Amphibia // Review #16

So... Today we’re going to talk about a show I thought I would never talk about: Amphibia.

Amphibia is a Disney Channel animated series about a teenaged girl who gets stuck in the magical land of frogs, newts, and toads, known as Amphibia. This show premiered in 2019, and is currently on its third season, which just aired its mid-season premiere on March 19th. One of my best friends told me about this show earlier this year, and while I had my doubts going into it, I have to admit that once I started watching it, I was basically obsessed.

Before I get ahead of myself, I want to explain one of the reasons why I was so invested in this show from the beginning.

Two words: Brenda. Song.

As someone who grew up watching classic Disney Channel shows like The Suite Life of Zack and Cody and Phil of the Future, I remembered Brenda Song from the good ole days on the network (circa 2003-2008). She was in everything from Disney sitcoms to Disney Channel Original movies (Wendy Wu: Homecoming Warrior was honestly such a classic), and she was iconic for her role as heiress and airhead, London Tipton. 

So, image my surprise when I turned on Amphibia for the first time to discover that our girl, Brenda Song, finally came home as the voice of the character Anne on Amphibia:

Outside of my excitement for Brenda Song returning to the Disney Channel, I can't help but get excited to see her acting in general. Recently she's been in other projects outside of Amphibia as well, including Hulu's Dollface, in which she plays Madison, a character who is essentially the polar opposite of London Tipton.

In short, we are living in the Brenda Song Renaissance, people. Get onboard.

Long tangents aside, Amphibia manages to be one of the most interesting animated shows I've seen recently. Despite the strange concept, this show has managed to keep me interested week to week, and it's even become a show that I watch with my brother (which is saying something, because he doesn't watch TV).

I think it's time to give this show its flowers by breaking down what's so good about it. Let's start off simple:

Category 1: Plot- B+

Amphibia follows thirteen-year-old Anne Boonchuy as she is transported to the mysterious land of Amphibia after opening a magical music box with her friends. Soon, Anne is taken in by the Plantar family, a family of talking frogs. She is quickly adopted as a member of the family and has various adventures in this new land inhabited by frogs, toads, and newts. She and the Plantars are biding their time in the small town of Wartwood until they can come up with a plan to get Anne back into the human world.

Only, that doesn't even cover half of the story.

Season one of Amphibia follows Anne as she attempts to get the townsfolk of Wartwood to respect her and see her as someone other than a strange monster. In doing so, Anne teaches the townsfolk about movies and pizza and Thai food. She indoctrinates them into the cult of bad reality TV and teaches them about video games. Eventually, the town comes to tolerate and even like Anne. Most of season one is a fun romp through Wartwood, as Anne and the Plantars wait for the seasons to change so that they can help Anne get back to her own dimension when the trails are safer to travel.

This all changes, however, when Anne realizes that her friend Sasha is also trapped in Amphibia like her. Unlike Anne who was making friends with the frogs in the valley, Sasha was making friends with the warrior toads who ruled over the frogs with an iron fist (This leads to a fight, as you can probably imagine.) SLIGHT SPOILERS FOR SEASONS 2-3 AHEAD. The plot becomes even more complicated when Anne and Sasha discover that their other friend, Marcy, is also trapped in Amphibia. Unlike the two of them, Marcy has been working for King Andrias (the king of all Amphibia), a newt in the city of Newtopia. After the three reconnect, they soon discover that their mysterious music box can open portals to other realms, and that it is wanted by a very dangerous being. The girls and their friends must then try to keep the music box out of the hands of those who wish to use it for evil. 

Without talking about too many spoilers, this show's main plot focuses on getting these three girls back home where they belong while also attempting to repair their damaged friendship. Along the way, Anne, Sasha and Marcy all learn the true meaning of friendship from their frog, newt, and toad counterparts. The girls and their friends also have to protect the magic music box from the wrong hands so that it doesn't destroy Amphibia or any other dimensions when it is used. 

