Why I love Steven Universe?

Steven Universe, a 'children's' cartoon on cartoon network at it's surface seems like a normal kid's show. A young boy goes on adventures with his friends and saves the world from alien enemies with the help of the Crystal Gems. Simple enough I guess. But after getting used to the show's basic premise, it took four episodes, four 11 minute instalments, until the show surprised like never before. See I don't watch Steven Universe for cool fight scenes or because it's colourful, I watch it because it has nuanced storylines, with well developed (and developing) characters with frequently deep messages. In the fourth episode, the following conversation took place. I won't explain, I won't talk about it. Just watch.

Media-wise the lighting in this scene is very effective. It's a cartoon so it's hard to identify but here, it's low key to emphasise the Peedee's sorrow. This is used to the extent where the lights on the boardwalk are even turned off to make the scene seem even darker. The bright colours of Steven's costume are used to juxtapose Steven against Peedee's costume and the rest of the world. Steven's bright costume, reflects his character; excited, childish, blissfully ignorant. Meanwhile Peedee's dreary monochrome outfit represents his realist and somewhat depressing outlook on life and work. They made use of long shots comprising of either both Peedee's and Steven's facial expression or body language to once again to emphasise the contrast between their viewpoints of life. The close ups that are constantly used are used to intensify their emotion, especially the still shot of Peedee on the ride as he goes up and down, concealing his face below the camera allowing us to notice his expression change. This sets the tone for the scene and smoothly transitions the atmosphere from joyful to glum.

To go back to what I was talking about, when was the last time you heard a "kid's" show go for a message like that? And that was out of context. Most cartoon storylines usually involve some teenager's contrived attempt to stop their a family member from finding out about their involvement with the 'bad kids' or some crap. The idea of a cartoon trying (and succeeding) with a lesson like this, is that adults (or very childish teenagers...) can relate to it personally. And it doesn't stop here. Episodes don't have to be centred on the topic but these topics come up, and though it may only show up for 1 minute out of 11 minutes, it's still difficult to pull off as seamlessly as this show does sometimes; weaving them into storylines or cleverly planting them in bits of conversation. Messages about self-esteem issues, your sense of belonging or purpose and generally growing up, is entirely what the show is about. And of course fighting off aliens to protect the Earth. Also it's like won multiple Emmy's and stuff, sooo...

Note: The following episodes may bring you to tears. Watch at your own caution.

Lion 3: Straight to Video, The Test, On the Run, Rose's Scabbard, Maximum Capacity, Sworn to the Sword, We Need to Talk