[DonQuigleone]

I just watched 4 episodes of My Little Pony. It's not Shakespeare or anything, but it's a lot better then I thought. I mightn't go out of the way to watch it, but I'd certainly enjoy watching it with a daughter if I had one. I'd say as children's TV goes, it's very good. Especially when you compare it to other girl's fare.

Despite being based on a line of toys it doesn't really feel commercial at all. Unlike, say, Transformers it doesn't feel flagrantly toyetic, or even overly girly. It's just about (as it's title says) friendship. In that sense I think the series deals with it fairly well, and it gives a wide range of feminine personalities for girls to identify with, who are all fairly fleshed out with their own qualities and foibles.

It's fairly simplistic in it's storytelling, but that's to be expected from children's television, but artistically it's fairly good, with some interesting artwork tossed in here and there.

Further to that, I think it really puts itself on the level with little girls, doesn't act all paternalistic or anything. It can compete with any show aimed at boys, which is pretty good. In that sense it's filling a gap that shojo often fills in Japan. It's not of the same quality as something like Cardcaptor Sakura, but when you compare it to a lot of the dreck aimed at girls (just watch some ads...), it's positively fantastic.

And it is actually watchable if you're not a little girl. It's pretty funny some of the horse based names they come up with. "Equestria", "Canterlot".

It's not an amazing show or anything, but it's far from being bad. I think there needs to be more shows like it.

EDIT: I'd say there is actually something similiar behind male fandom for MYP and male fandom for Shojo. Just as a lot of Girls find fiction and TV aimed squarely at boys to be appealing, I don't see why the reverse shouldn't apply either. I think the issue has been that the vehicle was never there, TV and fiction aimed at girls has never been of a high enough quality, due to not achieving adequate attention or funding, or actually being made with serious effort. Not only that, but you also need to have certain elements down to have the proper crossover appeal. In this case, the use of good humour and a spirit of adventure. Likewise, male oriented work might need sufficient focus on human relationships to get wide appeal among women, EG the way Gundam appeals to girls with it's male rivalries/bonding. But something that's totally based on destruction and cool gizmos, say Transformers, might leave girls out in the cold.

In this case the right elements were not previously there to generate the crossover appeal. You could argue for Powerpuff Girls, but I'd argue that that show was actually more aimed at boys, even if the main characters were girls.

In a similiar way, actually, Magical girl shows served as the vehicle for otaku into Shojo fandom, because the adventurous and action elements were there to bring male viewers in. It's a similiar situation with MYP. MYP is funny, but in a novel feminine way. And I think that appeals to a lot of guys looking for something different.

Really though, I'd like to see more effort and creativity being put into things that have traditionally labelled as "for girls". Not only that, but I'd like to see women actually being at the heads of such efforts. Too much of the entertainment industry is dominated by men. Even in genres that traditionally aimed at women (like chick flicks and romcoms), 9 times out of 10 the writers and directors are still guys. And usually they don't care about what they're producing, they're doing it for the cash, or to earn brownie points to get into more "prestigious" film making. I think that kind of cynical attitude is prevalent when it comes to women's fiction, and I think it really holds things back. One of the unusual things about MYP is that if you read through the credits of the show, there's a lot of women there, in fact I'd say among the writers, directors and producers it's 80% female. I think that brings something different to the table. If you compare that to, say, the Powerpuff Girls, that was only 10% female on it's writing/director staff. I think we have a case here of a show being written by women, for girls and I think that's, despite how obvious it is, a rare thing.