Steven Universe Future
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 Here we are in the future, and it's bright!
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Steven Universe Future is an limited-series epilogue to Steven Universe, taking place two years after the ending of the original series and sometime (possibly a month) after the TV movie, Steven Universe: The Movie. It began on December 7th, 2019.
Plot
After saving the universe, Steven is still at it, tying up loose ends. But when he runs out of other people's problems to solve, he'll finally have to face his own. Haunted by the past and getting lost in the present causes Steven to manifest new, unknown powers over his control that the Crystal Gems have not seen from him before. What does it all mean, and what does Steven want for his future?
Why It Rocks
- The buildup to the series is very well executed, with it starting with a one-hour special with multiple episodes and the purpose of the show being to answer questions that were left unanswered in the original series.
- The wonderful, smooth animation from the original series and the movie carries over to this series, especially with the new intro sequence.
- It helps to show how much character development the characters have received over the running of the franchise.
- Depending on your view on how Steven was portrayed here, Steven went from a hammy little kid to a responsible young adult fixing the problems his mother left behind, while feeling left out by his friends and not knowing what to do with himself.
- Pearl went from an overprotective human-phobic motherly neat freak who only fights for her late Diamond to a confident and fun carer who has found her individuality.
- Amethyst went from a silly teen-esque Gem cautious of how she came out who lets her emotions get the better of her to a strong fighter and an older sister figure who is completely fine with how she is.
- Garnet is now less prone to unfusing because of a mental breakdown from Ruby or Sapphire, still being the embodiment of a perfect and stable (married) relationship while remaining cool under the fact that her future vision allows her to see almost everything.
- Connie went from a nerdy girl afraid of her mother to a protective, energetic sword fighter and Steven's love interest who is still very intelligent and has most of her future already figured out.
- Greg is a genuine father who wants his son to be as happy as possible, staying humble even under his millions of dollars and cutting his iconic hair just to save himself and Steven.
- There are even some returning characters that are extremely likable, like Holly Blue Agate, the Famethysts, the Zoomans, the Rubies, Pink "Volleyball" Pearl and Jasper (depending on your view), and some likable new characters, like the Rose Quartzs, Snowflake Obsidian, Cherry Quartz and Little Larimar.
- The new fusions, Mega Pearl and Bluebird Azurite, are also both amazing.
- The aforementioned intro sequence is a good change from "We Are the Crystal Gems" and almost a nod to anime, cleverly using "Happily Ever After", showcasing how things have change since Steven established peace, showing a short segment of the show's antagonists and generally reminding viewers that this is "the future".
- The episodes are able to be plot heavy being based on the lore and developing Homeworld Gems while also including classic Beach City shenanigans, almost never showing signs of filler. A very special example of this is "Guidance" where Amethyst has installed a program where gems can have jobs in Beach City.
- Along with character development, the characters have very understandable and relatable flaws that make them sympathetic and realistic, particularly with Steven and his PTSD.
- Due to the countless moments of trauma since the original series and with every character having their problems and development being so dependent on Steven being there for them, Steven undergoes an identity crisis where he unintentionally tries to force help onto people who don't want or need it since he has no idea what else he is as a person, and gets easily frustrated when his help is refused or when there is mention of anything bad his late mother did due to him being way too exposed too trauma as a child that any new amount of stress makes Steven believe that he's in some form of danger which causes his powers to act up and cause danger to himself and those around him. He also finds it difficult to admit when he's not fine since he doesn't want to worry or hurt anyone, and even sinks into self-loathing whenever he ends up accidentally crossing the line.
- Pearl was prone to start an argument upon hearing any opposite idea of what her Diamond was when she was alive.
- Jasper is a Vegeta-esque Gem who refuses to participate or involve herself in the new Era, just because of how things were before peace was restored, still treating Steven and other Earthlings like they're below her but with good reason, seeing as after the events of the movie unfold and upon knowing who Pink really was, she has nothing.
- Volleyball has an abusive history with Pink Diamond, yet has still got it bad for her and is very used to making excuses for her Diamond for why she did the things she did.
- Pink Diamond is a morally grey character, and was very much a child, treating others like how the Diamonds treated her, which explains her history of abandoning gems and hurting her first Pearl, yet she did everything she could to protect the Crystal Gems when she realized how beautiful Earth is. # The franchise shows it's character development in reverse.
