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Amphibia Season 2 Episode 2A/2B Review

If you guys haven’t seen the new season of Amphibia yet, then you’re missing out on quality TV right now. It’s not like we can do much this summer, anyway. Having hit the ground running last week, the show maintains its momentum with meme-worthy faces. Not to mention, we see Anne doing what I’m now dubbing as “The Anne Dance.” If that blows up on Social Media, I coined it!

The Ballad of Hopediah Plantar

At the end of last season, we learned that Hop Pop had unintentionally become a symbol of freedom for frogs fed up with the Toads. Ever since learning that, he’s tried to bask in his fame. Only one problem: he’s not exactly the brave kind of frog, as Sprig’s song reminds him. So to prove everyone wrong, Hop Pop picks a fight with a gang of outlaws picking on a town of tiny frogs. BIG MISTAKE! Hop Pop soon finds himself way in over his head and running for his life.

I’ve seen my fair share of stories where a poor schmuck winds up biting off more than they can chew. Yet they stand their ground, and somehow manage to win anyway. This gets delightfully subverted for Hop Pop, however. Even after turning back to stand up to the bandits because it’s the right thing to do, Hop Pop still gets pounded on. However, this makes the bittie frogs go berserk and start tearing into the bandits. If this weren’t a cartoon, the whole thing would be pretty gruesome.

Overall, I’d say Bittyburg goes on my list of fictional towns to avoid; right below Chin Village in Avatar: The Last Airbender.

Anne Hunter

With their food supplies already dry, the Plantar family resorts to hunting for food. Anne, still feeling guilty for everything the family’s doing for her, wants to help out, only for the family to get captured by a Scorpaleo. It’s part-scorpion, part-lion, all nightmare fuel! As a result, Anne has to swallow her pride and learn to hunt the frog way to save the Plantars.

You’d think after all this time, Anne would learn to set aside her pride and what she knows from Earth and just listen to the people of Amphibia. It would save her a lot of trouble in the long run. In this case, though, it was for our benefit to see Anne master the Plantar way of hunting.

1. Sniff the environment and taste the dirt for clues
2. Use the environment to your advantage
3. Do the Plantar family hunting dance.

Behold, the Anne Dance! Before Disney has it taken down for copyrights!

I can already fans trying to turn the Anne Dance into a meme and a bunch of gifs. I just hope no one takes things too far with the fanart (you know what I mean. And if you don’t, good for you).

I personally found the dance itself to be both endearing and hilarious to watch, though. It’s one of the funnier moments on the show thus far, and I hope that it becomes a meme down the line. #AnneDance

Robo-Frog, A Recurring Character?

As if the Anne Dance wasn’t great enough, both segments of this episode ended with a surprise extra character. Remember the factory from the first episode of the Season? Turns out, it managed to finish building what it was making. In this case, a robot frog that reminds me a lot of the robots from Hayao Miyazaki’s film Castle in the Sky. Apparently, it’s been following the Plantars throughout Amphibia, and it shows no signs of stopping.

I had a feeling that the ancient tech found in the ruins would end up playing a role in the show from here on out. Still, I didn’t expect to see the Robo-Frog so soon. What is it’s purpose now that it’s been activated? Are we going to see more of it? Is it connected to the Calamity Box somehow? So many questions to be asked!

I, for one, cannot wait to see more Amphibia next week. And the best part is that I can cover it back to back with The Owl House once again. I skipped this week because it they just showed that episode that already aired in Turkey. Go figure.

#AnneDance

I Give “The Ballad of Hopediah Plantar” and “Anne Hunter” a 4/5, each.

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One Piece Chapter 985 Review/Recap

Well, One Piece goes on break for two weeks, only to come back and pull off a big plot twist. One that, honestly, caught me off guard. In hindsight, though, I think I should have seen it coming in the end. This chapter sees the Wano Arc take a new turn with the unveiling of the New Onigashima Plan.

Recap

In the rear entrance to Onigashima, the Scabbards are confronted by the traitor Kanjuro. Their former comrade knew that the Scabbards would come, even if no one had spotted them yet. It didn’t matter, though: Momonosuke was about to executed in front of everyone. Furthermore, Kanjuro beat the snot out of the kid when he tried to escape. Enraged, O-Kiku clashes with his former friend, while the Scabbards take on ink clones of themselves and Beast Pirate members.

Inside the castle, Yamato reiterates that he wants to bring down his father. Kaido’s kept him in Wano since he was eight, even resorting to explosive cuffs to keep him in line. Otherwise, he’d have left with Ace years ago. Luffy gets the cuffs off, but says warns him he’ll take down Kaido either way. As for Kaido, he announces his master plan with Big Mom in attendance, the New Onigashima Plan. They plan on turning Wano into a Pirate Empire known as New Onigashima. With the strength of the Beast and Big Mom Pirates, they plan on seizing the Ancient Weapons, conquer the world, and gain the One Piece. However, Orochi objects to them taking the Flower Capital. In response, Kaido lops his head clean off.

