The Hardest Thing - Tumblr Posts
Day 895 of Amphibia Screenshots
Episode: The Hardest Thing
just a small redraw i did on the last Sunday after finishing watch the last episode of amphibia. Did I cry a lot? yes, do I regret watching it? no. It was such a amazing experience watching it, and I would watch it all again. Also, yes Marcy and Darcy are my fav on this serie and you can’t make me change my mind.
I will post some others redraw that I’m planning on do later (when I ever get time to draw them)
anne boonchuy + sad machine - porter robinson (2014) || on losing what you love. on finding yourself. on saving the world. on getting a second chance. on destiny. on choosing to live.
AHHHH I'M BALLING MY EYES OUT IT WAS SUCH A GOOD FINALE. I'm so happy I watched Amphibia it was such a masterpiece of a series. Everything about it, the fight scenes, the comedy, and the moments where we balled our eyes out. Matt Braly, you and everyone who made that show did a beautiful job, we all hope to see you and your crew again soon.
Thinking about the end of Amphibia while listening to Vera Lynn's We'll meet again rn
The Hardest Thing had me sobbing, this is how I cope-
Amphibia the hardest thing spoilers!!!!! . . . . . .
I don’t normally post and haven’t in a long time but something i wanted to point out that Anne went into a academic field, and succeeded in it to the point where she was in charge of an exbibit.
sure, pre amphibia she just didn’t try and wanted to take the easy route, but even mid/late into the show she was shown to be insecure about her intelligence and/or believed she was dumb (seriously there is an entire episode dedicated to it and there where many times where she brought up how she didn't think she was smart enough).
but after the events of the show she succeeded to a really high level in a academic field and enjoyed it, something that would seem laughably impossible to pre amphibia Anne
Amphibia - Earth Epilogue Thoughts
This was originally going to be about the entire last episode but then it got way too long so I’m breaking it up into parts with this one coming out first because, while this is the last section of the episode, it is somehow the section I finished first.
I can’t believe Amphibia is over. It was an amazing ride from start to finish with some of the highest highs I’ve seen in animation. When I first started watching the show in May of 2020 I wasn’t expecting how attached I would become to the world and characters and it really did help me through a turbulent time in my life. I’m really happy that this show has garnered the following and been given the love it deserves.
I had to sit on this for a few days because it was hard to process all that had happened and I have a lot of thoughts on The Hardest Thing. I am conflicted about some aspects of the finale but overall I loved this goodbye to the series. Amphibia has once again made a season finale that will stay with me long after that first watch-through. This one was a bit difficult to get through because I had so many emotions about a series so important to me ending but I’m really happy that it existed and got to be a part of my life so I wanted to get this out there.
I just hope all of you could get the enjoyment and connection to Amphibia that I found these past two years watching the show because it really was a wonderful experience and this is an amazing show.
I’m glad I took a few days to sit on this because the Amphibia cast and crew have been very active on social media and some of the things said have eased a few issues I had with the finale. One of them was that Matt Braly came out and said that Marcy did visit after she moved away and that all the girls did stay close after Amphibia even if they slowly drifted apart over time. They still keep up with each other on social media and try to show interest in what they are each doing. But I will stand by the fact that the dialogue in the episode doesn’t get this across.
The way the dialogue is makes it sound like they didn’t talk hardly at all after Marcy left and she was out of the loop and Anne and Sasha drifted apart soon after. Marcy asking if Anne and Sasha hung out after she moved doesn’t seem like the kind of question that would be asked if they kept in close contact and Sasha’s comment that Anne and her drifted apart in high school makes it sound like they drifted apart 1-2 years after amphibia (given that they were 13-14 pre-timeskip and would have entered high school the next year). I know logically that the girls would always be close and important to each other even if they lost contact due to time and distance. That’s why I didn’t understand the dialogue choices and still don’t entirely.
Amphibia is about change but the entirety of the show was also about the friendship of these three girls falling apart and forcing them to grow separately as individuals before coming back together as true friends. A huge part of The Beginning of the End and All In was all about Sasha and Anne coming to understand Marcy and wanting to make their friendship with her and each other work despite their past issues. Season 3b is dedicated to Sasha and Anne rebuilding their friendship into something stronger than before (Anne literally says “just look at what you and I have now”). So to make it sound like they drifted apart so casually bothers me. I don’t think I can get behind how they had Anne and Sasha’s relationship drift apart like that especially since they live so close together and likely go to the same school during this time.
I understand that this is a friendship that wouldn’t easily be broken. That is exactly why the dialogue bothered me because I don’t think it properly conveyed that.
