If you know me in real life, you've potentially already become annoyed by my overzealous reaction to this series. Despite being enamored by numerous Western animated shows of the past ten years, Steven Universe is my favorite. I'm currently rewatching the show as part of a now-annual tradition, and my efforts with this writing are to provide a relatively concise and relatively spoiler-free pitch on why you should watch the show.

A few years ago, despite briskly losing interest in it when it was first airing, I decided to give Steven Universe a fair chance. Although the show starts as a tad banal episodic adventure fantasy series, it gradually becomes a gripping character drama. And I quickly found myself so bowled over by the show that I honestly didn't know how to respond; they say you shouldn't give in to astonishment, but this show grabbed me like little else.

Upon completing the show, I was left with an experience so overwhelmingly remarkable, bizarre, yet eloquently simple that initially, I found the prospect of formulating a coherent evaluation of it formidable. But I had such a positive response to it that, despite revisiting shows at all being a rare occurrence for me, I immediately began rewatching it.

However, I do have some issues with the show, and when first viewing it, I was aware that many others had been quite critical of it. But after having the response I've previously outlined, I decided to only engage with these critiques once I had watched the show twice. Unfortunately, the first negative review I encountered was a transphobic video essay that offered little I found constructive. And as I continued to read more and more criticisms, I sadly didn't see much more helpful insight. Again, I do have a few reservations about the show. If you'd like, here is a list of the episodes that didn't quite resonate with me:

Gem Glow, Together Breakfast, Frybo, Cat Fingers, Arcade Mania, Onion Trade, House Guest, Fusion Cuisine, Say Uncle, Shirt Club, Love Letters, Drop Beat Dad, Restaurant Wars, Future Boy Zoltron, Onion Gang, Rocknaldo, Dewey Wins, Blue Bird, A Very Special Episode.

I agree that a few things could have been done better; for instance, I didn't think The Cluster was handled with the proper weight it conceptually deserved, and I found the conflict against it unengaging, being nebulous in its tension. But overall, I was pretty disappointed with the criticisms I came across. I felt that many of the compelling criticisms were entirely submerged in a sea of moralistic cynicism; the vast majority of the major critiques I've seen are so jarringly juxtaposed to my taste in/way of looking at storytelling that the healthiest reaction I can have is only to supply a pithy dismissal.

__(But what are my general issues with the most major criticisms? Well, I think that they either trivialize characters into moral binaries, take character dynamics where I think both characters are in the wrong and single out one as either worse or purely in the wrong, provide jarring interpretations of moral dilemmas that I can only disagree with, or interpret extreme thematic statements which I believe to be either contradictory to what the show presents or double-standards in that concluding Steven Universe is saying such based on what it presents would make a myriad of other stories, which I think aren't: "problematic.")__

But anyway, the show's negative response, in tandem with inadequate rebuttals on the positive side, has only increased my desire to craft a detailed analysis; however, whenever I've attempted to write about the show, I admittedly end up deep in the weeds.

Ultimately, though, all these criticisms are directed at a show that I find a celebration of imperfection and free will.

To get needlessly existential; to me, life has no meaning if you can't find beauty in the world around you. Our universe is awful and meaningless, yet when confronted with this meaningless, people don't give up; they may find meaning in things that are objective, spiritual, or otherwise, or they confront the universe as painful and meaningless. And to me, facing it is the only way to live, acknowledging the universe's cruelty but deciding to keep living anyway. I view choosing to live as a form of rebellion against the universe's meaningless and believe Steven Universe celebrates humanity's rebellion against meaningless and generally captures what art is all about. Art is inherently all about celebrating imperfection; it's about highlighting aspects of our meaningless world and, despite aesthetic subjectivism, finding beauty.

However, being a celebration of imperfection alone doesn't necessarily make the show great. What does is its amoral characterization, how it captures a pastiche of many different ways of existing in the human condition, and how it handles various subject matters.

A motif in the show is characters being told that their way of existing is wrong, either in their relationships, physical capabilities, or identity. I won't delve into much detail, but I find the show emotionally vulnerable and viscerally sincere.

