Amphibia

Amphibia is an American-Canadian-Australian animated television series created by Evan Tackett and produced by Bear Bones Productions, CinéGroupe, and Bear Bones Australia for Kids' WB and YTV that aired from June 17, 1999, to May 14, 2002. The series features the voices of Brianne Siddall, Ziggy Miles, Bill Farmer, and Cathy Cavadini.

Premise
The series chronicles the adventures of an independent, fearless and brave Thai-American girl named Anne Boonchuy. On her 13th birthday, Anne is peer-pressured into stealing a mysterious music box that magically transports her and her two best friends Sasha Waybright and Marcy Wu to the world of Amphibia, a wild marshland tropical island full of anthropomorphic amphibians and threatening creatures, where they are separated from each other. Anne is taken in by the Plantars, a family of frogs that consists of excitable young Sprig; unpredictable and adventurous baby pollywog Polly; and overprotective and traditional grandfather Hop Pop who live on a farm in the town of Wartwood. As she bonds with her newfound family, Anne gradually learns what it means to be a hero and develop a true friendship, all the while trying to find her friends and return home. Sasha allies with Captain Grime, leader of the warfaring toads of Toad Tower, who seek to control their home of Frog Valley. Marcy ends up in Newtopia, the capital of Amphibia and the seat of the government and home to the king of Amphibia.

In the second season, Anne and the Plantars go on a road trip to Newtopia, to learn the secrets of the music box, AKA the Calamity Box and find a way to get Anne home. There, Anne reunites with Marcy, who offers to help restore the box's power through a series of ancient trials, unaware that Amphibia's ruler, King Andrias, secretly has his own plans for them. Meanwhile, Sasha and Grime plot to invade Newtopia and overthrow the monarch, allowing the toads to rule over all of Amphibia.

In the third and final season, Anne and the Plantars are transported to Anne's home in the suburbs of East Los Angeles. Anne must now help the frog family adjust to the human world and keep their identities a secret while searching for a way to return to Amphibia and stop Andrias's invasion of the Multiverse. When they return, they discover Sasha and Grime have started a resistance force in Wartwood and aid them in their rebellion against Andrias, who is using Marcy as a vessel for his master, an entity known as the Core.

Development
On February 19, 1998, Amphibia was greenlit by Bear Bones Productions alongside The Owl House with an order of 20 episodes. The series was created and executive-produced by Evan Tackett, previously a storyboard artist on Winx Club. According to interviews, he had been working on the series for almost two years before being greenlit, though he began to conceive the project while work on the original run of Winx Club began to conclude. Evan had been developing the series with prototype designs of the protagonists in early 1995.

On May 15, 1999, Bear Bones renewed Amphibia for a second season of 20 episodes ahead of its premiere.

On June 23, 2000, the show was renewed for a third season of 19 episodes ahead of its second-season premiere. In a interview with The New York Times, Tackett referred to Amphibia as a "three act story" with season two as the "2nd act". He further clarified that he had "structured the story for 3 [seasons] currently", implying that Season 3 will serve as the final season of the show. Later on March 16, 2002, a storyboard artist confirmed that season 3 is set to be the show's last.

On February 10, 2002, episodes 10 and 11 of the third season were leaked by anonymous internet groups. Evan Tackett later confirmed the leaks in an interview with Animation Magazine.

Writing
The show was based on Tackett's childhood trips to Bangkok, Thailand. The series' tone was inspired by films by Aardman Animation and Studio Ghibli, while its storytelling format was inspired by Time Warped. Tackett was also inspired by video games such as The Legend of Zelda and Chrono Trigger when creating the series. According to Tackett, one of the reason he created the series is because he wanted a show whose lead character had a similar arc to Time Warped character Erika, as he felt that "to have this character change so drastically was so rewarding, and that’s why [he] knew [he] wanted [his] own show to have some of the element as well". According to Tackett, the character of Sprig went through several changes through development, with the developers constantly giving him different ages, before choosing to make the character a younger brother-like figure for Anne.

The series marks the first animated show to have a Thai-American lead. Tackett chose to make the series' lead character, Anne Boonchuy, Thai-American, because he wanted more Thai characters in television series, owing to Tackett being part-Thai himself. According to Tackett, Anne was loosely inspired by his great-grandmother. He described Anne being Thai-American as "a number one priority", as he wanted Thai-American kids to see themselves reflected on television. Tackett also made the character dark-skinned due to his mother's family being tanned.

Tackett chose to make the series to be centered around a frog-populated world because he felt that, due to how frogs change from tadpoles to frogs, they were perfect for the series' theme of change. Tackett also implemented themes involving social classes and environmental awareness into the series, with Anne interacting with frogs of several different social backgrounds and learning to "appreciate the natural world around her".

Three of the series' four writers are women, which Tackett felt was necessary due to the show centering on a teenage girl. Storyboard artists are allowed to pitch their own ideas for an episode, a practice Tackett took from his time working on Time Warped. Tackett wanted the series to feature intense sequences, yet still be appropriate for all ages, constantly checking-in whether a scene is too terrifying for children and whether the storyboard is what the scene is intended to be.

Casting and voice recording
On March 25, 1999, it was revealed that Brianne Siddall would star in the series as the voice of Anne Boonchuy. In April 1999, it was reported that Ziggy Miles would voice Sprig Plantar in the series. On May 12, 1999, it was reported that Cathy Cavadini and Bill Farmer joined the cast as the voices of Polly and Hopediah "Hop Pop" Plantar, respectively. Over 50 actresses auditioned for the role of Anne, including Jeannie Elias and Lauren Tom. While the role ultimately went to Siddall, Tackett casted Elias and Janice Kawaye as Anne's human friends, Sasha and Marcy, respectively.

Animation
Wang Film Productions in Taiwan, Sunwoo Entertainment in South Korea, and TMS-Kyokuichi Corporation in Japan each provided animation services. The Australian animators spend three to four months working on pre-production, with an episode taking about nine months to complete. Over forty staff members at Bear Bones Productions and CinéGroupe between Los Angeles, California; Sydney, Australia, and Montreal, Quebec, Canada also worked on the series.

Music
Thomas Chase, Steve Rucker and James L. Venable composed the score for the series. During production on the series, Yail Darlene pitched to the producers a song, which they ended up using in the season 1 episode "Taking Charge".

Marketing
On July 10, 1998, during the My Hero Academia and Malachi and Friends panel at San Diego Comic-Con, Bear Bones released an early version of the intro for the series.

Amphibia also included shorts, beginning with Teen Girl in a Frog World. The shorts premiered on September 4, 1999 through Bear Bones' website, and were released through the home media releases.

Home media releases
The series was released on DVD by Paramount Home Entertainment.

Critical reception
Amphibia received a positive reception from critics. Common Sense Media 's Emily Ashby rated the show 4 out of 5 stars and praised the series for its characters and themes, writing that "Sprig and Anne's adventures are a joy to behold, mostly thanks to their delightfully compatible personalities and the sweet friendship that develops between them" and that "the story illustrates issues like bullying and emotional manipulation in ways that will resonate with kids and tweens and can prompt discussions about the topics". Bekah Burbank of LaughingPlace.com praised the series' ability to balance its humor and its terror elements, as well as its pacing, characters, and animation, stating that "Amphibia is clever and goofy with plenty of jokes to keep kids laughing and just enough scary content to hold their attention. The show moves quickly and is broken into two 11-minute episodes that, at least for the premiere, form one complete chapter. The animation is bouncy and colorful and the characters are a delight". Collider 's Dave Trumbore gave the series' first two episodes a 4 stars rating, feeling that they "[served] as a great introduction to the series".