This only popped in my head recently, and I've been going down a conspiratorial path that I can't seem to let go.
But there's something I can't help but find sinister in how "girl coded" they've decided to make MAWS, like this is a Superman you'd find in the pink toy section.
I've said before that Superman is a series that has so few edges, but in this story that is "trying" to seemingly appeal to a broader audience, they've since sanded down what few edges there are left. The violence is lacking any of that impressive punch the older DCAU cartoons had, Lois lacks her cynical vigor who was one of the only people Lex Luthor respected and is instead a hyper go-getter girl who gets rewarded for every little thing, Clark's been given the "babygirl" treatment to seem some degree of softer (right down to having a magical girl transformation) as if SUPERMAN needs to be any less threatening.
Not to mention the pastel color scheme of the overall show that lacks any distinct shadow or interesting color value, the many anime redesigns of more grizzled or interesting looking characters (looking at you, Silver Banshee), and a strange habit of toning down the threat of some villains (forgiving Sam Lane for decades of xenophobia, or making the Brain and Mallah some twee old couple, or everything done to Livewire and how she went from trying to kill Superman to giving Lois love advice).
I don't need Deathstroke to be 20-something and babyfaced to enjoy his character; I enjoy his character because he's a grizzled bastard able to take down heroes with nothing but skill and a boatload of guns. I don't care if characters are in a same-sex relationship their personalities are going to be removed in the process. I don't care one WHIT about Lois and Clark's relationship if we don't even get to see Lois fight and claw her way into being the badass reporter we're supposed to think she is, and instead dedicate every scene she's in to something having to do with Clark.
I can't shake this feeling that, in this attempt at broader appeal, the people behind all this are flinging darts at "girl things" and then slapping them onto the show, in the process removing potential intrigue or flair that it could have had instead, and that's a shame because, as a girl who absorbed Justice League like it was my JOB growing up, the most memorable parts of that show were when you felt like the story wasn't treating its audience with kid gloves.
Or, maybe in this case...Girl Gloves.
This is a really compelling theory tbh. I feel it's mixed with a lot of this and broader cultural trends. Sam Lane gets redeemed in all sorts of Superman media now (Absolute Superman for example) and the softening of morally grey queer characters is as old as harlivy.
I get a lot of "the creatives misunderstand the target audience and is flinging low hanging trope fruit (another shirtless Clark scene let's go) at them to satiate the fandom" vibes from MAWS rather than getting the impression that the show empathizes with their target audience, even if that is young teen girls.
I'm always puzzled by romance media that seems so disinterested in building up its romance, when surely that's what we're here for? Is the expectation here that girls will eat up romance by it's mere suggested presence? MAWS really wants to sell you on the ship between Superman and Lois, and that's fair since Superman is a love story- but then when it comes to developing that romance they fall back on nonsensical dynamics or throw a fan service scene at viewers, mistaking that for substance.
There's better animated superhero shows that strike this balance without holding back how intense cape stories and action can be. The original Teen Titans animated series was notoriously popular with girls (to the point of being a factor in its cancelation). The appeal was building relateable modern (at the time) teen dynamics that resulted in a believable friend group. They too pulled influence from anime, but way better than MAWS did. Because they understood why those tropes were appealing to teens beyond the surface level.
My professor taught us that there was a distinct difference between meaningfully marketing to a target audience and pandering. One understands and respects the audience, the other has a "how do you do fellow kids" approach. When MAWS shows how "girls/ anime fans will like this because Clark is shirtless, Lois is stripping, add some doki doki filters and make all the villains soft and cute once they're gay" that means they don't think very highly of their audience's intelligence.
Something like DC Superhero Girls (even if it's sillier) is honest (down to the title) about who their show is for. But their strategy is "here's a varied team of girls with different interests and stages in life, trying to get by together as a team". Lauren Faust refined her character archetypes from My Little Pony and brought what made it work to DC characters she was adapting.
And just to show how much the series respects its young girl audience, the show rarely dives into romance! It's almost like they understand that there's more to what interests girls than boys they have crushes on. That's how much they don't rely on gender stereotypes to reach their audience.
I still think about this Giancarlo Volpe comic that goes over the time they did a focus group test on Green Lantern the animated series. Of course there's trends that give evidence to what's been fueling gendered marketing for years. Boys like action, girls like romance. But ultimately, kids just deserve to have their attention and intelligence respected. The girls didn't just care about ships, they were also the most engrossed in the lore and themes of the show. So why not give them something that meets them where they're at?
I will say this to the moon and back, but My Adventures with Superman is an insult the intelligence of its viewer. Whether that viewer be a tween or an adult, it's a series that gives you hollow tropes and jingles keys at you. They don't meaningfully adapt characters from their source material, they turns them all into generic tropes that people defend because "well at least it's different".
If we're ever going to make any progress in our critical relationship with superhero media, we must come together and recognize the superior magical girl transformation was done by Razer in Young Justice.
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