What Makes A True Hero? (DC Super Hero Girls #SoulSisters Review)
Originally posted to YouTube on Oct 6, 2023.
You know, it’s rather ironic I’m starting my new review series reviewing this particular cartoon, since the reviewer I was inspired by listed this cartoon as one of the worst of the 2010s. You could almost say the choice was intentional.
DC Super Hero Girls does a better job of being Teen Titans Go! than Teen Titans Go! In fact, it does a better job of being Teen Titans than Teen Titans Go!
What do I mean by that?
What made the original Teen Titans great was how the show masterfully balanced drama with comedy. Some episodes were serious and dramatic, while others were light-hearted and goofy. The show could have the team become baked into a pie by a wicked witch in one episode while another episode had them rescuing their friend from being the catalyst for the apocalypse. When it was funny, it knew how to be funny; and when it was time to get serious, it knew how to be serious. The series could shift its tone without completely breaking it, and that’s what made it so beloved.
Teen Titans Go!, on the other hand, completely got rid of any attempt at being serious for being an entirely non-serious comedy. And while I won’t say the show is completely unredeemable like other people have claimed, I do understand why many people don’t like it and consider it a downgrade. Because, for all intents and purposes, it is.
DC Super Hero Girls, on the other hand, manages to embody the spirt of Teen Titans without actually being about the Teen Titans–you know, aside from that one episode where they actually featured the Titans.
Like Teen Titans, DC Super Hero Girls knows how to balance its action and comedy. What makes the show work is that it’s less a comedy about super heroes who are teenage girls, and more about teenage girls who happen to be superheroes. Most of their episodes involve the characters trying to balance their school and personal lives with their superhero gigs–and like any good sitcom, shenanigans ensure!
It certainly helps that the show is created by Lauren Faust. If anyone can make a hilarious cartoon about superhero girls who kick butt and take names, it’s the creator of the Powerpuff Girls herself.* So when this show can be funny, it’s hilarious, and when it’s time to get dramatic and serious, it brings the action.
Like I said, this show does a good job of being like Teen Titans. That’s especially true for some of its more dramatic storylines–as is the case with the episode I’ll be covering: the two-parter #SoulSisters.
This episode starts like any good superhero story: in the middle of a crime. A masked thief slinks into a dark alley following his latest heist. Out of the shadows, an enigmatic figure appears with glistening sword in hand to slay him.
Or does she?
Never mind. Let’s start where the actual episode starts: at Metropolis High. Diana Prince, the alias for Wonder Woman, is gloating over her many victories as the captain of the fencing team. Turns out no other student can beat her–that is, until she is challenged by the new student, Tatsu Yamashiro.
Tatsu challenges Diana to a duel. Diana accepts. The two of them duke it out, and Diana loses to the new girl.
And then, feeling humiliated, Diana spends the rest of the episode training to defeat her new rival and reclaim her former glory in a climatic battle.
Just kidding!
Diana actually becomes impressed that Tatsu was able to beat her, proving to be a worthy opponent who can offer a real challenge, and the two of them become friends.
A real nice subversion from most other similar storylines. Then again, with one character becoming friends with a former rival, it feels less like a subversion than a Shonen anime.
Anyway! It’s time for a best friends forever training montage.
Meanwhile, the other superhero girls are leaving a movie theater when they stumble across an unconscious super villian. And another. And another. And another. They decide to hide all of the bodies at Bat Girl’s place. Shenanigans ensure.
You know, admittedly, the worst thing about the show is the comedy. For every hit, there’s a real miss.
The girls eventually learn that the villains have had their souls drained . They contact Wonder Woman and convene with her downtown to locate the culprit, only for the culprit to locate them. Her name is Katana, and with her glistening katana, she strikes, and…
You know, sometimes limitations on children’s cartoons can be a good thing. Some people complain that such limitations are, well, limiting, but I disagree. Sometimes, constraints make artists more creative, as it forces them to think of creative ways around them.
For example, before it’s Adult Swim revival, the original Samurai Jack couldn’t show blood or gore. So most of Jack’s enemies were robots or aliens that gushed oil or green goo.
And then there’s the 90s Spider-Man cartoon, where Spidey wasn’t allowed to punch people. It’s true. Go back and watch the series. You won’t see him land a single punch. Instead, the animators had to find other ways for him to incapacitate his villains.
And now we come to Katana. How does she use her sword against people without spilling a single speck of blood, let alone killing them? Well–
Her sword has the ability to steal the souls of her victims.
Of course, this isn’t a change made for the cartoon. Her sword can do that in the comics as well. As we all know, she can cut all of you in half with one sword stroke, just like mowing the lawn. I would advise not getting killed by her. Her sword traps the souls of its victims.
