Winx Club

Publisher
4Kids
Director
Anthony SalernoAnthony Salerno, Iginio Straffi
Country of origin
US
Format
Series
Year
2004

Winx Club DVD Vol. 1

By David Rasmussen
6th Oct 05

When it comes to “girl powered” series, as in series aimed toward female viewers, I have to admit that I’ve been abit more critical in my reviews than when it comes to other genres. Why? Because with the exception of Japanese Anime which does it right more times than not, when it comes female focused animation in America it’s far more miss than hit when it comes to their releases.
Too commercial, weak plots and shallow one dimensional characters are just the beginning of what plagues the genre, with more focus on making a “selling tool” for a vast amount of merchandise than making solid animation that “sells” itself and it’s merchandise at the same time. For the life of me I don’t know how they can stand it, the female viewers that is, watching shows that are instantly forgettable and becomes a causality of it‘s own mediocrity once the next “big thing“ hits.
A lot of the stuff geared towards female viewers seems to exist in this “disposable” state, easily forgotten after so short a time. In that case these shows could be better, much much better.

Like I said before the only thing I really like when it comes to female audience driven series is those from Japan, EXCEPT when it’s translated to English. Somehow the people working the transition seem to be related to monkeys since they can’t even do a half(bleep) decent job of it.
Lest we forget the “lessons” learned by the horrid translation of CLAMP’s beloved Card Captor Sakura series, and the kind of lukewarm treatment fan fave Pretty Soldier Sailor Moon received.
At least you can find these series in “uncut” format these days so you can see the series as they were meant to be seen, where the action isn’t watered down, the storylines are unedited, Tomoyo still has her hopeless soon to be tragic love for Sakura, and Haruka and Michiru are still lesbian lovers and not cousins.
But what of the bright points of Anime light out there now? There are a few bright lights out there I can recommend without hesitation (my favorites coming from BANDAI, TOKYOPOP and ADVFilms).

From BANDAI comes Fancy Lala (from Studio Pierrot, the undisputed kings of the Magical Girl genre of Anime) and Magical Meow Meow Taruto (quirky little gem that you might have overlooked, but should take a second glance at if you see it).
Oh, and lest I forget, a NOTE to BANDAI - Keep up the excellent work, and I look forward to your next all ages series that’ll sure to be as praise worthy as the ones I mentioned above. Keep up the excellent work.

From TOKYOPOP we have two series. Saint Tail, which while I haven’t seen the anime has gotten praise from me in the manga dept. (so I’m hoping it translates to praise in the anime dept). And the second, while more aimed at teen girls, is still good : Marmalade Boy. One of those older series which has finally made it’s way to the states, though I still don’t know about this jamming so many episodes into a few giant volumes for “easier collectibility” thing… how much are those larger volumes again?

And finally from ADVFilms there’s Panyo Panyo Di Gi Charat (Di Gi Charat for all ages) and Wedding Peach (a show from the era of Sailor Moon clone series that is actually watchable and good).
Yes, yes I know, I have not been always so hyped on ADVFilm’s stuff, one series in particular that I did have such hopes for which didn’t pan out being the much criticized (by myself) Princess Tutu, which doesn’t come close to living up to the expectations I had with the manga.
As for expectations I do have great expectations for what I feel will be the next big thing in female audience viewing, mainly the recently aired on Japanese TV series Aria. Based, of course, on the manga that I’ve only had praise for, this series should be looking up as a wondrous and magical journey that I can’t wait to take (unless it’s screwed over like the way Princess Tutu the Anime was).

My only regret about that is that Aria (of course) won’t be out right away. Considering it just premiered on Japanese TV this past summer it should be awhile before it comes out on DVD here in the States and later in the UK. I figure it should premiere in… what… 2006? 2007? Anyway if it lives up to the excellence that is the manga I think we have ourselves a winner here. Here’s hoping for the best from Aria.

