'Toon Reviews 6: Steven Universe Season 1 Episode 26

Ocean Gem

After a cartoon where Lapis Lazuli left such an impactful first appearance, we get a cartoon of the results of Steven setting her free from the mirror she was trapped in for 1000s of years, and it really delivers.  What exactly Lapis does is steal all the water from the ocean, and just as before, the Crystal Gems sense that her act is for bad purposes.  As for Steven, since he feels guilty for the ocean disappearing, he feels he should fix the mess showing how responsible he’s become. It’s a major step in him owning up to his Crystal Gem role.  Plus, Steven’s voyage to retrieve the ocean makes for a great use of characters with the Crystal Gems, and even Lion, Greg, and Connie, all of whom he’s closest to, coming along to support him.  They all have their fair share of memorable moments, including giving more to the Crystal Gems’ role of protecting humanity.  We learn that the monsters they fought used to be humanoid Gems like them, but they all got their gems corrupted/damaged, not unlike what happened with Amethyst in “An Indirect Kiss,” which made them monstrous.  The heart of the issue is that the Crystal Gems intend to help heal them, but all they can do is contain them in bubbles to protect Earth.  It really adds a layer to the monster fights we’ve seen. Instead of painting them as one-dimensional creatures of destruction, they’re helpless beings feeling harsh pains.  It’s honestly quite tragic, and this information later applies to Lapis.  Before we see that, we get a further glimpse at her water powers as she fights back against the entire group in a battle filled with great moments from each of Steven’s allies.  As for Steven himself, he settles it all by stopping the fight with the aid of his shield, summoned for the first time since the premiere.  Even more proving of Steven’s capability is him taking the initiative to talk to Lapis atop her mountain of water.  In this beautifully animated space scene with gentile, sympathetic music to back it up, we see how she fits in with all those helpless, damaged Gems as she explains to Steven that she’s using the ocean to get back to her home planet because her gem is cracked, preventing her from going back herself.  This moment further fleshes out Lapis by showing that even if she’s in the wrong for stealing the ocean’s water, she has a sensible reason.  What’s great about it is that Steven gets her feelings, and in a great turn of events that “An Indirect Kiss” was two cartoons ago, he uses his healing spit to fix the crack in Lapis’ gem allowing her to sprout water wings and fly away home and leave Earth and return its ocean in peace.  Then everything is capped off perfectly with all of Beach City praising Steven and the others while the Crystal Gems wonder what’s to come of Lapis getting off the planet leaving signs of more things to happen in the future.  As you can tell, this cartoon packs in a lot of greatness with character development, memorable moments, and further looks into the background of Gems.  For that, this is easily a high point for the series. 10/10

The Ranking

1. Ocean Gem
2. Coach Steven
3. Mirror Gem
4. An Indirect Kiss
5. So Many Birthdays
6. Steven the Sword Fighter
7. Lion 2: The Movie
8. Bubble Buddies
9. Monster Buddies
10. Laser Light Cannon
11. Giant Woman
12. Lars and the Cool Kids
13. Steven’s Lion
14. Gem Glow
15. Steven and the Stevens
16. Rose’s Room
17. Cheeseburger Backpack
18. Serious Steven
19. Joking Victim
20. Beach Party
21. Cat Fingers
22. Tiger Millionaire
23. Together Breakfast
24. Frybo
25. Onion Trade
26. Arcade Mania
    

Be sure to stay tuned for the review of the next episode that explores what Greg gets up to following his leg getting broken during this adventure in "House Guest."

If you would like to check out other reviews on this blog, click here for the guide to all the reviews posted so far.

