Best Fronds

"Best Fronds" is the second segment of the first episode of the first season of Amphibia, and the second episode overall.

It first premiered online on June 14, 2019 on DisneyNOW and YouTube and premiered on Disney Channel on June 17, 2019, alongside "Anne or Beast?".^[4]

Synopsis

Sprig takes Anne swimming in a nearby lake to help her feel less homesick.^[4]

Plot

The episode starts with a flashback inside of a thrift store, where Anne is seen looking at a particular music box on top of a cabinet. While the cashier is sleeping, Anne steals the box and slips it into her backpack, then walks out of the shop to regroup with her friends, Sasha and Marcy. Later that night, the three go to an empty park to investigate the box. When Anne opens the box, a large flare of light comes out of it and transports them to Amphibia.

Anne then wakes up screaming, believing her time within Amphibia to have all been a dream. But she's proven wrong when she sees Sprig, Hop Pop, and Polly standing right in front of her in the Plantar Farm basement, as the latter two continue to have trust issues with Anne as being a beast. Once Hop Pop and Polly have left the room, Sprig badgers Anne about how exciting it must be to enter a new world. However, Anne states that she misses her own home, belongings, and friends in her world, and how lost she is feeling without them.

This encourages Sprig to offer Anne to be his friend for the time being, as well as taking a trip to the nearby lake to make her feel less homesick, to which Anne happily agrees. Once dressed up for swimming, Anne and Sprig are about to leave the house, but Hop Pop halts them before they can get to the door. Hop Pop explains how the other frogs in the village are still not used to Anne's presence, so he orders them both to stay at the house until further notice due to everyone being paranoid about her.

To pass the time, Sprig suggests they try out some of Hop Pop's pain peppers, said to be so hot that you'd wish you were dead. Once Sprig finishes cooling his mouth after having licked one of the peppers, Anne instead suggests they stick with the original plan and go to the lake by helping her steal the keys to the house from Hop Pop. Although Sprig is originally conflicted about disobeying Hop Pop's orders, Anne explains to him that a real friend will help you get the things you want, with Sprig then agreeing to go along with the plan.

Sprig and Anne then sneak into Hop Pop's study room, only to realize he not only fell asleep, but is sleeping with his eyes open. Having taken the key from Hop Pop's coat pocket, Anne and Sprig proceed to the lake. Along the way, Anne takes a photo with Sprig using her phone for the first time, and also questions Sprig about whether or not he himself had any friends before he met her. The scene then cuts to a flashback of Sprig having played with a skeleton in front of the other kids horrifying them, with Sprig then replying to Anne that other kids in the village don't really get him.

Once Anne and Sprig enter the lake area, they immediately notice a "don't swim" sign in front of the lake. Sprig claims it wasn't there on his most recent visit. Anne decides to ignore the warning, but Sprig attempts to stop her from going in, believing something wasn't right and they should instead return home. But Anne retaliates believing this isn't what friends do, and explains to Sprig that no matter how much you don't want to do something your friends ask you to do, you do it anyway, otherwise they may not want you to stay as their friend.

This eventually leads to Sprig diving into the lake with Anne joining in, and the two enjoy themselves around the lake. But as Anne is taking a photo of Sprig flexing in the water, she notices a giant lake monster resembling a snake right behind him, and the two begin to swim away from the monster. Unfortunately for Anne, she can't outswim it and slows down. She is about to get eaten, but Sprig saves her from that attack. Having momentarily taken cover from the monster on a lily pad, Anne suggests to Sprig that he go without her, believing him to not only be a better swimmer but that it was her fault in the first place for having put one another in danger of the lake monster.

Even so, Sprig refuses to leave her side, believing the two of them were in the situation together. With the lake monster trapping them with its stretched body as it closes in on them, Sprig then hops on top of Anne's head and orders her to duck on the count of three. Once Sprig hops into the air, the lake monster ends up eating Sprig, angering Anne and proceeding to attack the lake monster. During her attack, the lake monster then spits Sprig out as it is then blowing flames out of its mouth because of the pain peppers Sprig placed in it while he was still inside the monster. With the lake monster eventually regaining consciousness, Anne and Sprig decide to flee from the lake and return home.

