Wow it's been this long since I last posted. Well let's bring it all back with a popular show Steven Universe.
To remind everyone of my previous views on Steven Universe I judged it as not as great as it should be and now I get to tell you why.
For those unfamiliar Steven Universe is about a boy raised by gem warriors from out of space as per request of his late mother who was also a gem warriors. The entire series is about stopping an intergalactic war between the earth and the gems all while dealing with the problems of social acceptance in a world too amazing and intimidating to deal with.
This already creates a problem as the story is torn between the big plot of the Crystal gems vs the lives of the beach town not helped when the beach town residents are jerks and really not that interesting all topped off with the fact that Steven is needed for every plot point whether it be important or not which is why I don't remember mighty max or darkstalkers American version fondly which have similar plots.
That's not to say I hate it. The Crystal gems themselves are compelling characters and I would quite easily be a fan if it was just about them.
And also Rebecca sugar clearly failed English literature because the plot is unintentionally written in a way that were supposed to offer sympathy for villains who are on par with the galactic empire in terms of atrocities, again there are good writing moments such as the LGBT centric episodes being beautiful pieces of cartoon history but my god please hire a writer because I really wanted the villains to be pure evil and the town's people are not interesting stop writing episodes for them.
I can forgive it's animation as cartoon network was created on simple art styles. Overall I just can't like Steven Universe. It has it's place in cartoon history but you won't find it on my playlist and knowing how fanatical the fan base gets I can only say this. Yes it's great that you feel empowered to express your beliefs and feel comfortable about your sexuality through this show but don't bully people for the way they like Steven Universe because they aren't the same as you. People can like and dislike what they want, it doesn't make me any less of a person for not liking Steven Universe and I never criticise anyone who does watch a show I hate or dislike. And if there is a problem with me disliking Steven Universe then your not going to like my views on Rick and Morty
Post number 2, and this one is a top ten on popular franchises everyone loves but I hate; now to clarify, this doesn’t mean these franchises are bad just for whatever reason I just never got on with them.
Dishonourable mentions
Frozen: It’s outstayed its welcome for a good year and we need to move on but doesn’t make this list as it does look like Disney can move on from it.
Haruhi Suzumiya: I’ve always hated Haruhi Suzumiya and the impact to the fandom it brought with it; thankfully it’s faded out of Otaku culture.
Star Wars: Over saturating the market right now but I don’t hate it enough to be on this list.
10. Sword Art Online
Accel World was better and I hated the direction this show went after season 1.
9. Berserk/Higurashi No Naku Koro Ni/Elfen Lied
Having started my anime career in the ultra violence of the 80s, I feel that shows that showcase high violence and gore are only popular because of said gore not some of the deeper meanings these anime shows have which is a shame.
8. Bobs Burgers
I encourage any show that can take on the big three of South Park, Family Guy and the Simpsons and succeed, but not when the art style constantly makes all the characters look stoned.
7. Madoka Magica
I had a hard time warming up to this show and while yes it is very compelling and completely re-writes the genre but then so did Sailor Moon and Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha. And while it was very successful in its run, it doesn’t really change the current line up of sparkles, colours and optimism that most current generation Magical Girl shows are known for.
6. Steven Universe
I’ve brought this up before and try as I might, there are too many characters I don’t like in Steven Universe for me to really enjoy the show, again I stress that this isn’t the cartoon’s fault it’s just my taste in characters and the fact that I still think you can have a compelling story with just the Crystal Gems and not Steven Universe himself.
5. Grand Theft Auto
When I play open sandbox crime games I’d rather things weren’t taken so seriously which is why I stuck with Saints Row instead, again its taste and the fact that this game is so overhyped that I just can’t stand it.
4. Love Live
My hatred for Love Live is quite well known, an idol show that is nothing new, nothing groundbreaking, does everything tried and tested and is far worst in quality than many of its contemporaries is somehow one of the most popular anime in the entire world. WHY!?!?!
3. Transformers
I tried my best with this franchise, when I was young, when I was a teenager and in the last couple of years and I still don’t like Transformers. I only found two out of the god knows how many series in this franchise that I can sit and watch, and my optimism for the franchise has long died since the live action Michael Bay movies.
2. Final Fantasy/Kingdom Hearts
My relationship with Final Fantasy is very much love/hate, I can see myself getting invested in the games but not so much the stories or the overly broody leads they insist on bringing into the games.
