After finishing Littlest Pet Shop, I immediately dove right into LPS: A World of Our Own.

(Relatively) spoiler-free.  Basic premise discussion only.  No specific story stuff.

AWOOO is just a short spin-off.  It's not a full show.  Just one season, and the episodes are half-length.  11-ish minutes a pop.  But there's 52 episodes in the season, so it works out to the length or one normal season.  However, it's not really feasible to do any complex stories with such little bite-sized time block to work with.  It's just a fun, cute, fluffy, simple show.  I mean, I said the same thing about original LPS, but this one is extra fluffy, cute, and simple.  No arcs, no development.  But hey, it's also kind of a no-expectations, no disappointments type situation!    Having no arcs and no real development means that you're not going to be hoping for any particular storyline to go a certain way, and you're not going to be disappointed by anything.  I said spoiler-free, but the truth is that the show is unspoilable because there's nothing to spoil.  No stories.  This is even more of a show about nothing than Seinfeld. 

The basic premise is kinda stupid.  It's a new cast of pets, and they briefly explain that there exists a magical world just for pets which they can travel to and from via a portal, and time doesn't pass while they're in there.  So, they can stay as long as they please and then hop back to the human world and it's exactly the time when they left.  They never addressed whether they age while in the magical world or not, so who's to say if they're actually immortal and can stay in the magical world for a thousand jillion millennia or something.  This premise is literally the laziest, silliest, most contrived plot device I've ever experienced, and the logic of it breaks down immediately if you start to analyze it.  There is absolutely no attempt whatsoever to explain the existence of the world or create any kind of magic logic or continuity or anything like that.  Equestria this is not.  They just wanted and an excuse to have a pets-only show and slapped together a way to do it in 2 seconds.

I kinda think it would have been better if they had dispensed with the portal to the magical world idea altogether and just had it be all animal world like Equestria, but I understand why they didn't go that way.  They specifically wanted the characters to be pets, not just animals.  They all have human owners, and they regularly crack pet-related jokes about them.

Those are the criticisms.  The good points?  The characters are delightful, adorable, and incredibly charming.  Edie the parakeet gave the ponies a run for their money for cuteness.  I actually liked them better than the pets in regular LPS.  They were so much fun to watch.  It's such a shame that the show was only an appetizer.  I really wanted a full show with these characters featuring arcs, development, the whole nine yards.  I think there was enough potential for it.  Not nine seasons like Pony, but perhaps four full seasons like LPS.

Though incredibly light on storytelling, this series did give us what has to be one of my favorite characters in all of fiction: Jade.  Jade the cat is so friggin awesome.  Brilliant voiced by Ingrid Nilson (Maud ), Jade is the perfect cat.  She's a little similar to Maud in some ways, but she's not weird and socially awkward like Maud.  Jade is anti-social, but not awkward.  Jade is laid back, aloof, and jaded, which I have to think is where they got the name from.  Her shtick is that she couldn't care less about anything, which makes her totally cool.   Deep down, though, she actually does care, and will begrudgingly tag along on adventures and help her friends, despite complaining every step of the way about having to leave her warm bed.  Jade cares deeply for her friends, despite acting like she doesn't care about anything or anyone.  Jade has a scathing, bone dry, razor sharp wit that she always uses at the perfect time.  Cool doesn't even begin to describe her.  The more I think about it, the more I'm realizing that in some ways, she's almost like Rick Sanchez in cat form.

Jade actually made me like myself 1% more.  I am aloof and jaded myself, and I've always hated myself for that (and for many, many other reasons.)  I've always wished that I could be more excited, passionate, fun-loving, and enthusiastic, partly because I've always felt like those are the kinds of people that others like and want to be around.  But Jade is the one I'd want to be around, and I love her so much that it made me think that maybe, just maybe, my qualities aren't as off-putting as I think, and there may be some people out there who would see me the way that I see Jade.  Maybe.... 

I just wish that Jade could have been in a full series.  Oh, the things they could have done with her if they'd had the time and opportunity for proper arcs and character development!  Tis but a dream...

Despite the shortcomings, great series with a truly great theme song to boot, and totally worth it.  I mean, let's be honest, it's worth it for Jade alone.