Here, she doesn’t kill anybody with her sword, but it still traps their souls, which does leave their bodies as empty soulless husks–making them close to being dead without actually being dead. Either way, her sword isn’t good new to anyone, as the other superhero girls soon learn for themselves.
Only Wonder Woman is left unharmed. Being the sole survivor, she decides to retreat to do some research on mystic weapons.
Interestingly enough, while most other young people would opt to doing their research on-line through their internet, Diana decides to do things the old fashioned way by visiting the library. After all, she is from an island of ancient Amazon warriors, and as we can see, she still hasn’t gotten a hand at using modern technology like smart phones.
She eventually runs into her new friend, Tatsu, who, upon discovering that Diana is studying ancient swords like hers, reveals herself to be Katana. And then they fight—quietly!
You know, admittedly, the best thing about the show is the comedy. For every miss, there’s a real hit.
Because of course the library has a rule against loud fighting. Because they know they live in Metropolis. They know they live in the DC Comics universe where heroes and villains are constantly getting into fights with one another. So as long as you all are going to fight, can you at least not inconvenience anyone? Pretty please?
The two of them eventually get kicked out, and Diana confronts Tatsu about her crimes. And here we get into what makes the episode especially interesting.
Katana tells her she’s not a criminal. In fact, her job is to fight criminals. However, unlike other superheroes who apprehend the villains and send them to jail, only for them to escape and continue committing crimes, Katana has a much more “final” solution.
(Wait, that doesn’t sound right.)
She puts an end to the criminal’s crime spree by ending them with her sword–and by ending, of course, I mean stealing their souls and not killing them, even though it’s technically killing them. (I mean, if your body doesn’t have its soul, you’re not exactly living, are you?)
Diana, obviously, has problems with her unorthodox approach.
Katana: My mission is to find villains and punish them for their evil deeds. That… is what a hero does.
Wonder Woman: You are wrong about that. Heroes do not punish, they protect the innocent.
And here we come to the philosophical crux of the episode. Namely, what is the purpose of justice? Is it to punish criminals? Or to protect the innocent?
In other words, it’s about the difference between punitive versus restorative justice–a topic that’s especially pertinent nowadays.
But, we’ll get to that.
Wonder Woman demands that Katana releases the soul of her friends. Katana explains that she can’t do that without releasing the souls of the other villains, and she wants to keep their souls trapped so they can no longer commit crimes.
Speaking of which, they spot a robber trying to break into a nearby car. Katana attacks him to steal his soul, only for Wonder Woman to intercept the attack and get her soul stolen instead.
Katana is devastated that she has attacked her friend. Moreover, she learns the robber was not actually a robber. He was actually the owner of the car who had been locked out and was trying to get back in.
Hmm. A person tasked with upholding the law using lethal force against a criminal who isn’t committing a crime worthy of the death penalty, let alone committing a crime at all?
I’m not saying the creators had police brutality in mind when they created this episode, but the episode certainly is applicable to the subject of police brutality. Also, media isn’t created in a vacuum, so I’m sure they were well aware of the many, many, many instances of police shootings and brutality that had occurred during and before that time, and which had prompted an entire protest movement committed to demanding police accountability and reform in light of those instances.
Needless to say, there are too many people out there who are perfectly okay with police shooting first and asking questions later.
After all, the cops are only going against criminals, and those people deserve to be shot. And even if they hadn’t committed a crime, who cares? One less violent thug off the street! In fact, we should just turn the cops into judges and executioners with the absolute power to end the life of anyone they consider guilty. Let’s be like that guy Dutere and just execute drug dealers.
(Ahem! Excuse me! There I go becoming all topical and everything.)
But, really. Can you actually imagine a cartoon reviewer arguing that people should be able to do whatever is possible to fight the bad guys, even going so far as to kill them, just so long as the ends justify the means because we’re good and they’re bad? Wouldn’t that just be nuts. I mean, what kind of totes serious cartoon reviewer would think like that?
Anyway, Katana releases the souls trapped in her sword, all of the superheroes and super villains get their souls back, and Katana resolves to use her weapon more responsibly.
Now if only we can pass real substantial reforms in the real world to hold actual law enforcement accountable. But then, that’ s probably a bigger fantasy than this show about superhero girls, amirite?
This episode does a great job showing how DC Super Hero Girls is a true spiritual successor to Teen Titans. It’s equal parts drama, equal parts comedy, and all of it action-packed with a very pertinent moral, even political, message for the modern day.
It’s a shame so many other people dismiss it. Can you imagine a cartoon reviewer hating this show so much they list it as one of the worst of the 2010s? I mean, what kind of totes serious cartoon reviewer would think like that?
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* CORRECTION: Craig McCracken was the creator of the Powerpuff Girls, not Lauren Faust. She was a storyboard artist, writer, and director.
J.C. Alexandre 