But all the above is a little moot since this is not that kind of review in anycase.
At least we’re not looking down the dark sharp barrel of editorial shrapnel shotguns as we look at this series, mainly since it’s not Japanese Anime but American Animation, which brings with it it’s own woes and problems that once again makes me wince. But I won’t woe you with my fears, I’ll just jump to the meat of it and start the observing.

This is a review of Winx Club (pronounced “Winks” from what I can figure from the first DVD).
Two series of American origins are out there fighting it out for female viewership.
Series with a mystical slant that seems to be feeding off of the Harry Potter craze (and this is as good a time as any considering we’re in the middle of a Harry Potter year with Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince in bookstores and Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire in theaters this November).
One is the aforementioned Winx Club from 4Kids/Funimation, the other being Disney’s W.I.T.C.H.
I don’t know if I’ll ever review W.I.T.C.H. anytime soon, so let’s just focus on Winx Club.
And to do that let’s take a look at my three rules. Three golden rules.
Rules I think series like this should follow to make it perfect. What are these rules?

Rule #1 - Thou Shalt Not Shill Excessively On Thy DVD
The DVD is not for excessive merchandise shilling. Heaven forbid I’m watching a DVD for THAT!
The series is supposed to be complimented by it’s merchandise, not be made to sell said merchandise!
Any extras on the DVD should be series focused, not merchandise shilling focused, lest it loses a respect point and becomes something that might as well be a 20-25 minute commercial to sell stuff to girls.
Show me a Behind the Scene on the voice acting, the making of, a history of how the series came to be, character artwork, something! You know, the stuff I constantly praise BANDAI for packing into each and every DVD that makes those DVDs just that much more enjoyable.

Rule #2 - Thou Shalt Not Sell Short Thy Animation
The series should be well crafted. A finely paced, well written, humor where needed and drama where it fits, musically gifted and voiced just right piece of work that I can praise highly.
Show me the limits of your talents and how you’ve excelled to make something that people won’t forget for years and years to come, and not be something easily forgotten when the next fad hits.
Make it look like you really ARE making an animated series, and not an “infomercial” to sell stuff more than make something worth watching.

Rule #3 - Thou Shalt Not Be Shallow & One Dimensional
Please, no more easily forgettable series. No more shallow series with one dimensional characters.
Make a series with depth and substance please, that’s all I ask.
Nuff said. Let’s go into the DVD.

Winx Club DVD Vol. 1
Episode 1 - It Feels Like Magic
Believe it or not the story does NOT begin here and now, but a few thousand years ago (though that is not really gone into in terms of the episodes, but it is mentioned in the first “magazine“ comic).
Once upon a time, a few thousand years ago, the Earth kind of lived a fantasy RPG lifestyle with magical creatures living alongside humanity… until something changed it all. Magical creatures and entities were driven from the Earth for some unknown reason which is never quite explained at this early stage of the series (which might have changed in later episodes but I only have this small batch to judge by).
Anyway years pass and the worlds of magic are about to link once again to the world of humanity, and that is through an incident that should never have happened.

Meet Bloom, a seemingly typical girl who lives in a quiet community on the Earth. Well, that’s how the story is SUPPOSED to start, but instead of working us gently into the life of Bloom and how her life changed we’re thrown headlong into the woodchipper as we find her already with her soon to be friend Stella. She found her as she was being attacked by this huge troll (evil sidekick fodder) and saves her by tapping into her previously unknown magical abilities. Then she takes her home, sets her down to sleep, falls asleep and when she wakes up the story begins. Yeah, lord knows we didn’t need to see all that pesky backstory about Bloom before her powers, how Bloom met Stella and Bloom’s powers awakening for the first time! That’d have been too much for us now wouldn’t it… yeah, the sarcasm is bleeding through.
Well it’ll only get worse from here so don’t expect things to let up.