I'm being intentionally vague about several important plot details because I think it's important to experience this show for yourself. My plot summary doesn't quite do the actual story much justice, because the plot of this show is actually more complicated and compelling than I'm making it out to be. 

The first season of Amphibia is more episodic, and so new viewers can jump into basically any episode and understand what is happening. However, once you get into the later seasons, the show becomes more serialized with the overarching plot of the music box becoming more and more clear. (I recommend watching the show in order for exactly that reason, as I was confused when I accidentally started watching the show out of order because I didn't realize the plot had more layers to it.)

The story of Amphibia is definitely strong, but to me, it is not the strongest element of this show. If you ask me, I think one of the strongest elements of this show is the worldbuilding and lore behind Amphibia itself.

Behold:  

Category 2: World-building- A

Like any good fictional world- Amphibia feels real and lived in. This is due to many factors, but my favorite thing about the show is how the world is set up.

For one thing, Amphibia itself is literally shaped like a Lilypad, which seems obvious, but also delightful.

Electoral map of Amphibia, which shows the Plantar's home, Wartwood, in the center.

Aside from the look of the world, Amphibia is filled with amphibious creatures like frogs, toads and newts, and yet there are also weasels, snakes, and dangerous insects. Many of the dangers in this world emerge from the larger animals like ants (that are actually the size of tanks), or frog eating birds. Because Anne and the Plantars live in the marshy town of Wartwood, they encounter all kinds of killer fish, birds, and other large dangers that are native to Amphibia. They are constantly fighting against other animals and trying not to be eaten as they go on misadventures around the valley. This is well thought out world building in terms of danger and threat. Everything outside of Wartwood is constantly trying to eat or kill the frogs in town.

Outside of the constant threat of death, more examples of fun and well thought out worldbuilding are:

1. The frogs in Wartwood eat flies or grub with nearly everything, and so Anne is forced to adapt to this lifestyle while she's there. She eventually grows to love it and is slightly disgusted with how accustomed she's grown to it. 

2. Instead of cars, the frogs ride around on large friendly bugs, like snails or ladybugs. Snails serve as a form livestock in this universe, sort of like horses or cows in our universe.

3. There's a recurring joke that happens when Anne makes references to unfamiliar animals like dogs and cats, and no one in Amphibia has any reference for what she's talking about. Usually, they just go along with it after asking, "What's a dog/cat?" (This is not only comedy gold, but also incredible world building).  

4. Oh, and my favorite little bit of worldbuilding: Everyone says, "Oh my Frog!" instead of "Oh my God!" 

(It's the little things, really.)

The attention to detail in all of the world building really shines through in the Amphibian political structure. Apparently, frogs are at the bottom of the socio-economic hierarchy in Amphibia, even though they make up most of the folk that we see in the show (which, if you ask me, mirrors real socio-economic problems in the real world, but I digress). Toads are entrusted with collecting taxes from frogs and maintaining the peace in the valley in exchange for more power from King Andrias, a newt who reigns in the city of Newtopia.

Watching Amphibia makes me happy, because it's nice to see everything come together in such a cohesive way. Every aspect of worldbuilding in this show makes sense, and the show is better because of it. 

The world of Amphibia feels fleshed out, like a real society with real people (frogs) living in it, and I respect the hell out of the creators for paying such great attention to detail every step of the way.

Category 3: Characters - B+

From left to right: Hop Pop, Anne, Polly, and Sprig

The four main characters of the show are Anne and the Plantars: Hop Pop, Sprig, and Polly. 

Sprig and Anne become fast friends when Anne is transported to Amphibia. He and his younger sister Polly (Who is a pollywog- get it? Get it?) show Anne around their small town of Wartwood, often getting into trouble along the way. Both Sprig and Polly are raised by their grandfather Hopadiah Plantar (or Hop Pop for short) after their parents were tragically eaten during a bird attack years ago. All four of them live just outside of town, where they work on Hop Pop's farm and try to make an honest living farming for the community.

Character-wise, everyone grows to be more complex than I would have imagined when I first started watching this show. 

