It doesn’t matter what they do to us, you know? You look out for me, and I look out for you. Nothing really bad can happen as long as we have each other.

This show is special to me, despite its flaws. Steven Universe is probably technically better, but I’ve adored this show since I first watched it in 2020, to the point that whenever I get Netflix, without fail, I start by rewatching this show. I’ve been waiting to cover this show for various reasons, but now, in what might be my last series, I feel like I’m finally ready.

While Adora has an interesting take on the Chosen One narrative, I’m mostly here for Catra. And the rest of the horde scum, honestly. But I’ve always loved this show for the consideration it pays to the “villains”, which it might get from its magical girl influences,

The show was the brainchild of Nate “ND” Stevenson, a more emotionally grounded remake of She-ra: Princess of Power, which itself was a spinoff of the cult classic cartoon He-man and the Masters of the Universe. That franchise was most famous for its characteristic eighties cheese and an abundance of gay subtext (evidently there were a lot of queer creators behind the scenes). I caught a random episode of the old She-ra, and honestly, it’s pretty bland unless you have a group of friends to riff on it with you. Stevenson managed to take a handful of elements from the original show (mainly the general plot and characters, funny enough) and flesh it out into a compelling story, mostly just by having the characters grow and change (as opposed to a fundamentally episodic series). Also, since I only recently discovered this myself, Stevenson apparently transitioned after he created this show, so he’s credited under a different name, but I’ll refer to him as ND, which is evidently his professional name now. And for what it’s worth, I have heard of the He-Man reboot, but as it comes with a totally different staff and aesthetic (and evidently abandons the gay stuff), I’m just not interested.

Stevenson credits Steven Universe as a big inspiration, which is obvious in the character designs and general aesthetic (even if it shares only the usual amount of art staff), as well as thematic similarities (although I’d credit that partly to the fact that both creators are AFAB queer people). She-Ra also has a few shared influences, most obviously Sailor Moon and Revolutionary Girl Utena (the latter mostly shows up towards the end, though). Both shows have strikingly similar fifth seasons as well, and although SU was technically first (by like 2 months), I’m more inclined to attribute that to both taking inspiration from A Wrinkle in Time, as it is something of a foundational YA sci-fi text.

Unlike the previous series I’ve written up, She-Ra is only available in its entirety on one platform (Netflix) – you can find the first three seasons elsewhere, but as of this writing, the last two seasons are still exclusive to Netflix (at least in America). On the plus side, it’s available on the cheapest ad-supported plan (again, in America), which is still cheaper than what I’ve paid to buy digital copies of SU and TOH.

For the honor of Grayskull!

Until next time…