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Spider-Sprig
As an after effect of sticking primarily to a more light-hearted tone, something prominent with this season are cartoons best described as forgettable. It has fortunately turned out a consistent streak of quality so far with many of its lighter stories having more to them than just antics. This cartoon, however, is one of the times where it becomes an issue that this season isn’t taking what’s at stake as seriously as it should.
The plot has a basic setup of Sprig wanting to be a hero after getting inspiration from a movie. His desires are dismissed by Anne maturely pointing out that the Plantars need to keep a low profile. This is the closest the cartoon gets to acknowledging the serious things the protagonists are facing, but the warnings hardly matter in the grand scheme. Despite the clear reasons to not go through with rash decisions, Sprig goes out to present himself as a hero anyway. Donning a fabricated costume from ratty clothes and a sock to put over his head and utilizing his long tongue, Sprig becomes everyone’s friendly neighborhood Frog-Man.
Now some might expect Sprig to get over excited about the idea of being a hero and ultimately cause a lot of problems despite intending to solve them while he's oblivious to it all. Actually, Sprig is very skilled and competent as a hero with his tongue proving very effective in saving people, particularly in issues as big as stopping a runaway bus. From there, Sprig makes a good name for himself as a hero with Frog-Man quickly becoming a big hit with everyone whenever there’s trouble. Sprig may mainly be doing this for fame, but for how well he pulls everything off, the fame feels deserved, the most notable instance from a girl named Molly Jo.
Then there’s something to serve as a threat to Sprig’s new reputation, a local safety officer named Robert. He values his job so much that he can’t stand another person doing it for him, making him look useless. Considering how good Sprig is at keeping others safe, Robert ends up lacking sympathy, coming off as frustratingly petty, weakening the conflict. There does seem to be another attempt at connecting this adventure to bigger events with Robert getting a robot arm to fight Frog-Man left behind during a recent robot fight. However, it’s here where Robert shows no good points in his goal as he engages Sprig in an intense battle. The battle itself is well-executed though and fits the cartoon’s intended purpose as an homage to the superhero genre. Still, it’s clear that for all of Robert’s talk about safety, it’s concerning that he shows no regard for it, so it makes little sense for him to be a safety officer.
With the destruction the fight causes, both Robert and Sprig are brought to their senses by Molly Jo who calls them out for valuing fame over safety. They both get her point and do their part to fix the damage they caused, but the resolution still has concerns. In addition to how low Robert the reported safety officer had to sink for the conflict to work, it doesn’t feel like Sprig needed this harsh a scolding. He clearly knew what he was doing in keeping others safe and only fought Robert because he started everything. Honestly, the need to keep a low profile is a much better reason for him to give up his hero role than his big desire for fame. That said, there is good heart from him confiding all this to Anne at the end.
This cartoon is ultimately a solid fun time and good tribute to superheroes, but the lack of importance to bigger things and faulty conflicts and characters weaken its memorability.
B-
Olivia and Yunan
Once again, the show turns to one of Anne’s friends left in Amphibia to offer major plot development more in line with the more dramatic tone fitting Season 2’s end.
It even gets off to a promising start by opening with a flashback to when Marcy was first introduced to Amphibia after landing in the capital of Newtopia. This flashback also gives welcome development to the character of Lady Olivia. Before, she was portrayed as just an obedient royal advisor making sure the king and even some of the visitors to the city abided by the rules. Now, the audience gets to see more layers to her such as her passions and motivation in life. In the flashback, she expresses great fondness for the nature and wildlife that make up Amphibia and explains all of this to Marcy.
This reveal is to build sympathy towards its present state revealed immediately after this look into the past. Because of King Andrias’ rise to power, he’s begun to rid the land of its wildlife and replace them with factories to create more robots for his invasion. He also appoints Olivia as well as the revered General Yunan, who’s had a few appearances with only one huge role in the past, to force Amphibia’s populace to work in these factories. All the while, Andrias appears to be getting guidance from an unknown higher being, building strong mystery and raising the stakes.
In fact, they rise so much that Olivia and Yunan get the mind to break from following Andrias’ orders and try to put a stop to his mad reign. They figure the best chance to beat him is Marcy, who’s been known to impress her peers with her extreme intellect, but first they must save her from her healing tank. The journey to her is riddled with supernatural forces that have been seen imprisoned in the castle basement in the past. Now they’re taken note of as Olivia and Yunan advance in their mission. They overcome them and reach Marcy, and besides acting out of it when freed from her tank, she seems to function almost flawlessly, like she’s recovered from her impalement.
