My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic

I recently started watching My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. I didn't think I'd enjoy it since it is a show aimed at children, but I was surprised to find that after just one episode I was hooked. It's funny, charming and all around fun to watch. I have at least ten adult friends who are "bronies" so I don't feel too weird about watching the cartoon.

The show is about a unicorn pony named twilight sparkle (the leader you could say) who is sent to learn about friendship in Ponyville by her mentor Princess Celestia (The ruler of the world). There she becomes close friends with five ponies: AppleJack (the hard working farmer), Rarity (the up herself high class fashion model), Fluttershy (the cute, shy one), Rainbow Dash (We should all now by now) and Pinkie Pie (The COMPLETELY AWESOME, hyperactive, party pony). Each pony has a different part of friendship: Honesty, Generosity, Kindness, Loyalty and Laughter.

The first two episodes are about Twilight and her new friends defeating Nightmare Moon with the power of Friendship. The other episodes are individual stories.

What amazed me the most while watching episodes of the show was how well developed the characters are.  Usually, you can use one word descriptions for characters in girl cartoons.  For example: Powerpuff Girls (Blossom=leader, Bubbles=ditz, Buttercup=tomboy).  My Little Pony though really takes the characters to another level.  Applejack is more than just a tomboyish country girl; she also demonstrates the qualities of hard work, dedication, and reliability.  Each of the ponies has extra layers to them in various episodes (different facets of what makes up friendship), which makes them more than just pretty horsies (which is all I remember of the version from the 1980s).

The dialogue in the show is very clever.  I love how they “pony-ize” everything.  They don’t say “everybody,” it is “everypony.”  They use “on the other hoof” instead of “on the other hand.”  It really seems like the writers are very conscious of reminding us that, even though they are personified, these are still ponies and not humans.  It is quite a unique take since the ponies aren’t really fully anthropomorphized but are still easy to connect with as human-like.

The show is very, very well done.  The cast is phenomenal and the show is extremely well-written. I am happy to see a well-done girl show that actually focuses on good writing and developed characters, even if they are ponies.