Archive for the Western Cartoons Category


LGBTQ Cartoon: Steven Universe, Season 7

August 26th, 2018

Steven Universe, the blockbuster cartoon about a magical boy is groundbreaking in a dozen ways. In previous seasons, it has dealt with complicated feelings about family, shown us both abusive and functional relationships, discussed war trauma, and repeatedly discusses betrayal, trust, loyalty, friendship and love in its many forms. In a cartoon. For children.

In Season 7 (by Amazon’s reckoning,) Steven Universe delves deeply into those concepts of betrayal and trust. Very deeply. Very, very deeply. This season also complete the process of humanizing the Crystal Gems. In the first few seasons, it is very clear that human relationships are genuinely not a strong point for them. We see this even more starkly in flashbacks to their lives before Steven. In this season, we see the Gems resolve and move through a number of lingering issues by taking part in that humanest of excuses to party – a wedding.

The season begins with secrets, chaos and confusion and geas.
The season resolves with love.
The season ends in chaos and confusion and we have no idea what’s to come.

This season was amazing.

There was not one iota of rebuke or snark in Ruby and Sapphire’s wedding. This is not an episode – heck, it’s not a series – that ever thinks to say, “in your face, haters!” As Steven sings clearly for all of us, caught in the middle of interesting times, for just one day, let’s only think about love…

…and Nell Brinkley. And cowboys. And when the next soundtrack album will be coming out. And holy shit that ending! And all the other stuff. What a season. What a series.

I have repeatedly said in public – often on forums for which this is wildly inappropriate – I want a Peridot/Lapis fusion. I want them to become Azurite. And I want to talk about why. So buckle in.^_^

Someonesomewhere commented that they didn’t want a Peridot/Lapis fusion because they felt that fusions were always about “love.” But I want to talk about fusion, because while Sapphire and Ruby’s fusion is absolutely about love, we’ve seen so many kinds of fusion, from Rubies fusing to make a larger Ruby, to Amethyst and Pearl, whose Opal fusion is not once driven by love – but is instead driven by desire to protect Steven. And we’ve seen non-consensual fusion.

For me, fusion is about trust. Garnet’s words bear that out when she tells Greg that to fuse one must have a gem of light at the core of one’s being and a person who can be trusted with that light.

Lapis has been horribly emotionally scarred, from long before we met her and repeatedly after we do. She can’t trust. She’s never seen trust. Peridot keeps trying to trust Lapis, and getting hurt when she betrays that trust. The moment they fuse will be a profound change for a gem who has been our PTSD poster child. And, selfishly, I really want to see that moment. ^_^

Ratings:

Art – 8 I love, love, love, the capsule-shaped fog on the Beach City Boardwalk
Story – 10
Characters – 10
Service – Sapphire in a tux counts for 4
Yuri – 9

Overall – 10

Gahh! January is so far away!





Steven Universe: The Complete First Season (English)

May 18th, 2018

At last! The entire first season of Steven Universe on DVD. 52 episodes of what I sincerely consider to be some of the very best cartooning I have seen in decades. I’m so ecstatic to be able to be writing about cartoons and comics during what is an absolute Renaissance of cartooning and comic making. ^_^

Steven Universe: The Complete First Season on DVD covers the series sequentially from “Gem Glow” through “Joy Ride”, what Amazon Prime considers Season 1 and Season 2. The set consists of three disks, each one decorated to reflect Amethyst’s, Pearl’s and Garnet’s gems. 

In this first season, we meet Steven Quartz Universe, a “magical boy” whose late mom was an alien from the Gem Home Planet. His guardians, Pearl, Garnet and Amethyst, don’t quite understand what being a human is like, but they do their best to make Steven happy, and train him at the same time in what we imagine to be the powers he will inherit from his mother’s gem. Steven can be – and frequently is – annoying and whiny, but as the story plays out, he not only matures as a person and a fighter, but we get a glimpse of the person he will become in future seasons. 