Let's start with Anne, who, at the beginning of the show starts out as an irresponsible teenager who was easily influenced by her friends. In fact, she actually stole the magical music box that transported her to Amphibia because of peer pressure from her friends. After spending some time in Amphibia with the Planter family, though, Anne comes to realize what it takes to be a true friend and how friends are supposed to treat one another. She eventually comes to think of the Plantars as family, and comes to care about all the townsfolk in Wartwood as well despite them initially treating her poorly.

Unlike Anne, the Plantars grow over the course of the series in more subtle ways.

Sprig Plantar is a 10-year-old frog who is young and energetic, often getting himself and Anne into trouble for being careless or too curious for his own good. He is Anne's best friend throughout the run of the show, and he cares deeply for his family and his friends. Along with Anne, he learns what it means to be a true friend to someone, and to be there for your family when they need you.

Sprig and Polly are brother and sister, and as you can probably expect, they don't get along so well all the time. Whereas Sprig is naturally energetic and curious, Polly is more chaotic and fearless. Polly is interested in danger and adventure and getting into trouble for the sake of it. She's more of a thrill seeker than an adventurer, and she's not afraid of much, despite her small size. Throughout most of the first season, Polly is seen with her pollywog tail and needs her water bucket to keep her moist. Eventually she grows out of needing it so much (which is a good way to show the passage of time, as Polly develops legs and becomes more frog-like like her brother) and learns to protect her family as she grows into a more mature frog.  

Perhaps the most complex character of the bunch, though, is Hopadiah Plantar himself. Of all of the characters in this show, he's probably my favorite. Hop Pop is an old farmer (who is voiced by Bill Farmer, the voice of Goofy since 1987) who secretly dreams of one day being a theater actor. He's a stereotypical overprotective parent who cares for his two grandchildren and always wants what's best for them. However, because he has adopted Anne into the family, this complicates his goal of keeping his grandkids safe. Suddenly he has an outsider to care about, while also making sure that Sprig and Polly are cared for and safe. The concern he has about being unable to do both comes to a head in the show when- SPOILER- Anne finds out that Hop Pop hid her music box in an attempt to protect his family from Anne.

Anne and the Plantars go through a lot in this show, which is why they are the heart of the entire series. Despite their rough patches together, they always manage to work it out in the end and pull together as a family. 

Anne's human friends also play a larger part in the show, but they aren't introduced until the later parts of season one and season two. Sasha Waybright is characterized as the series' secondary villain, who is a former cheerleader who manipulates others into doing whatever she wants. She used to manipulate Anne and Marcy before they were transported to Amphibia, and now she manipulates the frogs and toads in their new home. This revelation about their friendship inevitably leads to Anne having to confront her, and their friendship to suffer for the worse. 

On the other hand, Marcy Wu is a clueless nerd who is always in her own little world. She loves being in Amphibia more than the human world, and is mostly oblivious to the political turmoil going on around them. 

The juxtaposition between all three of the human characters in this show is interesting and compelling, especially because Anne's complicated relationships with her human friends were what led her to Amphibia in the first place.

I didn't even mention the many characters that Anne meets in Wartwood that make recurring appearances in the show, such as Wally, Loggle, and Mayor Toadstool. All of these characters are fun and lively, and they really make Wartwood come to life. 

Overall, the characters of Amphibia are truly what make this show different from other animated shows out there, especially in the earlier seasons. You grow to care about all of them just as Anne does. 

Category 4: Animation- A

It's basically a given that Amphibia would have impeccable animation, based solely on the fact that Disney has produced such high-quality animated content as Phineas & Ferb and Gravity Falls in the past.

Speaking of Gravity Falls, Matt Braly, the creator of Amphibia, used to serve as a director and storyboard artist on Gravity Falls, as well as more recent Disney Channel projects like Big City Greens (which is also very good, by the way). This immediately becomes clear once you reach season two of Amphibia and discover that there is an entire episode that pays homage to Gravity Falls, with frog versions of iconic characters, Grunkle Stan and Soos.

