ChrisNuttall
Well-known member
(Might interest a few people)
Amphibia Review
Still testing the dictation software …
I am going to be honest here, and admit it took me quite some time to get into Amphibia. The series looked interesting, but the first season was badly let down by its main character. I found Anne Boonchuy rather difficult to like, unlike Luz from The Owl House, and that made it hard to follow the series. Sasha, and Marcy when she appeared, are far more interesting characters, and while Sasha’s character flaws are evident she is still much more interesting to follow than Anne. In some ways, I can understand why the producer decided to go with the format that would show Anne adapting to her new world, but I think it was a dangerous gamble. It was not until the second season came along that I found myself getting into the show after which I went back and re-watched the first season. My second impression was a lot stronger, as the show also showed Anne becoming a better person as well as underlying how she became that way. Your mileage may vary, of course.
The basic idea of the series is that three teenage girls, Anne, Sasha and Marcy discover – steal - a mysterious magic box, which transports the three of them to Amphibia and scatters them over the world. Anne is taken in by family of anthropomorphic frogs; Sasha finds herself poster, and later ally, of a toad warlord (captain grime); Marcy finds herself living the dream in the city of the newts, where she is recognised for her skills and feted by King Andrias, ruler of the world. It rapidly becomes clear that Amphibia is far from a utopia and in fact there is a racial caste system in place. The frogs are labourers and the toads are thugs keeping them in line, while the newts rule over the entire world. It also becomes clear that the world is built on the remains of a far more advanced civilisation, as well as hints of magic. The exact diversion between science and magic is not clearly stipulated. There are also a handful of other species on the planet, but they seem to remain out of sight.
The first season, largely focused on Anne, has her trying to fit into her new world, unaware that her adopted frog grandfather has made the decision to hide the magic box to keep it from falling into the wrong hands. It rapidly becomes clear that Anne and Sasha had a poisonous friendship, with Sasha dominating Anne and Marcy, and Anne takes some bad habits from this relationship and carries it into her new friendship with the frogs. However, in a more healthy relationship, she grows into a better person, unaware that Sasha has signed up with captain grime and become his second-in-command. This leads to an unfortunate battle at the end of the first season in which the frogs emerge victorious, scattering the toads and sending Sasha and Grime on the run. Stop
The second season is split into two parts. First, Anne and her new family set off to Newtopia, where Anne is reunited with Marcy and make an alliance with King Andrias. Second, Anne and Marcy go on a quest to be charged magic box, while Sasha and Grime plot to take control of the entire world. Ironically, Sasha’s coup is defeated by Anne and Marcy, allowing King Andrias to take control of the magic box and unleash a far deadlier threat. Our heroes-including Sasha-fight to stop him, but lose. Anne is transported back to Earth, along with her new family, while Sasha goes back on the run and Marcy remains a prisoner of the King.
The third season, again, is in two parts. First, Anne and the frogs try to adapt to Earth and find a way back to Amphibia. Second, Anne and Sasha must fight to stop the King-who is launching a full-scale invasion of Earth-and save Marcy before it’s too late. And when they win, they are sent back to earth good. To be honest, that ending really annoyed me.
Amphibia makes no pretence at being a serious ‘trapped in another world’ story. Many of the difficulties that would be faced by a more serious traveller are hand-waved, up to and including the language barrier. Quite why everyone speaks English is never satisfactorily explained. What it is, though, is a story about three people trapped in toxic friendships and how they learn to be better people, often by learning from the folks around them. Anne’s friendship with Sprig, who she comes to think of as a younger brother, is infinitively healthier than her friendship with Sasha. Her problems are Marcy are lower-key, but still there; Anne appeared to believe that Marcy could not look after herself and required assistance from Anne and Sasha to survive. When Anne reunites with both Sasha and Marcy these problems are far more apparent to her and she is able to navigate her way through them. I won’t deny that the final episode of the first season was painful to watch, as Sasha’s toxic manipulations are on full display, but it does have a happy ending of sorts.
