I'm inspired to review Steven Universe but I don't have time to make a video. Maybe I will turn it into a video but normally when I think about turning any blog post I write into a video, it rarely makes it. It may be for the best because I don't fully know how to efficiently organize my thoughts on it. So I'm going to split this blog review thing into two parts. The first one is just going to be a review of the series for anyone and everyone. No spoilers. Then the second part will be my thoughts on the movie. Still no spoilers. I just finished watching the movie before typing this so the memories and impression it left are pretty fresh.
PART 1: Spoiler-Free Quick Review
Some people have said Steven Universe is some of the cringiest shit on the planet and others are heavily inspired by it and immersed in its lore and characters. I am inspired enough to write that run-on sentence but feel slightly above lukewarm after seeing everything up to its current point. The series as a whole is something above "acquired taste" but below "fucking amazing". Somewhere in-between, I would say the show is "important". Now that I have finished the series up to the point where it is ("Future" isn't out yet), I am not ashamed to have watched it all. I guess I should explain all of that. So know that I am going to heavily criticize the show but I definitely don't think it's bad. I wouldn't even say I hate it. I would even say I like it.
This paragraph is a really basic synopsis for what the show is even about. A lot of people are quick to judge the show thinking it is a children's musical series about a chubby kid that cries a lot about his mom while his friends fight aliens. This is not wholly inaccurate but barely scratching the surface. The show is about a kid endowed with powers and responsibilities he doesn't understand. Even though life keeps beating him down, he cares about other people enough to want to try harder. What separates this hero trope that Steven's character relies heavily on is that Steven also cares about himself without being a narcissist. As such, the characters that surround him play an important role. A very important one. They help him contextualize his past, sometimes by accident. To the audience and to the majority of the main cast, Steven's mother is an enigma. She left a large legacy behind that even the characters closest to her do not understand.
Steven Universe is a science-fantasy show that is surprisingly competent and interesting considering what it looks like on the surface. It looks cute and bubbly but this is what makes the more fucked up stuff work so well. I'm not just talking about the adult humor that will fly over a lot of young kids' heads, although there is a decent amount of that too. There are a lot of sci-fi concepts and nightmarish fantasy ideas utilized that don't hold back. Steven Universe is a show that focuses on how to healthily deal with emotions, toxic or otherwise. So without spoiling it, there is a timeline episode where Steven fucks with time to make multiple versions of himself. He watches himself die and has to cope with it. Don't worry, he doesn't just cry at the problem until the Crystal Gems fight it off. Things like this are never fully forgotten in the show. When it comes to character development, nothing the characters do are inherently out of place. To that point, I think it is worth mentioning that any time a violent conflict is resolved peacefully, it doesn't feel this happens because it's a show for young children. Steven just wants to resolve everything peacefully. He's an optimist and an altruist bound to a world of crazy characters both human and otherworldly.
The show isn't perfect. A lot of the humor relies too heavily on running gags and wordplay. This is something that works in Community because the character development is the core of that show. The lore or mystery of the lore drives Steven Universe. To put it simply, Steven Universe tends to make puns or silly nonsense words and try to pass them off as jokes fairly often. Sometimes it kind of lands, other times it is a little tiresome. There are a decent handful of musical numbers but not as many as I thought there would be. Even then, as the show grows on you, there are some that are done incredibly well. The musical numbers in the first season are fine. I guess? Serviceable. Mostly? The musical numbers were one of the main things that repelled me from the show originally and now some of my favorite moments in the show are musical numbers. The show really does get better as Season 1 goes on. Season 2 is probably my favorite overall. It has a great blend of mystery and the least amount of what I feel is "filler". Speaking of, let's ignore the Uncle Grandpa crossover episode. Yes, that's real. The only other major complaint I have with the show is that I feel the ten-minute runtime holds the show back a bit. There is a lot more going on in Steven Universe than one might expect. For the most part, the show handles this well. When it doesn't, it leads to a lot of episodes that feel crammed in one way or another. Sometimes its story progression gets crammed in because there wasn't enough of it sprinkled throughout the rest of the episode. Sometimes the same thing happens in terms of character progression. This leads to a lot of moments where a character will just spout out exactly what they are thinking and feeling because the episode has too many other things going on to perform a proper "show don't tell" technique. The vice versa is true occasionally as well. Like I said, this is not representative of the whole show but it does not change the fact that it does happen. It also doesn't change the fact that when it does happen, I feel it and I feel it hard.