'Toon Reviews 6: Steven Universe Season 1 Episode 25

Mirror Gem

As we reach the middle of this season, we get a major piece of Gem lore that propels the entire show into a whole new direction beyond Steven’s light-hearted adventures with the occasional monster hunt.  It starts out nice, simple, and fun when Steven is given a Gem-powered mirror that’s said to show him anything.  The fun comes through all the moments Steven gets up to with the mirror as he travels about Beach City.  There’s even some nice creativity when the mirror picks up sound bites from whoever Steven comes across and uses what it hears to form its sentences.  Even with this amusing way of communication, the bond of Steven and the mirror is believable.  They feel like actual friends having fun, and it doesn’t even matter that one of them is an inanimate object.  However, since the mirror has the ability to communicate with Steven, once the Crystal Gems find out about this, things start getting more dramatic when they fear the worst and propose to bubble it away.  This causes the mirror to cry out in agony as the Crystal Gems try to get Steven to hand it over which gets more intense as it repeats Steven crying “NO!”  At the climax of this scene, Steven’s good will actually sides with the mirror as he goes on to run away with it, and after he smacks Garnet at that, even if that was an accident.   This isn’t even the most impactful part.  That comes in when Steven’s alone with the mirror and it tells him to remove the Gem embedded in the back.  Once Steven does that, the highlight of the cartoon begins as we’re introduced to the first Gem outside of the major group of heroes, Lapis Lazuli.  It’s impactful because after following the show up to this point, you’d think that the Crystal Gems are the only Gems out there, but Lapis’ introduction shows that this race of aliens is much more vast than first proposed, and that gets the audience anticipated to know what other Gems are out there.  Regarding Lapis herself, she at first seems happy and friendly when she first comes across Steven, the living being who set her free from the mirror.  Then, once the Crystal Gems show up, she lets all her pent up rage loose as she uses manipulates the ocean water to attack them as she vents about how they kept her trapped in that mirror for thousands of years and not caring about who she really was.  Through it all, even though she’s a strange new Gem the main protagonists are wary of, Lapis’ rage is perfectly understandable.  I mean, anyone would be furious to be trapped from life against their will, and her turmoil will become more understandable as the show goes on.  For this cartoon now, it’s a strong one for how it seamlessly goes from fun to dramatic, the additions to the Gem lore, and a new Gem with so much to her paving the way for the next cartoon. 10/10

The Ranking

1. Coach Steven
2. Mirror Gem
3. An Indirect Kiss
4. So Many Birthdays
5. Steven the Sword Fighter
6. Lion 2: The Movie
7. Bubble Buddies
8. Monster Buddies
9. Laser Light Cannon
10. Giant Woman
11. Lars and the Cool Kids
12. Steven’s Lion
13. Gem Glow
14. Steven and the Stevens
15. Rose’s Room
16. Cheeseburger Backpack
17. Serious Steven
18. Joking Victim
19. Beach Party
20. Cat Fingers
21. Tiger Millionaire
22. Together Breakfast
23. Frybo
24. Onion Trade
25. Arcade Mania

Be sure to stay tuned for the review of this episode's thrilling continuation, "Ocean Gem."

If you would like to check out other reviews on this blog, click here for the guide to all the reviews posted so far.