This is true, in a sense, of both Sasha and Marcy too. Sasha adopts Grime as a father of sorts, which means they are a terrible influence on each other. She discovers, too late, that her ruthless quest for power has not only cost her two other friends from the toad community, but also ruined her chance to make friends again with Anne and Marcy. By contrast, Marcy’s friendship with King Andrias appears to be far healthier on the surface, yet is entirely exploitative on his part. King Andrias humours her, and treats her as a daughter, while subtly pumping her for information and laying his plans, which include a truly painful betrayal for Marcy, who didn’t have the slightest idea anything was wrong until it was far too late. In fact, misjudgements by both Sasha and Marcy unleashed absolute chaos and they both had to overcome their own floors to win the war and return home.
(In fact, you can argue that all three girls have their own character flaws but they also share in each other’s character flaws as well.)
In fact, a case can be made that the series showcases the failed attempts to come to terms with relationships as well as a successful one. Hop Pop tries to keep his grandchildren as children even though they’re going into young adults, and betrays Anne by hiding the music box for the greater good. Grime is introduced as a thug who is probably betrayed by his aim people when Toad Tower is attacked and destroyed. King Andrias has a deeper history with two other heroes of bygone age but that friendship was shattered leaving King Andrias in a deeply vulnerable position and leaving him open to outside manipulations.
Amphibia works very well if you accept it on its own terms. The first season showcases the world itself, while the second is a fantasy quest - three really - and the third a combination of a trapped in another world story, an alien invasion and outright war against an overwhelmingly powerful threat. This sometimes leads to curious problems, including a fabulous FBI agent who might have gotten further if he had asked Anne what was going on instead of trying to kidnap her and the frogs, and the frogs themselves fitting into Earth remarkably well. Like I said, the show is not particularly serious.
(That said, there’s a part of me that thinks allowing Marcy or Sasha to lead the show would have worked better as Marcy is a more likeable character, while Sasha is much more interesting, in the same way Catra was more interesting than Adora in She-Ra and the Princesses of Power.)
Unlike The Owl House, or the aforementioned She-Ra, shipping is much less predominant in fandom discussions, with most shipping pairing the girls up together rather than trying to pair them with every other character in the show. This probably owes much to the other characters being clearly inhuman, something which isn’t true of The Owl House.
There are, however, two major problems that need to addressed. First, because Anne is the main character, neither Sasha nor Marcy get anything like the development they deserve. Sasha, in particular, could have had more episodes in season three before being reunited with Anne and I am a loss to understand why she did not get more. Second, perhaps more seriously, I found ending a little disappointing. The girls are barred from Amphibia, the world thinks the devastating invasion was a hoax (which makes all the 9/11 conspiracy theories sound creditable), and they even go their separate ways to some extent, only reuniting years later. Their future roles are not unsuited, but I would have expected more. I am sure a few of them could have worked with the FBI, and everyone else, to help prepare for another possible invasion. As Amphibia shares a universe with The Owl House, there really are other threats out there.
To be honest, I would have preferred a different ending.
Overall, the series works fairly well. The production values were excellent. The producers worked hard to bring elements of Thai culture into Anne’s character, as well-to a lesser extent-elements of Taiwanese culture into Marcy. Anne, and to a lesser extent Marcy, are proof of what can be done if one tries to create characters from a different background, complete with cultural issues and character flaws, rather than crafting Mary Sue-type characters. Amphibia has the great advantage of being a wholly new universe, with no sense that any previous characters are being replaced, and this works in its favour. One can quibble about minor details, such as Sasha’s unbelievable swordplay, or the issues caused by the girls originally being written as older characters, but overall I must admit I enjoyed the show. I’m sure there are any number of fan fictions out there that has the girls staying in Amphibia or at least remaining in contact with the friends they made in their New World. Or even taking a more serious view of the invasion of Earth in season three.
Like I said, Amphibia is not a very serious show and setting (I did wonder if the girls thought they might’ve been shrunk, instead of being transported to another world), but it is fun to watch. Anne does become a better person. I promise. It isn’t quite as good as The Owl House, but it still works very well.
