RJ Writing Ink

A Rundown of the Amphibia/The Owl House Panel for SDCC 2021

This has to be the panel I was most looking forward to at Comic Con this year, and for good reason. If you follow my blog, then you’ll know that I’ve kept up with Amphibia and The Owl House since day one. And while I’m bummed that I couldn’t write this for the people at The Game of Nerds, I knew that I had to do this anyway. The cast and creators of Amphibia and The Owl House joined together to sit back and talk about these two great shows. THE PROPHECY HAS BEEN FULFILLED!!!

Amphibia Gets Big News On Season 3

While the panel was supposed to be about Disney Animation as a whole, everyone knew that it was going to focus on Amphibia and The Owl House. After all, they’re two of the biggest cartoons Disney’s got right now. A good portion of the first part of the panel was spent talking about The Owl House’s currently airing second season. We even got a look at the storyboard process for the episodes. However, once things switched over to Amphibia, things got kicked into high gear.

If you watched the Season Two finale to Amphibia, then you know how big a cliffhanger it left off on. An Avatar: The Last Airbender Season Two finale level cliffhanger. Andrias proved to be a dimension-conquering tyrant, Anne went Super Saiy-Anne Blue, and Marcy? And the season ended with Anne and the Plantar’s waking up back on Earth. Needless to say, there was a lot to unpack.

Now, two months later, we got our first look at Season Three of Amphibia. And the results left many fans in tears…and then stitches.

My Thoughts And Premiere Date

Season Three of Amphibia starts off firing on all cylinders, with Anne reuniting with her parents, and the Boonchuy’s being introduced to her frog family, the Plantar’s. I practically cried when Anne got her reunion with her parents, only to laugh at how the Plantar’s jumped the gun. Clearly, this will take some getting used to on the Boonchuy’s part. In addition, Matt Braly confirmed that time passed the same on Amphibia as it does on Earth, so yes: Anne, Sasha, and Marcy have been missing for months. This will undoubtedly have consequences down the line, as the authorities will want to know where Anne’s been. That, and the Plantar’s will have to keep a low profile, or convince everyone they’re just cosplayers. Either way, the third season’s going to be amazing.

But that’s not all. While it wasn’t revealed in the panel itself, we got confirmation about the release date:

But wait, there’s more! Screenrant confirmed in this article that the third season will feature a boatload of guests. We’ve got Kate Miccuci, the voice of Webby on DuckTales, and Anika Noni Rose. If you don’t know who that is, she plays Tiana, the heroine of the Disney film The Princess and the Frog. So, this seems very fitting. And the best part: we’re getting an Amphibia Christmas special featuring music composed by REBECCA SUGAR! As in, creator of Steven Universe Rebecca Sugar.

The Crossover We All Dreamed Of

To end this stellar panel off, we got to the hear the casts of both shows do a table-reading of a crossover between Amphibia and The Owl House. You can watch it in the panel on YouTube, but it’s as fun as we hoped it would be.

Getting to see both of these shows working side by side really reminded me just how much I love them. They both share their roots with Gravity Falls, which makes them work so well together. I can’t wait to see how both shows turn out, and I can’t wait for October 2nd. Disney is on fire this year with its animation!

The Owl House Season 2, Episode 7

It goes without saying, but The Owl House is one of the best cartoons currently airing on TV. The character’s are great, the world’s imaginative, and it’s got great talent behind it. In addition, it made Disney history with Luz being its first bisexual lead. Now, The Owl House’s Mouse House history again. This week’s episode of the show, “Eda’s Requiem,” gave us Disney’s first non-binary character, Raine Whispers. Not only that, it also gave us a glimpse into the life of Eda the Owl Lady.

How Eda Copes With Changes In Her Life

A lot has changed for Eda the Owl Lady since the show started. When she was first introduced, Eda was a relative loner and the strongest Witch on the Boiling Isles. As of now, though, she’s lost most of her power, to the point where not even the Emperor’s Coven is bothering to go after her. On the plus side, Luz has helped her open up to others more. As a result, she’s mended things with her sister and Mom, and it’s all but stated that she views Luz as a surrogate daughter. Yet as this episode shows, her newfound attachments can lead to loneliness.

Luz has made it clear that she intends to go back to Earth one day, and King’s now on a quest to find his Dad. So, this episode sees Eda naturally worried about eventually being left alone. She’ll have Hooty, but that’s about it. Thus, a chance meeting with an old acquaintance/flame leads her to team up with a group of Bards rebelling against Emperor Belos.

Enter Raine Whispers, the new head of the Bard Coven. While their shyness and aversion to being in front of crowds seems like the last thing you’d want in a bard, inside Raine is a fiery determination. They’ve seen part of what Belos has planned for the Day of Unity, and whatever it is, scares him. Enough that he goes with other Witches to free Wild Witches, something Eda gladly joins in.

The Story Behind Eda’s Requiem

On the surface, joining a group of rebels against Belos seems like a classic Eda move. She thinks that what Belos’ doing is wrong, and given everything we know, she’s right to think so. However, I could tell right away the real reason why Eda suddenly joins this group of rebels: to cope with her sorrow over Luz and King eventually leaving her.

Several times during the episode, Eda tries playing music on an instrument Raine may have gotten her. However, when she does, her curse/emotional state affects the magic, causing it to corrupt and destroy all it touches. That includes other magic. Implications aside, Raine thinks Eda’s Requiem could be what they need to beat the other Coven heads after they’re caught in an ambush. The two look ready to go down fighting the heads of the Abomination and Beast Coven. Yet when Raine sees Eda has King and Luz, they sacrifice themselves so that Eda can escape.

By the episode’s end, Eda seems to come to terms with the fact that Luz and King may leave her one day. Fortunately, that day might not happen for a long time. More importantly, in a livestream on Penstagram, King reveals that he’s legally getting his name changed to “King Clawthorne,” making Eda cry. The moral of the story is that though people may leave to live their own lives, bonds like that of the Owl House are hard to break. Eda’s Requiem is not today.

The Darkness of The Coven System

Heartfelt moments aside, “Eda’s Requiem” also showed us how far Belos is willing to go for this “Day of Unity”. He’s hunting down wild Witches and enslaving them to the Coven System because he needs as much magic as possible for the Day of Unity. Given how it seems meant to merge the Boiling Isles with Earth, it makes sense why he needs so much magic. However, as Raine reveals, anyone who refuses to join his cause will disappear, never to be seen again. More importantly, rather than punish Raine for their rebellion, Kikimura seems to use their Coven brand to imprison them. In other words, Belos can’t afford any slip-ups.

Whatever Belos plans on the Day of Unity, it cannot be good for the Boiling Isles. Shoot, I wouldn’t be surprised if said plans involve sacrificing most of the Isles population. One way or another, Belos needs to be stopped, and Luz and Eda may be the only ones who can. I eagerly look forward to seeing where the overarching plot of the show goes from here.

Come Back for My Look at the Amphibia/The Owl House Panel

Even though COVID-19 has kept San Diego Comic Con from meeting in person two years in a row, the convention’s still going on this weekend. As with last year, SDCC’s being done through online panels. And guess what? This afternoon, we’ve got a joint panel with Amphibia and The Owl House. Come back here this evening as I give my thoughts on the panel and talk about what it went over. Or go check my friends at The Game of Nerds for their coverage of SDCC.

I Give “Eda’s Requiem” A 4/5

Stray Observations

• That fanfic lady from the first episode came back! I wondered what happened to her!

• Those Coven heads are crazy strong. The Abomination guy could turn himself into one!
• The Abomin-ton’s are now being used by the Emperor’s Coven as elite guards.

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