Marcy's Journal - a Guide to Amphibia

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MB: The diary format really let us go wild with the characters’ inner thoughts in ways that would not have been appropriate on screen. Now it’s firmly in the rearview mirror, and with Marcy’s Journal surpassing expectations upon its release last November, I caught up with Amphibia creator and friend of the site Matt Braly to reflect on The Hardest Thing in its entirety.

TG: One thing I’ve noticed with female heroines in recent years is the theme of self-sacrifice and a lack of worth in who they are as people and what they’re capable of.TG: Is there any question or thing about Amphibia you haven’t been asked before but would like to bless me with? MB: I’m very proud of the ending - it’s everything I wanted for the show and its characters from the beginning. There’s something about Amphibia’s story that I don’t think I’ve ever had the guts to say, but I’ll say it now - it is in many ways a break-up story.

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: When it comes to the third season, from both a narrative and character perspective, do you feel like you achieved everything you wanted when it comes to wrapping things up for Amphibia? With that in mind, an ending where the characters continued to go on adventures together ad infinitum would have felt dishonest.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. We left Anne Boonchuy, Sasha Waybright, and Marcy Wu several years in the future as they’d grown into confident young women, all following their unique paths in life. You could assume she is being romantic or pining, but there’s no official confirmation (nor denial) of anything.

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.For a show, rambly dialogue and inner monologues are big no nos…but for a book like this it’s extremely natural. TheGamer: Before we delve into Amphibia, I’d love to ask what you thought about Sonic Frontiers, and what sort of other things you’ve been working on/enjoying lately?

It’s additive in a way that wouldn’t be possible had this book been written at the same time as the show.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.