'Toon Reviews 6: Steven Universe Season 1 Episode 24

An Indirect Kiss

To me, the best stories are those that can make you feel a wide range of emotions.  In other words, they’re the ones that don’t focus on one emotion like funny, sad, or scary.  They have a strong balance of many emotions which keeps things interesting by giving different experiences instead of just one.  This show has a lot of stories like this, and this cartoon is one of them.  It has Amethyst mess around and ultimately crack her gem. It’s a big deal because, in another interesting bit of Gem lore, when cracks happen, a Gem’s physical form is severely altered which could kill them.  It’s also established that Rose Quartz could heal cracked gems with her special healing tears. Steven is prompted to try and use them to save Amethyst since he inherited Rose’s gem and powers, but he finds it hard to cry, so the team goes to a special spring with a fountain of Rose’s healing tears now reduced to an overgrown mess of vines.  This simple story has a wide range of emotions aiding in its appeal.  We have laughs coming from the many ways Amethyst’s form becomes distorted due to her crack as well as Pearl expressing crazy concern over the condition of Rose’s healing spring which becomes meaningful as we later learn more about her attachment to Rose.  There’s also a dark and threatening tone to the story. As fun as it is to see Amethyst get all weird with a big googly eye, stretched limbs, and jumbled speech, she’s still in danger of death.  The emotional weight of the story though comes from Steven and his major conflict of being unable to cry healing tears.  He’s really thinking seriously about his status as a Crystal Gem and feels if he can’t show off his mom’s powers, he’d be no use to the team.  It’s really hard for him because his inability to cry is that he never knew Rose.  Even when the fountain starts work as he starts crying, it’s revealed that it happened because Garnet and Pearl unclogged a drain, so they saved Amethyst, which makes Steven really feel useless.  This leads me to discuss the unique way the story’s set up which adds in a layer of sweetness.  The whole story is a flashback Steven shares with Connie, and as it’s told, the charming elements of their friendship are woven in without feeling out of place.  They get up to fun kid-like mannerisms such as trading each other’s stuff like Connie’s glasses and Steven’s juice, but also show real emotional support. This includes Connie assuring Steven that it won’t be so bad if he doesn’t grow to fully understand his powers when his story’s over.  This is especially powerful because it leads to the reveal of a power Steven never could have expected.  Because the juice he gave Connie mostly consisted of backwash and Connie can see without her glasses when she finishes it, Steven discovers that he does have healing powers in his spit.  Not only does this change the status quo somewhat, but it’s a satisfying conclusion for Steven’s turmoil and a step in the right direction for his character.  This story has a nice unique setup, strong character moments, and of course, plays with the audience’s emotions splendidly. 10/10

The Ranking

1. Coach Steven
2. An Indirect Kiss
3. So Many Birthdays
4. Steven the Sword Fighter
5. Lion 2: The Movie
6. Bubble Buddies
7. Monster Buddies
8. Laser Light Cannon
9. Giant Woman
10. Lars and the Cool Kids
11. Steven’s Lion
12. Gem Glow
13. Steven and the Stevens
14. Rose’s Room
15. Cheeseburger Backpack
16. Serious Steven
17. Joking Victim
18. Beach Party
19. Cat Fingers
20. Tiger Millionaire
21. Together Breakfast
22. Frybo
23. Onion Trade
24. Arcade Mania

Be sure to stay tuned for the review of the next episode, serving as the first part of a major game-changer for the tone of the series, "Mirror Gem."

If you would like to check out other reviews on this blog, click here for the guide to all the reviews posted so far.

'Toon Reviews 6: Steven Universe Season 1 Episode 23

Monster Buddies

So far this season, in spite of usually finding a way to aid the Crystal Gems in taking out threats to humanity, Steven hasn’t really seemed all that professional at the task.  Here though, he takes on taming a monster in the most competent manner so far, and it’s impressive to see it happen this early in the series.  It all goes down when a dangerous Gem-hunting mission prompts the Crystal Gems to send Steven back to the temple via a bubble.  What follows is a rare and interesting look at what it’s like for bubbled Gems to get sent to the temple after they’re contained.  Anyway, through getting out, Steven accidentally pops one of the many bubbles containing Gems.  In fact it’s Centipeetle, the Gem monster from the premiere cartoon.  This is where the story and Steven’s character moments start strengthening.  Through being nice and friendly, Steven gets Centipeetle to calm down and she never tries to hurt him, and despite the Crystal Gems’ hesitation, he believes he can train her to move past her monstrous ways.  It’s easy to buy Steven as a mature and capable member of the team considering that his method of being friendly with Centipeetle really did work from the start, and it continues to work in other places.  He gets Centipeetle to behave by offering her chips, and even comes up with a way to make good use out of her tendency to spit toxic slime everywhere after an encounter with seagulls.  The latter point is especially shown when he has her do it during a mission in an ice cave.  It’s just great to see Steven actually have a good handle on training such a destructive monster.  It’s a real sign of him actually growing as a valuable member of the team after acting like such a goofball for so many cartoons.  However, just as everyone finds the Gem they need to contain, Centipeetle somehow goes on a monstrous rage again which causes a cave-in.  It really is a major headscratcher of why she’d go savage at that very moment after all that bonding with Steven, but it is nice that at Steven’s urging, she remembers such a bond.  It all leads to a pretty sad end for Centipeetle when immediately after this, she’s struck by a falling rock while saving Steven which makes her poof back to her gem.  It’s especially depressing for something like this to happen to her after all that, but at the same time, it’s refreshing to see how much help Steven was to her, making his efforts stand out as a genuine growth in his character. He's even the one who contains her through bubbling a Gem for the very first time, which he continues to do for the rest of the show.  It goes to show how strong this cartoon is for how it allows a lot of development for Steven, a strong friendship at it center, and a well-crafted play on one’s emotions. 9.5/10