Another thing I don't like about this show is that I feel like it drops the ball a bit in the later seasons in some regards. In short, there is a bit more that I will call "filler" for lack of a better term. It isn't on shonen anime level of filler. It shouldn't dissuade anyone from watching the show, it's just something I personally felt. Some episodes are fun side-character romps that have entertaining character development and relationship development. A lot of these are actually important because a lot of the powers the Gems possess come directly from a place of emotional intimacy. Season 1 and especially Season 2 are great about this. Season 2 did not have one episode that I felt was a time-waster. Well, I guess the Uncle Grandpa episode is technically the beginning of Season 2 so... Season 2 has only ONE episode that felt like a time-waster. Season 3 starts to dwindle just a slight amount. In Season 4 we just have meaningless episodes so you don't forget that certain characters exist. In a 20-minute runtime series, these could have been B-stories, some even C-stories in my opinion. Due to the flow of the show, its thematic focus on relationships, and the ten-minute runtime, these stories get their own episode slots that don't really advance the tense drama, mystery, and suspense. Season 5 picks up the momentum again, leading to a pretty nice finale. Like I said, this shouldn't completely dissuade someone new from the show, this is just something I noticed and I'm not sure if I'm alone on that one. I probably am.
There are three main things that I really like about the show that I think many fans will feel similarly. One is the animation. It rarely gets stale and is pretty top-notch throughout. Most of the episodes are only ten minutes long but keeping animation quality consistent for 20-50 episodes depending on the season is still very impressive. If anything, it would have probably been easier on the team or at least the overall budget to make 20-minute episodes in half the quantity in that respect. It might go without saying but the art style overall is something I really appreciate about the show as well. Another thing is the show's overall attention to detail. This is something I expect from any show but Rebecca Sugar seems to love foreshadowing and, well, attention to detail. When the two are mixed effectively, this turns an average soap-opera-like story progression into a very impactful plot. I think Rebecca Sugar and the other writers understood this throughout the whole show. The tiniest of details tie something together later in the show consistently. A musical motif or lyric or a minor asset in one scene can be brought up many episodes or entire seasons later as something actually important without feeling like a forced callback or fan service. The third thing I will mention, since I already talked about the fucked up stuff I like in the show, is how all of the characters are kind of fucked up. It is still a heartwarming kids show but there is no heartless, world-dominating villain. There is also not one overly edgy character. Despite most of the cast being aliens, they all deal with very real-world issues like abandonment, Stockholm syndrome, and long-reinforced low self-esteem. This goes even deeper into relationships, not just romantically. In fact, most of the closest relationships in the show are platonic and just as credible as the romantic relationships in the show. They just tackle different facets of human connection and breaking boundaries. A lot of shows are capable of this but seeing it through the eyes of characters that don't need a lot of human necessities forces the audience to explore these issues from the ground up. You can assume certain reactions to certain emotional outbursts or phases where the bottle emotions up but these scenarios take on a new form when depicted through omnipotent warriors, creatures, and gods. There is a lot an adult can learn from Steven Universe but I am glad such deep emotions are being dissected with very young kids in the audience.
Bonus fourth thing. This is probably just because I write depressing stories about fucking psychotic protagonists that hate themselves but most of Steven Universe is pretty feelgood shit. I am not saying that makes the show good. Most of my favorite shit to watch is just downright upsetting (Rick and Morty, Samurai Champloo, Cowboy Bebop, Breaking Bad, Farscape, Breaking Bad again) so believe me when I say that being a feelgood show does not make a show better. It doesn't really make it worse. I commend Steven Universe for being emotionally provocative without being Synecdoche: New York level of depressing. Then again, few things are. Anyway.
