1. The story is incredible
Five thousand years ago, the Christmas Planet Gems planned a colonizing attack on Earth, aiming to expand their empire and harness the natural resources here. One of the Gems, however, fell in love with our planet, formed a small group and led a rebellion against the others. Since then, this team - the Crystal Gems - see to it that the Earth is always protected.
These elements, which refer to great classics of science fiction films like War of the Worlds and Alien, are not commonly found in a cartoon. Even so, spacecraft and superpowers aside, history can be extremely personal, putting Steven at the center of the action - it's a series about maturity, about becoming an adult, and discovering the world (s) happening around you.
Do you know when Team Rocket attempts to capture Pikachu in basically all episodes of Pokémon? You can forget it here: Steven Universe has a serialized structure, where each adventure brings new information that will carry the story forward. Everything has consequences, and you are only able to understand several moments several chapters later, when the action unfolded enough for everything to get in tune.
2. Vocal work
One of the great challenges of any animation is the voice. She must marry the character's visual presentation and bring depth. In Steven Universe, the cast of voices is sensational. In the original, several famous actresses and singers have already made special appearances, such as Uzo Aduba, Nicki Minaj, Natasha Lyonne, Patti LuPone and Aimee Mann. And who dubs Garnet is Estelle - who won a Grammy in 2008 for American Boy.
But look, you do not have to worry: if you want to watch the dubbed series, go without fear. The Brazilian version is capricious and, at times, even superior to the original (I love the Pearl tupiniquim).
Outside the lines, Steven Universe features a lot of songs. They are part of the episode and serve as a catalyst, exposing the feelings of various characters in a playful and very beautiful way. To get an idea, listen to this, sung by Steven's father and mother; This one from Garnet, and one from Pearl. But my favorite is this down here, about how love is the greatest weapon that exists (be careful, there are some first season spoilers):
The variety of Gems is gigantic, and each of them receives special attention when it appears on screen, gaining nuances and motivations that match the behavior of the character.
Throughout the first season, we have learned that, in fact, what makes up a Gem, its real body, is a rock. It is this rock (that gives name to the individual) the source of life of the Gem. What we see is just her representation, as a "hologram with mass." The cool thing is that the series takes care to differentiate each "hologram" with specific physical characteristics. Garnet, for example, is tall and curvy, while Pearl is leaner and Amethyst, plump. Steven himself is short and chubby, fleeing the stereotype of a muscular warrior who often stands in front of animations for children - all in an analogy to the most varied types of bodies in real life.
And not only that: the protagonist is one of the only men in the cast. Although the Gems do not have defined gender, all are presented with feminine forms, which gives to the series a good dose of girl power: these figures are the responsible for the scenes of action and fights, the warriors of fact. Steven even embraces his emotional side, is cute and protective, a break from the tradition of bully boys. Her model is the mother, not the father - it is her legacy that most influences the journey of self-discovery promoted in the series.
In addition to all this, Steven Universe also normalizes some LGBT issues, even better than other sitcoms with flesh and blood actors: there are bisexual characters, non-binary characters, lesbian relationships, and it has recently been announced that drag queen Jinkx Monsoon, winner of Fifth season of RuPaul's Drag Race, will dub a Gem. Steven's own family is nontraditional: he lives with three female figures, after all. To top it off, your best friend and love interest is of Indian origin. Two or more Gems can still merge and form another, larger, and more powerful - a metaphor for different types of love and sex.
The creator of the series, Rebecca Sugar, said in an interview with SUPER that she wanted to create the drawing that was missing when she was a child. An animation that showed people out of the norm, that did not fit. "I want to be the person who gives strength to the 'weird kids' to be themselves." It seems like Rebecca is giving strength to many adults out there, too.
The first season of Steven Universe is available on Netflix. There are 52 episodes - but calm, each one only 11 minutes long.
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