Steven Universe

Steven Universe is one of the most unique and popular cartoons ever made. It's emotional, flawed, and very special.

It's impossible for me to give this show all of the praise it deserves in writing. Steven Universe has made one of the most real, thought provoking, progressive, and honest cartoon environments I've ever seen. The life lessons taught by characters are meaningful and honest, always trying to encourage learning by trying rather than not taking risks. Steven as a main character still blows me away in his accuracy in portraying a young child's innocence and immaturity, while still making him a good role model and someone who you believe could be real. In fact, despite a sci fi context, all of the show's characters are so meticulously developed and realistic that it can almost feel at times like they're truly real individuals, with real issues that you not only recognize, but feel as if you want to help them with, and that you yourself care about. That in itself is very difficult for a show to pull off, especially an animated show, and ESPECIALLY a show oriented at kids! I literally have no idea how Rebecca Sugar can make so many things possible at once, from songs to life lessons to representations of different sexual orientations, everything is there and it all works just beautifully. Steven Universe deserves much more attention than it has currently, because it is truly on track to be a series in the ranks with greats like Avatar: The Last Airbender.

10/10, my highest marks to this show. Bravo.

This show is highly addictive and entertaining. I never expected it to be this great. A friend recommended it to me since I am cartoon fan. I only wish I had seen it sooner.

It's sometimes hard to believe this is kids show. The writing is top quality. The humor is subtle and intelligent. If you have kids, you should definitely watch this with them. The themes are great. There are so many lessons to learn.

It's entertaining for the whole family. Best of all, the episodes are pretty short so you can binge watch easily.

Really worth watching! Check it out.

The depth and originality of Steven Universe makes it one of the greatest series ever produced, ultimately coming to a conclusion that leaves the audience feeling satisfied that a well-told story has ended properly -- a true rarity in North American television.

I've been enamored by several western animated shows from the last decade, but Steven Universe is my favorite.

Anyway, despite losing interest rather quickly when it was first airing, I gave it a legitimate shot back in 2019. And while the show starts as a rather banal episodic adventure fantasy show, and I don't blame my past self for losing interest, it promptly evolves into a captivating fantasy character drama. And I quickly found myself so bowled over by the show that I honestly didn't know how to respond; they say you shouldn't give in to astonishment, but the show grabbed me like little else.

When it comes to television shows, I usually take quite a while to get through them because they're a significant time investment and often are long-winded. I'm against the idea of binge-watching shows on principle and usually watch multiple at once, each at a slow pace. But, in rare instances, shows take center stage; this was one of those. And after a few existential crises, I finished the show. What I was left with was an experience so overwhelmingly remarkable, bizarre, yet eloquently simple that initially, I had to concede regarding any hopes of making a coherent evaluation. So, immediately after finishing it, I began rewatching it, and I rarely rewatch shows at all.

Now, everything I've said up to this point has been unabashed praise, and praise which is weirdly personal in tone, a tone that will not subside. But I do have issues with the show, and there's an entire sub-community that's formed to be critical of this show; I was aware of that when first watching, but I decided not to engage with it until I had watched the show twice. And my first engagement with it was an incredibly transphobic video essay that I found wholly uninsightful, not off to a great start, and unfortunately, the rest wasn't much better. Again, I have issues with the show; want a list of my least favorite episodes? Here you go:

Gem Glow, Together Breakfast, Frybo, Cat Fingers, Arcade Mania, Onion Trade, House Guest, Fusion Cuisine, Say Uncle, Shirt Club, Love Letters, Drop Beat Dad, Restaurant Wars, Future Boy Zoltron, Onion Gang, Rocknaldo, Dewey Wins, Blue Bird, A Very Special Episode.

But for me, the insightful complaints on the show are entirely submerged in a sea of moralistic cynicism directed at a show I view as a celebration of imperfection and one that argues for individualism. And this negative response has only increased my desire to talk about the show; however, whenever I've attempted to write about the show, I admittedly end up deep in the weeds.

So, I'm currently rewatching the show as part of a now-yearly revisit, and one day, I will create a coherent and organized analysis, just not on here. For now, my efforts with this writing are mainly to provide a relatively concise and spoiler-free pitch on why you should watch the show.

So, one enthralling thing about the show is its moral ambiguity and consistent subversion of your initial perceptions of characters. Steven Universe is framed directly from Steven's perspective; you're placed in a status quo. While characters actively evolve and change, much of the show is focused on unraveling that status quo. But admittedly, that status quo hardly begins to unravel until the second half of the First Season, and the truth about early Season One is that, again, it's banal, but later parts of the show wouldn't work as well without it. Now, would I shorten early Season One? Yes, it could stand to lose ~5 episodes, and early Season One spends time in an unpleasant and dysfunctional status quo. However, subsequently, we learn the deeper causes of that dysfunction and witness the characters' attempts at overcoming it. Those changes wouldn't ring nearly as true if the show didn't spend time reveling in dysfunction. For example, Amethyst and Pearl fight a lot early in the show. Generally, their fighting is dull and melodramatic; fights arise from stuff like Pearl getting unreasonably mad at Amethyst for little gags. It's annoying; however, when we begin to learn why Pearl and Amethyst behave the way they do, and they attempt to resolve their differences, it wouldn't be nearly as compelling if the show hadn't spent time on the unpleasant melodrama between the two.

But if you're wondering what type of fantasy story Steven Universe is, not the escapist kind. It's a show where the villains always have more to them, and it's a show where selfless compassion has consequences. To me, it falls under the category of fantasy, which utilizes concepts for unique conflicts and explores deeper themes of the human condition. For example, there's a character whose ability causes them to be nihilistic. And the show explores their struggle with the effects their nihilism has on others and their desperate attempts at dulling those powers. Anyway, if the idea I just mentioned, or anything else I've said, sounds interesting or like something you'd enjoy, I'd recommend giving the show a fair shot.