The story begins with what appears to be a standard formula of fighting monsters of the day. This morphs quickly into a layered and nuanced story about love, and betrayal, and war and peace. All the characters, not just Steven, do a lot of changing in this first season. The characters as we we see them in Joy Ride are not the same one’s we met in the beginning. 

Anime fans will recognize references from some popular shoujo series and, for the Okazu audience specifically, the homages to Revolutionary Girl Utena will please. Garnet’s story is also sure to put a smile on your face. 

The quality of the video is good, certainly better than watching it on television or the low-definition version on Amazon Prime. I wonder if the animation would hold up to w Blu-ray release, I’d be interested to find out. 

There are a number of extras on the final disk, including Rebecca Sugar doing demos of some of the songs, and an interview with her about the process for a few key ones (some of which may be spoilers for future season.) It’s very interesting to hear her demos and compare them with the final versions. Videos are interspersed with San Diego Comic Con 2017 footage. I warn you, the music is sticky. I’ll sing a song for a week at a time. Recently I’m stuck on “Working Dead” from the last season and my wife is looping “Stronger Than You” from Season 1 in her head.

I’ve encouraged any number of folks to watch this cartoon, and in doing so, I always caution them about this first season -Steven can be hard to take, especially in the first handful of episodes. But if you haven’t already taken the plunge, this is definitely the right time to grab this collection, get your snack of choice and let Steven, the Crystal Gems and the denizens of Beach City drive their van into your heart.

Ratings:

Art – Starts at 7, but rapidly firms up to 9. The backgrounds are especially brilliant
Characters – 10
Story – 10
Yuri – 10
Service – 0 There’s nothing salacious here.

Overall – 100

I’m going to come down on the side of this is must-watch animation for Yuri fans and one of the best cartoons I’ve ever seen.





Western Cartoon: Mysticons

March 25th, 2018

The second half of the 2010’s has given us animation fans an absolute renaissance in American cartooning. I’m watching Steven Universe, Star vs The Forces of Evil and now, Mysticons. I encountered Mysticons while looking for something entertaining to work to. I looked up, saw a blonde Gorgon and was hooked. ^_^ Today’s review is one of those utterly delightful moments in which a thing I did for myself turn out to be a thing we can all share. 

The story is rather typical for a magical color-coded fighting force in a magical kingdom. Four girls from disparate backgrounds are brought together by a “Dragon Disk” and their powers are revealed. They regularly encounter dragons and magical items, while fighting an evil baddie named Necrafa (who wears a fetchingly skeleton-themed outfit) to protect their kingdom and the Princess, who is herself one of the Mysticons.

Like Japanese anime, the strength is in the team, and their friendship, The story  is well-written and narrative, so you want to watch it in order. This may be complicated by broadcast schedules which still do not recognize this simple fact. I have the series on DVR and have yet to have two broadcast in order. (Broadcast the episodes in order for fuck’s sake!)

Many of the characters, both good and bad, are well-developed. The series safely and thoroughly passes the Bechdel-Wallace Test, although there are also conversations about guys, which is perfectly reasonable. My first episode told the story of a male pop idol gnome who has stolen a Banshee’s magic and voice to make himself famous. Happy end when she rightfully gets the gig he stole. 

I jokingly commented on Twitter that my only complaint was the heteronormativity and I was pointed to this article on Overly Animated. Turns out that Mysticon Ranger, former thief Zarya Moonwolf, has a girlfriend. Before she was a thief, she was a pirate. Her friend Kitty Boon and she are a canon couple. The Overly Animated article goes into detail about the manufactured “controversy” of their story and a kiss between then that was cut from the broadcast.  So there’s a good reason to go catch up on Season 1!

Ratings:

Art – erm, well, not great. Maybe 5, 6 at best
Story – 8 So far as I’ve seen, very good. 
Characters – 8 I like what I’ve seen
Service  – I mean, Mysticon Knight is pretty nice to look at, so…
Yuri – Yes

Overall – 8

I leave you with an image of Serena Snakecharmer, whose snakes sometimes speak.

Approved.





