The 2019 reboot of "DC Super Hero Girls" is a series that has not gotten much exposure compared to some others, despite having distribution on both Cartoon Network and Netflix, additional 3-minute shorts on YouTube, and even a Nintendo-published video game. That said, despite its reception generally being positive to lukewarm, it has run into a lot of walls causing a lot of blind hatred. There's often broad connections made with TTG with the more comedy-oriented approach and simpler art style as far as WB superhero cartoons go (there being multiple crossovers doesn't help), some moderate-sized reviewers have tried to claim the show has a feminist agenda, and when the "Teen Power" game was revealed during a long-awaited Nintendo Direct, those who were anticipating more major titles were unable to look past the surface and immediately declared it kiddy shovelware. So hopefully, my own coverage will help shine a light to what the show is really like and allow you to make a fair judgement if it's indeed for you.
Those who have heard of the show mostly know about it being developed by Lauren Faust, the wife of famous cartoonist Craig McCracken and the original creative mind behind "My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic". And this fact is pretty obvious when you take even a casual glance at how DCSHG is set up. It centers around six female friends, all covering very different personality extremes, who often deal with personal problems one day and defeat evil villains the next. The plots are generally slice of life, with a more action-heavy episode appearing every so often, many of which are made to communicate a social-based moral. Some of the leading ladies come across like stand-ins for some of the Mane Six, and even the writing style brings to mind FIM, as many of them like GM Berrow, Cindy Morrow, and the head writer MA Larson were carried over from that show. It's by no means a copy, but you can tell they were cut from the same cloth nonetheless, but I would argue this is ultimately to the show's advantage.
The best place to start this discussion would be the four-part pilot episode, "# SweetJustice" (yes, the episode titles are hashtags, which I am otherwise going to ignore in this post). In a nutshell, it's about how Babs Gordon, having just moved from Gotham City, meets all the other girls blessed with superpowers; particularly Wonder Woman, hailing from the Amazon and mistaken as a high schooler herself. She teaches them how to work as a superhero team, while they teach her how to blend in as an exchange student - all with limited success. That is, until a squadron of Lex Luthor's robots wreak havoc on the city, while Queen Hippolyta tries to bring Wonder Woman back to her homeland, leaving both sides having to make things right.
All this is very standard stuff as far as concept-establishing pilots go, but it offers a little bit of everything of what the series is set to offer. You have a lot of casual, witty back-and-forths between the characters, you've got the greatly exaggerated comedy still grounded in some form of reality (a staple of MA Larson's writing), you've got the genuine emotional moments like when Diana/WW has to stand up to her mother, and you've even got a little clever subversion that feels welcome in this show's world like who's really behind the attack and even the evil plan itself. The characters don't all leave the best first impression, not helped by the focus being noticeably uneven (Babs and Diana take the bulk of the focus here), but you still get to see them become a team that you want to root for and see in future adventures. Not the best start, but it gets the job done and a solid indicator of what's to come.
The main characters are as follows:
Barbara Gordon/Batgirl, the eager, happy-go-lucky but resourceful fast-talker who strives to fight alongside Batman.
Kara Danvers/Supergirl, the muscle with an impulsive, yet good-hearted attitude and a superiority complex to her cousin Superman.
Zee Zatara/Zatanna, the daughter of a famous magician with prowess of her own and a determination to be in the spotlight.
Karen Beecher/Bumblebee, the meek but smart one who uses her small size to her advantage.
Jessica Cruz/Green Lantern, the persistent pacifist who sometimes get overly stuck in her ways.
Diana Prince/Wonder Woman, the Amazon princess dedicated to save 'the world of man' but struggling to fully comprehend teenage high school life.
Most of these can come across as archetypal, and some of these can take some time to like, but what keeps them enjoyable for me is how strong their friendship and sense of teamwork is. Sure, they don't always get along, and sometimes one of them can act out of line for the sake of a plot, but at the end of the day they always band together and dearly enjoy each other's company. My favorite is definitely Wonder Woman, since it's plain adorable to see someone so skilled and resourceful be this naive yet accepting of modern-day society. But all the others get a lot of time and episodes to shine on their own, and with that combined with how varied they are in personality, you're bound to gain a favorite.
Of course, there's a lot of other regular characters that leave an impression as well. Many of the standard male DC superheroes are around, either as foils to the girls like with Superman or Green Arrow, or as friendly allies like the Flash and Aqualad. Not all of them leave positive impressions (I honestly hate this version of Robin), but it never quite feels like they're intentionally pushing that gender to the side to make a statement. Even beyond the friendlier examples, there are episodes like "DC Superhero Boys" where they have to work together in order to save the day. Really, there's far too many side characters to name, but my personal favorite is probably Lois Lane, determined to get the juiciest stories to secure an internship at the Daily Planet, which of course intrudes on the girls' identities on at least one occasion. Mention must also be made of the villains, highlights of which include Harley Quinn, Livewire, and Catwoman, all of whom stay pretty true to their traditional characterizations but manage to still feel fresh thanks to the show's world.
