Also, for those wondering, this would be the shoe Anne lost in “Commander Anne” as we know from word of god that the original one is still in the rubble of Toad Tower.
I just can’t get over how they handled the reversal of Anne’s friendships.
How in the beginning, it was Anne, Sasha, and Marcy. But things happened, and Sasha disappeared to rage across the countryside, and Anne and Marcy were all who remained.
When Anne was new to Newtopia, it was Marcy who was by her side, asking her to trust her, leaping into the mouth of a dangerous insect in order to save her friends. It was Marcy who explored the basement of Newtopia, navigating mirrored hallways and fighting off Shadowfish with her.
In Wartwood, it was Marcy who fought hard to win the approval of the citizens. It was Marcy who flew with Anne to take on the temples, and Marcy who stayed by Anne’s side through any type of trial.
While Sasha was being a jerk and suffering the consequences, Marcy was everything Anne wanted.
But Marcy had made one mistake, one horrible mistake that loomed over her head. And when Andrias found her, scared of the same thing she has always feared, he encouraged her to take on another mistake.
So then we all know what happened. Anne found Sasha, they hugged, they fought and made up. Sasha made her second mistake, the one to supplement her first, and she got away with it. Marcy didn’t, no, she got stabbed through the heart and lost everyone she ever loved.
Then Anne is back in Amphibia. She’s back and there’s Sasha, promising that she’s done with it all, done with the mistakes, and ready to be a better friend than she was before. A slight mention of Marcy, that she’s alive and somewhere out there. That’s all.
They take on a possessed centipede, and it’s Anne and Sasha, and sure Marcy’s memory is there too, but is it really? Sasha can use a grappling hook like Marcy can. She can save Sprig from the stomach of a giant bug like Marcy can. She can hold Anne by the shoulders and cry out that she doesn’t want to lose her again. She can hug her tightly and fall to the ground and watch Anne laugh because she can’t believe she’s still there, still alive, still fighting to be with her.
Then they search for the Mother of Olms, and it’s Anne and Sasha, with the Plantars there too. They don’t even mention that they need Marcy, only that people deserve to be given a second chance after making a mistake, that they should come together. And then Anne looks at Sasha and sees this girl who has fought so hard to better herself, and she starts to take on a different shape in Anne’s mind, like she’s highlighted.
Well then it’s their actual meeting with the Mother of Olms, and it’s Anne and Sasha and Anne and Sasha and you hardly notice that Sprig and Polly didn’t have any lines. Traversing the Olm’s brain, it’s the same thing as going through those mirrored tunnels, a dangerous adventure where the two of them fit together so well, and they find what they’re looking for.
And sure, maybe there’s something missing, maybe if you’ve been here long enough, it feels like you’ve read this before. But does that matter, when Anne and Sasha are perfectly fine on their own, they’re perfect on their own?
Of course it does. Because Anne knows better.
Intertwining her hand with Sasha’s, telling her that she’ll make a great resistance leader, watching the heat rush to her cheeks, she remembers how that felt with another girl. Traveling through mysterious crypts to reach answers, she remembers the Newtopian dungeon where she did this before. She’s been there, and this time, the girl in front of her isn’t all she can see, because Anne knows better than to forget her best friend.
Amphibia did that. They wrote it so Anne lost her best friend, regained another who could nearly suffice, but still decided to hold on. They wrote a world where one horrible fear would rip Marcy away from Anne, but Anne knows when to fear and when to trust now, so she still chases after her. They wrote a world where Marcy’s greatest fear, of being forgotten, left behind, could never come true, not when it’s happened before, not when her two best friends have a chance to try again and make everything right.
And he did it so authentically, you’d almost believe that things won’t get any worse.
