114th G-View, WTH edition; My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic

Hello and welcome to the G-Views where creativity is respected and Dokuro-chan is rejected. It’s time to throw in something compeltely out of nowhere that will make people question my sanity and masculinity even further after I admitted liking Magical Girl shows and currently Suite Precure. This is a review of…a My Little Pony cartoon, but not just any MLP cartoon, but an MLP cartoon that can be enjoyed by both teenagers and adults of both genders. “GASP”! Well, believe it or not, it’s true, at least from my perspective.

Number of episodes: 26 (with a 2nd season being planned for Winter 2011)

Genre: Action, Comedy, Fantasy. Slice of Life

Themes: Coming of Age,

G-Rating: 8/10

The series stars a unicorn pony named Twilight Sparkle, who is a pupil of Equestria‘s ruler Princess Celestia. Seeing the young pony buried in books, the princess sends her to Ponyville and gives her the task of making friends. Along with her assistant, a baby dragon named Spike, she becomes friends with the tomboyish Rainbow Dash, glamorous Rarity, hard-working Applejack, timid Fluttershy, and hyperactive Pinkie Pie. Together they explore the ins and outs of the town and solve various problems, ranging from problematic situations that threaten Ponyville or just simple personal issues such as stubbornness, conquering one’s worst fear and even puberty at one point Each episode usually ends with Twilight Sparkle reporting back to Celestia on some aspect of friendship that she has discovered in the process.

The six main characters are written as young adults with a maturity level in the 12-18 year old range.

This show can be described as, an applause worthy re-imagining of a once thought mediocre girls toy brand based cartoon series. After all, this show was developed for television by Lauren Faust who is famed for her work on two of Cartoon Network‘s noted franchises The Powerpuff Girls  (not the subpar anime “Powerpuff Girls Z”) and Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends, on all of which she worked with their creator and her husband Craig McCracken. That alone is enough to convince any fan of the above mentioned series to give this show at least a peek to see whether it’s your thing or not.

Animation: it’s obviously Flash media style of animation, similar to Panty and Stocking but is surprisingly pretty good. It’s colorful and just right for a show originally aimed at kids.

Characters: (Yes, I also noticed that Twilight has a similar hairstyle to Stocking Anarchy’s.)

The main protagonist of Friendship Is Magic is Twilight Sparkle, a unicorn pony with a light violet body and an indigo mane and tail with pink and purple streaks. She is Princess Celestia’s dearest pupil and initially considered the pursuit of knowledge to be more important than socialization, but at the beginning of the series, Princess Celestia orders her to take a break from her studies and visit Ponyville to learn the importance of friendship. This proved to be the key to unlocking the “Elements of Harmony” and defeating Nightmare Moon. She decides to stay in Ponyville and study friendship with her mentor’s blessings.^[6] Her part in the Elements of Harmony is magic.

She is accompanied by a baby dragon named Spike who is Twilight Sparkle’s research assistant, workhorse, and messenger (he is able to deliver written messages to Princess Celestia by burning them with his magical fire breath). He is often sarcastic and laughs at others’ misfortune, but is very supportive towards Twilight and also helpful toward others.

The circle of friends that Twilight Sparkle met in Ponyville consist of five ponies who appear with her in most episodes. They are:

• Applejack, an earth pony with an orange body and blonde mane and tail. She is very dependable and down-to-earth, but also stubborn and a bit selfish. She also comes from a large family of apple-name related members who oversee an apple orchard and run an apple business.^[6] Her part in the Elements of Harmony is honesty.

• Rainbow Dash, a Pegasus pony with a sky blue body and a multicolored mane and tail. She is very brave and bold, but also mischievous and proud, as well as sometimes being insensitive. She has great speed and, with the help of the other Pegasus ponies, has the job of clearing clouds out of the sky and otherwise changing the weather. In addition, she dreams of one day becoming a member of Equestria’s aerial flight team, the Wonderbolts. Her part in the Elements of Harmony is loyalty.

• Pinkie Pie, an earth pony with a pink body and magenta mane and tail. She is an obsessive party planner who is very funny, talkative, and a bit air-headed. She also enjoys singing and playing pranks (but to her, practical jokes on Fluttershy are off-limits due to her sensitivity). Her part in the Elements of Harmony is laughter.

• Fluttershy, a pegasus pony with a yellow body and a pink mane and tail. She is sweet, calm, timid, and often very shy around others, but can be forceful when pushed. Despite this demeanor, she has a great love for animals and is willing to help them at any cost.^[6] It is revealed in the fifth episode that she is a year older than Pinkie Pie. Her part in the Elements of Harmony is kindness.

• Rarity, a unicorn pony with a white body and a royal purple mane and tail. She is very stylish and beautiful, as she is interested in fashion and often desires to be a center of attention. She considers herself a lady and often acts sophisticated. She can also be very dramatic and at times distraught. In some episodes, Spike is shown to have a crush on Rarity. Her part in the Elements of Harmony is generosity.

Now before people start judging me for my taste in shows keep in mind that I’ll watch anything as long as its entertaining. I could care less about the aimed demographic or questions concerning my gender based on the shows I watch but the main reasons as to why I like this show are the following:

-It doesn’t shove the marketing product in your face as something you have to buy. These ponies are legitimately likeable due to their realistic (except Pinkie Pie) personalities.

-The show’s subplots: When the show isn’t focusing on a major story arc, the plots in the episodes themselves that help build the ponies’ characters are pretty good. they aren’t  preachy about battle of the sexes or feminism like in the old school version of the MLP cartoons.

-No humans: This is a reason why I like the Beast Wars Transformers series a little bit more than the classic Transformers, it’s because there are no human characters on the show, just ponies, Pegasi, unicorns and other animals just like Beast wars primarily has transformers and no Earthlings.

-The small references to classics: This show does have some minor homages to legendary classics such as The Benny Hill show, The A-Team and Pepe Le Pew, just to name a few.

-Applejack and Fluttershy: These two are my fav ponies but the main reason most fans remember the show before all else…it’s because of this loony, out of this world, Osaka-ish,lovable pink pony. Yes, this pony is insane, but we love her because of the fact that she’s aware of her insanity…yet believe it or not, there is an episode where she actually DOES go insane, unlike her usual loony self.

In conclusion: If you’re a guy like me who dares to take risks and dares not judge a show by appearance or demographic, give it a show and see if it’s for you.