DC fans I made myself a promise a little while a go and I intend on keeping it no matter what that promise was that as soon as either Harley Quinn appeared or we reached double digits in terms of episodes then I would post my review of this show. Well i've just seen episode nine and Harley shows up in that episode and so I can now proudly present to you my review of the tv series version of DC Super Hero Girls.
The premise of the show is that Barbara Gordon has just moved with her dad from Gotham to Metropolis and enrolls in the high school there where she meets Diana (Wonder Woman) , Jessica (Green Lantern) , Kara (Supergirl) , Zatanna and Karen Beecher-Duncan (Bumblebee) and all of them decide to use there powers to fight crime. It's a pretty good set up and it's one that works for this show since i'm doing this review after the first nine episodes there really hasn't been much of a story but from what i've seen it's episodic.
Starring in the show is Grey Griffin as Diana Prince / Wonder Woman , Doris Zeul / Giganta and Lois Lane , Tara Strong as Barbara "Babs" Gordon / Batgirl , Harleen Quinzel / Harley Quinn , Barbara Ann "Barbie" Minerva / Cheetah and Esthetician , Nicole Sullivan as Supergirl , Kari Wahlgren as Zatanna "Zee" Zatara / Zatanna , Carol Ferris / Star Sapphire and Lillian Luthor , Myrna Velasco as Jessica Cruz / Green Lantern and Kimberly Brooks as Karen Beecher / Bumblebee and Eliza Danvers.
I know that there's alot more actors in this show but i'm only listing the actors playing the main heroes because i'd be here all day if I listed them all. In terms of what of the actual acting it's not that bad to be honest a few of the actresses appeared in the web series playing the same character so it's great to here there voices. For some reason they replaced the actress who originally played Jessica in the web series and I have no idea why that's the case but her replacement is fairly decent.
The animation for the show is being done by Jam Filled Entertainment who have worked on The Loud House and Final Space to name but a few of there stuff. I'm not going to mention the character designs here because i'm going to be talking about them separately but just in terms of the animation it's really fast and kind of zany which I guess works for a kids show but not really for a superhero show.
When the character designs were first released I full on admit to hating them I very much preferred the designs from the web show since they were much smoother and more pleasing to look at. Over time tho I have come to like these designs since they do make this show stand out from the web series but I don't get why they gave Wonder Woman a darker skin tone tho it just doesn't look right to me.
One of the major issues that I have with the web series is that the villains are treated like the heroes of the show. That is gladly not the case here tho as several times in these nine episodes we see villains act like actual villains even Harley who can be both a hero and villain is acting like a true villain and that for me is a huge plus because then it's not going against there character which while the web series is indeed good it's also something that it's not quite got yet.
The episodes for this show are around eleven minuets in length and they mange to cram quite alot of story in that time frame. There are times were I wished that this series had a longer run time because there are times where the story gets rushed to fit in the run time even if it's just by a couple of minuets it would really help but sadly Cartoon Network likes to make these quarter hour shows and that doesn't always work.
As with alot of Cartoon Network shows this one also has a bunch of shorts being released all the time however what makes me mention them here is the fact that not only did the shorts premier BEFORE the actual series but some of them might actually contain spoilers for the show. I get why they released the first one with Teen Titan's Go! To The Movies because it would get people talking about the show but they really didn't need to release anymore until after the show started airing.
Unlike a lot of Cartoon Network action shows which don't really like to show you the action this one does it whenever it can and I have to say that the action is honestly pretty good. I'm not going to say that it's the best action in animation because it's not but for a cartoon network show it's as good as we are going to get and i'd rather have this show then Teen Titans Go! to be honest and it's not often I say that.
Now I might be wrong here but there seems to be a continuity error at least in terms of the design of Harley Quinn because when she appears briefly in I think episode one , two or three she's seen wearing a get up that looks similar to her design from the Suicide Squad movie. When we see her in episode none tho she's seen wearing her classic Harley Quinn outfit again i'm quite sure if that's a continuity error or not but it's something worth pointing out.
The theme is song shockingly is not "Get Your Cape On! by Jordyn Kane but is actually "Super Life" by Kay Hanley and Michelle Lewis. I have to say that out of the two songs I personally prefer "Get Your Cape On" just because I feel it suits the DC Super Hero Girls franchise alot better then "Super Life" does but I will admit that the theme song for the series is really good and is a real toe tapper of a song.
Overall if I had to choose between this and TTG i'd choose this because I honestly feel that it's the better made show. That said tho there are some issues with the show and I know that i've not even scratched the surface with them here and i'm sure more will pop up in future episodes and so this series gets a 6 out of 10 from me.