Amphibia Review
Still testing the dictation software …
I am going to be honest here, and admit it took me quite some time to get into Amphibia. The series looked interesting, but the first season was badly let down by its main character. I found Anne Boonchuy rather difficult to like, unlike Luz from The Owl House, and that made it hard to follow the series. Sasha, and Marcy when she appeared, are far more interesting characters, and while Sasha’s character flaws are evident she is still much more interesting to follow than Anne. In some ways, I can understand why the producer decided to go with the format that would show Anne adapting to her new world, but I think it was a dangerous gamble. It was not until the second season came along that I found myself getting into the show after which I went back and re-watched the first season. My second impression was a lot stronger, as the show also showed Anne becoming a better person as well as underlying how she became that way. Your mileage may vary, of course.
The basic idea of the series is that three teenage girls, Anne, Sasha and Marcy discover – steal - a mysterious magic box, which transports the three of them to Amphibia and scatters them over the world. Anne is taken in by family of anthropomorphic frogs; Sasha finds herself poster, and later ally, of a toad warlord (captain grime); Marcy finds herself living the dream in the city of the newts, where she is recognised for her skills and feted by King Andrias, ruler of the world. It rapidly becomes clear that Amphibia is far from a utopia and in fact there is a racial caste system in place. The frogs are labourers and the toads are thugs keeping them in line, while the newts rule over the entire world. It also becomes clear that the world is built on the remains of a far more advanced civilisation, as well as hints of magic. The exact diversion between science and magic is not clearly stipulated. There are also a handful of other species on the planet, but they seem to remain out of sight.
The first season, largely focused on Anne, has her trying to fit into her new world, unaware that her adopted frog grandfather has made the decision to hide the magic box to keep it from falling into the wrong hands. It rapidly becomes clear that Anne and Sasha had a poisonous friendship, with Sasha dominating Anne and Marcy, and Anne takes some bad habits from this relationship and carries it into her new friendship with the frogs. However, in a more healthy relationship, she grows into a better person, unaware that Sasha has signed up with captain grime and become his second-in-command. This leads to an unfortunate battle at the end of the first season in which the frogs emerge victorious, scattering the toads and sending Sasha and Grime on the run. Stop
The second season is split into two parts. First, Anne and her new family set off to Newtopia, where Anne is reunited with Marcy and make an alliance with King Andrias. Second, Anne and Marcy go on a quest to be charged magic box, while Sasha and Grime plot to take control of the entire world. Ironically, Sasha’s coup is defeated by Anne and Marcy, allowing King Andrias to take control of the magic box and unleash a far deadlier threat. Our heroes-including Sasha-fight to stop him, but lose. Anne is transported back to Earth, along with her new family, while Sasha goes back on the run and Marcy remains a prisoner of the King.
The third season, again, is in two parts. First, Anne and the frogs try to adapt to Earth and find a way back to Amphibia. Second, Anne and Sasha must fight to stop the King-who is launching a full-scale invasion of Earth-and save Marcy before it’s too late. And when they win, they are sent back to earth good. To be honest, that ending really annoyed me.
Amphibia makes no pretence at being a serious ‘trapped in another world’ story. Many of the difficulties that would be faced by a more serious traveller are hand-waved, up to and including the language barrier. Quite why everyone speaks English is never satisfactorily explained. What it is, though, is a story about three people trapped in toxic friendships and how they learn to be better people, often by learning from the folks around them. Anne’s friendship with Sprig, who she comes to think of as a younger brother, is infinitively healthier than her friendship with Sasha. Her problems are Marcy are lower-key, but still there; Anne appeared to believe that Marcy could not look after herself and required assistance from Anne and Sasha to survive. When Anne reunites with both Sasha and Marcy these problems are far more apparent to her and she is able to navigate her way through them. I won’t deny that the final episode of the first season was painful to watch, as Sasha’s toxic manipulations are on full display, but it does have a happy ending of sorts.
