I’m all for rebooting projects of old, introducing them to a newer generation who would otherwise not have watched it. Season One tells the tale of the teenager Adora’s rebellion against the evil Hordak and his Horde. As the heroine She-Ra, Adora leads a group of other magical princesses in an alliance to defeat Hordak.

The most significant storyline next to the rebellion is how this war is affecting the relationship between Adora and Catra, which forms the emotional core of the series. Honestly, Adora’s’ decision to leave the Horde was completely rushed with little to no thought or emotional struggle. So when it comes to Catra feeling betrayed, viewers can actually sympathize with her. By far my favorite of season one is Catra. She’s the character who you connect with and feel sorry for. She’s the one who has the constant weight of love/hate affecting her both externally and internally.

Although Adora is the main protagonist, she is the least interesting character. But thankfully, the other princesses have much better character development. Everyone from Glimmer to Frosta gets the appropriate time they need to show depth of character and personality. Nearly all of these characters have more interesting personalities, quirks, and abilities (although the abilities are a little generic) than our main protagonist. Personally, of all the princesses Glimmer, Entrapta, and Mermista are my favorites. Our main antagonists are Shadow Weaver and Hordak. Shadow Weaver’s one of my favorites of season one and would like to see more of the character. Hordak doesn’t really doesn’t get enough screen time.

Now, visually the animation style is one of the best qualities. The lush, vibrant look of the Ehterian landscapes are a beauty to look at, especially given the magical essence represented in the wildlife, vegetation, and geography. This contrast greatly with the more stoic designs of the Fright Zone and the Horde.

Honestly, though, this has got to be some of the worst writing I’ve every witnessed. Things happen merely of convenience with no real development. Whenever Adora is faced with a problem she overcomes it moments later with no real development. The episode where the princesses sneak into the Fright Zone is just filled with conveniences. The Horde comes off as completely incompetent. There’s no heavy military presence, the military forces are easily defeated contradicting the threat they’re suppose to be. The whole idea behind the feministic themes of the show are prominent to varying degrees and it does hurt the storytelling. All of the male characters are either incompetent or flamboyant. Hopefully in the second season this can be better balanced.

Also, Adora’s She-Ra form has some unparalleled strength which is unfair because she doesn’t have a equal match to combat. Yeah, Catra is her frenemy but she lacks the same strength to combat her. It’s like watching Wonder Woman fight a bunch of bank robbers.

The Verdict: In the end, Season One successfully reboots the franchise and is quite entertaining but the writing sucks ass. I really enjoyed many of the characters and how they envolved over the course of the season. I really didn’t like Adora, she’s as flat a character as you can get and hopefully in the next season they fix this. I want to see more of the other princesses, I want to see more of Catra. I want to see better writing. Season One gets 3 out of 5.