from behind by simply tripping over her own feet.
• The Comically Serious: Becky is the only one that seems to find how insane a 6-year-old is that big, strong, and prestiged...and it just makes her more hilarious.
• Cutting Back to Reality: In his Fantasy Sequence, Emile imagines himself falling in slow motion from a cliff. We then cut back to reality to see him falling from a jungle gym.
• David vs. Goliath: During the dodgeball match, Bill is the Goliath for the entire opposite team's David. The only one who stands a chance against him is Anya, and only because she can read his mind to find out where he's aiming and evade it in time.
• Dodgeball Is Hell: The episode revolves around Anya and the other students doing a dodgeball game in the hopes of receiving a Stella Star. Their opponent on the opposing team, Bill Watkins, manages to take down most of them with throws that bounce off each of them.
• Dramatic Wind: Anya's hair is waving dramatically when she gets up for the final confrontation with Bill.
• Here We Go Again!: To Henderson's dismay, Damian picks another fight against Anya for losing the game.
• Infallible Babble: Subverted. Despite the schoolyard rumours, a school such as Eden Academy wouldn't hand out a Stella Star - a mark representing great personal achievement - to the winner of a single dodgeball game during a regular gym class.
• It Has Been an Honor: Played for laughs when Emile drops this line while Taking the Bullet for Damian.
• Last Request: Played for laughs when Emile tells Ewen to stay strong and never give up on fighting after his demise on the dodgeball field.
• Meditating Under a Waterfall: During her training with Yor, Anya imagines herself sitting meditatively under a waterfall.
• Mundane Made Awesome: The dodgeball game. From the perspective of the kids, the game is as epic as a battle in a shounen anime, as Bill, the overgrown first grader, is shown to use his size to Flash Step across the arena, and his Super-Strength allows him to throw the ball at super sonic speeds, and the game is also filled with dramatic dialogue, Heroic Sacrifice, and a Hope Spot that will bring Anya's team Back from the Brink, as she catches the ball and prepares to use Yor's training to avenge Syon-boy (Damian, who insists he's not dead) with her Special Attack. When the P.O.V. switches to Henderson, Anya trips, fumbles the ball, Bill picks it up, and throws it at her, slightly harder than a normal first grader would (but a far cry from the supersonic speed the kids envisioned) and his team wins the game.
• Negated Moment of Awesome: Anya goes all out when delivering her Star Catch Arrow finisher against Bill. And then the ball hits her side of the court and pathetically bounces to the other side. Bill picks it up and takes her out.
• Once More, with Clarity: This episode shows the orientation picture for Eden. What was previously a Freeze-Frame Bonus is given more focus...the fact that Damian has no parents by his side like the other students.
• Pyrrhic Victory: Bill manages to win the dodgeball match, but it turns out winning it doesn't give him the rumored Stella star he wanted. If Henderson's comment when revealing this is any indication, he may have received a Tonitrus Bolt instead for screaming "Die!" at Anya during the match.
• Shout-Out: One of Damian's imaginary training sites was Namek.
• Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: Due to being presented as a Training Montage, it's easy to forget that by the time of the dodgeball game, Yor's training hasn't been going on for long enough to produce significant results. When Anya gets a hold on the dodgeball and throws it with the intent of taking down Bill, the ball just goes jumping in his direction, and Bill easily catches it and defeats Anya. This is lampshaded by Anya in her final internal monologue during the episode, saying that her mother's training was useless.
• Taking the Bullet: During the dodgeball game, Emile takes a hit for Damian, and later Damian takes a hit for Anya.
• Training Montage:
  • Yor becomes Anya's master as she prepares her body for the upcoming game.
  • Damian and his coatriders are shown to have undergone epic training to prepare themselves (when really they were training in the school playground).
• Wouldn't Hit a Girl: Downplayed. Bill still targets the girl opponents but openly states that he won't go hard on them like the boys. Becky takes offense to that and demands equal treatment.
• Younger Than They Look: Bill. He is only six years old, but easily looks to be in his teens, and he has a very deep voice for a six years old. This is at least partially a genetic trait because Bill is shown to only reach his father's waist despite his height. Becky lampshades this, claiming that she doesn't believe he is six like her and the rest of her class.

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