Marcy's Journal - a Guide to Amphibia

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Additionally, because you, as a viewer, KNOW what happens at the end of Season 2, we were able to bake in a lot of dramatic irony with Marcy’s early solo adventures. For a show, rambly dialogue and inner monologues are big no nos…but for a book like this it’s extremely natural. Aside from a handful of spoilers and amazing moments the fans can discover for themselves, show creator Matt Braly and publisher Tokyopop have given me relative freedom to explore the book however I like ahead of release.

Nothing is off the table, and handing over that power to the fandom was likely the only right move here. All In is your act two and is the meat of the story and the bulk of the physical action (45 minutes give or take). MB: I’m very proud of the ending - it’s everything I wanted for the show and its characters from the beginning.In retrospect, I think Amphibia was tantalisingly close to the kind of show the network really wanted - funny jokes, warm characters, and friendly visuals. Even daring to make a single one of these romances canon, or even imply their existence, would betray the headcanons of fans and take away their potential, while Braly always intended Amphibia to be a journey of growth and platonic friendship. Adam, Cat, and Sol (our graphic designer) really went that extra mile to make it feel real, valuable, and complimentary to the series. I also think the idea of empathy as an important and valuable quality is something that is (thankfully) becoming more popular in fiction.

The show was really a wonderful opportunity to smash all these cool things together like some mad scientist in a lab. The real gift of the adventure was to let the three of them fully understand one another and see each other truly for the first time…which in turn lets them bravely go their separate ways. TG: I also have to ask about the ending, which seems to take place after the time skip while hinting that a new portal or similar device has been cooked up at the lab. There are a lot of moody sentiments in the Journal that would have utterly halted the pacing of some of our episodes…but on the page we were able to make them feel as if they were happening in tandem to the action/comedy found in the show. Don’t force queerness onto a lead like a necessary checkbox, even more so if the show doesn’t have the structure to reinforce that development in an authentic way.

I’m really happy with what our team was able to accomplish - it was all very ambitious for an 11-minute show and nearly broke the production a couple times. TG: Time skips are often controversial, but I also love them and was so happy to see The Owl House follow in similar footsteps to Amphibia. The human brain is very fond of the 90-minute runtime, it feels like a full meal without overstaying its welcome. But she’s also 13, and is still figuring out that part of herself that we don’t really have the right to interfere with.

You could assume she is being romantic or pining, but there’s no official confirmation (nor denial) of anything.With that in mind, an ending where the characters continued to go on adventures together ad infinitum would have felt dishonest. TG: It’s also surprisingly dark when you take away the fact Marcy is a zoomer weeaboo and Anne is a lovable dork, with a deeper glimpse into mental health and personal introspection than I could have expected. I still think she’s fruitier than a bag of jelly beans, but as much as I wish the journal cemented that, it’s far from the end of the world that it doesn’t. In the wake of the final episode, we were inevitably going to carry these observations over to the journal and see if our assumptions hold any weight. I remember the episode Prison Break was upsetting to some of our executives because it didn’t follow the same slice of life pattern as the episodes before it.

I remember one of our creative executives, who is a good friend of mine, was briefly cautious - “are you sure about this? MB: The diary format really let us go wild with the characters’ inner thoughts in ways that would not have been appropriate on screen. TG: Is there any question or thing about Amphibia you haven’t been asked before but would like to bless me with? Even though the sequence is unquestionably triumphant and joyous, there is something beautifully sad underneath the surface as well.

I remember early on (maybe season 2) a fan on reddit said something like “guys…you don’t think…the girls will separate at the end do you? Knowing those pages I had picked indirectly brought up a queer debate surrounding Marcy’s character, it only feels right to set the record straight before we move forward. Things change, friends, leave, and life doesn’t stop for anybody, and the journal solidifies that tragic inevitability while allowing readers to interpret where exactly the trio’s relationship sits. The past few months have been jam packed with great games - I also loved Xenoblade 3, the RE4 remake, and am currently enjoying Jedi Survivor.