Steven Universe First Impressions

This isn't really a first impressions seeing as i'm about 10 episodes into the show by now, but considering each episode is only 11 minutes long, that's pretty much just 5 episodes, and considering the laid back tone of the show and lack of explanation, you have to watch a fair amount before understanding the universe (Puns!) of this show. Steven Universe follows the story of Steven Universe, a young boy gifted with a magical gem that he inherited from his mother, it contains what seems to me unlimited power but has no idea how to use it, so with the help of several other gems, Garnet, Amethyst & Pearl, he slowly learns to use the gem and help the gems save the world from all sorts of creatures. So there are two things straight off the bat that i can heavily praise this show for, the first one being the designs of the characters and the environment, the character designs are incredibly creative and look amazing, the backgrounds are detailed and ecstatically beautiful, though the designs of the human characters are rather dull in comparison and they look like they could be from any cartoon show really. The other thing being the role of the gems, they're not human, they don't even seem to be mortals, and they are each powerful and flawed in their own ways, Amethyst is strong but rash, Pearl is smart but paranoid, Garnet is strategic but too agressive. Each one has different lessons to teach Steven and for themselves to learn. I will say each episode has a good moral to teach without feeling forced, for example, the realisation that only some of your ideas will work, while others are bound to fail, i haven't really seen a show look at things from that angle.

Steven himself is a likeable character, he acts a lot like an actual real kid and he does make mistakes that he needs to learn from, but he's the one that finds a way to fix them which is important, if your character makes a mistake and someone else has to fix it then the lesson doesn't sink in as well because they're not the ones who have the deal with the consequences. In terms of stories, they've all been rather simple so far, not good, not bad, what does stick out to me is the imagery, who would have thought that ideas like "a mascot suit being brought to life" and "a body of cats" would turn into such creepy and graphic monsters with no actual gore. The voice acting is...unusual. I watched an episode with a friend and she said the voice acting came across as very strange, which it does, no one sounds the way you would expect and some lines of dialogue they choose to deliver in strange ways...but at the same time it kinda fits with the tone of the show, everything is unusual, including the performances, so i can see why it wouldn't be everyone's cup of tea, but it doesn't bother me all too much, I can get used to it.

Overall, in terms of how first impressions go, the show is...fine. It's cute, it has nice characters and colourful designs, the jokes in the show are okay, but there's yet to be a gut busting joke and the format the show currently has isn't something that appeals to me, i prefer the story arc style of shows, which i'm told this series does eventually go along those lines, but i haven't gotten there yet. In comparison to other cartoon shows on right now, it's a fine one to watch, but it's nowhere near the best (That would be Gravity Falls in case you're wondering).

-Danny