Amphibia

Amphibia is an American-Canadian-Australia animated television series created by Evan Tackett and produced by Bear Bones Productions, CinéGroupe and Bear Bones Australia for Kids' WB and YTV. The series features the voices of Brianne Siddall, Ziggy Miles, Bill Farmer, and Cathy Cavadini. It premiered on 1999.

On May 15, 1999, a month before the series premiere, the series was renewed for a second season which premiered on 2000. Ahead of the second-season premiere, the series was renewed for a third season.

Premise
The series chronicles the adventures of an independent and fearless 13-year-old Thai-American girl named Anne Boonchuy. After stealing a mysterious music box on her birthday at the advice of her friend, Sasha Waybright, Anne is magically transported to the world of Amphibia, a wild marshland tropical island full of anthropomorphic amphibians and threatening creatures. There Anne meets the excitable young frog named Sprig Plantar; unpredictable and adventurous baby pollywog Polly Plantar, the youngest member of the Plantar family; and overprotective and traditional grandfather Hop Pop who will guide her to be a true hero while discovering the first true friendship of her life as she lives with her newfound family. In addition, she also discovers that Sasha has sided with the villainous Captain Grime.

In season two, Anne and the Plantars go on a road trip to Amphibia's capital Newtopia to figure out the mystery behind the Calamity Box and to find a way to get Anne, Marcy, and Sasha back home. While Anne reunites with Marcy, Newtopia's King Andrias secretly has plans for them. Meanwhile, Sasha and her mentor Grime, the exiled captain, plan to invade Newtopia.

Main characters

 * Anne Boonchuy (voiced by Brianne Siddall as a teenager, Mae Whitman as a child) - A 13-year-old Thai-American human girl who originally resided on Earth until a magical chest, known as the Calamity Box, transported her to Amphibia alongside her friends Sasha and Marcy. She is a self-assured and fearless teen with the spirit of an adventurer. Anne is the heart and voice of reason of the three girls. When she first arrives in Frog Valley, she loses her right shoe which is later found by one of the toads of Toad Tower.
 * Sprig Plantar (voiced by Ziggy Miles) - A 10-year-old adventurous and curious pink frog who becomes Anne's first true best friend. He is a very adventurous and energetic frog child, both qualities that can bring him to adventure and into trouble respectively. Despite acting carelessly at times, he is utterly loyal to his friends and family, and will ultimately do what is right in the end
 * Hopediah "Hop Pop" Plantar (voiced by Bill Farmer) - Sprig and Polly's 68-year-old traditional, strict, and overprotective grandfather and farmer who runs the family farm. He has watched over Sprig and Polly since they lost their parents as revealed in "Hopping Mall."
 * Polly Petunia Plantar (voiced by Cathy Cavadini) - Sprig's polliwog sister who is an outgoing and fearless tadpole. She loves adventure, monsters, and having fun with her family. Although she is young, she has the heart of an explorer.
 * Bessie (vocal effects provided by Dee Bradley Baker) - A giant snail who serves as the Plantar family's mode of transportation. It is revealed in “Anne Theft Auto” that Hop Pop won Bessie in a bid to determine who gets to keep her. By season 2, Bessie pulls the Fwagon that the Plantars ride in during their trip to Newtopia.

Wartwood inhabitants

 * Mayor Toadstool (voiced by Stephen Root) - A toad who is the corrupt, rude, dangerous, greedy, and arrogant mayor of Wartwood Swamp. He has a tendency to raise the taxes on anything. Despite his flaws, he can do something nice and even do the unexpected for the greater good.
 * Toadie (voiced by Tom Kenny) - A small frog who is Mayor Toadstool's loyal assistant.
 * Buck Leatherleaf (voiced by Billy West) - The sheriff of Wartwood who enforces the rules.
 * Walliam "One-Eyed Wally" Ribbiton (voiced by James Patrick Stuart) - A local town vagrant with one working eye and half a shoe on one foot who plays a caterpillar-shaped accordion. He comes from a rich family that resides in Ribbitvale but wants to live the life of a vagrant
 * Sadie Croaker (voiced by June Foray) - An old lady with a cataract in her left eye. She runs Croaker Dairy where she sells dairy products.
 * Archie (vocal effects provided by Baker) - Sadie's pet spider.
 * Felicia Sundew (voiced by Russi Taylor) - The proprietor of "Felicia's Tea Shoppe" that sells food like tea and dung beetle scones. She is Ivy's mother and Sylvia's daughter.
 * Sylvia Sundew (voiced by Mona Marshall) - Felicia's mother, Ivy's grandmother, and Hop Pop's girlfriend.
 * Ivy Sundew (voiced by Tara Strong) - Felicia's daughter, Sylvia's granddaughter, and Sprig's childhood friend and eventual crush.
 * Leopold Loggle (voiced by Bob Bergen) - An axolotl who is the town's wood-smith and is the proprietor of his woodcraft store. He used to be a metalsmith until an incident where he accidentally impaled his voice box causing him to have speaking issues where he says introducing adverbs and pauses before saying a negative ending word.
 * Albus Duckweed (voiced by Joe Alaskey) - A newt who is the local food critic. He also acts as a master of ceremonies at different events.
 * Stumpy (voiced by John DiMaggio) - The cook and proprietor of "Stumpy's Diner" with interchangeable prosthetic hands. His restaurant becomes a Thai-Frog fusion restaurant after he learns some Thai recipes from Anne.
 * Mr. Flour (voiced by Kevin Michael Richardson) - The baker and proprietor of "Flour & Daughters Bakery."
 * Maddie Flour (voiced by Jill Talley) - Mr. Flour's eerie yet understanding daughter and Sprig's ex-fiancée who works at "Flour & Daughters Bakery."
 * Soggy Joe (voiced by Maurice LaMarche) - A frog survivalist and trucker. He is also the star of the "Wild Amphibia" shorts.
 * Tuti (voiced by April Winchell) - The town masseuse and part-time bounty hunter.
 * Chuck (voiced by Jess Harnell) - A tulip farmer who can also fix houses fast and wears a hat that covers his eyes. He mostly says "I grow tulips."

