My Love-Hate Relationship With Steven Universe

"We, are the crystal gems..."

This was an easy automatic indicator for me to change the channel for well over a year.

When I found out Rebecca Sugar was leaving Adventure Time to work on her own show in 2013, I had a brief blip of excitement. Then we started learning more about the show, and my excitement turned into an "oh...that's it?".

Steven Universe was never particularly awful in the first few episodes I saw. It just wasn't super entertaining. It felt like it was trying to be Adventure Time's early episodes, but was missing their clever writing and plots. I think I gave up in utter confusion after "Cat Fingers". Why couldn't we get Lakewood Turbo Plaza instead?

That was until one day...one day three weeks ago, in fact. I was stuck with quite limited viewing options due to a number of circumstances and ended up watching the show again. Particularly, a season two marathon, including episodes such as "We Need to Talk", "Cry for Help" and "Keystone Motel".

I absolutely loved it.



Those three episodes were without a doubt the most emotionally mature animation I'd seen in a long time. Probably since Adventure Time's "Simon and Marcy".

Why couldn't the show have become more like this sooner?

Shortly after I discovered the vast improvement in these episodes of Steven Universe, Anime News Network came out with an article entitled "Why Are Anime Fans Obsessed With Steven Universe?"

Cool, I'm an anime fan!

*reads article*

%#$*, I'm an anime fan.

Something about this whole article rubbed me the wrong way. Instead of talking about the good seen in episodes like the ones I had seen, they were talking about how much the show pandered to anime fans by...having references to, and doing what a bunch of anime had already done.

That's not cool, Steven Universe. The never-ending homages to anime thing was something I did in elementary school on FanFiction.net to get more views. It's not something that should be in a professonal cartoon.

"A/N: did you guys like this chapter?! Did you guys catch that reference to Pokemon I threw in lol! Anyone who recognizes it gets an Internet cookie :)"

"PS im nut updating umtil I get five good revoiws!"

I felt slightly cheated by the little glimpse of hope I had for the show, but yet for some reason, I'm still drawn to it. I discovered there were some really good episodes in the first season as well, and the whole fusion plot and everything involving Steven's mother really interests me.

Would I recommend Steven Universe? That depends; would you be happy if I gave you a triple-layer chocolate cake-

Let me finish. A triple-layer chocolate cake, but the first layer consists of only celery?

That's pretty much what Steven Universe feels like.

-Golden Geek