Steven Universe

Alright! It’s been two weeks since I wrote, but I'm back and

here’s the next installment! Today let’s talk about "Steven Universe".

Who might like the show? Children of the 80s/90s who played video games and watched anime, but it doesn’t require a lot of exposure to those things to be enjoyable. Fans of shows like "Adventure Time" and "Bee and Puppycat".

Why should you watch it? The show is charming and fun. Great for kids of all ages and features a cast of great characters. It has a little bit of everything mixed in, from over the top action and fart jokes.

OK, here's an informational intro to the show for those who want to read.

"Steven Universe"is an on-going show on the Cartoon Network. "Steven Universe" was first shown to a public audience in July 27, 2013 at San Diego Comic-Con and debuted November 5, 2013. The creator of the show is Rebecca Sugar, who has done storyboard work on “Adventure Time” and “Hotel Transylvania”, also writes some of the music, along with storyboard artist Jeff Liu, heard on it. You can find her tumblr here with really great posts about the on-going development of the show.

The music is great. Just give it a listen. A link to the music from the show can be found at the relevant links section. Here's a taste:

Screen cap of the Pilot (From left to right - Garnet, Pearl, Steven, Amethyst)

"Steven Universe" simply put, is bit of slice of life show with some action mixed together. The story follows the Crystal Gems, a group of magical beings from another planet sworn to protect. Steven (Zach Callison), a fun loving, ukelele playing 12 year-old, is a Crystal Gem in training living with three other Gems; Garnet (Estelle), Amethyst (Michaela Dietz), and Pearl (Deedee Magno).  They reside on a cliff side house in Beach City, a small city run by a quirky mayor and inhabited by equally quirky shop owners and citizens. Steven’s family consists of his father Greg (Tom Scharpling), a man with a carefree attitude, who runs a car wash in town and lives in his van. Steven’s mother, Rose Quartz, is presumed deceased having “given up her life to bring him into the world”; however she is still quite important to the show’s story.

Beach City

The art style of the show is bright and cheerful through the use of bright pastel colors (mostly shades of blue and red) and simple and bold characters. A lot of times, you will see the use of colors to express the emotion of a scene. The characters are unique and simple, drawn with well-defined curves and straight lines.

Garnet

Crystal Gem Residence

Background

 

If you grew up a kid of the 80s/90s, then you will be able to spot a lot of references from video game and Asian pop culture but they aren’t over used, just little treats for those who can spot them. I highly recommend "Garnet's Universe".

If you are new to the show, I would recommend starting the show from the beginning to get to know the characters and get used to their idiosyncrasies. There's only 35 episodes as of this writing and they're all approximately 13 minutes.You can watch it on Cartoon Networks website or on TV or other means.

Thanks for reading another installment of Let’s Watch Cartoons.

Relevant links:
Steven Universe on Cartoon Network

Steven Crewniverse Tumblr

Rebecca Sugar's Tumblr

Jeff Liu's Tumblr 
Music from Steven Universe