Star Butterfly is a magical princess from another dimension called Mewni. Having reached a certain age, she inherits the royal magic wand from her mother, but her rambunctious attitude and lack of discipline show that she's not quite ready to use it responsibly. As such, her parents send her to Earth and enroll her in a normal high school as an exchange student, placing her in the home of Marco Diaz. Marco serves as a grounded foil to Star. He plays it safe whenever possible, and the hijinks Star often pulls him into is sometimes overwhelming. Nonetheless, he's perfectly capable of using karate to defend himself and is very protective of Star when he has to be. After Star's best friend (a floating unicorn head) leaves her with a pair of dimensional scissors, the show alternates between slice of life stories, visiting strange and exotic places, and fighting off monsters. Leading the monsters is Ludo, a diminutive sorcerer trying to steal the wand for himself. He's mostly ineffectual until a lizard man named Toffee comes along.
The animation is bright, colorful, and often goes off-model to great effect, as the character designs are incredibly fluid. Star's design itself is a good indicator of what you can expect from the show. On one hand, she's blonde and adorable with hearts on her cheeks, and would not seem out of place in the magical girl anime genre (a definite source of inspiration). On the other, her devil horns headband indicate her chaotic nature. Eden Sherr delivers a fantastic vocal performance that you can't help but enjoy. (It's clear the cast is enjoying htemselves.) One of the first bits of magic she is seen using is putting a rainbow over her head, which promptly bursts into flames. At other points, she creates a litter of puppies with laser vision, accidentally replaces Marco's arm with a monstrous tentacle, and nearly anything you could possibly think of.
While mostly bizarre magical misadventures, the series does take a more serious tone on a few occasions. When Star's demon ex-boyfriend takes her to what is essentially demon prom, Marco braves the underworld to keep an eye on her and ensure her safety, despite Star's own insistence that she can take care of herself. Later, she and Marco try to bust out her Pony Head friend from St. Olga's Reform School for Wayward Princesses, which uses methods straight out of A Clockwork Orange to mold its wild individualist inmates into stereotypical uptight royalty. The season finale raises the stakes significantly (as can be expected with just about any show) as Marco gets abducted by Toffee and Star sets out on her own to rescue him.
The real treat of the series is Star and Marco's interaction. As stated before, Marco is a good foil for Star without being a complete opposite. It's easy to see these two developing into a more romantic relationship, despite having separate love interests at the moment (and even trying to help each other make progress in those relationships). I look forward to seeing where the next season takes these two. One thing's for sure, things are going to get a little weird and a little wild.
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