On "Canterlot Boutique" · 8:47pm Sep 12th, 2015
...I dislike Rarity episodes. Quite a bit. I like the series and its characters because they're not superficially girly-girl and stuff, but the Rarity episodes move off in that direction more often than not by the very nature of Rarity's profession. I wouldn't exactly say it's a BAD thing for the show to cater more to its target audience, considering I and most people here are decidedly not such, but I literally do not care about the fashion aspect of this universe. As such, I'm not thrilled with the prospect of seeing three Rarity episodes at once, two of which are going to focus on fashion.
This episode didn't deviate from the usual Rarity formula much. Dresses, fawning over Canterlot, working herself ragged, taken advantage of, superficial and obnoxious side characters, song about all those themes I'm not huge on. It holds your interest, I suppose, but it doesn't stand out.
That said, I'm probably a bit more forgiving of Sassy Saddles than some people are going to be. Oh, she starts off like Suri 2.0 and her ego would give Trixie a run for her money, so she made my shit list FAST. Buuuuuut unlike almost every other Canterlot snob who's appeared in episodes like these, she actually has a proper epiphany that she comes to pretty much on her own and learns her lesson about being such a dumb. I think the only other character you can say any of that about is Coco Pommel, who I enjoyed in "Rarity Takes Manehattan" and look forward to seeing return pretty soon.
Also her mane's really nice. I love warm colors put together like that.
Overall, this episode is more thoroughly "meh" than any other I've seen this season. It had things I liked and things I didn't, but none of them made me care as much about what was going on. Even the episodes that disappointed me like "Princess Spike" and "Tanks for the Memories" invested me enough to BE disappointed. It's harmless, but not noteworthy, and I hope the rest of season 5B is more on par with the episodes of 5A that I enjoyed quite immensely.
Welcome back to the recaps, people. I'll be back next week for part two of the Rarity Trilogy, "Rarity Investigates." Which sounds like it's gonna be a proper crime drama.
Oh God.
It's happening.
The show's been running long enough for the Fleeting Demographic Rule (aka Pokemon Anime Syndrome) to kick in.