Later that night, Hop Pop eventually wakes up from his nap and immediately notices the key from his coat pocket has gone missing and panics about Anne and Sprig. After noticing that the front door is still locked, he goes to check the basement and notices Anne and Sprig playing a board game together, with Anne giving Hop Pop the key back and claiming he must have dropped it on the floor earlier when he wasn't looking. After one more brief confrontation with Polly, she and Hop Pop leave the basement as Anne then closes the door for her and Sprig to breathe a sigh of relief.

Anne then apologizes to Sprig for having almost gotten one another killed, but Sprig instead reveals it was the most exciting event that's ever happened to him, to which he then falls asleep from exhilaration. Anne then places Sprig on her bed to let him sleep, while also staring at the group photo of her with her friends Marcy and Sasha. She hoped the two of them were doing okay, as she claimed that she was after having found both a home and a new friend.

Meanwhile, during a stormy night at Toad Tower, a toad is seen in front of a cell room and shows Sasha, currently in a battered cell, a lost shoe belonging to Anne that was found far from the castle in the south forest. This leads him to believe that not only was she lying to him, but that there is more of her kind still out there somewhere in Amphibia.

Cast

• Brenda Song as Anne Boonchuy
• Justin Felbinger as Sprig Plantar
• Bill Farmer as Hop Pop Plantar
• Amanda Leighton as Polly Plantar
• Troy Baker as Captain Grime (debut)

Additional voices

• Dee Bradley Baker as Water Snake (debut)
• Liam O'Brien as Old Man
• Amir Talai as Brown Overalls Frog

Non-speaking cameo

• Sasha Waybright (debut)
• Marcy Wu (debut)

Other characters

• Water Strider (debut)

Songs

• "Muddy Wadders"

Title in other languages

Language	Title	Translation	Notes
Latin American Spanish	Un Amigo de Verdad	A True Friend
Brazilian Portuguese	Amigos Sapos	Frog Friends
Bulgarian	Най-добри жабатели	Best Fronds
Czech	Najlepší žabokámoši	Best Fronds
German	Freunde fürs Leben	Friends for Life
European Spanish	Amigos Frondosos	Leafy Friends
French	Comme les deux doigts de la palme	Like the two fingers of the palm
Indonesian	Sahabat Baik	Best Friends
Hebrew	חברים מהביצה	Friends from the swamp
Italian	Amici per la pelle	Friends for Life
Japanese	はじめてのともだち	First Friends
Korean	우리는 친구	We are friends
Dutch	Beste Vrikkers	Best Fronds
European Portuguese	Melhores Amelgas	Best "Amelgas"	"Amelga" is a pun on "amigo" (friend) and "melga" (lit. "mosquito," also used for "annoying person").
Polish	Przyjaciele	Friends
Russian	Испытание дружбой	Friendship test
Thai	กบเพื่อนยาก	best leaf
Ukrainian	Найкращі друзі	Best Friends
Vietnamese	Bạn Thân Nhất	Best friend first

Transcript

Gallery

Click here to view the gallery.

Trivia

• Viewership: This episode was watched by 0.39 million viewers on its premiere.^[2]
• This episode is an adjusted version of Amphibia's original pilot.^[5]
• This is the first episode where Anne is shown wearing something other than her traditional Earth clothing and wears her swimsuit. Anne's swimsuit was specifically designed to feel athletic and cool.^[5]
• Although previously shown with her right foot in just a sock upon losing her other shoe arriving in Amphibia, this is the first episode where Anne is shown completely barefoot.
• Matt Braly said about this episode: "After establishing that Anne was stuck in this crazy new world with "Anne or Beast?", it was up to "Best Fronds" to establish the core relationship between Anne and Sprig. Not only that, but it teases some pretty cool things to come at the end. I especially like how naturally Sprig and Anne grow closer in this episode, culminating in a pretty big disagreement."^[5]
  • Also according to Braly: "Director Derek Kirk Kim has always been passionate about this story and added some real magic at the end with Sprig falling into Anne's arms as he nods off."^[5]
• This episode marks the only physical appearance of Marcy in Season 1, albeit in a flashback and non-speaking.