- All of the voice actors reprise their roles here (with the exception of Uzo Aduba, who doesn't reprise her role as Bismuth for the last 3 episodes)
- Very exciting action scenes, like Steven fighting Jasper and Mega Pearl escaping The Reef with Steven.
- Even better comedy than the original, like Greg saying "NOPE!" to the offer of joining the Rose Quartzs for lunch, who all resembled his late wife.
- The iconic scene where Steven transforms into a giant pink monster due to his powers corrupting himself, which also led to a decent finale (depending on your view).
- We get to see the most of the fusions, such as Stevonnie, Opal, Rainbow Quartz 2.0, Smokey Quartz, Sunstone, Sugilite, Obsidian, Sardonyx, and Alexandrite, from the original show for the last time.
- As mentioned in WIR #4, we get to see actual Rose Quartzs' for the first time.
- The epilogue series, regardless, did a very good job of deconstructed the flawless kid hero archetype, via making Steven's callbacks (or memories) from the previous installments, is actually have a psychological meaning for him and his aforementioned title future, and it becomes the main plot point since.
Bad Qualities
- There were inconsistencies to the Steven Universe lore. Such as Steven being able to revive Jasper after shattering her which completely contradicts the logic that the consequences of shattering gems that what diamonds should’ve done after they shattered them rather than being disfigured together. There’s also a moment when Steven corrupts right away for 10 seconds and gets healed without any scars.
- The episode "Mr. Universe" had several of these, most of which were during when Steven lashes out at Greg. Such as Steven never getting an education because that subject never went any further in the original series, and Steven comparing Greg's childhood to his mom's and thinking what Greg's parents did for him was for his own good even though the original series has Steven realizing that his mom's childhood with the Diamonds was suffocating and viewed as negative. Also, before comparing Greg to his mom, Steven even says that Greg's family can't be worse than the Diamonds, which makes Steven comparing Greg to his mom make no sense if Steven thinks Greg's family aren't really bad people and if he still acknowledges how horrible the Diamonds were.
- It isn't explained as to how Steven is going to take care of himself when he moves out and leaves Beach City to live on his own, since he never got an education, no degree, nor a resume (it's possible that government doesn't even know that he exists either) so it's most likely that he will be homeless within a couple of months.
- The show tends to ignore certain plot points that the original show and the movie didn’t resolve such as the what was inside the treasure chest that was inside Lion’s mane or the unexplained disappearance of Pumpkin, who was last seen at the end of "Change Your Mind" and was absent in the movie. When the show does talk about a plot point, such as the crack on Volley Ball/Pink Pearl’s face or how Rhodonite was fused (although, there's even the concept art of Rhodonite's gem components when they're unfused and Morganite's official character design), the show doesn’t bring it up again sadly.
- The show still didn't explain how Spinel was able to get her rejuvenator and injector that she used in the movie.
- It’s way too short for an epilogue series. Each episode (including the ones that are very plot-driven such as the last four episodes of Steven Universe Future and because they have to fit in a lot of big plot details for the final four episodes) only last about 11 minutes.
- A few bad episodes (depending on your view) such as "A Very Special Episode".
- The title sequence is full of spoilers, especially in one shot where every episode antagonist is shown, including the monster Steven will transform into. Given its pink skin, many fans correctly guessed that the monster is Steven.
- In the episode, "I Am My Monster", the scene where the characters all hug Steven in his monster form is arguably considered to be a Deus ex Machina. Even though the final episode states that Steven will be seeing a therapist on the road through video chat which indicates his PTSD is still there, the hug still gives the Deus ex Machina vibe.
- Some characters never appear again after the episodes they appear in, such as the Cactus, Rose Quartzs', Aquamarine, Eyeball, Lars, Sadie, the Off-Colors, Nice and Mean Lapis', Shep, etc.
- As is typical with time-skipped seasons, there's a lot of things that could have happened in the gap between, and one can be left to wonder why certain events did not happen sooner.
Trivia
- It's possible that the series takes place a few weeks to a month after the events of the movie, since a large crater at the site of where Spinel's Injector used to be at can be seen in early episodes of Steven Universe Future.
- Despite being a spin-off, Cartoon Network billed Steven Universe Future as "the sixth season" of Steven Universe.
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