As for Kingdom Hearts, I’m not pulling any punches with this one, I hate Sora. I can’t stand Sora as a character and when he’s the main character in an RPG, that’s a problem. I have no problem with the Disney aspect but the Final Fantasy aspect leaves me with a bad taste, it’s not even just Sora, the others are just as bad, in fact the only character I can tolerate is Aqua.
1. Legend of Zelda
20 years I’ve been trying to like Legend of Zelda but every Zelda game I’ve played and I’ve played quite a lot of them, I feel the games are deliberately trying to piss me off; it’s not that I’m bad with them it’s just that whoever designed them has this idea in their head that you’re supposed to already know what to do when you do the numerous puzzles in every game and it can easily add the hours into a game that by the end of the first hour you’re already sick and tired of it and you just want to give up yet every game yields a near perfect score from critics and I don’t know why, it’s like trying to defeat Silver the Hedgehog for the first time, only you have to do that on every god damn quest.
Welcome to a new feature known simply as Second Opinion where I take stuff I have already reviewed and add a new perspective to it, I will go through four titles at a time and the feature will show up occasionally to offer fresh opinions should I rewatch a series or watch more of an ongoing series, so without further delay lets begin.
Super Sonico
I originally said that Super Sonico was a mixture of really good and really bad episodes depending on what the episodes focus on, while I still think that is the case I have a bigger appreciation for Sonico being one of very, very few anime characters with a real life body type and while it's easy to criticize the fan service, you get the sense that the writers were being very sensible with the character, you also don't notice at first but you see a cameo from another Nitroplus idol as she grows more confident from shy girl to idol, it's not immediately obvious but the more you look, the more you see her and that makes for a very impressive easter egg.
Despite it's shortcomings with some episodes, even those episodes being not terrible, Super Sonico is a really good anime to watch.
RWBY
I originally said that RWBY was a great spectacle within a mediocre story, but upon viewing more of the series it really starts raising the stakes and the story just improves within a short amount of episodes, maybe a little too dramatic but it gives me great hope that Season 4 can really bring everything full circle, also I'm really enjoying RWBY Chibi as it's extremely funny and always makes me smile.
RWBY just keeps improving and I hope it really comes together in Season 4.
Steven Universe
I originally said that Steven Universe was not as good as it should be, while I still maintain that opinion I also expand on it more by saying, there's really a lot I don't like about Steven Universe, again it boils down to Steven himself but the ever expanding cast never really drew me in either, Peridot, Lapis Lazuli, Ronaldo, Onion and Lars are just a list of characters I really don't like and while I do see a lot of the great work done into the writing, I feel distracted by a handful of really bad characters that really damage the spectacle.
So I find myself hating it more now than I did before, sorry to other fans, I really don't like this show.
Wander Over Yonder
I originally said this show was okay but I actually really like this show now, it's full of boundless fun and optimism and the villain is actually really hilarious, it's like the Kooky Lego Villains with much better writing. Wander himself is a well balanced character, he's not so generic that he's boring but equally he's not so annoying that he out stays his welcome and Sylvia makes for a great companion that can really create a nice universal balance to the show.
Wander Over Yonder is a good cartoon border lining great and needs more support than it got, maybe Cartoon Network should buy it but then again it hates it's old creators seeing as the same guy did Powerpuff Girls and look how that turned out on the remake.
You can tell I've fallen behind, this is my second review tonight as we move onto Steven Universe.
Steven Universe is from a group of writers from Adventure Time, about a boy named Steven who inherits a power gem from his late mother; her mother's friends the Crystal Gems, adopt Steven into their lives and attempt to teach him to be a Crystal Gem himself but there are many troubles along the way.
Now Steven Universe is a bit of a bogey cartoon, on the one hand the clever story telling and its ability to take it's audience seriously along with Steven's believable personality can easily make this one of the best cartoons of all time but on the other hand, Steven has no indoor voice, (Which never sits well with me) your not given much to work with in terms of backstory or learning anything about the main cast and compared to Adventure Time which can hold it's own better, it doesn't really capture the same creativity.
It's not bad but doesn't really encourage itself to be really good, not helped by Cartoon Network's poor scheduling which seems to relegate it to a weekend showing (in the UK at least)
Compared to other new shows that premiered around the same time it's certainly the strongest of the lot and really shows that Cartoon Network hasn't completely lost it's creativity but don't expect another Adventure Time for a while.