Curator Ponds (frog parody of Grunkle Stan from Gravity Falls) and Frog Soos (a frog parody of Soos from Gravity Falls) in Amphibia.

Amphibia is animated similarly to Gravity Falls due to their use of hand-drawn animation, and it makes the show look phenomenal. All of the character's expressions and line work is so clean that is reminds me of old-school cartoons that used to air back in the early 2000s. Somehow the hand-drawn animation makes the show seem more timeless than if it had been left to computer animation, and I really like the way it looks.

In a weird way, Gravity Falls and Amphibia share more than just their animation style. They seem to share a similar formula as well, with episodic stories that play out over a season that is serialized, leading to an overarching conflict with a bad guy who is attempting to take over the universe. If nothing else, both of these shows demonstrate that the Disney animators can consistently produce shows are phenomenally funny, creative and likeable.  

Category 5: Diversity- B

So, here's something I found out when researching this review: Anne Boonchuy is the first Asian American lead character on a Disney Channel animated show since American Dragon: Jake Long (2005-2007). She's also the first Asian female lead on an animated Disney show.

Disney's last animated TV show about an Asian-American kid, American Dragon: Jake Long (2005-2007).

Depressing news aside, I think it's amazing that Amphibia features a non-white teen lead being transported to a magical land of talking frogs. I especially like that Anne's character is vocally proud of her Thai-American heritage in the show, and she teaches the frogs about Thai cuisine (in season one) and Thai culture (in season three).

I really appreciate this inclusion because Matt Braly (the creator of the show) was also Thai-American. He created the show based on his adventures as a kid visiting family in Bangkok, Thailand. Braly has even stated that he made Anne Thai-American because he never saw many Thai lead characters on TV when he was growing up, and he wanted to represent his culture on screen.

I can really relate to and respect a creator who wants to put elements of themselves and their culture into their work. I can especially respect the desire to show people that there is more out there than what they've normally seen on television, especially in animation, which is already a traditionally white space in America. Braly even went so far as to include his own mother in Amphibia as the voice of Anne's mother, which was a fact that really made me smile when I discovered it.

Despite the fact that Anne was Disney's first animated Asian-American female lead, that doesn't mean that she's the last. Since Amphibia premiered in 2019, Disney produced The Ghost and Molly McGee (2021), an animated show about a young girl with Thai ancestry who lives with a ghost in a haunted house.

Poster for Disney's The Ghost and Molly McGee (2021)

This proves that Disney is making some progress, but it is shocking to consider how behind they are in terms of representation in TV animation. 

Kudos for Matt Braly for wanting to see his own culture on screen and making it happen in Amphibia. I hope that in the future Disney can continue to put more varied cultures in its animation.

Category 6: Kid-Friendliness- A

Amphibia is probably one of the best animated shows I've seen to date. It's lively, it's fun, and most importantly, it's entertaining. Aside from some mild gross-out humor in the early seasons, this show is pretty much perfect for children.

This show's most important theme is trying your best to be a good friend. Everyone in this show struggles with maintaining their friendships at some point, and Amphibia shows us that it is possible to be a good friend so long as you show that you care about the other person. It also teaches us that family is important, and that families should try to stick together, even when they disagree. 

Hell, even when the later seasons of the show feature darker themes, the main themes of the show are still about how power of friendship and family can conquer evil, which I think is pretty damn charming.

As unsubtle as these themes are, they are effective at making this show more likeable. 

At its core, Amphibia is a show is about a few humans and a group of talking amphibians going on an adventure to save their world from the dangers of a magic music box. Objectively, that sounds awesome. I don't think it could get more kid friendly than that.

In fact, kids today should consider themselves lucky to have a show that is this fun, creative and entertaining. Heck, I'm an adult and I consider myself lucky to have watched it.

Overall, Amphibia is a lot of fun! It’s super cute, super funny, and also incredibly creative. That’s worth at least an A- in my book. New episodes from season three are currently premiering on Disney+, and so I recommend checking out the show to get caught up on the saga.

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