The Ranking

1. Coach Steven
2. So Many Birthdays
3. Steven the Sword Fighter
4. Lion 2: The Movie
5. Bubble Buddies
6. Monster Buddies
7. Laser Light Cannon
8. Giant Woman
9. Lars and the Cool Kids
10. Steven’s Lion
11. Gem Glow
12. Steven and the Stevens
13. Rose’s Room
14. Cheeseburger Backpack
15. Serious Steven
16. Joking Victim
17. Beach Party
18. Cat Fingers
19. Tiger Millionaire
20. Together Breakfast
21. Frybo
22. Onion Trade
23. Arcade Mania
    

Be sure to stay tuned for the review of the next episode where Steven tells Connie about his latest adventure and gives her "An Indirect Kiss" in the process."

If you would like to check out other reviews on this blog, click here for the guide to all the reviews posted so far.

'Toon Reviews 6: Steven Universe Season 1 Episode 22

Steven and the Stevens

Some of the most common plots for fantasy-driven shows are time travel and cloning.  This cartoon tackles both subjects and it’s one that really delivers on fun as well as music.  What do I mean by music?  It relates to Steven preparing for a music event called Beach-a-palooza, but his dad is hung up on an issue at the carwash and can’t join him in the act as planned.  However, with the help of a small orb called the Glass of Time, he goes back in time before he found out about the car wash incident which places him with the Steven from that very moment.  Then they go back to the same moment in time resulting in four Stevens together, and that makes up their new Beach-a-palooza act.  About their act, it comes with another great song for the series.  It has a sunny feel to it from the upbeat guitar music and the apparent vocal talents from Steven, especially when he harmonizes with the clones.  The story then goes a more simpler route through focusing on the Stevens fighting over who should be the leader of the band, and who should be the handsome one, the smart one, the funny one, etc.  That may not feel like much and some could argue that this goes against Steven’s good nature.  What prevents it from being a huge issue though is that the plot point mines itself for a lot of comedy mostly when you factor in that it’s all because Steven is arguing with himself all throughout.  Plus, the Stevens’ conflict keeps on escalating when they reveal that they all have the Glass of Time and use them to try and stop them from becoming a band, placing them in various moments in history, including the events of previous cartoons in a clever move, creating more Stevens in the process.  It’s a crazy climax loaded with plenty of energy to keep the audience invested.  The end of all this leaves a mix of emotions when all the Stevens arrive at the beginning of this whole mess continuing to fight each other.  After a passionate speech about how Steven has been led to fight Steven, the original Steven destroys the Glass of Time causing the Stevens to disintegrate, leaving only the Steven at the moment who would’ve gone on to start the band alone.  It’s morbid knowing that all the Stevens had to settle the conflict by killing themselves, but it’s not too bad since there’s still one Steven left.  It’s this Steven that continues the rest of the show as well as close the cartoon with a reprise of the earlier song with the Crystal Gems which is just as awesome.  This may not be the grandest or most important cartoon, but with a great sense of fun, great songs, and the shock of the conflict resolution, it’s highly entertaining. 9/10

The Ranking

1. Coach Steven
2. So Many Birthdays
3. Steven the Sword Fighter
4. Lion 2: The Movie
5. Bubble Buddies
6. Laser Light Cannon
7. Giant Woman
8. Lars and the Cool Kids
9. Steven’s Lion
10. Gem Glow
11. Steven and the Stevens
12. Rose’s Room
13. Cheeseburger Backpack
14. Serious Steven
15. Joking Victim
16. Beach Party
17. Cat Fingers
18. Tiger Millionaire
19. Together Breakfast
20. Frybo
21. Onion Trade
22. Arcade Mania

Be sure to stay tuned for the review of the next episode where Centipeetle returns and through Steven's guidance, they become "Monster Buddies."