It’s not an issue with the message. I love the message that people do grow apart and that they can come back together again. I love how they meet up on Anne’s birthday, bring her presents, catch up, and take a new photo. I love the idea that things aren’t permanent and that sometimes you will grow apart but that doesn’t make your experiences together and the love you share pointless, it just takes on a new meaning. I love that all these years later they could come back together and reconnect.
I love all of that. My issue was that the dialogue made it seem like they drifted apart soon after Amphibia which didn’t sit right with me. But with Matt’s tweets about the subject and assurance that this will be shown in Marcy’s journal I have hope that this could be addressed.
Now for the things I loved about this epilogue. There are a lot.
The first thing I want to talk about is how perfect each girls’ profession is. Marcy creating a popular webcomic is a great outlet for her love of fantasy and escapism. She can put all that passion and love that initially blinded her to the consequences of her actions in Amphibia into something healthy and connect with many people through her work. She can find that connection through media that she tried so desperately to establish in the flashback in The Beginning of the End (that flashback makes me emotional even mentioning). And Sasha even read her webcomic trying to show interest in Marcy’s passions which I loved.
This is once again really relatable. I know a lot of gifted kids who excelled academically and had great things projected for their future in science and engineering only for them to burn out and discover their true passion was tied to the media they consume and creating something of their own. Marcy has always been relatable and this just hit it home.
Sasha becoming a Child Psychologist to help kids work through their emotional baggage was really fitting. I liked the nod to how all of her actions in Amphibia were brought on by her baggage from home. She was struggling with the effects of her parent’s divorce and the breakdown of her relationship with them. Her inability to understand the relationship between Anne and the Plantars, the jealousy/bitterness she shows towards Anne’s relationship with her parents, her need for control, etc all stemmed from a turbulent home life. The fact that she’s using the lessons she learned in Amphibia and her own mistakes to help kids work through their own issues so they don’t take that same path is heartwarming.
I do wish we got some sort of expansion on Sasha’s home life outside of implications, the two separate letters, and interviews because we got at least some insight into Marcy’s parents and situation that kept her from wanting to go home but with Sasha it is all subtext. We also don’t get a clear motivation for why she’d want to go back outside of “it’s where she’s from” and I feel there should have been some expansion to this point to round out her arc.
This didn’t hurt this episode for me but it makes Sasha’s ultimate decision to go home and leave behind Amphibia and Grime not feel as integral to her arc as it is Marcy’s (because it was very clearly the trajectory of her arc after the True Colors reveal) or as earned as Anne’s (she’s self explanatory. Her goal has always been to go back home and she has missed her family and home since day 1) for me.
I also think Marcy’s parents should have been shown. Her parents deciding to move is what kicked off the entire story so it seems odd not to show them at all.
It didn’t hurt how much I liked the episode. It just felt weird that they were teased with Anne sending the letters and the phone call with the Boonchuys in All In only to never appear.
Anne becoming a herpetologist who works at an aquarium was perfect. It makes complete sense. She can be surrounded by what she loves and create a homage to an important, formative part of her life. The “Get Lost in Amphibia” sign with the Plantar farm, toad tower, the three gems on the wall, mother olm above the doorway, and the frog she named Sprig all hit in the most bittersweet way. The Plantars and Amphibia will always be a part of her just like it is for Marcy and Sasha. She just found a different way to build it into her life and career.
I think the idea that they could come back together after all the time and distance that has come between them is really beautiful and it makes me tear up. I love this idea. I love how they meet up on Anne’s birthday, bring her presents, catch up, and take a new photo. I love the idea that things aren’t permanent and that sometimes you will grow apart but that doesn’t make your experiences together and the love you share pointless, it just takes on a new meaning. (My conflict comes from the things I pointed out above.)
This aspect of the epilogue makes me really emotional especially considering Anne’s narration “But of the things you let go, you’d be surprised what makes its way back to you.” The girls reuniting and hugging with Sprig in the foreground and the Amphibia setup around them was the perfect ending frame for this show.
There’s also more than one interpretation of this ending line. There’s the obvious one that the girls always find their way back to each other but it also has to do with how Amphibia has come back around and stayed in their lives long after they left it behind. That last shot is a recreation of the picture on the calamity box as well which brings it all full circle.
It’s also all of their adventures surrounding them and bidding them farewell. They spent months of their lives here and it has irrevocably changed them. So having one final goodbye even if they can’t see their found family again tugs at the heartstrings.
