By Rachel McKay – Staff Reporter

“Steven Universe” is a cartoon created by Rebecca Sugar. It was started in November 2013 by Cartoon Network, and has since garnered massive success.

The show follows the story of Steven Universe and the Crystal Gems. The Crystal Gems are a group of beings from space, which are gems, crystals, or rocks given a form. The Crystal Gems consists of Pearl, Garnet, and Amethyst. Steven is the son of the former leader of the Crystal Gems, Rose Quartz, who gave up her gem to give birth to Steven.

In the show, Steven and the Crystal Gems protect humanity from monsters. Throughout the story, Steven explores his relationships with those close to him. He grows and learns about the world and space as a whole as him and the Crystal Gems are faced with various challenges, facing many difficult situations and gaining new allies and enemies.

“Steven Universe” is a great show because of the clear development characters go through and the compelling storyline. It teaches the audience lessons in love, growth, and understanding. This is also combined with an impressive balance of lighthearted humor and highly emotional moments. 

One of the core themes of the show is exploring how people change over time, which is very well executed as Steven takes the viewer along while he learns more about himself and others. Furthermore, each of the main characters go through major growth, which is spurred by real, convincing, and relatable events and feelings. All the characters learn about love and connections, which is clearly guided by a very cohesive storyline. The plot and characters are intricately intertwined in a near perfect way, demonstrating the important themes of the show.

Another important aspect of the show is how well combined the different tones are. There are many lighthearted and happy moments, especially in the beginning, but there are also a lot of very serious and impactful events. The scenes with happy tones are uplifting and have great humor, and the highly emotional scenes hammer home the themes of the show and evoke an emotional response from the viewer. 

There are a few flaws of the show, however they are very minor compared to the rest of the show. The most noteworthy flaw is poor pacing in some parts. There are some events in the show that are a little rushed, however those are not common and are easily outmatched with the timing used in much of the show. 

Overall, “Steven Universe” does an excellent job in teaching the audience valuable lessons while being engaging and highly enjoyable to watch. This is achieved through in depth characters, well thought out storyline, and incredibly impactful important themes.  

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars