Anne Savisa Boonchuy ( ;
Thai
Thai or THAI may refer to:
* Of or from Thailand, a country in Southeast Asia
** Thai people, the dominant ethnic group of Thailand
** Thai language, a Tai-Kadai language spoken mainly in and around Thailand
*** Thai script
*** Thai (Unicode block ...
: แอนน์ สาวิสา บุญช่วย) is the
main protagonist
A protagonist () is the main character of a story. The protagonist makes key decisions that affect the plot, primarily influencing the story and propelling it forward, and is often the character who faces the most significant obstacles. If a st ...
of the
Disney Channel
Disney Channel, sometimes known as simply Disney, is an American pay television channel that serves as the flagship property of Disney Branded Television, a unit of the Disney General Entertainment Content division of The Walt Disney Compan ...
animated series ''
Amphibia
Amphibians are four-limbed and ectothermic vertebrates of the class Amphibia. All living amphibians belong to the group Lissamphibia. They inhabit a wide variety of habitats, with most species living within terrestrial, fossorial, arbore ...
'', created by
Matt Braly
Matthew Benjakarn Braly ( ; born November 8, 1988) is an American animator, storyboard artist, director, writer, and producer. He is best known as the creator and executive producer of the Disney Channel animated series ''Amphibia (TV series)''. ...
. She is voiced by
Brenda Song
Brenda Song (born March 27, 1988) is an American actress. Born in California, Song began her career at the age of six, working as a child model. She made her screen debut with a guest appearance on the sitcom '' Thunder Alley'' (1995), and ...
. The character debuted in the
pilot
An aircraft pilot or aviator is a person who controls the flight of an aircraft by operating its directional flight controls. Some other aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are also considered aviators, because they a ...
, "
Anne or Beast?" and made her last appearance in the series finale, "
The Hardest Thing". Anne is a
Thai-American
Thai Americans ( th, ชาวอเมริกันเชื้อสายไทย; formerly referred to as Siamese Americans) are Americans of Thai ancestry.
History in the US
The 1930 Census recorded just 18 ‘Siamese’ Americans. Acco ...
teenage human girl who, on her 13th birthday, is magically transported to Amphibia alongside her friends Sasha and Marcy by a mysterious music box known as the Calamity Box. Upon her arrival, an anthropmorphic family of
frogs
A frog is any member of a diverse and largely carnivorous group of short-bodied, tailless amphibians composing the order Anura (ανοὐρά, literally ''without tail'' in Ancient Greek). The oldest fossil "proto-frog" ''Triadobatrachus'' is ...
called the Plantars find her and over time they form a bond. She is also discovered by the town of Wartwood who reluctantly let her stay with them.
Anne has been well-received by both critics and audiences alike, who praised her character, Song's performance, relatability, and her coming of age evolution through the series.
She was also met with universal acclaim by fans of the series, with many considering her to be one of the best
Disney
The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...
protagonist.
Creation
![Brenda Song 021109-R293](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/24/Brenda_Song_021109-R293.jpg)
According to
Matt Braly
Matthew Benjakarn Braly ( ; born November 8, 1988) is an American animator, storyboard artist, director, writer, and producer. He is best known as the creator and executive producer of the Disney Channel animated series ''Amphibia (TV series)''. ...
, he wanted Anne to have a similar arc to ''
Gravity Falls
''Gravity Falls'' is an American mystery comedy animated television series created by Alex Hirsch for Disney Channel and Disney XD. The series follows the adventures of Dipper Pines (Jason Ritter) and his twin sister Mabel (Kristen Schaal) wh ...
'' character
Pacifica Northwest, as he felt that "to have this character change so drastically was so rewarding, and that's why
eknew
ewanted
isown show to have some of that element as well".
Anne, along with her best friends, Sasha and Marcy, were originally fifteen-years-old because they wanted the series to have a high school-like feel, but were aged down to thirteen in order to appeal to the series' target demographic; due to this, the trio often realizes actions more akin to high school students, such as driving and having part-time jobs.
Matt Braly revealed on an AMA that Anne's design was slightly influenced by
Pepper Ann
''Pepper Ann'' is an American animated television series created by Sue Rose and aired on Disney's One Saturday Morning on ABC. It debuted on September 13, 1997, and ended on November 18, 2000. ''Pepper Ann'' was the first Disney animated telev ...
, as Braly was a fan of the series.
Early concept art by James Turner depicted Anne with a lighter skin tone, blue hair, and casual wear from the start. Later concept art by Joe Sparrow showed that Anne was going to have a much rougher hairstyle and have a more boring personality on Earth. She was also shown to be wearing many styles of clothing, including a SJMS jacket and longer shirt. In the show's pilot, Amphibiland, Anne was originally going to sport both of her shoes (the other one being broken) when being transported to Amphibia. Anne's original character was originally envisioned as being a boring person on Earth, before being reinvented by the crew.