Why is it going to get worse? Well don’t wait to catch your breath, go to the bathroom, or make yourself one of those sandwich things you often hear Emeril talk about (without stopping the DVD) cause’ from the start it’s off to the plotline races as we race through introductions, Bloom learning she has magic and attempting to tap into it, and another confrontation with the bad Troll (now Trolls). Also you are given a first hint at the “evil” that is hunting Stella and her powerful “Solaria Ring” (which can change into a powerful staff), but not enough to make sense of it.
Did the episode have to runaway like that? Did it? This isn’t a Runaway Bride episode is it?

Episode 2 - More Than High School
Since we now have a girl who has awoken her inner Harry Potter (at hyperspeed no less), she’ll need a school of higher education to let that Harry Potter express… as long as nobody tries to carve a lightning bolt into her forehead.

Along with her new friend, a mischievous princess of one of the realms of Magix named Stella (who we haphazardly “met“ last episode), Bloom is about to enroll in Magix’s answer to Hogwarts, Alerna. Now if the episode would only stop running through the episode and slow down to smell the Muggles.
Not that you should make it a habit to smell the Muggles or anything. It’s not polite.

Oh-kay, since the show won’t slow down for a breath I’ll have to lay out the specifics.
Alerna is a school for girls to learn different trades. Magical Girl type trade, fairy godmothers, Silver Millennium style destined princesses, etc. And this, like Harry Potter, is one of a set of schools in this world (though unlike Harry Potter the three schools are seemingly in convenient walking distance of each other). One is a school for boys that trains in magic and heroism, and one is an evil witches school where all the evil comes from… how convenient.

Anyway now it’s time for Bloom to get into school and get acquainted with her new friends, if she can get past the thing about having to lie to the school heads who think she’s a princess from another dimension.
We have a girl named Flora who is friends with nature, and a hip young environmentalist… she didn’t come off that way in the “magazine” though so what gives. Well, besides being a friend of nature she’s also Bloom’s new roommate… hmm… Bloom and Flora… eck, bad pun.
There’s also an asian girl whose name I can‘t seem to remember, and a girl who seems to like computers (not so odd since the world seems to have a mystical cyberpop feel to it), and who also sports THE WORSE voice actress EVER! Her name is Tecma, and for a girl that looks like she should have a Sailor Mercury/Ami or a Fuu (MKRE) voice she seems to have the voice of… Mary Poppins? A British nanny? Luna from Sailor Moon? What gives! Why the heck does she sound way older than she should be anyway!!
On the bright side should the girls start stocking up on liquers or other adult oriented merchandise they can rely on Tecma to do the purchasing since she sounds like an adult anyway! Did her hormones flip out on her before the start of the school year or something? I mean really!

The rest of the episode have the girls bonding in town over food, Bloom being captured by three evil Senior witches from the evil witch school (who turn out to be the ones responsible for all the troubles of the first episode), and Bloom tapping into her powers in a stronger way to get out of a icy situation.

Episode 3 - Save the First Dance
School has begun and Bloom is working hard to get used to her classes, but since a lot of her classes require her to tap into her inner Potter she’s having a little bit of a problem doing even the easiest spells.
Of course when things begin to get her down something comes up to give Bloom a pick-her-up, this being the school’s Back To School Dance, where they break the ice and kick back.
Too bad the evil witches school is also going to be doing a little “break the ice” event, mostly by sabotaging the Alerna school’s dance with the boys from the male school! Yeah, apparently they’re so jealous!

That, by the way, seems to work since the trio of villains in this series (year one) come from that school, so they mix school work and personal work by attempting to sabotage the dance while trying to steal Stella’s powerful Solaria Ring… wow, multitasking!

The episode is a bounty of cheer with shopping, dancing, getting back at the Seniors (the evil witches), and overall keeping the dance going and stopping the evil ones. Yeah, you’ve seen it all before.

