Kiwi Lanaa

Inuyasha was my first anime back when I discovered it in middle school and opened the door for me to so many wonderful and different types of anime. That being said, I was surprised to come across this anime on Hulu and was shocked I'd never seen it before. Who wouldn't want a sequal to their favorite anime? However, I can see why as it's disappointing. Don't get me wrong. There are a few characters who have come back from the original, and there are mysteries to the show I find interesting. But, Towa is not a compelling character and falls flat for me, making the show drag. Setsuna and Morohara are by far my favorites. It's mostly because Towa's sheltered life from the modern era makes her morals skewered within the Federal Era; something we did not see with Kagome who understood the dangers of the era she was in. Now, while I think it's fun to add these ideals, it makes for a sappy character who can't make up her own mind and in turn, makes Towa seems weak minded and one dimensional. I have no idea what the goal is here. Story may have been better just having Moroha or Setsuana as the lead going back to the past to figure out what happened to their parents or something. The premise of the story is lackluster and boring so far, but I'll give it a try I guess. Moroha and Setsuna definitely carry the show though. EDIT: I had to alter my review due to some information from episode 15. Now, I'm aware the Sesshomaru and Rin pairing was something some fans wanted and have even written about. Especially since Kagura "dies" in the original Inuyasha series. Thay idea does not bother me. What DID bother me was the fact that Rin looks so damn young and that she still looks at him as if he is a father figure! That was so wrong! She looks like she is fourteen or something! That is the ONLY part that was weird for me. I mean, they were a huge ship, but she's just so young. They couldn't have put her a little older? Also, I would've loved to see Seshomaru act like the dude we grew to love from the original. Oh well.

To start off, there were a few things I liked about this adaptation of the Winx TV show and a lot I really did not like. I think it is incorrect to call this an adaptation when the only thing similar to the show are the powers and the names of some characters. I feel like this would have been better just being a standalone with a different title. This has to do with the fact that nothing in this show reminds me of Winx, especially since there is no real divide between witches, fairies and Sentinels. I really liked the introduction to the Burned Ones and Bloom's past more so than I did the original. I felt that they handled that well and it was interesting. Some of the new characters I actually ended up liking more than I thought I would and some changes actually helped the series more, such as Stella's background. But, here is my main problem, the show only has 6 episodes and therefore a lot of scenes are rushed and there is a huge lack of character development both individually and as a whole. The story wants me to believe, by the end, that these girls (who did not like each other in the beginning) are all now best friends. That was not believable and there were no gaps bridged to support that. The show spent more time telling me they were friends instead of showing me they developed into a steady friendship. That, and at times, the friendships are toxic. There is a lot of fat shaming, homophobia, white washing of some very diverse characters, a lot of "woke" language (mansplaining, feminist talk) that does not fit the dialogue. For some reason, they are supposed to be in a different dimension and yet they can still use cell phones and Insta, Snap and texting? That kind of drew me out of the fantasy aspect of this world. Then we dive into the girls, which is what the main Winx story portrayed beautifully. Fairies of different backgrounds and skin color could move past these differences and find comfort in one another to create a strong bond of friendship is pretty much gone. The show throws that aspect out the window and gives these women a lot of anger issues that then affect their relationships with each other and others. Flora is now a distant cousin, and is no longer in the show, to Terra who is a bigger girl and very conscious of that fact (even going as far to show she is embarrassed to change in front of others) and is no longer of Latina heritage, Techna is gone, Musa is supposed to represent Asian culture with the ability to control sound/music and is now an empath with mood swings, Aisha (who came later in the series) has no background besides being a water fairy and the person Bloom cries to about everything and she is no longer a Princess (seriously her two attributes is she likes to swim twice a day and mother's Bloom for no reason), Stella is the mean girl with mommy issues (which I can say, I did not mind as much when it came to light what was going on with her background) and then we have....Bloom. I have so much to say about Bloom. She is the most whiney, manipulative and selfish character I have ever had the displeasure of watching. Bloom has issues with her parents, friends, the school and only cares about HER end results. She is willing to put everyone in danger to get answers and while I don't care that they changed her character, I care how deep down the rabbit hole they allowed her to go to get them. This made me dislike Bloom so much and that was a shame as by the end, when they try to redeem her, it was too little too late.