User blog:The Milo Murphy's Law Wiki Guy/Episode Review: "Anne or Beast?"

Hey Guys!

Well.

I didn't think we'd get the episode so early.

But man, am I even MORE hyped now!

So, as promised, I'm going to review this and "Best Fronds".

My review style has changed multiple times over the years, but here's then newest version:

I take a look at 4 different criteria:

Plot

Humor

Characters

Miscellaneous Thoughts

Before summing it up!

So, let's ribbit, ribbit, jump on in it!

Plot:

The plot of "Anne or Beast?" is simple, but smart.

Being a pilot, "Anne or Beast?" has the hard and not always comfortable job of introducing everything in a short, simple and sweet way.

Heavy is the head that must make a pilot.

The best pilots (SpongeBob's "Help Wanted", Hey Arnold's "Downtown as Fruits" and Avatar's "The Boy In The Iceberg Part 1") are the ones that introduce all the important concepts and don't feel like they're too slow or fast.

This one is definitely a success in that area.

We begin with Wally (a character who isn't important right now, but is expendable enough for this role) getting scared of his role) getting scared of Anne and running to tell the town.

Meanwhile, Sprig, Hop Pop and Polly (all introduced perfectly in a manner of seconds) debate the fact that Sprig is totally irresponsible.

The two plots intersect, and Sprig decides to catch the beast to prove himself responsible.

Anne traps Sprig, she saves him from a giant mantis and the two become friends.

The mob tries to catch Anne, Hop Pop and Polly try to save Sprig and when the real beast attacks, Anne and Sprig stop it, and thanks to Hop Pop, Anne gets to stay at the house for now.

Look at that! It's so simple, but it's just enough!

We're introduced to Amphibia, we're introduced to Anne, Sprig, Hop Pop, Polly, Wally and Mayor Toadstool, and we're introduced to the main story, and it all feels natural.

A pilot needs to deliver information quickly, or people lose interest. We don't want hours of exposition, we want a story that just so happens to be a pilot.

A detail I quite like is that we see the story from the perspective of the amphibians.

Normally, this kind of story would be from Anne's perspective, but the decision is brilliant!

See, because we deal mostly with the amphibians, we start to see things from their side. They stop becoming weird after mere seconds thanks to their fleshed out, relatable personalities.

So Anne becomes the oddity, and Amphibia becomes the norm, which makes total sense, since...

Well, Anne IS the oddity.

She's the strange new arrival.

It's also a relatable story that endears us to Sprig (who just wants to prove himself) and Anne (who just wants to go home). Best Fronds makes them more endearing, but still.

Anyway, a short, concise story that introduces us to this universe is perfect, but what about the humor?

2. Humor

Usually, I don't have much to say about comedy.

Analyzing jokes can take away the humor from them.

I will say this: This episode is really funny!

Not gut busting hilarious, but funny indeed.

We have a ton of small, great gags, something Disney shows have become masters at.

A lot of the humor comes from characters being themselves or from reactions to situations, and this lets the characters bounce off each other really well.

Again, I don't have much to say about humor, this is just a funny episode.

3. Characters

In my personal opinion, every story lives on character.

Plot and Humor, they're important, but Character is the truly important detail.

Let me explain:

Think about your favorite show.

"SpongeBob", "Arthur", "The Fairly OddParents", "The Loud House", "Brooklyn Nine Nine", "Star Vs", "Steven Universe", ETC., ETC., ETC.

All great shows.

Now, think of the worst episodes.

The episodes you loath, that you never want to watch, that make you wonder how anyone could make such a mistake.

Not always, but usually, the episode is terrible because the characters you've grown to love and care for have been ruined.

A badly written character can make or break an episode.

Heck, most of what I watch these days is because I like the characters!

So, as a pilot, this episode had one big terrifying job, even more important than introducing the world:

Make us connect to the characters.

Well, most of us already liked them before that, but this episode (and especially Best Fronds) do a great job at making that official.

Sprig is arguably the most likable.

I was worried about him at first, I thought he was going to be... Annoying.

Thankfully, he's anything but!

He's funny, relatable, adorable at times! A goofball of the classic model, one who you can't not love.

I'm literally called Anne Boonchuy Fan here, so it's no one's surprise that I like her.

She's introduced perfectly too, her self centeredness, her loyalty, her bravery, her quirkiness, her aversion to bugs (seriously, that face she makes is amazing!) all exhibited excellently.

Hop Pop and Polly are also introduced perfectly, as are Wally and Mayor Toadstool.

The episode does such a perfect job setting these up, giving us just enough to understand who these characters are, while still leaving out enough to leave us wanting more.

Again, Best Fronds does this better, but this episode is great as well!

Miscellaneous:

1. The animation is crisp and charming.

2. The faces are hilarious!

3. The voices are excellent so far!

4. The ending is not a joke ending, which really surprised me!

5. Anne is DA BEST.

6. Hopadiah is a perfect name!

7. It's all very relaxing. It's nice watching a show where I feel comfy!

Anyway, here's the final verdict:

My grading system:

Hoppingly Great (A great episode, highly recommended for one reason or another, excellent!)

Good (Not top 10, but still good, fun, worthy of more than one watch!)

Meh (Wow... Well... That happened. Let's... Let's kind of forget it and sort of nod when we hear it mentioned)

Stinks (...Vengeance!) (Anne beats terrible episode mercilessly with stick)

And this one gets:

(Drum roll, Polly!)

(You're a drum roll!)

(...)

(WHAT DOES THAT EVEN MEAN?!)

(Sigh, whatever, Sprig, you care to do the honors?)

(Drum roll)

HOPPINGLY GREAT!

It may not be the best episode, and it probably will be an honorable mention for most peoples episode rankings by the end, but man do I love this episode! It's got it all, and it just makes me happy!

Thanks for reading this! Next time, we'll review Best Fronds, which, in my opinion, sells Anne and Sprig's friendship perfectly and makes Anne even more lovable... Somehow.

See ya then!

Anne Boonchuy Fan.