Kaido then declares that Wano is dead. In its place will come New Onigashima, with Yamato as its Shogun. Orochi’s followers are ordered to choose to become pirates or die. Panicking, Luffy rushes to get to the stage and save Momonosuke before it’s too late.

Review

Let’s recap, because a lot happened this chapter:

• Kanjuro’s facing the Scabbards.
• Kaido and Big Mom are now in the same location
• Big Mom’s captured Zeus, along with Nami and Carrot (Sanji will not like that)
• The Yonko plan to turn Wano into New Onigashima
• Kaido apparently killed Orochi and told his men to join or die.

Did I miss anything? Good, because this was a development I did not expect. Yet I feel like I should have. Orochi may be Shogun, but he’s just a puppet of Kaido’s. Now Kaido simply has no need for him, so he tried to off him. However, I don’t think Orochi would die so easily. I want to see him face justice for his crimes!

Regardless, this New Onigashima Plan’s throwing the conflict for a loop. But this may be a good thing for the Alliance. I can imagine Orochi’s forces will start fighting Kaido and Big Mom’s, and even each other. That will distract them even further. Thus, when the Alliance strikes, they can use the chaos to their advantage.

Bottom line, though, Luffy has to take down Kaido for good. Otherwise, Wano’s a goner. I don’t think the stakes have ever been this high in One Piece, though, and I love it right now!

I Give “The New Onigashima Plan” a 4/5

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Sword Art Online: Alicization- War of Underworld Episode 38 Review/Recap

Okay, people, I will be the first to admit that I had mixed feelings about this episode. Which is not what I wanted to have, since I had been waiting for this moment since Asuna joined the war. On the one hand, this took the moment I waited for since the start of the anime and made it less cool than in my mind. On the other, they closed out with one of the best fights in Alicization, and one that showed us a pretty metal way to die.

LINK START!

Recap

As Asuna looks on, Klein appears in front of her to cut down some of the American players. Then, suddenly, Agil appears and takes out even more. One by one, all of Asuna and Kirito’s friends and allies begin to dive into Underworld. Lisbeth’s speech to the players of Alfheim Online managed to win over some of them. In total, 2,000 players converted their accounts, and Yui was able to send them into Underworld. The sight of all her friends coming to help brings tears to Asuna’s eyes. Her resolve strengthened, Asuna and her friends begin to push the Americans back, while Silica and Lisbeth help the Underworlders heal. The battle takes a new turn.

On the Ocean Turtle, the Project Alicization staff realize that the presence of all these players means that word of Underworld will become public, though they think its for the best. Now the people of Underworld can’t be used for war. Then Higa notices something about Kirito: whenever the people (girls) closest to him came into Underworld, his brain showed activity. This gives Higa an idea. If they connect his fluctlight to that of Asuna, Leafa, and Sinon, they can heal him.

In the Underworld, the clash between Bercouli and Vecta continues. Even though he’s fighting like crazy, he’s still outgunned. Desperate, Bercouli gambles on using his sword’s ability to manipulate time on one last attack. Vecta comes close to stopping him. However, thanks to a last minute save by Bercouli’s dragon, the Integrity Knight’s able to use his time abilities to attack Vecta’s past self. As a result, Vecta’s obliterated. Alice awakens not long afterwords, only to learn that the effort was too much for Bercouli. Her mentor and father figure died as a result. Still, a pretty metal way to die.

Review

Like I said at the start, I had mixed feelings about this episode. This was supposed to be the moment when the cavalry appears. In most big battle scenes, there’s a moment when the heroes get help when all hope’s lost. The Knights of the Vale in Game of Thrones, the portal scene in Avengers: Endgame. It’s a crowd-pleaser and necessary for impossible foes. That said, I was hoping the moment where all the friends Asuna and Kirito have made in the series would take up more time in the episode. This was the perfect moment for all the secondary characters to get a shining moment.

Instead, though, we wasted a third of the episode on more exposition that could have been summed up pretty easy: they’re gonna use the girls love for Kirito+anime logic+anime bs to save him.

What I did love, though, was the fight between Bercouli and Vecta. It was visually impressive, with some of the best animation in the series. In addition, the fact that Bercouli took out Vecta before dying was a cool thing to watch. Not to mention, I felt bad seeing Alice cry over her mentor’s death. Bercouli, though, has no regrets. He kept Alice safe, and Underworld can live on, along with Fanatio and their unborn child. Yeah, Fanatio’s pregnant with Bercouli’s kid. And killing a God-Emperor’s a metal way to die.

The fight’s not over yet, though. Gabriel’s diving back into Underworld with his personal account, and if Vassago’s who I think he is, the heroes are in big trouble. We need Kirito soon!

I Give “End to Eternity” a 2.8/5. Could have been better, but a good fight at the end.

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