On March 27, 2019, it was revealed that
Brenda Song
Brenda Song (born March 27, 1988) is an American actress. Born in California, Song began her career at the age of six, working as a child model. She made her screen debut with a guest appearance on the sitcom '' Thunder Alley'' (1995), and ...
would star in the series as the voice of Anne.
According to Braly, Song
ad-lib
In music and other performing arts, the phrase (; from Latin for 'at one's pleasure' or 'as you desire'), often shortened to "ad lib" (as an adjective or adverb) or "ad-lib" (as a verb or noun), refers to various forms of improvisation.
The r ...
bed several jokes during recording.
Thai representation
Anne is best known for being the first
Thai-American
Thai Americans ( th, ชาวอเมริกันเชื้อสายไทย; formerly referred to as Siamese Americans) are Americans of Thai ancestry.
History in the US
The 1930 Census recorded just 18 ‘Siamese’ Americans. Acco ...
lead in a animated show.
Braly, who is also Thai-American, chose to make her Thai-American because he wanted more Thai characters in television series. According to Braly, Anne was loosely inspired by his grandmother when she was young.
[ He described Anne being Thai-American as "a number one priority", as he wanted Thai-American kids to see themselves reflected on television.] Season 3, which is set on Earth, further delves into Anne's Thai heritage, including an episode set at a Wat
A wat ( km, វត្ត, ; lo, ວັດ, ; th, วัด, ; khb, 「ᩅᨯ᩠ᨰ」(waD+Dha); nod, 「ᩅ᩠ᨯ᩶」 (w+Da2)) is a type of Buddhist temple and Hindu temple in Cambodia, Laos, East Shan State, Yunnan, the Southern Provi ...
Thai temple in Los Angeles. Braly described the temple's representation in the episode as "pretty accurate", as it is important for him to represent Thai culture accurately.
Anne's last name, Boonchuy (Thai: บุญช่วย), roughly translates to "one who encourages or performs good deeds" in the Thai language. This fits her character as she always attempts to help the people of Wartwood and improve herself. Her middle name, Savisa, is named after Braly's cousin, Savisa Bhumiratana.
Character
Design
Anne is a tall, slender girl of Thai descent. She has tan skin and short, messy brown hair which, before coming to Amphibia, looked relatively the same. It has leaves and a twig sticking out on top as a sign of her having lived there for so long. After returning to earth, she got rid of all leaves and twigs, but got new leaves and twigs shortly after returning to Amphibia.
Anne usually wears her school uniform consisting of a mauve skirt and undershirt and a light blue-gray shirt with her school's coat of arms on it. She wears white socks, but only one yellow-and-white sneaker, having lost the other one some time before meeting the Plantars; the other sneaker is now in the possession of Captain Grime.
Personality
Anne is described as fearless, egocentric
Egocentrism is the inability to differentiate between self and other. More specifically, it is the inability to accurately assume or understand any perspective other than one's own.
Egocentrism is found across the life span: in infancy, early chi ...
, and rebellious, as shown in the second segment of the first episode, where she and Sprig defy Hop Pop's orders to stay put and instead go to the lake to swim. Anne is shown to have a zany side; a good example is her interactions with Sprig and anyone else she is really close to. She is also very energetic, which has got her both in and out of trouble. Anne started off as a slightly conceited girl who nevertheless embraced her ethnic roots. Anne is a pop culture
Pop or POP may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Music
* Pop music, a musical genre Artists
* POP, a Japanese idol group now known as Gang Parade
* Pop!, a UK pop group
* Pop! featuring Angie Hart, an Australian band
Albums
* Pop (Gas al ...
enthusiast with a love for young-adult movies and TV shows. Like most teenagers, Anne is obsessed with her phone, often watching shows and playing games on it. In spite of her recklessness, Anne can often deliver good advice. This is seen in both "Grubhog Day", where she advises Sprig to tell Hop Pop that he doesn't want to take care of the grubhog, and "Cursed!", where she tells Sprig to just break his engagement with Maddie due to his fear of her.
Over the course of the first season, Anne displays bouts of homesickness
Homesickness is the distress caused by being away from home.Kerns, Brumariu, Abraham. Kathryn A., Laura E., Michelle M.(2009/04/13). Homesickness at summer camp. Merrill-Palmer Quarterly, 54. Its cognitive hallmark is preoccupying thoughts of home ...
and imprints her hobbies on the Plantars, such as her love of pizza, her pet cat Domino, her TV habits, her obsession with couples, her restaurateur abilities and her dancing prowess.
