Cane Crazy
With the apparent fact that Anne getting home is not going to be easy, her only option is to just settle down with the Plantars like she’s one of the family. As a result, a majority of these cartoons are going to be very episodic and driven by standalone events or antics. However, with such a strong dynamic between Anne and the Plantars, times like these are sure to be entertaining.
As this cartoon shows, the center of whatever happens is Anne still trying to get adjusted to such an extraordinary new environment. The biggest example is how she doesn’t react well to what Hop Pop has prepared for chow time. When her apparent disgust sparks a snippy remark from Hop Pop, Anne delights in joking around by mocking his mannerisms and customs. Getting legit laughs from Sprig and Polly fuels this behavior, but also supports the idea that this is mostly in good fun and not too malicious.
Then after Hop Pop goes to his study in disgust, conflict comes from Anne going too far with her messing around when it leads her to breaking a cane that belongs to Hop Pop. She already notices the effects of her brashness, but then learns that this matter is more serious than normal. Sprig tells her that the cane is very special to Hop Pop, being passed down from his ancestors and all that sort of thing. With that, Hop Pop’s earlier threat of throwing Anne out for not respecting him taking her in has a lot of weight to it. Plus, it’s clearer than ever with the dire possibility of Anne needing to go back to dwelling in the elements.
Now Anne, Sprig, and Polly have to act fast to fix the cane before Hop Pop finds out, and all throughout, their dynamic keeps this simple setup very enjoyable. Anne is very anxious to find a quick fix to the mess she caused. Sprig is willing to help Anne, but is also capable of being friendly and pleasant to whoever they come across. While she’s mostly comic relief here, Polly stands out the most with aside comments like only helping Anne for candy, and gleefully commenting on morbid sights. There are also interactions from another one of Wartwood's various citizens, Loggle the woodman. His gimmick is saying something suggesting he can help Anne with long emphases on affirmative words before ending with something negative, all because of a voice box injury. He does give an idea of how to replace the cane though by showing the tree where it came from.
When getting a branch from the tree, there’s a touch of creative staging when the tree turns out to be a giant insect with a wooden exterior. As it doesn’t take kindly to getting its branches pulled off, it gives chase to Anne and the others. It’s a fine way to kick up the action in the climax, and comes with a fitting end of Anne taking it out with a jar of termites she throws like a grenade. However, she can’t keep the cane because of the damage caused to Loggle’s shop from the attack. This could mean she’s kicked out, and that prospect does lead to Sprig and Polly emotionally parting ways with her in their own unique ways. However, Hop Pop was actually never going to throw Anne out, claiming she reminds him of himself at her age, so the dynamic sticks. Since there wouldn’t be a show without Anne with the Plantars though, you can kind of tell things would turn out like this. Not to mention, the cane doesn’t have much weight to it, only being brought up in this cartoon, so it’s not as engaging as other parts of this season.
Ultimately, this isn’t the best
of the series, but it’s still got the makings of solid entertainment.
B-
Flood, Sweat, and Tears
Episodic stories commonly have plots you can’t help but find very familiar, like setups that are easy to guess from the moment they start. Nevertheless, they’re only an issue if they don’t stand out with their own charm, be it from the characters going through the motions or slight twists to the formula. Thankfully, this cartoon specializes in both things to make the use of familiar plots work.
The character charm is practically a given as this show has just about proven to be good at crafting its cast immediately. The short opening scene of Anne and Sprig hanging out together and saying what a great team they are is huge on appeal; “Spranne against the world!” indeed. Then the bulk of the story is soon set into motion when Anne’s makeshift room in the Plantars’ basement becomes flooded with river water. Needing a new room while her old one is flooded, Sprig immediately allows Anne to bunk in with him, although Hop Pop warns that this isn’t such a good idea. After all, there is some truth that you really don’t know someone until you’re sharing a space, and from his words, it sounds like he knows from personal experience. From then on, he mostly spends the cartoon giving the same suggestion for Anne to just take the living room couch and get ignored.
As for Anne and Sprig, with them sharing a room, they're all set up to start getting on each other’s nerves despite their great friendship. Sure enough, they get along fine at first, but as the nights pass, their usual habits get really bothersome. Sprig’s room is constantly a mess and his sleep-croaking keeps Anne up, while Anne is constantly keeping Sprig up with never-ending teen gossip and snack-munching. Plus, the room is either too cold for Sprig or too hot for Anne. No doubt these arrangements are too difficult for either of them, admittedly predictably, but there are the things that make it stand out from normal. While Anne and Sprig are clearly annoyed by each other’s habits, they always try to accept them no matter how hard it is, all in the name of maintaining their friendship. I mean, right at the start of the series, it was shown how much they desperately depend on having friends.
The biggest example of this is when Sprig starts getting fed up with sharing his room, but Anne sees photos of them enjoying each other’s company on her phone. She genuinely tries to invoke those same happy feelings in the name of remaining friends, adding good heart. However, when her actions accidentally break one of Sprig’s prized action figures, tensions finally come to a head. They both go down to Anne’s room to fix the leak to be done with all this, and they both aggressively point out that they’re trying to break their bond. Thankfully, harsh words and mad tones only last for a few seconds when they’re interrupted by an attack from a giant river creature in the flood waters. They take it out with their game skills from the start of the cartoon which demonstrates their good dynamic. Afterwards, because they talked about the problems they had with sharing a room, they easily maintain their friendship as Anne moves to the couch after all. Supporting each other’s needs from a distance makes for a good heartfelt ending between friends, but I do wish the cartoon ended here instead of the flood reaching the couch. Seriously, what was up with that?
Despite that and
the familiar story, this cartoon is a good example of how fun and endearing the
familiar can be through exactly what’s done with it.
A
The Ranking
1. Best Fronds
2. Anne or
Beast?
3. Flood,
Sweat, and Tears
4. Cane Crazy
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