LGBTQ: Steven Universe, Season 6

September 8th, 2017

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In Season 1 of Steven Universe we met and learned about the Crystal Gems, friendly alien invaders from space. In Season 2 we began to really understand their history. Season 3 deepened our understanding of all the series’ characters and Season 4 brought the first major plots to fruition…and expanded our cast. In Season 5, Steven and we begin to understand that Rose Quartz was not necessarily the beacon of Good that she had been held up to be. As we learn about her flaws, Rose becomes exponentially more interesting.

In Season 6, we begin, at last to put all the pieces we’ve been given into some kind of picture. And the picture we’re getting is nothing like the one we expected.

We’re introduced to Blue Diamond in person. With the chance to directly compare her and Yellow Diamond, we start to get a little bit of a picture of an imperious royal class that understands little and cares not at all about the beings it rules. We spend a lot of time in space this season since, realistically, having neutralized The Cluster, any further contact with the Diamonds would have to be in space or on Homeworld, or Earth would be at risk. Space it is, then.

Several really significant things happened this season – Greg was introduced to just how vast the story in which his son is embroiled actually is. Steven is now very visibly showing signs of super strength, and becoming more confident with his powers. We visit Homeworld and learn that in a strictly defined hierarchy, there’s still an outcast underclass. Amethyst meets her family and finds that she’s just one of the gems after all.  I learned about Holly Blue Agate , a stone I had never heard of before. (Fairly remarkable, as I’ve been collecting semi-precious stones for decades…) and Lars…well…no,that’s a spoiler, I will not spoil.

We get to see that both Yellow and Blue Diamond have genuine affection for Pink Diamond (and I can’t help but wonder what White Diamond, who has never once been mentioned, but whose symbol we’ve repeatedly seen, is like.) In fact, during “What’s the Use of Feeling Blue,” we get the distinct feeling that Yellow Diamond surprises herself when she speaks of missing Pink Diamond.

But once again, the climax of the series is unexpected in ways that we couldn’t even have predicted. Once again we learn that the truth isn’t what we we were told it is, and it isn’t what others think it is, either. So…what is it? The fan theories are flying, thick and fast. ^_^

The last significant thing that happened is that my wife is hooked. Hah. ^_^ Now I can obsess and she’s totally into it. Gotcha. Hee Hee. Hee.

Art – 8
Story- 10
Characters – 10
Service – 1 on principle
Queerness – 7 Fluorite is a lovely nod to polyamory.

Overall – 10

Can’t wait for Season 7. Seriously.





Steven Universe Soundtrack, Volume 1

June 2nd, 2017

Sometimes, you just need the world to have a #1 movie about an Amazon and the debut of the much-desired Steven Universe Soundtrack. ^_^

There’s not much I can really say about this soundtrack to convince you to get it. Either you enjoy Steven Universe, find the music an integral and pleasant part of the series as a whole, or, well, you don’t.

If you do like the music, and have a habit of singing “It’s Over Isn’t It?” for days and days at a time, then you, too, will want to run out and get this-digital only album. It’s available on iTunes, where it soared to #5 in the album charts right away and also on Google Play. 

I find that not only did I remember every episode every song belongs to, I find myself thinking Lapis and Peridot *really* need a duet. Or, I should say, I really need Lapis and Peridot to have a duet. ^_^

I hadn’t realized that Rebecca Sugar herself sings the beautiful ED, “Love Like You.” And now I get to enjoy Olivia Olsen’s version of “Haven’t You Noticed (I’m a Star)” on repeat as well.  And probably the full-version of the OP “We Are The Crystal Gems”  and “Do It For Her”. Which makes me realize that Deedee Magno Hall as Pearl is the winner in terms of songs for me. The depth and honesty and pathos of the writing for Pearl is extraordinary. 

Yes. I’m fangirling. Yes. This will surprise no one.

And now I undoubtedly will sing “It’s Over Isn’t It?” for days and days. And days.

Ratings:

Overall – 10

And days. 

Soar like a comet and get this album and we can all sit around sharing jams and jam.

Tell me what your favorite track is in the comments