If you would like to check out other reviews on this blog, click here for the guide to all the reviews posted so far.

'Toon Reviews 6: Steven Universe Season 1 Episode 21

Joking Victim

The Big Donut teens, Lars and Sadie, are an interesting pairing to talk about.  That’s not to say that they make the best one though.  It’s already established that Lars, despite having his moments, is a major unfriendly jerk.  As for Sadie, she’s an average teen girl who puts herself up with Lar’s jerky and occasionally slacking ways, yet as this cartoon shows, she somehow feels the need to be there for him.  It all unfolds when Steven rushes into The Big Donut for something to drink after Amethyst pranks him into eating burning hot fire salt.  He makes a mess in the process, and when Lars slips on it, he claims his back is broken and gets off of work.  Much time is spent on charming moments of Sadie having Steven work in Lars’ place, consisting of pleasant interactions from Steven and Sadie as she teaches him what to do, and Steven referring to an informative music video about The Big Donut as he works.  For how problematic Steven’s childish ways have been so far this season, there’s an undeniable likability to them as they show his dedication to the good things in his life, keeping me watching his antics.  Then when Steven gets the idea of firing Lars so he can keep the job he loves, Sadie’s reasons she puts up with Lars are revealed.  She believes he’s actually a good person because of one time where he treated her to a nice intimate night at his house where he let her be his “player 2” after she bought a video game for him which may be mean more than one may think.  The thing is, even if Lars was nice that one time, he’s still a total jerk most of the time, and Sadie knows it.  From her story, she seems to like him a little too much which really isn’t healthy given that she’s choosing to think nothing of Lars’ jerky side.  By the way, it’s really demonstrated when, to the surprise of no one watching, it turns out Lars was faking being injured so he could loaf about at home and hang with the Cool Kids, which includes another girl.  So hurt by his betrayal, Sadie fights back by using Steven’s fire salt to make a really hot donut for Lars.  His reaction to getting majorly burned is fun to watch, as is the havoc he causes as he runs through Beach City setting fire everywhere while Sadie and Steven maturely know they went too far and try to help Lars instead of watching him suffer.  Basically, this climax is very exciting.  Then when Lars is finally saved from the donut, even after Sadie shows how hurt by Lars faking his injuries and to an extent cheating on her, Lars actually has a genuine good moment, offering to help clean up the mess.  Sadie responds to Lars’ offer with kindness, but you really have to wonder if it’s ok that she’s forgiving him this easily.  It’s not exactly convincing that he won’t act like a jerk again in his next major appearance (which he does just so you know).  Well, despite the negative implications of Lars and Sadie’s relationship, there’s plenty of fun moments and the appealing side of Steven’s persona at the center to make it enjoyable for what it is. 8/10

The Ranking

1. Coach Steven
2. So Many Birthdays
3. Steven the Sword Fighter
4. Lion 2: The Movie
5. Bubble Buddies
6. Laser Light Cannon
7. Giant Woman
8. Lars and the Cool Kids
9. Steven’s Lion
10. Gem Glow
11. Rose’s Room
12. Cheeseburger Backpack
13. Serious Steven
14. Joking Victim
15. Beach Party
16. Cat Fingers
17. Tiger Millionaire
18. Together Breakfast
19. Frybo
20. Onion Trade
21. Arcade Mania

Be sure to stay tuned for the review of the next episode featuring the musical stylings of "Steven and the Stevens."

If you would like to check out other reviews on this blog, click here for the guide to all the reviews posted so far.