Beware the butterflies
(This review contains
spoilers!)
This week Steven Universe decided to
scare us in thinking that Steven had shaved his head. Not cool, Crewniverse.
You almost gave me a heart attack.
There was a lot riding on this one.
Starting with the announcement that Studio Trigger animator Takafumi Hori was a
guest animator, the rumour and theory mills went into overdrive, with some
people theorizing that something would happen to Garnet, Ruby would somehow be
captured and Sapphire would be left alone.
None of that actually happened (except
for the guest animator, obviously), but the real episode was a charming, sweet
little installment, adding into the larger Garnet arc that pops up every once
in a while, in episodes like Jail Break and The Answer.
Starting with the animation, Hori’s
work clearly shone through during the training sequences with Stevonnie. Some
of the action shots and character animations resembled a fight scene from
something like Kill la Kill or Space Patrol Luluco greatly. I do wish they’d
given him a little more to do, however. I don’t know if he did the whole
episode, but the only times I really noticed Studio Trigger-style animation was
during the brief fight sequences. I hope they bring him back for a few more
episodes later on, because his art style and the Steven Universe designs really
go hand in hand.
Now to address the elephant in the
room: the new song, Here Comes a Thought. No surprise, it’s a really good song with
a fantastic message, although I do think it went on just a little bit too long.
The visuals, as always, were great, using Ruby and Sapphire to great advantage.
It reminded me a lot of Something Entirely New, and that’s a good thing.
The main theme overall was that Steven
and Connie were dealing with their emotional baggage, making it difficult to
remain fused. Connie was upset because she’d accidentally hurt a kid at school,
and Steven suffered from flashbacks of Bismuth, Jasper, and Eyeball Ruby. I
guess the main villain right now is Steven’s inner demons. No surprise, they’re
able to solve each other’s problems and everyone ends up happy in the end. I’m
certain Steven’s not quite finished obsessing over what he’s done recently,
though. Just the sight of his mother’s sword was enough to set him off, so I’d
have to think that these flashbacks are going to come back into play in the
near future.
While Mindful Education wasn’t quite the
landmark gamechanger of an episode people were expecting it to be, it was definitely
the best Steven Universe since the start of Season 4. The song, message,
visuals, animation, characters, and symbolism were all top notch, and while it
had some small problems, they’re really more nitpicks than anything. I really
enjoyed this week’s episode.
FINAL SCORE
8/10
Great
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