Episode 4 - The Voice of Nature
And no I don’t mean the Lorax, who has been known to speak for the trees.
It seems that (surprise) Flora our environmentally hip Winx Club girl knows something about talking to nature, and getting an answer back. She’s sorta like Dr. Doolittle, though she won’t sing nor will she get in touch with her inner Rex Harrison or Eddie Murphy.

Of course if you think this nature driven episode would be a good chance to do a little bit of a deep plot with a outdoor nature club slant on it then you’d be right, too bad nobody thought of it when they did the episode. What could have been an interesting episode takes the concept of talking to nature and waters it down to a plot device used only to move the story forward. Not good.

Oh, as for the “story”. While out in Black Mud Swamp working on a little hands-on outdoors training class, the girls run into the same group of boys we’ve been seeing since Episode 1 who were transporting that Troll from Episode 1 they caught… only NOW it’s on the loose and it needs to be caught again.
Yeah. Lots of boys vs. girls or girls helping boys or something. The whole talking with nature thing is pretty much a gimmick to get the girls and boys together, and if there’s anything “serious” about that thing then it’s too little and too late in the story for you to care too deeply about it.

Bonus Episode - Date With Disaster
Yeah. I don’t know but I guess this is a never before seen episode that hasn’t even aired on TV. I guess that‘s cool in a way isn‘t it… I guess. Anyway since the “Optional Extras” on this DVD suck it’s the only bonus you’re getting (that and a Winx Club CCG card) so you might as well enjoy it.
And you just know with a title like “Date with Disaster” it means somebody is going out with a boy -- since alternative relationships don’t seem to be welcome in this series. Oh snap! Dating boys? That means cooties… or clenolia… RPG radiculopity… something you get when your with boys.
Anyway as if to throw a flying monkey wrench into said date, it looks like the evil witches are once again attempting to steal that Solaria Ring from Stella (who is the girl on the date). Yeah, right.
Oh, well, it’s only DVD Vol. 1 so you shouldn’t be expecting any hook-ups this soon anyway. It took Sailor Moon lord knows how long before Usagi & Mamoru became an item, remember? Breakdown time.

Winx Club Breakdown the 1st
What’s Hot?
It could have gone either way. It could have been good, and it could have sucked. So how did it turn out?
Believe it or not it’s a mixed bag, but for you and me it’s not the good end of the bag.
Now if 4Kids was hoping to churn out a series that will attract a young audience fast, keep them tuned in each episode, AND get them to purchase their merchandise faster than Sonic can run one of his levels? Well then congratulations 4Kids! You have got yourself a winner on your hands since I can’t see this series not being a hit, especially in light of a 2nd Season coming out now. Expect Winx Club to be around for awhile and for it to do fairly well.

If, however, 4Kids was hoping to put out a quality series with a long term fan base that’ll be talking about this series for years to come, and be the measuring stick upon which other series of this genre will be tested against… well then they botched it. This is not one of those series.
That means you, me, and the rest of our readers can just about forget watching this since none of us are female viewers who have yet to reach puberty. Sorry folks, this ain‘t for you!

Yes, for the immediate here and now it’ll strive and be big, but it will not last. It doesn’t have the staying power of better series, and there are far more interesting series out there to recommend that has that staying power, and which I liked better. From Sailor Moon and Card Captor Sakura, to classics like Minky Momo, Creamy Mami, Magical Emi and so forth… now if somebody would only get these classics out on DVD -- hmm -- BANDAI!! BANDAI!! More classic Magical Girl series please!!

Anyway as you guessed this series hit it’s mark by being something a young audience will grasp, but it should have aimed higher ‘cause while it’s good for it’s target audience it could have been better and reached to a stronger (and more varied) viewership. 4Kids can do better and they know it, but instead they shot for the groin and hit paydirt… though in the lower expectations way and not the hentai way mind you.