Amphibia is and will always be a big part of the girls and they all have things to help them remember it by. Anne has her job and setup at the aquarium which is one big homage to her second home. Sasha has the twin heron sword patch on her jacket and ornament on her rear view mirror along with the heron on the back of her jacket and the ax beetle guitar sticker on her mirror (and she was supposed to have a Grime eye tattoo on her wrist). She has reminders of her time there all over. And I am convinced that Marcy put aspects of their adventures in Amphibia in her webcomic. They all carry their experiences and memories with them even if they can’t return. And I love seeing how they all carried those experiences into their new life back on earth.
(I wish I could get a higher quality photo of the new polaroid)
I would be remiss not to talk about that final shot in the credits of the new bff photo the girls took. It’s a beautiful bookend to their story. The polaroid was such an important thing for every girl throughout the story but it grew and changed in significance with each of the girls. This new one symbolizes their new change in dynamic and friendship perfectly.
Anne is in the center rather than Sasha. Before Amphibia Sasha was the leader of their group. She made herself the center because of who she was. But now Anne is the center, the heart, of the group. Because she is the glue that holds them together. She is a big reason for Sasha and Marcy’s individual growth. They have their hands interlocked to show this but also because they will always be connected. Even with time and distance they will find each other and come back together because they are irreplaceable parts of each other’s lives.
The fact that our first sighting of the group was this polaroid stuck in a tree in the rain during the opening and that this is the last sighting of the group right before “Complete” appears in Thai bringing the series to a close is so poetic. This friendship started turbulent and bound to break apart but because of their individual growth their bond is unbreakable. They may not have talked every day over the past ten years but their importance to each other has never waned and the possibility of being close once again after this moment of connection is there. It’s open to the individual.
I love this series and I love these characters. I know this series will always hold a special place to me and I hope others manage to find connection in it as well.
Also Sasha Waybright is Bi and I love it.
I think series finales can be hard to talk about right after the fact. So many emotions, expectations, and hopes are built up going into it that it can cloud your perception of the finished product the first time you view it.
For some aspects of Amphibia this was partially the case for me. I can say that my thoughts on the finale have morphed since I first watched it. I want to say up front that overall I loved the finale and I love Amphibia and now that time has passed I think I can explain my revised thoughts on the earth epilogue.
I actually do agree with my write up here. But I want to set the record straight on a few things in my initial earth epilogue thoughts. There are some things I stand by. I don’t think the dialogue got across that the three girls stayed in contact after amphibia. Considering that the Beginning of the End and All In had a huge emphasis on the girls wanting to stay friends after all this and how much they wanted to make their friendship work despite the distance I felt this fumbled the ball in showing this. But I understand and will defend the choice to have them drift apart.
This fits the themes of the show and it is a bittersweet and realistic moment. Amphibia is about change and it is also about the friendship of three girls that fell apart and they were forced to grow as individuals so that they could come together as true friends.
In a way that’s also what they did here (except their friendship naturally drifted apart instead of broke). They drifted apart and grew as individuals and went down different career paths and they were able to find each other again. And they still deeply care about each other. That ending reunion and the photo at the end show this.
The trio drifting apart doesn’t negate the feelings they share for one another. Their friendship still means so much to each of them and they still care deeply about each other. Nothing is permanent and that’s okay. It doesn’t make the memories or connections any less meaningful.
Do I wish the trio stayed close and never drifted apart? Yes. But that doesn’t mean I don’t like the themes and ideas that this portrayed.
The argument that Amphibia isn’t realistic and thus the realistic ending doesn’t fit the show doesn’t hold much water in my opinion. Amphibia is a larger than life epic that has magical anime powers, an amalgamation of multiple minds that have conquered death, 1000 year old newt tyrants, and much more but it manages to be full of real, heartfelt moments that capture the experience of life.
And it's those smaller moments that speak to real experiences that make this show work as well as it does.
For example, The Beginning of the End was a spectacle that held the long awaited first confrontation between Anne, Sasha, and Darcy and the beginning of the battle against Andrias and the Core but the moment that everyone was talking about and empathizing with was the flashback.
The flashback was a snapshot of what the calamity trio's friendship was like back home that showed Anne and Sasha's indifference to Marcy's interests and passions. This flashback portrayed an experience a lot of people who watch the show can relate to and it is what made their reunion in this episode even more of a gut punch than it would have been before (more of my thoughts on this moment are here).
This show wouldn't be as special as it is without these moments.
The show has always been grounded in the characters and in its life lessons about change, friendship, and growth/growing apart. And I think it managed to get that across perfectly with this ending now that I’ve had time to sit with it.