Some people find the LGBTQ+ elements of the show to be problematic or deterring. I have now seen every episode and the movie and I am willing to believe that most of this criticism comes from a place of actual homophobia. Before I continue (and I shouldn't have to say this but I'm going to anyway): I am not saying everyone who hates this show is homophobic. There are plenty of other reasons to dislike this show, believe me. I am mostly saying that this is really not a reason to hate this specific series. It logically makes no sense to condemn this show for this aspect because it is not a focus in the show at all. Nothing of that sort is ever jammed down the audience's throat and only stands to benefit the show's plot and/or lore. That is really impressive in its own right. The show handles intimacy in a way that I have not seen any other show do so. I think this is important for children to understand. This is part of what makes Jasper such a great villain. She forces relationships onto people with false hope. It comes from a desire of dominance but later is shown as a lack of understanding of what a healthy relationship is due to lack of experience. She resents stable relationships. This is part of what makes the fusion mechanic of the show's lore interesting to see. It isn't from a sexual or romantic love inherently but it is psychologically intimate. One of the most relevant couples in the show that fuses is basically a lesbian couple (the way the Gems work is complicated). Nothing that happens in the show is ever just snubbing out straight people or trying to fucking brainwash kids or something. If anything, it is more vilifying for queer teens watching the show, or hell, even queer adults. I think it is important for even younger developing minds to see acceptance and understanding prioritized over just "getting the girl in the end". Even then, a lot of the most stable and focused on romantic relationships in the show are man-to-woman. They get just as much attention, glory, and scrutiny in the show's plot as the queer ones do. I was not originally going to point that out but it is something I feel a lot of outsiders to the show hear about so I wanted to nip it in the bud for those thinking about getting into the series. If these themes are something you feel is a personal attack on you or your beliefs by some odd form of mental gymnastics, the problem lies more within yourself than it does in the show. There are no token LGBTQ+ characters in Steven Universe either. The show never does anything preachy. Worth noting. I think.
I think the show is important as per the last big paragraph I wrote but I also can't think of any other show intended for this young of an audience that is as thought out and genuinely entertaining as Steven Universe to come out of the past five or so years. Maybe even ten years. As a fan of animation, I am perfectly okay with Steven Universe being one of the staple series of the medium for its time. If Steven Universe is one of the biggest takeaways from current popular culture or at least the current animation community in twenty or more years from now, I am perfectly okay with that. Despite any outer influence, Steven Universe is not for everyone, nor is it perfect. That's what I meant earlier by "above 'acquired taste'". Some people won't deem this show worth their time and that's perfectly okay. I wouldn't even recommend it to everyone. I don't think everyone would have the patience for it. I think it's a pretty great show. I probably won't go out of my way to watch it again anytime in the next five years but wouldn't mind rewatching it either. Not wonderful for me personally but I am generally glad it exists.
Now as for the movie...
PART 2: Spoiler-Free Review of Steven Universe: The Movie
Steven Universe: The Movie is fine. It is a technically impressive and aesthetically captivating film with a complex and intimidating villain. Unfortunately, and I'm probably alone in this, I felt that the movie is more fan service than substance. Even half of the musical numbers are tasteful reprises of songs performed in past episodes of the show. They did this well, I think. There is a lot to like about the movie. What Steven learns about his own sense of altruism is interesting. However, I don't really feel like the movie is a game-changer overall. I would talk more about that but I would have to spoil it. Suffice it to say that for better and for worse, Steven Universe: The Movie feels a lot more like a big-budget episode of Steven Universe than it ever fits its title.
If you haven't watched the rest of the series, I really don't recommend the movie. If you have finished all of the episodes from Season 1 to Season 5, there is no real reason to stop. I don't think the movie was necessary but it is a cherry on top more than it is a crumpled receipt. That's a universal analogy everyone uses right?