According to Matt Braly
Matthew Benjakarn Braly ( ; born November 8, 1988) is an American animator, storyboard artist, director, writer, and producer. He is best known as the creator and executive producer of the Disney Channel animated series ''Amphibia (TV series)''. ...
, Anne reads manga
Manga (Japanese: 漫画 ) are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long prehistory in earlier Japanese art. The term ''manga'' is u ...
, " robably sawanime
is Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japane ...
", and watched ''The Lord of the Rings
''The Lord of the Rings'' is an epic high-fantasy novel by English author and scholar J. R. R. Tolkien. Set in Middle-earth, intended to be Earth at some time in the distant past, the story began as a sequel to Tolkien's 1937 children's boo ...
''. This is further supported in the episode "Trip to the Archives", where Anne shouts "Zoobooks and manga, here I come!".
Fictional character biography
Background
Anne lived with her parents in Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
, California
California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...
and was best friends with two girls named Sasha Waybright and Marcy Wu. On her 13th birthday, she is peer-pressured into stealing a mysterious music box that magically transports her and her friends, Sasha and Marcy to the world of Amphibia, a wild marshland
A marsh is a wetland that is dominated by herbaceous rather than woody plant species.Keddy, P.A. 2010. Wetland Ecology: Principles and Conservation (2nd edition). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. 497 p Marshes can often be found at ...
tropical island
An island (or isle) is an isolated piece of habitat that is surrounded by a dramatically different habitat, such as water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, skerries, cays or keys. An island ...
full of anthropomorphic
Anthropomorphism is the attribution of human traits, emotions, or intentions to non-human entities. It is considered to be an innate tendency of human psychology.
Personification is the related attribution of human form and characteristics t ...
amphibian
Amphibians are tetrapod, four-limbed and ectothermic vertebrates of the Class (biology), class Amphibia. All living amphibians belong to the group Lissamphibia. They inhabit a wide variety of habitats, with most species living within terres ...
s and threatening creatures, where they are separated from each other.
Season One
After living in the jungle for two weeks, she is found by Sprig Plantar and quickly befriends him. She is discovered by the rest of the Plantars and the town of Wartwood who reluctantly let her stay with them. While slightly angsty around the Plantars at first, she realizes that they want to care for her and does her best to please them, especially Sprig who she has a lot in common with. She lives in their basement which is prone to flooding. Over time, Anne grows to love the family as her own and does not wish any harm come to them, While the Wartwood citizens openly mock her at first, they slowly warm up to her and accept her as one of them after she protects them from debt collector Toads that the Mayor had cheated. After the Wartwood citizens throw a celebration for her, Anne is reunited with Sasha who she learns is in league with the Toad Warriors.
Anne eventually comes to the realization that Sasha had been manipulative of her throughout their friendship and is forced to fight her. They become separated afterward, with Anne becoming distraught over losing her but promising to make things right with her in the future.
Season Two
Anne and the Plantars leave Wartwood to find answers to how Anne came to Amphibia and how she can get back. They arrive in Newtopia where Anne is happily reunited with Marcy. She was initially protective of her due to her clumsiness but has now accepted that she can take care of herself. Anne is shown to be slightly jealous of Marcy's intelligence but realized that she was better at being socially interactive than her. While in Newtopia, Anne comes to grips with the fact that she misses her mother most of all and that she would want to be with her more than anything in the world. Together with Marcy, they come to accept that despite her genuinely caring about them, Sasha had always looked down on them to a degree. However, they will get her back regardless. Upon discovering that the Calamity Box has lost its power and needs to be recharged (it was left back in Wartwood), Anne becomes solemn over leaving the Plantars, and upon seeing this Marcy lets her to go back with them so they can retrieve the box together and meet up at the first temple. Upon returning to Wartwood, Anne reveals that she is a practitioner of Muay Thai
Muay Thai ( th, มวยไทย, , ), sometimes referred to as Thai boxing, is a combat sport that uses stand-up striking along with various clinching techniques. This discipline is known as the "art of eight limbs", as it is characterised ...
, due to her mother's insistence. ">4/sup> She finds out about Hop Pop lying to her about the Calamity Box and becomes angered. When she learns that Hop Pop's fears are related to the death of Sprig and Polly's parents, she forgives him, but admits that she needs time to herself. She later successfully completes the second temple by not only admitting to being dishonest, such as lying about stealing the Calamity Box, but also proving her courageousness in the face of danger. However, she only partially charges her gem as the blue hue in her eyes had not fully been filtered out and her gem begins to flicker. Afterwards, she reunites with Sasha, though she reluctantly accepts her help with the third temple. When Anne discovers Andrias' true intentions with the Calamity Box, she becomes determined to stop him and unleashes her inert blue energy that allows her to fight back. She returns home to Los Angeles, along with the Plantars and the head of Frobo.