Then there’s a showing of these three characters as a team when surrounding eyes project their worst fears to stop them from escaping. Olivia and Marcy’s fears are shown to be very deep and psychological; Olivia fears disappointment from her mother for failing to protect Amphibia’s wildlife while Marcy dreads Anne and Sasha hating her since she transported them to this world on purpose. They’re portrayed as monstrous beasts that tie figuratively into their states of mind very well. Yunan’s fear is simpler, relating to a grubhog attack when she was young, but it shows she has a vulnerability for all her show of strength. They all manage to overcome their fears when they find the eyes projecting them and take them out, building anticipation for more of this group.
Then they’re all discovered by Andrias who instantly breaks this trio apart for the rest of the season. Targeting Marcy, he announces that he is going to use her intellectual body as a vessel for the being he’s been talking to called The Core. It’s an amalgam of all the great minds throughout history, and considering that, it makes sense it would want a smart figure like Marcy as the vessel. Since the process involves possessing her body, this notion isn’t any less horrific for both the audience and the characters. Even Andrias dreads having to do this from how he reacts to this happening, and future cartoons prove that he means it when he says he likes Marcy and always has.
For now, the season finally lives up to its dark promises set up by the last one, especially with how Marcy is made to suffer even more. It wasn’t enough that she was almost killed, but now she’s lost all her free will as if the narrative is saying she hasn’t had enough. In any case, this cartoon is a whole new layer of excitement for Season 3 to greatly built anticipation for where the show will go from here.
A+
Fan Art
Series Ranking
1.
True
Colors
2.
Hopping
Mall
3.
Reunion
4.
Marcy at the Gates
5.
Anne-sterminator
6.
Olivia and Yunan
7.
Toad Tax
8.
The First Temple
9.
Turning Point
10.
Battle of the Bands
11.
Barrel’s
Warhammer
12.
Anne vs Wild
13.
The Domino Effect
14.
The Third Temple
15.
Toadcatcher
16.
Prison Break
17.
The Second Temple
18.
Temple Frogs
19.
A Day at the Aquarium
20.
Mr. X
21.
Anne of the Year
22.
Contagi-Anne
23.
The
Shut-In
24.
Best Fronds
25.
After
the Rain
26.
Family Shrub
27.
Fixing
Frobo
28.
The New Normal
29.
The Dinner
30.
Hop-Popular
31.
Anne Hunter
32.
Wally and Anne
33.
Children of the Spore
34.
Fight at the Museum
35.
Friend
or Frobo
36.
Sprig’s
Birthday
37.
A Night at the Inn
38.
Bessie
and MicroAngelo
39.
Handy Anne
40.
Scavenger Hunt
41.
Lily Pad Thai
42.
Dating Season
43.
Anne or Beast?
44.
Combat Camp
45.
Little Frogtown
46.
Cursed!
47.
Thai
Feud
48.
Snow Day
49.
Civil Wart
50.
Maddie and Marcy
51.
Stakeout
52.
Croak and Punishment
53.
Taking Charge
54.
Flood, Sweat, and Tears
55.
Bizarre Bazaar
56.
The Plantars Check In
57.
The Sleepover to End All Sleepovers
58.
Wax Museum
59.
Return
to Wartwood
60.
Sprig Gets Schooled
61.
Swamp and Sensibility
62.
Trip to the Archives
63.
Toad
to Redemption
64.
Anne Theft Auto
65.
Adventures in Catsitting
66.
Hop Luck
67.
New
Wartwood
68.
Ivy on the Run
69.
Night
Drivers
70.
Quarreler’s
Pass
71.
Hop Pop and Lock
72.
Plantar’s Last Stand
73.
Fort in the Road
74.
A Caravan Named Desire
75.
The Big Bugball Game
76.
Fiddle Me This
77.
Truck Stop Polly
78.
Family Fishing Trip
79.
Hop ‘Til You Drop
80. Spider-Sprig
81.
The Ballad of Hoppediah Plantar
82.
Girl Time
83.
Breakout Star
84.
Grubhog Day
85.
Cane Crazy
86.
Lost in Newtopia
87.
Sprig vs Hop Pop
88.
Cracking Mrs. Croaker
Be sure to stay tuned for the review of the next episode taking place entirely with Anne. There's a jarring light-hearted escapade about Hop Pop trying to make it as an actor again, and a supposed break in getting a portal back to Amphibia.
If you would like to check out other Amphibia reviews on this blog, click here for the guide made especially for them.
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