Toad Tower inhabitants

 * Captain Grime (voiced by Steve Blum) - A massive, evil one-eyed toad who is the former ruler of Toad Tower. He makes Sasha his second-in-command after capturing her to help him seize control of Frog Valley by repressing a potential rebellion from the frogs of Wartwood against him. After this fails and Toad Tower is destroyed, he retreats with Sasha, and most of his army abandons him afterward. He is branded a traitor by Newtopia and becomes a wanted criminal. However, Sasha inspires him to regain his former glory by creating a new army to take over Newtopia. Despite his malevolent nature, he is shown to care about Sasha.
 * Sasha Waybright (voiced by Wendee Lee) - Anne's and Marcy's former human friend who was captured by Grime and eventually became his new lieutenant after she proved her prowess in battle. She is shown to be the most commanding, rebellious and fiercest of the three girls and was bossy and manipulative towards Anne back home. She was also the one who made Anne steal the Calamity Box that transported the trio to Amphibia in the first place.
 * Bog (voiced by Neil Ross) - A ruthless toad soldier and tax collector who wields a giant hammer. He and the rest of the toad army abandoned Grime after the destruction of Toad Tower.
 * Fens (also voiced by April Winchell) - An aggressive female toad soldier who fights with a kanabō. She left Grime's army along with the rest after Toad Tower was destroyed.
 * Mire - A toad soldier in full body armor who doesn't speak and mostly growls. He left Grime's army after Toad Tower's destruction with the rest of the toad soldiers.
 * Percy (voiced by Jeff Bennett) - A friendly toad soldier who dreams of being a jester. In season 2, he and Braddock are the only toad soldiers left in Grime's army who didn't abandon him.
 * Braddock (also voiced by April Winchell) - A friendly female toad soldier who likes to garden and socialize. She and Percy are the only toad soldiers left in Grime's army after the rest deserted him when Toad Tower was destroyed.

Newtopia inhabitants

 * King Andrias Leviathan (voiced by Keith David) - A towering newt who is the king of Amphibia. While appearing to be a jovial and kindly ruler, he seems to be plotting something involving Anne, Sasha, and Marcy.
 * Marcy Wu (voiced by Lauren Tom) - Sasha's and Anne's other human friend who found the Calamity Box first in a shop on Anne's birthday who was also teleported to Amphibia. She serves as the brains of the trio, is an expert gamer, and has many clumsy moments which Anne and Sasha have to counter. Upon arrival in Amphibia and being found by the inhabitants of Newtopia, Marcy serves Andrias as his close aide and chief ranger of the Newtopian Night Guard.
 * Lady Olivia (voiced by Debi Mae West) - Andrias's royal advisor. She is often shown to be annoyed when Andrias uses mannerisms that Marcy taught him.
 * General Yunnan (voiced by Kath Soucie) - An aggressive newt with retractable claws in her gauntlets who is Newtopia's most skilled warrior and a general of the Newtopian Army. She is so ruthless and bloodthirsty that she disposed of her own army because they were slowing her down. Yunan has a habit of introducing herself in a very flashy manner. However, she gets annoyed when people still don't know who she is after doing that.

Development
On February 19, 1998, Amphibia was greenlit by Bear Bones Productions alongside The Owl House. The series was created and executive-produced by Evan Tackett. According to his Twitter account, he had been working on the series for almost two years before being greenlit.

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

On June 2000, the show was renewed for a third season ahead of its second-season premiere.

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, who is Thai-American, chose to make the series' lead character, Anne Boonchuy, Thai-American because he wanted more Thai characters in television series. According to Tackett, Anne was loosely inspired by his 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, since Tackett felt necessary due to the show centering on a teenager girl. Storyboard artists are allowed to pitch their own ideas for an episode, a practice Tackett took from his time at Time Warped. Tackett wanted the series to feature intense sequences, yet still being appropriate for all ages, constantly checking-in whether a scene is too terrifying for children and whether 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 Kath Soucie and Lauren Tom. While the role ultimately went to Song, Tackett casted Soucie and Tom as Anne's human friends, Sasha and Marcy respectively, instead.

Animation
Wang Film Productions, Sunwoo Entertanment, and AKOM Production Co each provide animation. Tackett chose those animation studios due to them still working with hand-drawn animation, a style Tackett favored for the series. The animators spend three to four months working on pre-production, with an episode taking about nine months to complete. Forty staff members at Bear Bones Productions in Los Angeles, California 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, Amile John, sister of storyboard artist Tom John, 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' Akame: Princess of the Dark 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.

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".