Equestria Girls - Forgotten Friendship - Review/Thoughts. *Spoilers* · 10:19pm Feb 17th, 2018
It took me a while to type this up but I wanted to on account that this was a very important special in Equestria Girls. As such, here are my thoughts on it while also making it a review of sorts. There are spoilers here so do not read unless you've already watched it.
Let's begin.
Upon watching Forgotten Friendship--through the usual channels of which I will not say for obvious reasons--I am happy to say that I enjoyed it for what it presented. Though, I will admit that I did read portions of the book some weeks back so I knew exactly what was going to happen, but I didn't care as seeing it animated is different as opposed to just reading about it. The most important scene in the entire special turned out exactly the same as the book but was way more enjoyable given the emotional expressions--and in Twilight's case, her freak-out moments--in addition to Celestia playing her little pranks.
At long last, Sunset's past has finally been resolved despite taking over four years for us for finally get to this important moment. I also liked how we got some insight on Clover the Clever considering all we ever knew about him was being Starswirl's apprentice and one of the founders of Equestria. Seeing Sunset in Canterlot in addition to her being nervous over meeting Celestia again was simply icing on an already impressive cake. Sure, this reconciliation didn't happen in the show but I'll take what I can get so long as it happened. Also, something I always believed in became canon to Equestria Girls; that being Sunset being recognized as Twilight's student. Luna's presence didn't really amount to much but I'm not complaining as she and Sunset got to interact if only briefly--that parking lot joke was wonderful especially when it was referenced at the end.
Such a tender moment between Sunset and Celestia will forever be etched into my memory. Okay, I didn't cry or anything as I'm not that kind of person, but again, it was worth the wait despite it needing to have been done a long time ago. Twilight... She tried to help with the situation only to make things worse at times coupled with those exaggerations of hers. Her best ones was that smile after Sunset and Celestia hugged, freaking out over there being more books than even she thought, and wanting to update the entire hidden section of the library. It makes you wonder if Celestia has other secrets she's been hiding--of course she does as this has been her method since the very beginning of the show.
The beach scene... I know many wanted more out of this but I see it as a fanservice moment that wasn't the main point of this special. It was all about how much Sunset has changed since we were first introduced to her and that anyone can become better if given the proper incentive to do so. It was nice seeing all those references to the previous movies--surprised that last year's specials didn't get a similar treatment--but on the subject of the beach scene, expect more fanart in the coming days revolving around this. Again, I see it as fanservice and nothing more despite how it contributed to what was going on.
Wallflower Blush... I can sympathize with her on account that when I was at school growing up, I went through the same issues where people ignored my presence, I was always lonely, and I only had myself for company. Granted, I never got the chance to improve on this but it's something I chose to do so I don't have any real regrets about it. As a villain... she didn't transform so already that's a plus. Second, I wasn't expecting her to sing though it was sadly cut short on account of Sunset. The story did a good job hiding her true intentions and leading us to believe that Trixie was behind everything, but I'll admit that her reformation came up too quickly. Once more, that time constraint is going to be an issue. Overall, I like how she was handled though I was surprised to find that Shannon Chan Kent voiced her, yet it was also ironic. She was the last of the three principal singers to voice a villainous character in Equestria Girls--Rebecca Shoichet was first followed by Kasumi Evans a year later. If there was one thing about Wallflower that got me seething, was when she erased all of Sunset's memories on account that her plans had fallen apart. She came off as a real jerk--I used an explicative instead when I was watching--in addition to shattering what appeared to be her innocence throughout the special. It's a minor issue at best.
Speaking of which, Trixie came across as a jerk at times on account of how she wanted to have her specific mentioning in the yearbook be recognized. The story does well in making her out as the main villain though it does contradict "Sunset Shimmer's Time to Shine", the first original Equestria Girls chapter book, but does harken back to Rainbow Rocks, but at the same time, we get to see a side of her that hasn't been explored much in this world. Despite the bravado, she can be the nicest person you'll ever meet with loyalty that could rival Rainbow Dash herself, and uses such an act to hide her insecurities. I had always respected Trixie yet what she does in this special--particularly towards the end--has given me a whole new level of that very respect.
Was this special perfect? I wouldn't say so as there were obvious issues. For one thing, the reformation was too fast for its own good but again you can blame time constraints. The ending also comes up really quickly and I think it should have been extended a little. Some of the jokes weren't as funny as they could have been whilst some characters felt like they didn't get to do much of anything. Overall, this special is perhaps the best at what we've seen from Equestria Girls and compared to what has come before it, it was a pretty difficult hurdle that it had to get over.
Oh yeah! There's one thing I forgot. When Sunset lost all of her memories, she called out Celestia by name. This was symbolic of the fact that despite betraying her at the time, she needed her help to understand what had happened to her. It contradicts "The Fall of Sunset Shimmer" in that when she first entered the human world, she mused over the fact that things had gotten more interesting. Then again, Equestria Girls has had little presence in the IDW comics not to mention the whole canonicity angle so perhaps this incident in the special is now the official explanation.
I give this special 96%. Why not a perfect? I already mentioned a couple of things but I'm sure there were others that I missed along the way. That means re-watching is in order.
ive honestly never viewed sunset as twilights student as twilight didnt teach her anything every thing she learned about friendship she learned from the rainbooms hell the 3rd movie was about sunset not relying on princess twilight and doing things her self
Is it odd for me to say that the design of the Memory Stone resembles that of the Gossip Stones from the Zelda series? They both have a similar Sheikah eye design.
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Now that you mention it, the resemblance is uncanny.
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A good point considering that Sunset would eventually figure out such problems on her own, but I guess they wanted her to retain some kind of connection with Equestria by having her still be seen as a student to Twilight.