This is true, in a sense, of both Sasha and Marcy too. Sasha adopts Grime as a father of sorts, which means they are a terrible influence on each other. She discovers, too late, that her ruthless quest for power has not only cost her two other friends from the toad community, but also ruined her chance to make friends again with Anne and Marcy. By contrast, Marcy’s friendship with King Andrias appears to be far healthier on the surface, yet is entirely exploitative on his part. King Andrias humours her, and treats her as a daughter, while subtly pumping her for information and laying his plans, which include a truly painful betrayal for Marcy, who didn’t have the slightest idea anything was wrong until it was far too late. In fact, misjudgements by both Sasha and Marcy unleashed absolute chaos and they both had to overcome their own floors to win the war and return home.
(In fact, you can argue that all three girls have their own character flaws but they also share in each other’s character flaws as well.)
In fact, a case can be made that the series showcases the failed attempts to come to terms with relationships as well as a successful one. Hop Pop tries to keep his grandchildren as children even though they’re going into young adults, and betrays Anne by hiding the music box for the greater good. Grime is introduced as a thug who is probably betrayed by his aim people when Toad Tower is attacked and destroyed. King Andrias has a deeper history with two other heroes of bygone age but that friendship was shattered leaving King Andrias in a deeply vulnerable position and leaving him open to outside manipulations.
Amphibia works very well if you accept it on its own terms. The first season showcases the world itself, while the second is a fantasy quest - three really - and the third a combination of a trapped in another world story, an alien invasion and outright war against an overwhelmingly powerful threat. This sometimes leads to curious problems, including a fabulous FBI agent who might have gotten further if he had asked Anne what was going on instead of trying to kidnap her and the frogs, and the frogs themselves fitting into Earth remarkably well. Like I said, the show is not particularly serious.
(That said, there’s a part of me that thinks allowing Marcy or Sasha to lead the show would have worked better as Marcy is a more likeable character, while Sasha is much more interesting, in the same way Catra was more interesting than Adora in She-Ra and the Princesses of Power.)
Unlike The Owl House, or the aforementioned She-Ra, shipping is much less predominant in fandom discussions, with most shipping pairing the girls up together rather than trying to pair them with every other character in the show. This probably owes much to the other characters being clearly inhuman, something which isn’t true of The Owl House.
There are, however, two major problems that need to addressed. First, because Anne is the main character, neither Sasha nor Marcy get anything like the development they deserve. Sasha, in particular, could have had more episodes in season three before being reunited with Anne and I am a loss to understand why she did not get more. Second, perhaps more seriously, I found ending a little disappointing. The girls are barred from Amphibia, the world thinks the devastating invasion was a hoax (which makes all the 9/11 conspiracy theories sound creditable), and they even go their separate ways to some extent, only reuniting years later. Their future roles are not unsuited, but I would have expected more. I am sure a few of them could have worked with the FBI, and everyone else, to help prepare for another possible invasion. As Amphibia shares a universe with The Owl House, there really are other threats out there.
To be honest, I would have preferred a different ending.
Overall, the series works fairly well. The production values were excellent. The producers worked hard to bring elements of Thai culture into Anne’s character, as well-to a lesser extent-elements of Taiwanese culture into Marcy. Anne, and to a lesser extent Marcy, are proof of what can be done if one tries to create characters from a different background, complete with cultural issues and character flaws, rather than crafting Mary Sue-type characters. Amphibia has the great advantage of being a wholly new universe, with no sense that any previous characters are being replaced, and this works in its favour. One can quibble about minor details, such as Sasha’s unbelievable swordplay, or the issues caused by the girls originally being written as older characters, but overall I must admit I enjoyed the show. I’m sure there are any number of fan fictions out there that has the girls staying in Amphibia or at least remaining in contact with the friends they made in their New World. Or even taking a more serious view of the invasion of Earth in season three.
Like I said, Amphibia is not a very serious show and setting (I did wonder if the girls thought they might’ve been shrunk, instead of being transported to another world), but it is fun to watch. Anne does become a better person. I promise. It isn’t quite as good as The Owl House, but it still works very well.