It seems a million years ago, when She-Ra and the Princesses of the Power began, but no. ^_^

Through 5 seasons on Netflix, we’ve watch Adora and her friends form an alliance with the other Princesses of Etheria to combat the evil Horde, which sounds exactly like what one might have expected of a series called She-Ra and the Princesses of Power…but there was so much more than that baked into the story.

Teamwork and Leadership. Obviously, we expect that from a kid’s cartoon, even now…maybe especially now, after decades of anime that focuses on the power of many over one. This cartoon delves into how hard it is to keep a team working, how a good team leader really needs to understand the skills their team members bring to the plate and find a way to utilize them. Hordak isn’t actually a bad leader…especially Hordak Prime, who fully understood that the way to build a team is to make people feel included.

Trauma. That Hordak’s rule was not so much a team as a cult made it pretty clear that there is a fine line for cults of personality/celebrity, and it takes some strength to break free. For my money, Wrong Hordak (along with Peridot and Lapis) is some of the best writing in the last few years – not everyone joins the resistance for the right reasons and even if they do, they sometimes need to work through a lot for a long time. Trauma is real and healing is ongoing. You just know Wrong Hordak will wake up screaming some nights and Catra will have a hard time every once in a while. Mara’s story is a story of trauma. Bereavement is a repeated theme which makes a lot of sense for a series centered around a war.

Betrayal. Scorpia’s whole story is one of betrayal. Her grandfather capitulated to the Horde, and betrayed their family. Catra treated Scorpia with contempt and left her behind. Entrapta was betrayed – she thought – by the Princesses, and she betrayed Wrong Hordak. Adora was betrayed by Lighthope, Glimmer felt jealousy and betrayed by Bow…. and Bow was unable to address his fear of betraying his fathers. And so on.

Representation. I commented on Twitter that, in the post She-Ra and Steven Universe world (for which I still owe you a wrap up review,) all children’s cartoons are going to have to just be amazing. Never again can a network argue with a straight face that representation “doesn’t sell.”Along with racial diversity in characters, there was age, and sexuality and gender diversity, varying body types and sizes. Which is not to say it was perfect. Upon reflection, we can’t think of a disabled character in She-Ra. (Yes, I know that other cartoons have some…I’m reviewing this cartoon right now. If I’ve forgotten someone in this cartoon, please do jump in. I’ll be glad to be wrong. ^_^)

In terms of queer representation, the creative team pulled out the stops. Netossa and Spinerella are already an established couple when we meet them and they are really cute about it. Bow’s dads are a dignified middl-aged couple, as well. Double Trouble is notably non-binary, voiced by non-binary voice actor Jacob Tobia. And of course, there’s Catra and Adora’s 5-season long gavotte around their feelings.

And in all this, characters deal with many other emotional states, both positive and negative. When I wrote my initial review, I found some of the Princesses annoying…as we were lead to. As their stories unfolded, their characters filled out and developed into some great characters.  Some of these story lines work well, others are occasionally  facile, but generally it had some remarkable scenes. Excellent characters who were complex and nuanced, rather than bad OR good. Overall a very good series.

My only – really only – complaint about the series is the shadows that were drawn across their faces. It often looked as if they were wearing a mask. It reminded me very much of the band of light in the characters’ hair in Vision of Escaflowne, which I also found horribly distracting. I shouldn’t be seeing one artistic quirk constantly in every scene to the point of not being able to not notice it.

Ratings:

Art – 7 That face thing is a point off
Story – 8 Twisty and good, avoiding childish morality
Characters – 9 Full developed, often funny
Service – 1 I mean, everyone looks good dressed up, but that dress on Scorpia and the untied tie on Catra were on point. ^_^
LGBTQ – “perfect world” 10, in which people just are and that’s not the issue ever

Overall – 9

I do wish, though, that there had been a post-series Princess Prom episode. ^_^