Steven Universe is a unique kid with a pink gem firmly attached to his bellybutton. Because of this gem, he has inherited through the departing of his mother, a spot on the Crystal Gems team, which is a team of superheroes that helps to keep the world (and universe) safe. The Crystal Gems team is comprised of Pearl, Amethyst, and Garnet (they do expand). Amethyst is the rough and tough hero. Garnet is the brute, yet intellectual leader. Pearl is the graceful, yet powerful being. Picture the Power Puff Girls, but with a Samurai Jack sort of flavor to it and you get the team
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I remember this premiering last year on Cartoon Network and rolling my eyes thinking we have another wacky cartoon with zany characters, nothing more, nothing less. I have to say, while it does kind of sprinkle on a shallow amount of depth, the cartoon can be darn good at times. The wide variety of personalities that are put in place for not only the Crystal Gems team, but also people like Steven’s hippy/loser (in a good way) father, the snack stand folks that Steven frequents and even a kid called Onion, who is waiting forever alone for his father, is quite good. In short, this is more than just another cartoon that is episodic and that is driven by lifeless, endless comedy. And don’t get me wrong, there is a time and place for that stuff, but thankfully it is not within Steven Universe.
Anyway, let me breakdown some standout episodes that are included with this release:
Laser Light Cannon: An eye appears in the sky and it’s about to bring destruction on the world. The only solution to bringing it down is for Steven to find his mom’s laser light cannon before it’s too late. The joy of this episode comes in two waves. First, the tension of the eye drawing creepily closer and closer to the world is thick. Everyone on the show is reacting to the impending doom, which creates some beautiful drama. Second, this episode introduces us to Steven’s father, Greg, and does the introduction in such a way that you can see an endearing bond between Steven and his father. Greg is still stuck in life wishing he had more time with Steven’s mother, Rose Quartz, but is awake enough to also love and not waste a moment. You can see a lot of this within the episode. Both parts of this episode truly go together like peanut butter and jelly, as silly as that sounds. This is a great episode that brings the laughs, lightheartedness and a good amount of drama.
Onion Trade: Onion is a creepy, yet tragic character. He waits tirelessly for his father to return from the sea and doesn’t talk at all. When Steven finds out Onion has a ranger action figure that he wants, he does everything in his power to get Onion to trade him for it. Onion finally trades Steven the action figure for a duplicator that Pearl owns. Of course, the duplicator in a child’s hands (a disturbed, lonely and angry child no less) equals out to a fantastic disaster of epic proportions. This is an incredibly telling and violent episode with some good humor thrown into the mix.
Rose’s Room: Creepy. Watch it. Let’s move on.
Steven’s Lion: The adorable art of the pink lion in this episode is good enough to include it on this list. Steven acquires a lion with a gem. The lion wants to acquire a pillow that the team has acquired. The lion does what he can to put up with Steven and eventually has to work with Steven to get said pillow back when things go wrong. The best part of this episode is how the lion becomes a reoccurring character, which I could not be happier about. This episode has more humor than hops, but it does get the lion permanently into the mix by the end.
Cat Fingers: Steven finds out through his Crystal Gems team that he has the power to morph his own body into something else. This is a cool idea for Steven, which he promptly abuses (he is a kid, so it makes sense). He morphs his fingers into cat heads, which seem cute at first, but soon start to take over Steven’s body. What’s grand about this episode is how towards the end you’re getting some major Akira vibe from Steven’s struggle to keep his body intact. Much like Akira, the moment is kind of gross and disturbing. All turns out well in the end, but it’s a bit intense.
These were my favorite episodes of the bunch, though the others still offer up some strong elements of entertainment. The release has a total of 12 episodes, including a pilot episode.
All in all, Steven Universe: Gem Glow is a strong show that I sincerely hope survives. It brings some good natured humor to the table, as well as strong characters that young kids can look up to. I absolutely adore that the main heroes that Steven depends on are female. There are way too many male driven shows that don’t show a positive view of women or that don’t contain strong role models for girls. That is something that made me adore the Power Puff Girls. I am the father of four fantastic daughters and I want them to find a show, like this, where they have a variety of different personalities that each of my daughters can relate to. This show is absolutely fantastic in that aspect.
Onto the summary!