The Power of Complex Relationships in She-Ra 

The real ship is Scorpia x happiness

Me and a friend binged the show and at one point one of us comment "There should be a Princess with fire powers" and then at some point I commented "Oh wait...SEAHAWK is the Fire Princess!"

Catra KNOWS the Horde is evil. She said so herself. She just doesn't care

I heard "when season 2 comes out" and instantly lost focus as I realised that this is just about season 1 and there's SO much more that's happened since then.

This show for little girls has better characters than Game of Thrones.

I love Catra, but Entrapta stole my heart with her hair hands the moment I saw her

I am from the future Catradora is Canon and they are Gay

Actually frosta is 11 3/4ths

I love the Princess team, but my heart is for Team Catra.

The way this show approaches the issues of abuse and trauma is damn beautiful. I appreciate everything about this show

Great breakdown of Catra and Adora's relationship. It's complex, and absolutely the best part about the show.

1 thing I think should have been cover was catra’s relationships with entrapta & scropia. If you notice catra uses the same manipulative tactics that she learned from shadowever

* spins around in spinny chair * I knew this day would come

Glimmer reminds me a bit of myself, especially with the insecurities and worry of losing friends because they'll make new ones, pushed too many people away because of it ngl.

At first my young sisters started watching this show and I didn’t think much of it but then I finished episode 2, I was hooked!! I’m a closeted queer and this show not only spoke to me and I love it!!

Catra and Adora’s relationship reminds of Adventure Time (bubblegum+Marceline) or even the legend of korra 👍🏼

I just love Adora and Catra’s relationship of friends-to-enemies-to-friends-to-lovers and also gay. Love the gay.

<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="1780">29:40</a> “Even though there aren’t any other couples this series...” (Cuts to Adora and Catra)

I am actualy old enough to remember the original show from the 80s and this remake is just so, so,sooooo much better. Better character design, better animation, better themes and better writing. Now let me get back to my knitting ;-)

You managed to talk about She-Ra for 21 minutes without mentioning Catradora?! How?! They are so adorable together. Ahhh! I love them! Catra in a suit broke me. As you mentioned, their relationship is so angst, so interesting, and garners so much investment with every interaction between them. Oh, they're BFF... actually, not anymore! Well actually they might be in love. But now they really resent eachother. Until they share a deeply emotional coming together moment... Oh wait, Catra goes beyond redemption... Which only makes me want to redeem her even more... But I also want to see Catra as an equal to Adora, not a weak character to be saved, but as someone who saves Adora... I rambled...

You are correct though, other shows force romance sometimes because of fans😬

The only ship I truly care about is Hordak and Entrapta 😂💜💙💜💙

Angela and Glimmer's relationship went so much further (and even despite how season three ended, is still gonna go further!) than I would have ever expected.

*sees Catra and adora/she-ra fighting.* My mind: *for fudge sakes marry each other already!.* D:

In the hot tub scene, Bow has a binder. Also "I'm like the only one here who's not a princess" and at the end, when all the princesses glow with rainbow power, Bow glows a little bit too. He's definitely trans (I think I heard that the writers confirmed that Perfuma is trans too? But there isn't in-show evidence that I'm aware of) ALSO, the way Madame Razz talks about "my Mara" kind of hints that she was married to Mara, the last She-Ra from 1000 years ago. What I'm saying is that this is a hella gay show

*sees this 30 min vid on She-Ra* *clicks hella fast*

If there is one relationship I want to be canon, it’s gotta be Entrapta and Scorpia

i’m filling the void of she-ra ending by watching as many videos about it as possible

CatraDora + Redemption Arc pls

Watching this after season 5 came out is so fun, especially when it comes to the end speculating about more romantic gay relationships. Ha, like everyone is gay. We won

“There aren’t many relationships at all” **catra dipping adora in the background** me: WELL WELL WELL I HAVE TO DISAGREE

I hope in the next season they do start exploring romantic relationships, though. I’d love to see a show develop romantic relationships from friendships.

I love the diversity of the characters💕

Catra and Adora are the new bubbline

I haven't seen She-Ra, but I already love Seahawk! He reminds me of Dorian from Dragon Age: Inquisition!

Good to know I'm not the only adult obsessing over this show 💖

I come from the future, catradora is canon. 😎👌🏼

I had no idea season 2 was coming out so soon!! This is one of my favorite shows and Riley, you always do these show analyses so well! So excited for more She-Ra and Riley's thoughts on more shows

They've developed all of these relationships so well in seasons 2 and 3 too

Okay, but you really need to put together a Perfuma cosplay, because the resemblance is uncanny.

Honestly, when i learned one another one of my childhood shows was having a remake, i wasn't too fond of the idea. I thought it would be just another remake amongst the other dozens of remakes from the past few years, but i was pleasantly surprised. It's more of a parade than a remake, it takes the original premise, and makes it into a much more diverse and really beautiful cartoon. Having a strong woman protagonist was pretty crazy back when she-ra first became a thing, and now, with this day in age, they did it again with even more diverse characters. It is once again sticking out from the crowd with lgbt characters and people of color. I even wonder if there will be a trans character, as that is even more tedious than gay characters because it is harder to understand.

Catra is my favorite character and i want to see more of her and Adora.

I have binged all 3 seasons and am addicted to this anime at this point. I love the ups and downs of all the relationships

"Glimmer- I think I killed the bed." I died at that line.

I'd ;love to hear your takes on shadow weaver and Catra's's relationship in season 2. Haha my only problem with season 2 is that its too short!