Revelations and significant events

• The names of the girls who appeared with Anne in the opening sequence are revealed to be Sasha (blonde hair) and Marcy (black hair).
• More things are revealed about the main characters:
  • Anne:
    • Sasha and Marcy are her two best friends, so much so that she feels "lost" when she's without them.^[6]
    • She, Sasha, and Marcy would binge television series, drink large amounts of boba tea until they vomited, and go to local beaches.
    • She did everything to keep Sasha and Marcy happy, even if it didn't make her happy or forced her to do things she didn't want to do:
      • She got a pencil case for one of them simply because they liked it.^[7]
        • She also gave shoes she then-recently got to one of them for the same reason.^[8]
      • Sasha and Marcy persuaded her to disregard authority.^[9]
      • Sasha and Marcy also convinced her that they would end their friendship if she disobeyed their demands.^[10][11]
        • Due to this, she views friendship as submitting to others.
        • It would later be revealed that Sasha is the main arbiter of these manipulative actions,^[12][13] with Marcy (who would later be revealed to be an oblivious nerd^[14][15]) presumably abetting the behavior out of fear of rejection.
  • Sprig:
    • He still trusts Anne after they met in the previous episode.
    • He didn't have any friends because Wartwood kids didn't take him seriously due to his short attention span and impulsive behavior, foreshadowing the events of "Sprig Gets Schooled" (in "Dating Season", he first considers Ivy Sundew a "childhood acquaintance").^[16] Because of that, Anne is his first friend. If counting Ivy, Anne is his second friend.
  • Hop Pop:
    • He is a seemingly failed actor.
    • He falls asleep with his eyes open all the time which makes him a perfect scarecrow.
    • He owns a vest with pockets so shallow, things keep falling out of it.
    • He makes peppers that are so hot, they make anyone who consumes them wish they were dead.
    • He has been on edge since he let Anne stay in the Plantar Farm, after the previous episode, which means that he tried to lock her in the house to keep a low profile while she stays there until the citizens of Wartwood accept her, which happens at the end of "Toad Tax".
  • Polly:
    • Her weapon is a food roller named Doris.
    • She has been on edge since Hop Pop let Anne stay in the Plantar Farm, after the previous episode.
  • Sasha:
    • She is one of Anne's friends.
    • She along with Marcy pressured Anne to shoplift the music box that transported them to Amphibia.
    • She was teleported to Amphibia along with Anne.
      • She is currently being imprisoned by an unknown figure (listed as "Grime" in the credits) for at least fifteen days, as evidenced by the tally marks on the wall of her cell.
  • Marcy:
    • She is one of Anne's friends.
    • She along with Sasha pressured Anne to shoplift the music box that transported them to Amphibia.
• Anne and Sprig agree to keep the events they experienced quiet. But in "A Day at the Aquarium", Anne tearfully reveals the events of that episode.^[17]
• Anne almost reveals how she got trapped in Amphibia to Sprig when she explains her manipulation from Sasha and Marcy.^[18] This foreshadows the end of "Anne Vs. Wild".

Continuity

• This episode takes place in early-June/early-July 2019,^[19] one day after the events of "Anne or Beast?".
  • Hop Pop and Polly still do not trust Anne after the events of said episode.
  • Hop Pop now has to hide Anne's human form from the citizens of Wartwood until they accept them, which happens at the end of "Toad Tax".
• The first scene in the opening sequence is elaborated in the flashback.
  • Scenes from this flashback would later be shown in "The Second Temple" and "If You Give a Frog a Cookie", making this the only flashback to be reused in later episodes.
• Anne opens the music box at the same playground where she and Marcy first met Sasha in the opening flashback in "The Third Temple".
• Anne mentions that she, Sasha, and Marcy would hang out at the beach. Entry 103 of Marcy's Journal: A Guide to Amphibia reveals that the beach is where Anne and Marcy first met.
• The "BFFs" photo of Anne, Sasha, and Marcy from the opening sequence debuts in the series proper.
  • The photo would later appear in "Prison Break", "Handy Anne", "Toadcatcher", "Marcy at the Gates", "All In", and "The Hardest Thing" (the latter of which as a retake in the credits).
• Grime has Anne's other shoe with him.