Mention must be made of the voice-acting, which proves really strong all across the board. Apart from Tara Strong as Batgirl, who took some getting used to as all I heard at first was Unikitty or Twilight Sparkle, the leads' voices all sound incredibly natural in the part and you always hear the character and not a performance. Grey Griffin especially nails it as Wonder Woman, who reprises the role from the previous version. Otherwise, you've got a wide mix between veteran voice actors and newcomers to the medium, but you wouldn't be able to tell by listening to them because for the most part, they fit like a glove as well. Some stand out much more than others, like Cree Summers' contagious allure as Catwoman and Will Friedle as Lex Luthor, but the more standard ones still sound natural. There's even a few welcome surprises sprinkled in, like Jason Charles Miller in the League of Shadows two-parter and Lilly Aspell returning as young Diana from the 2017 and 2020 films.
As expected, this episode has a lot of comedy to offer, and many episodes that exist solely to be as ridiculous as possible. "Hate Triangle" is what happens when Hal Jordan attempts to escape from a crazy ex-girlfriend, with Jessica having to serve as an awkward third wall. "All About Zee" has her meeting a lonely student who sympathetically decides to set a friendship... but then she quickly becomes a stalker, even to the point of plotting to steal Zee's identity. But my favorite of these has to be "Gotham Con", where Barbara visits her best friend Harleen Quinzel in Gotham and they attend a convention together. However, they keep unknowingly switching between best friends to bitter enemies as Harleen misguidedly tries to make sure Barbara's day isn't ruined by Dick Grayson - all the while completely unaware of each other's alternate identities. These are all really energetic and just the right level of exaggerated to make for experiences you'll surely want to revisit.
However, despite what it may seem on the surface, a handful of episode do try to tell a more earnest story that goes pretty heavy on the action. These mostly, but not always, occur in the 22-minute episodes, which makes sense as the added time allows the plots to properly play out. "League of Shadows" has Kara and Karen attending a concert by a band that puts a hypnotizing spell under the former (all told through a very stylistic, monochrome music video) and the latter must stop the League before they destroy her own favorite band. Then you have "Soul Sisters", starting with Diana gaining a new friend and fitness partner, only for her to turn out to be the vigilante Katana who steals the souls of any wrongdoers she comes across... which quickly becomes a misguided affair. But even a few 11-minute entries are action-heavy as well, like "Meet the Cheetah" that has a spoiled athlete jealous of Diana fall under a curse that turns her into a viscous, destructive creature, and it proves to be one of the show's most atmospheric and intense.
But then there are the episodes that mostly exist to communicate a social-based moral. "She Might Be Giant" is all about bullying target Karen having to come to terms with her small size (particularly in her armor) and valuing brain over brawn. "Frenemies" features Barbara eagerly trying to get her best friend Harleen to bond with the group, but realizes that even though she enjoys all their company, some friends simply aren't compatible with each other. And "Power Surge" has Supergirl try to reinvent her superhero identity after her reputation bottoms out, only to enter an ego trip and recognize the value of being true to herself. While they can get a little heavy-handed sometimes, they're still told in highly entertaining ways and don't quite come across as patronizing. Even many of the more action and comedy-heavy episodes as mentioned earlier have lessons attached to them as well. Again, very akin to how Friendship is Magic would teach its friendship lessons.
However, Friendship is Magic isn't the only incarnation it took serious inspiration from. There's also some significant similarities to Equestria Girls, obviously as a result of the more contemporary setting. There are many episodes that take great advantage of the internet, or just the girls acting like regular teens. This part of the show is constantly emphasized by having each episode title be hashtagged. While it can take some getting used to for those who prefer seeing more timelessness in their cartoons, and true that there are times when it can get a little cringey like the short where Diana struggles to comprehend emojis, most of the time I think it's used pretty effectively. A lot of the modern references are used to put an existing story into an observational context, like "Shock It To Me" which is ultimately about how shallow people can get laughing at others' misery (to a point). These may not have been deliberate connections, but considering a few of the writers were also involved with that spinoff, who knows.
In terms of visuals, the animation itself is split between Jam Filled in Canada and Boulder Media in Ireland, both of which translate really well to the design and stylistic choices on display. With both studios, Toon Boom Harmony is put to fantastic use, making the movements both smooth and impactful, and the effects near-seamless. You can barely even tell it's tweened most of the time. Sure, the artwork is relatively simple compared with some other shows, and with a few exceptions they don't get too ambitious with the visual direction and cinematography. But it's still always great to look at regardless; thanks to Janice Kubo's color design (who also worked on Foster's, Wander Over Yonder, and Star Vs.), Valerio Ventura's art direction (Class of 3000, Hercules, the Emperor's New Groove), among countless more talents, many of which are surprisingly fresh in the industry. You can tell they had fun making Metropolis come to life.
Overall, "DC Super Hero Girls" isn't a show that's going to win any awards, but it was never a show that set out to achieve that. It just wants to deliver a fun, interesting re-imagining of familiar comic-book characters and have a great time while doing it. With season 2 right around the corner, now would be the perfect time to check out the show on Netflix or Cartoon Network. In fact, if you are a little unsure, I would argue that probably an ideal place to start would be - bizarrely enough - the free YouTube shorts. They're very easy to find if you look them up, and what you get with those may be bite-sized, but they have just as much passion and energy. And if you enjoy what you see there, you are definitely going to want to come along and help super me become super we.
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