The toxic friendship between Sasha, Anne and Marcy is so terrible and so complex and so realistic.
Because they had fun together, yeah. They loved to shop and get ice cream and have sleepovers and they probably have so many good memories. And they cared for each other, so much. So many of their goals when they were on their individual path in Amphibia was to reunite with each other and get back home, to their life. The three of them loved each other and in some way, were friends.
But god was the relationship so unhealthy.
Marcy had an overreliance on them, she was so oblivious to the world and leaned on them to help carry her through the world. Yet her needs weren’t even being catered to by them, as Anne and Sasha were only ever passively, sometimes barely interested in what she actually cared about.
Anne needed Sasha to stick up for her, and she did. She protected Anne when she and Marcy were young, and she continued to stick up for her against bullies as they grew up. Again, kind of an overreliance, because then she just let herself get so walked all over by Sasha.
And Sasha also had an incredibly unhealthy reliance on them, just manifested through control and anger. Her control over the friendship was a constant in life, from childhood to preteen years. So she dominated the friendship, almost tyrannical in the way that she pushed people around just to keep that “norm” in check. But it was also terrible for her, as she never understood how to properly regulate her emotions.
Point blank, it was such a toxic friendship. But that’s what I love. Usually, you’d see the loving, best friends trope play out, or you would see the friend group completely dissolving due to its toxicities. But Amphibia gifts each girl a multitude of lessons, a redemption, a path to become a better person. Amphibia at its core is a show that values and centers friendship-ALL kinds of friendship, and I love that so much!!!!!