Season Three
Anne is happily reunited with her parents and introduces them to the Plantars. Her parents note that she has matured significantly and shows a better appreciation for the things they do for her. She even changes her attire upon returning to Earth. While trying to fend off a Cloak-Bot that was sent after her by Andrias, Anne realizes that she still has the blue gem energy within her, though she has decided to deter from using it, as it tires her out. She eventually comes clean to her parents about why and how she returned and while they are upset with her for keeping information from them, but they realize that she was trying to protect them and the Plantars. In "Froggy Little Christmas", Anne anonymously writes a letter to Marcy and Sasha's parents promising to get them home safely.
After donning a similar outfit to what she wore when she first arrived in Amphibia, Anne eventually makes peace with the fact that she will be leaving her parents again to get back to Amphibia. Upon returning, she and the Plantars find Amphibia in ruins. She happily reunites with Sasha. Despite her insistence on taking over the resistance against Andrias, Anne reveals that she now has faith in her to do the right thing. She helps to take down one of the factories. Afterwards, it was noticed that one of her shoes was lost in an earlier incident with a quicksand pit. Anne later comes to terms with the fact that she and Sasha may have directly influenced Marcy's actions that sent them to Amphibia, but learns to forgive her as she had done for Sasha and Hop Pop. Finally knowing who she is and want she wants to do, Anne battles Andrias and defeats him while also freeing Marcy. She returns to Amphibia to announce the Resistance’s victory, only to witness the moon falling towards them.
Realizing that the moon is falling because of the Core, Anne, Sasha and Marcy are imbued with the gem powers to push it back. Unable to do so, Anne absorbs all the gem powers and destroys the moon and the Core, but loses her life in the process. She encounters the Gem Guardian who offers that she replace her as the new guardian, but she turns it down as she is still a teenager and does not have the wisdom to watch over the universe. The entity agrees and revives Anne where she happily reunites with her friends. She has one final goodbye with the Plantars before returning home alongside Sasha and Marcy. Ten years later, Anne has become a herpetologist
Herpetology (from Greek ἑρπετόν ''herpetón'', meaning "reptile" or "creeping animal") is the branch of zoology concerned with the study of amphibians (including frogs, toads, salamanders, newts, and caecilians (gymnophiona)) and rept ...
and works at the Aquarium of the Pacific
The Aquarium of the Pacific (formerly the Long Beach Aquarium of the Pacific) is a public aquarium on a site on Rainbow Harbor in Long Beach, California, United States. It is situated across the water from the Long Beach Convention Center, Shore ...
where she cares for a frog named Sprig.
Reception
Anne's character and Song's performance had received a strong positive reception from both critics, and fans of the show. Pio Nepomuceno from ''ScreenRant
''Screen Rant'' is an entertainment website that offers news in the fields of television, films, video games, and film theories. ''Screen Rant'' was launched by Vic Holtreman in 2003, and originally had its primary office in Ogden, Utah. ''Scree ...
'' listed her as one of the best characters from ''Amphibia'', stating "like many coming-of-age stories, Anne started as a kind yet irresponsible teen that was eager to please her friends even at her own expense".
Other media
An image of Anne can be seen in ''The Owl House
''The Owl House'' is an American animated fantasy television series created by Dana Terrace that premiered on Disney Channel on January 10, 2020. The series stars the voices of Sarah-Nicole Robles, Wendie Malick, Alex Hirsch, Tati Gabrielle, Issa ...
'' episode King's Tide at the end when Camila Noceda is cooking with her tablet open to an article that reads "Girl Lost in Frog Land?? HOAX??".
She would later appear in Chibi form in the animated series based on the "Chibi Tiny Tales" shorts, ''Chibiverse
''Chibiverse'' is an American animated television series developed by Gino Guzzardo, produced by Disney Television Animation and premiered on Disney Channel on July 30, 2022. The series is based on the studio's ''Chibi Tiny Tales'' short series. ...
''.
See also
* List of ''Amphibia'' characters
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Boonchuy, Anne
Disney animated characters
Disney Television Animation characters
Child characters in animated television series
Television characters introduced in 2019
Animated characters introduced in 2019
Animated human characters
Teenage characters in television
Female characters in animated series
Fictional characters who can move at superhuman speeds
Fictional characters with energy-manipulation abilities
Fictional characters with superhuman strength
Fictional clones
Fictional Thai people
Fictional Asian-American people
Fictional characters from Los Angeles
Fictional middle school students
Fictional female sportspeople
Fictional female martial artists
Fictional tennis players
Fictional Muay Thai practitioners
Fictional chefs
Fictional revolutionaries
Fictional swordfighters
Fictional women soldiers and warriors
Fictional biologists
Amphibia (TV series) characters