What’s Not?
I think I said all I can on that, but to surmise.
The animation could have been a skooch better. The music needs an overhaul (starting with the annoying theme song which sucks). Tecma needs a new voice actress. The story needs to be punched up abit to make it just that much better. We need to know if the storylines concerning Bloom’s bloodline (and how she came to her powers) and the Solaria Ring (and why the evil witches want it so badly) will ever be fleshed out in more detail. In short the series needs more, or need refinements, or needs a new voice actress who doesn’t sound like she’s 30.

Moments to Remember?
I’m sure there are moments -- just I didn’t find any to my remembrance liking.

What to Ignore?
Let’s see… what to ignore… I know! I want to ignore the theme song.
Or I wish I could, but now that’s it’s been permanently fused into my conscious (along with 100,001 other theme songs or soundtrack soundbites from the last 30 years) I can’t forget it.
It can now sit alongside the theme to 2001, Ernie singing the Rubber Ducky song, soundbites from Big O, a piece of music from The Nutcracker Suite, something from Voltron (the lion one) and much much more than I can remember at the drop of a hat… no, really, I mean it. Right now I’m thinking of the opening music from The Hunt For Red October, for instance.

And while I’m at it you can also ignore the section that proclaims to be “Extra Material”… “Extra Material” seems to mean “merchandise shilling” for the people at 4Kids… what the hell. Ignore that.

Overall?
Now 4Kids knows they could have done better on this! Yes, you could have done much better.
Yes, it’ll hit it’s target audience well and make an impression… but unless you’re a young girl who has yet to reach puberty then you might not be the one to watch this show… in fact don’t watch this if you’re not a girl who has yet to reach puberty! Unlike other series which I recommended to all audiences since it had such a wide reach, or series that I thought spoke well towards it’s female viewers, this series is too narrow in it’s scope and it doesn’t reach far enough (when it has the potential to do better).

Yes, It’ll be a hit. Yes, it’ll have lots of young viewers. And yes, it’ll make a lot of money.
But it won’t be winning any major awards (unless we’re talking awards picked by either children or parental groups who (bleep) and whine about Grand Theft Auto : San Andreas every other week), and it won’t be making fans amongst the Otaku out there, but it’ll still make it’s mark. And on that note it’ll make it’s mark and promptly be forgotten 10-20 years down the road. Unless the series changes and reaches out to a wider audience it’ll fall to the wayside eventually and become easily forgettable.

So who do you recommend this show to? If you know a young girl whose a fan of this series already then it’s only obvious that you get this for her. She’s a fan already so why not.
But for us, and female animation fans who have more discerning tastes, I’m holding out for the all ages wonder that’ll be Aria the Anime Series, ‘cause if it lives up to my high expectations that I’ll be holding said series to (which I got from the little treasure of a read the manga is) then I’m sure all ages will be wanting to add this soon to be instant wonder of a series to their collections ASAP.
Unless they (bleep) out another abomination like Princess Tutu the Anime, then I’ll be pissed.

As for you 4Kids, keep working at it. One day you’ll grind out a Minky Momo, Panyo Panyo Di Gi Charat, Fancy Lala or other series that I can hold up as a show for the ages for all ages… or, heaven forbid, you surprise us all and make a wondrous series that rivals the works of Miyazaki, and becomes an instant classic not soon to be forgotten. Winx Club isn’t it, mind you, but you have the potential to be far more than just another company that (bleep)s out marginally successful animations every year that locks in a niche audience and rakes in so much money a year. Strive for better, you know you have it in you.

R1 DVD Notes

Release information: US: Out now

Notes: No, 4Kids, you can’t package a bunch of merchandise pitching stuff as “Bonus Material”! That breaks my first rule without even trying! Really! Next time? Real Bonuses! Real Real Bonuses! But for now you can take the person who thought of this idea and tell him/her to go sit in a corner and be ashamed! BE ASHAMED! Oh, and you get a Winx Club CCG card with the DVD, which isn‘t so good since I‘m still struggling over how you‘re supposed to play this game. I’ll do a report on that soon so stay tuned for that.

-- David Rasmussen 6th Oct 05

Winx Club Images