Production notes

• This alongside "Anne or Beast?" are not the first episodes produced in production order.
  • Despite this, this was the first episode written, as it was originally the pilot episode.^[5]
• The water snake was designed by Brandon Wu.

Allusions

• "Best Friends" - The title is a play on the aforementioned phrase.
• The Wizard of Oz - The famous quote "There's No Place Like Home" appears engraved on a decoration next to the cash register.
• "Sega Dreamcast" - The console appears, alongside its controller, the VMU, and the games Sonic Adventure and Crazy Taxi in a glass container in the cash register's desk.
• "Maneki-neko" - The Asian-Chinese cat Maneki-neko is on the shelf above the cash register's desk.

Errors

• When Anne opens the music box, the black stripes on her skirt are missing, just like in the theme song, since this scene is a part of it.
• When Anne, Sasha, and Marcy are at the playground, Sasha appears with her jacket on, but it did not appear in any previous shots.

• When Sprig and Anne are walking to the door to go to the lake, the lighter skin part of Sprig's face is the same color as the rest of his body.
• When Hop Pop won't let Anne and Sprig exit the house, a small part of the outline between Sprig's face and his goggles is missing.
• When Hop Pop says the townsfolk need time to get used to Anne, some sort of small bucket appears next to the door, which was not there in previous shots. It is also missing the Plantar cane, which can be seen in the bucket in the following episode.
• When Sprig jumps to the ground after trying a pain pepper, the lighter skin part of his face is the same color as the rest of his body.
• When Anne and Sprig peek into Hop Pop's room, a vase is on the table next to Anne and Sprig. However, it was not there in the previous shot. It was actually seen earlier in the living room when Sprig used it to hit his tongue.
• When Sprig is about to eat a handful of pain peppers, his right arm is much longer than his left one.
• After Anne catches the vase that almost fell on the ground, Sprig is in a different position than in the previous shot.
• When Anne is about to grab the key out of Hop Pop's pocket, the back of Sprig's head is the same color as the lighter skin part on his face.
• When Anne asks Sprig what the key smells like, some of the stripes on Anne's swim shorts move to the wrong way when she is rotating.
• When Anne and Sprig are walking in the forest, the shading on Anne's hair is missing
• When Sprig and Anne look at the selfie they just made, the photo does not match Anne and Sprig's faces and positions from when they took the photo.
• When Anne slows down when encountering the don't swim sign, two stripes on the left of Anne's swim shorts move the wrong way. One of them is not fully drawn when Anne stands still.
• When Anne looks at the lake and thinks, the shape of Anne's eyes and the twig in her hair don't match with the previous scene.
• When Anne and Sprig jump on top of the bug in the water, the lighter skin part of Sprig's face is the same color as the rest of his body for a single frame.
• For two frames, when Sprig is holding Anne underwater, his arm's lines are missing, as well as the lighter skin color on his chest.
• When Sprig says he and Anne are in the situation together, the shading on Anne's hair is missing. It appears when Anne starts moving in the scene.

  

• When Anne stands up after Sprig told her to do so, the twig in her hair disappears and a part of her hair is glitching for a few frames.
• When Anne asks Sprig if he is crazy, the leaves in Anne's hair are missing.
• When Sprig is counting down for Anne to duck, he is sitting on Anne's head, even though he was standing on her head in the previous scenes.
• When Sprig is about to jump up, a black line of Anne's swimsuit is missing.
• When Anne attacks the water snake, she is sitting on it. But in the next scene, she is holding on to it with her hands.
• When Hop Pop freaks out over where Anne is, he is suddenly wearing his waistcoat, although he was not wearing it in the previous scene.
• Polly's tail disappears when she is hopping away from the basement shutter.
• At the end of the episode, Sasha is missing her jacket, as well as the Saint James Middle School logo on her shirt.

Edits

• In the Southeast Asia broadcast, the words "jerk" and "dang" were cut out.

Memorable quotes

Videos

"Anne or Beast?" and "Best Fronds" 🐸 Full Episode

Anne or Beast? - Best Fronds

References