Cartoon Network: Steven Universe: Heart of the Crystal Gems (DVD)

This is a spoiler-free review of the DVD. (I CANNOT EXPRESS MORE SINCERELY my desire to buy Steven Universe on Region 1 Blu-ray, Cartoon Network. Please.)At the heart of these connected episodes lies the most shocking and important revelation in the series so far. I have yet to see an episode of "Steven Universe" that I would call "bad," but practically every episode in this collection is great, if not excellent. Most of the episodes are from an 8-episode arc late in Season 5. The first episode of the arc, "Can't Go Back," is absent, but is the least important of the 8. CN wisely added to this collection a few earlier episodes which set up important plot elements (in particular "Bismuth," which may have informally kicked off the plot point leading to the arc itself). Although the final episode, "Reunited," doesn't actually end the story, it's quite a satisfying climax to a wide range of arcs, both of the character and plot variety. It's assumed the buyer of this DVD is already a fan of the show and may have even seen these episodes already, but if you are watching this for the first time, keep in mind, what's shown here is just a snippet of the show's rich mythology. You'll be told enough to understand the plot, but to fully enjoy it you will need more familiarity with these delightful characters.The video quality is as good as DVD gets. Anamorphic widescreen, good audio. There are no special features. "Bismuth" and "Reunited" are presented in their original 30-minute televised versions. (I'm not sure if there even exists versions where they're broken up into 15-minute parts, but I figured that it's worth mentioning for nitpickers like me who are curious.)

I bought the DVD as soon as I heard it existed, I want to support this series as much as I can.I enjoyed how they added a few episodes of the past season for backstory, went very well with this latest Steven Bomb.It would have been so. Much. MORE. EPIC. Would've been SO epic! IF they had added the last two episodes that came out after this bomb, which include those sweet interactions between the gems and the diamonds. Like, c'mon, don't be a tease.I still very much enjoyed the DVD

I was unaware of the Cartoon Network series STEVEN UNIVERSE until this last chapter of the story came to me. Then again with zero children in the house that’s not odd. The closest I have are 3 great great nephews and 1 niece and to my knowledge they’ve never seen the show either. Or at least never talked about it. But looking into it I discovered that the series has been doing well in the ratings and received a number of awards as well. This installment being the last of the series I dove in with a basic knowledge of what the show was about and watched to see how it was.The show revolves around four gem based aliens known as the Crystal Gems. Living on the east coast of the US they take on female form for except for one, Steven. Steven is a hybrid, a half human/half gem boy who inherited his gem stone from his mother, Rose Quartz. The others are Garnet, Amethyst and Pearl. From a world of gems they’ve abandoned their home world in order to follow their leader, the missing Rose Quartz, to protect Earth. Steven is growing up and learning the complexities of his powers as well as maturing. Along with the Crystal Gems his life lessons involve his father Greg, his magical pet lion, his friend Connie and other citizens of the town of Beach City.Now that you’re aware of the story’s basics it’s on to the new release on disc. I’ll start by saying that the disc is somewhat confusing once I began looking into the series. It contains 10 episodes out of the 25 episodes that aired for that last known season. And while episodes 18-24 are there the last one is not and the rest are out of order from that season. Not being a regular viewer of the show I couldn’t tell you if that effects anything while watching or not.Suffice to say that the series takes the characters and then allows life lessons to be learned by them in each episode. While the fate of Earth revolves around the potential attack from the Gem World that is not the main focus here. It is the things that Steven learns about himself, about his mother and about his friends that are the focal point of each story.Using melodic tunes and basic animation the show is one that small children can enjoy and easily accept. No heavy duty CGI on display here or intensely detailed artwork found in may anime style shows. Instead the drawings used are rather basic and something that children can relate to. The show spends quite a bit of the images detailing the backgrounds perhaps more than the characters to good effect.No doubt there is some controversy about the series that needn’t be. The show has been praised because of the gender issues portrayed in the show. To start with the heroic warriors of the show are women rather than men as is normally the case. Steven can fuse himself with other characters and doing so with a girl named Connie he creates Stevonnie, a cross gendered character. There is also the same sex proposal of Ruby and Sapphire. The creator of the show, Rebecca Sugar, has stated that her intent was not to force the issue on these topics but to provide a cartoon that young children facing these issues would find comforting as they sorted through their own lives.For some this will be comforting and the LGBTQ community has praised the series. While I’ve not read of anti-gay groups protesting the show I have no doubt that there have most likely been some calling for a boycott of the series. If issues like these bother you then odds are you won’t enjoy the series. I would still recommend giving it a watch though before making a rash decision. The topic is not forced or presented in such a way that it demands you not only accept but endorse these themes. It does present them in such a way that they are not threatening, crude or shoved in your face.On the whole the series is well done and interesting. For younger viewers it’s easy to see why they would be enchanted by the show. While combat might be a part of what is going on it’s never presented in a way that would create fear in a child. I would say that the series and this set in particular might open the door for parents to sit and talk to their children about the issues it raises. That’s always a good thing. And for concerned parents the best way to have your child understand the issues is for them to not be planted in front of a TV but to have those discussions with you. If a cartoon, such as this one, can open those doors for you to talk take advantage of that rather than close the door on all discussion.

This show is literally life saving for LGBTQ+ youth and adults, and this disc features some of the best episodes of the series. It is very spoiler heavy, so be caught up to at least season five before watching.

It was a Christmas gift and the little boy loved it

Love it this. is great till the season come out hope it comes out on. blu-ray

Love it

They loved ot