Former Gravity Falls storyboard artist Matt Braly’s new Disney Channel cartoon Amphibia is all about frogs, world-hopping, and friendship — and its first two episodes are currently available on Disney Channel’s YouTube channel.
Amphibia follows irresponsible teenager Anne Boochuy (Brenda Song) after she is magically transported to the world of Amphibia, a marshland full of talking frogs. After befriending Sprig, an equally irresponsible young frog, Anne has to convince the other townspeople (or rather, townsfrogs) that she’s more hero than beast.
The series notably features a Thai-American protagonist, voiced by Disney veteran and part-Thai actress Brenda Song. Braly told Collider that the series is directly inspired by his childhood memories of traveling to Bangkok each summer with his mother to visit family.
“At the beginning of each visit, I would be immediately overwhelmed by how different Thailand was compared to California, but by the end of the trip I didn’t want to leave,” Braly said. “I wanted to bottle up that magical feeling for Amphibia. Anne will arrive feeling one way but the world begins to grow on her over the course of the series.”
Amphibia has already been ordered for a second season in advance of its premiere; Disney will also release a series of web shorts and an RPG based on the series later this summer. The series premieres Monday, June 17, on Disney Channel.
