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Amphibia Episode 19 Review/Recap

Folks, I am pleased to give you two pieces of good news: one, this episode of Amphibia gave me some material to watch for Halloween this year, and it brought into the final act of the season. Anne’s journey in Amphibia is about to take a drastic turn in this episode as she becomes Frog of the Year. First, though, a scary story!

Recap

Children of the Spore

All Hop Pop wants to do is finish his precious model battleship, but Anne and his grandkids’ roughhousing keeps getting in the way. Desperate to make them listen to her, he rubs their heads with this mysterious elixir he gets from this hooded stranger called Apothecary Gary. It works a little too well: they turn into mindless zombies that do whatever he says. Once he rubs it on them again, they get stuck that way!

It turns out, that “elixir” contains spores from Apothecary Gary, whose really a sentient mushroom possessing a frog’s body. The mushrooms control people’s minds, and the mushroom plans to use them to enslave all of Amphibia. All of Wartwood’s under the creature’s control, but Hop Pop turns the tables by luring them into Bessie’s stable. By sacrificing his model ship, he unleashes the hungry snail, which devours the mushrooms. Hop Pop and the kids apologize to each other, and all is right with the world. Or is it?

Anne of the Year

For all the good deeds she’s done since coming to Wartwood, the town residents declare Anne “Frog of the Year”, much to the shock of Mayor Toadstool. That means that Anne gets to throw her own party, and she wants to make sure she deserves the award. Mostly, she wants to prove Mayor Toadstool wrong. She puts HP in charge of entertainment, Polly handling guests, and Sprig… has to confess his love for Ivy.

It’s obvious that Anne’s letting her desire to prove Toadstool wrong go to her head, and the party becomes a disaster when a giant pond-jumper gets fixed. Working together with Toadstool, Anne saves the town (again) and then admits she doesn’t deserve Frog of the Year.

The townsfolk refute this statement, telling Anne that they voted for her because they’ve seen how far she’s come since she arrived in Amphibia. Even Toadstool admits she deserves the title. The party gets started again, and everything goes perfectly. And, in a shocking twist, Ivy ends up being the one who asks Sprig out!! Everything’s perfect. At that moment, though, Anne meets an old friend on a bridge: Sasha. Who also brought Captain Grime and the Toad army.

Review

The first season is in the endgame now, so it only makes sense that this episode reflects on how far Anne’s come since she started. She was already a good kid before, but Sasha and Marcy’s influence left a dark mark on her. I’ve hesitated to call them her friends altogether. Since she started living in Wartwood, though, she’s helped its residents time and again. She’s become the town’s protector, its friend, and Wartwood wouldn’t be the same without it. She’s on the path to becoming a hero.

In contrast, though, what little we’ve seen of Sasha’s experiences have only reinforced her negative traits. She’s manipulative, ruthless, and potentially dangerous. Now that the two friends are reunited, I fear Anne will learn the hard way that Sasha may not be as great a friend as she remembers. Worse, the toads still have an axe to grind with Wartwood. The lines are drawn for a life-changing showdown. Whatever happens, the status quo’s about to change in Amphibia, and I can’t wait.

Also, I hope we get an Amphibia Halloween special involving the return of the mushrooms.

I give “Children of the Spore” and “Anne of the Year” a 4.5/5

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Click here to see the first episode on YouTube

Amphibia Episode 18 Review/Recap

It’s nice to see a show take the time it needs to round out its secondary cast, but it shouldn’t lose focus on the main character. In this episode of Amphibia, we first see Anne show off some mad skills while learning valuable lessons about teamwork and effort.

Review

The Big Bugball Game

After seeing Anne’s skill at throwing, Hop Pop recruits her to join Wartwood’s Bugball team for their annual Harvest Day game against Mayor Toadstool’s team. As good as Anne is, though, she’s used to playing solo. Toadstool’s side, the townies, uses that to crush her in practice. To get her into shape, the Wartwood team, the farmers, teach her the value of teamwork through a montage of trust-building exercises.

The night of the big game arrives sand with Anne’s newfound appreciation for teamwork, and the Farmers keep up with the Townies. Desperate, Toadstool resorts to cheating by blinding Anne. Thanks to a previous blind-folded exercise though, Anne manages to get past the townies, allowing Sprig to score the winning points. The townies have to spend a week in humiliating turkey costumes, and Anne gets a bug juice dunk for helping them win. Standard sports plot.

Combat Camp

While Hop Pop goes to a Corn Convention for the weekend, he leaves Anne, Sprig, and Polly at a daycare run by a Zoro-esque man named Tritonio. Only it’s not a daycare; it’s a combat camp! For three days, the kids go through basic combat training, but while Sprig and Anne dive right in, Anne hates how Tritonio seems to be singling her out for her failures. It only reminds her of how her teachers back home treated her. Late at night, Tritonio reveals he’s only tough on her because he senses great potential in her, and inspires her to start acting on that.

On their final day of camp, Tritonio has the kids steal a priceless ruby from a train, claiming its not real. Except it is, and Tritonio’s just a thief. Working together, Anne and the Plantar siblings take him down and bring him to justice. While Tritonio may have used them, his teachings inspire Anne to give teachers another chance once she gets home.

Review

I liked his episode, plain and simple. It brought the focus squarely back on Anne after several episodes where I felt she played a secondary role. There was the “Bizarre Bazaar,” but that focused on Anne and Sprig equally. This episode provided some character growth for Anne. With the first season on the verge of wrapping up, I can assume this will lead to a new direction for the show in Season 2. One more serialized and darker in tone.

With that in mind, I loved seeing just how much skill Anne has as a fighter. It’s almost as if she was brought to Amphibia for a reason. What her destiny may be is still unknown, but I think she’ll end up becoming a great hero for Amphibia. I can’t wait to find out.

Also, that tulip farmer was voiced by Matt Braly. Nice of him to play the descended creator, and I hope to see more of him.

I Give “The Big Bugball Game” and “Combat Camp” a 4/5

Click here to see my other animation stuff

Click here to see the first episode on YouTube