If you finally had the chance to see Spy x Family Code: White in theaters, you might be thinking of a certain scene with Anya—and yes, the English dub voice actress thought it was just as hilarious as you thought it was.
Crunchyroll’s SVP opened up about the huge success of anime over the last year and I’m just as excited as he is about it!
Diving into the lives of the Forgers is always a welcome way to spend an afternoon, and now, the popular anime has received its first movie outing with Spy x Family Code: White in April 2024. The film follows the Forgers as they go on a family vacation to learn how to make a recipe for Anya’s cooking contest at school, but of course, they run into trouble with spies, action, and more.
Anya gets herself tangled up in this, and when the bad guys believe she has swallowed a microchip that contains sensitive information, she is forced to hold her — how do I say this right? – bowel movements to ensure the bad guys don’t get it. And from there, hilarity begins not long after, and Anya struggles. Megan Shipman, the English voice actress behind Anya, spoke with CinemaBlend about this and revealed it was “the funniest thing” she’d ever seen when she read the script:
I honestly thought it was the funniest thing I’d ever seen. The fact that Natalie and Alex get to do all these cool scenes of spy and assassin, and I’m over here having a totally different story arc where I’m just trying not to poop, is really great, but also we were dying laughing, watching the animation. There’s a great scene where she just kind of blacks out and has this daydream and she sees the poop. God, yeah, from the heavens…the animation is so amazing for that scene. It’s so cute and adorable, but it’s also toilets, so it’s so funny. I was cracking up the whole time. So yeah, it’s really great.
Spy x Family is a wholesome anime that took the world by storm back in 2022. While there are plenty of great wholesome anime options out there, I’ve always loved Spy x Family, not least because it’s such a palette cleanser after I watch some of my favorite dark anime—like the finale of Attack on Titan or Jujutsu Kaisen Season 2.
While Spy x Family certainly does have its moments where it gets a little darker, it’s never really delved into territory where it would alienate fans, and the movie is undoubtedly the same. Anya is one of the main reasons for this.
Megan Shipman even told CinemaBlend why she loves voicing Anya, and how she’s such a well-written child in the series. She has her dramatic moments, but then there are instances like this one where you are starkly reminded that she’s just a kid – and a hilarious one. Shipman even commented jokingly, saying that her parents are “proud of her” but that they had no idea that her voice-acting in the film involved a scene solely focused on poop:
My parents are so excited and proud of me and I can’t wait for them to watch the movie. They have no idea. I can’t wait for them to watch it and realize, ‘My daughter just made a movie where she just tried not to poop for 45 minutes.’ So I’m making them proud.
Truthfully, even with some of the best anime out there of 2023, the medium has plenty of moments that make you either scratch your head or laugh your butt off. This moment is certainly one that does both – and I for one need every one of my anime friends to go and see it to do the same.
Spy x Family Code: White is in theaters nationwide now.