The show not only left me deeply empathetic and engaged but also made me feel understood. I've often struggled with feelings of self-estrangement, feeling utterly alone in my way of existing. And at least for me, the show, in various ways, reassures me that I'm not alone in how I feel. I also find the show inspiring self-determination while avoiding disillusionment and actually subverting characters' personal misconceptions or excessive impassioned leaps in self-confidence to great dramatic potency. Ultimately, the story is about characters oppressed by a totalitarian society, accepting and discovering who they are and demanding respect from others; as cheesy as it sounds, more than anything else, the show tells me that despite doubts and what some may say to me, there is nothing wrong with how I feel, and my life has value; I matter. For me, it was liberating emotional validation.

__(It's also probably the gayest show I've ever watched; some stuff is left to metaphor, but the metaphors are obvious, and it's full of various related themes. This is both a good and a bad thing. Good, because more representation is needed in media. Bad because of censorship, the show got a target on its back, negatively affecting its production; luckily, it got a proper ending and even Future. Queer representation in kids' media is rare as it's often unfairly considered inherently sexual. Yet, I think it's important to have this representation in children's media to teach children empathy (I believe empathy is best formed by simply exposing people to other walks of life) and supply queer children with emotional validation. Tell them nothing is wrong with them, and encourage them to celebrate who they are against a world where some are ready to shame and dehumanize them. It's been an uphill battle to get this representation, and Steven Universe has been a frontrunner. I have to question whether or not the representation seen in recent shows like The Owl House, Adventure Time, She-Ra, etc., would exist if it hadn't come along. And I thank it for that, not only because I immensely enjoyed the show itself but because it helped open the doors for shows like it to follow, which I have also immensely enjoyed.__

__But to get anecdotal, it helped me rationalize some of my subconscious feelings. The way the show portrayed romantic relationships was helpful for me because it distinguished between intimacy and passion, ultimately expressing that a healthy romantic relationship should have both. This played a part in helping me realize I'm AroAce because while I deeply desire emotional and intellectual intimacy, simply, I've never had the strong passion for another person people have coined: "Romantic Love."__

__But Steven Universe's consistent fleshing out of the intimacy present in its romantic relationships made them compelling for me. Though I'd also like to discuss the show's animation, the main criticism directed towards it has been the animation being "off-model," which I found a jarring complaint. Animation is already a wholly subjective recreation of reality, so criticizing a lack of realism is uncompelling. While it's okay if you find its lack of continuity jarring, I do, but rarely, when it comes to the audio-visual aspects, I care solely about its expressionism. I don't care if the animation is impressive or groundbreaking; in this case, it isn't; I care exclusively about how it makes me feel. And while, again, some may find the malleability of the animation disconcerting, it has a massive upside in the range of emotions it allows the animation to portray. I find a lot of animation emotionally stiff; I'm left to conjecture regarding why, but I can feel it; many animation styles: flash animation, anime, and a lot of 3D animation, often don't work well for intimate character moments, but work very well in more aggressive dramatics and action sequences. With Steven Universe its animation feels intentional and intimate. It tends to telegraph emotions seamlessly and remains thoroughly engaging with minor nuanced changes, often in body language; for me, it captures emotions on a similar level to real actors, so it's great that I find the voice acting similarly effective. Also, brevity and restraint are some of my key focus points regarding expressing emotions in storytelling. This show manages both; its sentimentalist moments are slowly paced, with subdued music, and it tends to simplify complex concepts in its emotional scenes eloquently. I found Steven Universe capable of consistently breaking down complicated emotional states/subject matters into bite-sized pieces and explaining them in ways a child can easily understand. Often, the complexities of its emotional scenes are outlined before (but there is some recontextualization present, so also, after), and then the emotional climax is always minimalistic. I often struggle with brevity in my writing; brevity can make your writing much more effective, but it can be challenging. Steven Universe commonly manages to portray complex things succinctly and with significant effect. Ultimately, while it often does a poor job with its action sequences and more confrontational dramatics, the bulk of the show is sentimentalism and quieter moments. With those, Steven Universe consistently provides some of the most potent I've experienced from the audio-visual medium.)__

And the show is far more effective at relaying this emotional validation. Because firstly, it delves into emotional territory you rarely see expressed in storytelling or represents familiar emotional territory in unique/engaging ways. Ultimately, I think the show explores certain emotions and ways of feeling people often don't themselves confront, let alone discuss with children, and feels like a heartfelt attempt to interrogate what's at the core of said emotions and how one should feel about them.

And secondly, again, its characterization is amoral. The show has little moralizing; it paints its characters rationally and subsequently feels like it's never judging you if you relate to them; it always feels sincerely compassionate.