<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="697">11:37</a> "She's eleven and three quarters!"

this was an incredible video, with such well thought out commentary it made me somehow understand and love the show even more

Now that this is over i have to say this was the best tv series since the Avatar.

<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="1441">24:01</a> BUAHAHAHAHA! That's EXACTLY what happens later on you story analyzing genius!

I like this style of video. It's also nice to see a positive video about She-ra.

I need adora to love Catra either as a best friend (growing up together is basically sisterhood for them at this point)/sisterhood, or romantic We must Must Must Have Catra appreciated and loved by Adora So she doesn’t feel hurt and betrayed anymore

For future reference, when describing a Unicorn with wings, you can use the MLP term "Alicorn". It's simplier than calling it a "Unicorn-Pegasus thing" :P.

"there aren't really many romantic relationships so far" *laughs in season 5*

this was SUCH an interesting analysis!!! you made a great work. thank you! ✨🌺

i always enjoy watching videos dissecting tv shows and movies i love, but i never realised so many people find flashbacks boring/annoying/etc lol, they were and still are one of my favourite things in media and most of my favourite episodes/movies involve flashbacks 😅

I can't believe how long it took me to realize the word princess in the title was plural.

Watching this after the show ended… damn this all hits different

me every ten seconds in this video: hoooooo buddy just wait until season 5

This is a real nice video essay format, I like how you linked everything back to the effectiveness of the narrative and the role that different elements played in the storytelling. It also felt really unpretentious and streamlined which is surprisingly rare for a video essay about a cartoon.

This show is the embodiment of what toxic relationships are.

it's amazing how well this analysis holds up after the end of season 5. great work!

Make a video about the romantic relationships in the show now that it's concluded! Their layers and why they work thematically with the show and contribute to the satisfying end. I'd appreciate it! Thanks!

I’m in my 20s a dude and I love the new she ra.

This was great. I hope that you'll do more video essays about pop-culture in the future.

<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="300">5:00</a> *ALICORN

This is gorgeous! Wonderful analysis of this show, Riley!

On reflection I think it's just that I got *so invested* in Catra and Adora's relationship that all the other ones just felt bland by comparison. I still hope they receive more love in the upcoming seasons. We got some choice moments with Scorpia and Catra in particular in S2, but I don't feel like there was enough of them over in (and I will never get over this name) "Best Friend Squad."

I'm 19 and I wish such cartoons existed when I was younger. ^^

Discovered this video after s5 when im really craving more she-ra, and i really forgot how much younger the charaters looked in s1

I worry that Catra is gonna go so evil and irredeemable in season 2 that the redemption arc everyone wants will be rendered impossible.

I think I'll give it a shot.

Loved this video, the format, and hearing your intelligent analysis and affirmation of a great show. :)

The best ship is Seamista.

loooove your video! I think this series has been one of the best i have seen so far!

Thanks to you, I saw the three first season a couple of month ago, and now that I have finished the fourth, I came back! I watch it the first time fully aware of the spoilers thinking I wasn't going to watch it any way, but the way you explained She-Ra and its iterest changed my mind. So thank you very much for putting mr on that train

Wow this was so great to watch! I'm excited for more videos✨✨✨✨✨

I love watching videos made pre-season-5. So many things changed, and it truly feels like reading an old diary...

Wow, I learned sooo much. Thanks for uploading this video😀 I watched this show many times but I couldn’t stop watching this video because this was full of knowledge. I wish you will make season2 version

This vídeo is incredible! Now that the show ended, we can see through this video how the relationships grow up with time💛

Great stuff and insights!

your voice is so unique and delightful. great work!

and now catradora is a cannon ship 😌💅

I finally finished the show so now I'm gonna watch all your videos on it :D

The whole reason I got interested in this show was the Catra and Adora split. I normally do not like it when the initial conflict is a strong disagreement between two characters but this show did such a good job at making it feel real rather than a lazy trope.

Yesssss!! Excellent analysis of what makes She-Ra so special. It's always a treat to hear your take on media :)

Thanks again Riley for the amazing video, I love hearing your voice to help cheer up my mornings, Cheers Love!

I have only been watching for 3 days, and I am already almost at season 5

She Ra is gay with Catra

Don’t forget Bow’s dads!

<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="1245">20:45</a> basically, the character situation of Adam Taurus. It’s literally what happened to him and why people hate him instead of understanding him. The only info we got was that “S.D.C” scar on his face, and nothing else about him. How do you expect your audience show empathy for a character when you only show his bad actions and not his REAL motivations and Backstory?

At one point at the end of the show on Netflix I thought that Hordack liked Entrapta

I've just finished s1 and I'm literally hooked :D... I have exams next year so i better finish this quickly lol, I was skeptical but this show is incredible!!

The ensemble aspect of this show is my favorite part of it all.

Everything about this show is 😍. Entrapta’s totally the best!

I think Scorpia and Catra might end up being together at the end, just to be honest. It's so obvious that she is in love with Catra. It's just going to take time for Catra to warm up to her.

My dad abused me the same way Shadow Weaver abused Adora. It really shows that abuse isn’t always violence and insults.

Love the format! And the video! Spop is amazing

Riley made a video on my favorite show!!!!! This makes me so happy. I love you!!

Can we pls talk about how basically every princess is imediately gay for She-Ra? Even Entrapta is intrigued by her!

I wasn’t sure if I wanted to watch this show. I’m sure I do now