This means a lot to me; I hate stories that moralize or portray characters as moral binaries. Stories, where I'm instructed that there is a certain correct way to feel about characters, can be frustrating; they take away my room for self-expression in how I engage with said story. And I get annoyed when characters receive a lot of focus but leave me apathetic; I want characters who are rationalized, who I understand as people, I don't necessarily need to feel any sympathy for them, but I like characters who uphold coherent philosophies, and generally, characters I find morally conflicting. Because that's accurate to the real world, people are complicated, and I personally view the complexity of the individual as beautiful.

Steven Universe gives me just that. Its villains are rationalized, and the heroes aren't perfect, but it condemns neither.

More than anything, the show focuses on how characters feel; it doesn't simply label its villains as evil; it gives a variety of perspectives to outline how the society they created affects others. The show frames everything like this; there's no judgment; it simply portrays tangible ways in which certain behaviors and ways of thinking can positively and negatively affect others.

And similarly, with its heroes, it fixates on their insecurities, lack of meaning, grief, and other struggles, but the heroes can be selfish, and they can make mistakes. And while their struggles impede their ability to be heroes, they don't try to change to enhance their altruism; they carry out misadventures for the sake of self-discovery and confront their struggles in pursuit of just being happier. I find all the heroes morally grey, and their interpersonal struggles are never fully resolved.

I think the show's didacticism can be summarized as follows: It wants its viewer to realize that some of the ways they behave may be harming those around them or to help them recognize certain aspects of their life that are making them unhappy, provide emotional validation in feeling the way they do, and give encouragement to change the things that make them unhappy.

However, many other children's shows are about "love and tolerance," so despite me being admittedly inclined to enjoy this type of messaging, it's technically not very pioneering. And one could argue that, in its lack of cynicism, this type of messaging is naive; however, in this case, I'd defend it. Steven Universe's post-modernist sensibilities are apparent; the show itself rejects objectives and often confronts compartmentalization. The answer the show always gives to issues is that, while it's not going to be easy, if you want to resolve issues, you have to confront them. It's a show about skepticism towards the status quo but expresses that doing such and trying to change it can be dangerous. And ultimately, I find its pacifistic sensibilities, despite their skepticism of defensivism/interventionism, far more conditional than absolute.

Though, back to morality, one of the most enthralling things about the show is its unfolding moral ambiguity. The show is very malleable in shifting how you perceive its characters, and Steven Universe has a subjective narrative; everything we see in the world is from Steven's perspective; you're placed in a status quo. While characters actively evolve and change, much of the show is focused on unraveling that status quo.

Though admittedly, that status quo only begins to unravel in the first season's second half, and the truth about early Season One is that, again, it's banal. However, I'd also argue that later parts of the show wouldn't work nearly as well without it. Now, would I shorten early Season One? Yes, it could stand to lose ~5 episodes, and early Season One spends time in an unpleasant and dysfunctional status quo.

However, subsequently, we learn the deeper causes of that dysfunction and witness the characters' attempts at overcoming it. Those changes wouldn't ring nearly as true if the show didn't spend time reveling in dysfunction. For example, Amethyst and Pearl fight a lot early in the show. Generally, their fighting is dull and melodramatic; fights arise from stuff like Pearl getting unreasonably mad at Amethyst for little gags. It's annoying; however, when we begin to learn why Pearl and Amethyst behave the way they do and they attempt to resolve their differences, it wouldn't be nearly as compelling if the show hadn't spent time on the unpleasant melodrama between the two. And the show celebrates the altered status quo; it revels in the beauty of their personal growths.

That and Early Season One is thematically relevant for Steven's character; the quick thrust from adventure fantasy into character drama is Steven being thrust quickly from the escapist world of a child into that of an adult. This transition is purposeful; it has relevance later in the series.

But lastly, what type of fantasy is this show? For me, it's one I find interested in exploring different perspectives. It creates a variety of perspectives that no human could ever experience but still manages to tap into human emotions through them. For example, one character's ability causes them to be nihilistic. And the show explores their struggle regarding how their nihilism affects themselves and others and, subsequently, explores their desperate attempts at dulling those powers. Steven Universe is a prime example of the type of sci-fi/fantasy storytelling I find interesting, so I'd recommend giving it a fair shot.