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Description
Show: Steven Universe
Episode: 99-100
Year: 2016

Writer(s): Lamar Abrams, Colin Howard, Jeff Liu, Katie Mitroff

Or as I'll call the episode: オリジナルの宝石を満たします！鍛冶屋ビスマス！(Meet the Original Gem! Blacksmith Bismuth!)

Why the title? Well, this episode is very much in a similar vein to an OVA found in an anime. I figure if any episode of Steven Universe best represents anime, it’s this one. Truth be told, one of my biggest issues with Steven Universe is that it is a show much more befitting to 22-minute episodes like this one: piecing them up into multipart arcs, ESPECIALLY when it isn't during a "bomb", is a bad idea. Why? Well, with the show becoming more and more continuity driven, if you miss one episode, you'll be totally lost as to what's going in with the plot. A dedicated viewer might know stuff, but to a casual, they won't know, so you can't really jump into this show just anywhere you want, it's not like Adventure Time.

However, I think this episode in particular gives you a really good understanding of the show, and, by this point, gives us a completely different picture of Rose Quartz than we were lead to believe this entire time! For the longest time, Rose was always seen as another all-loving messianic hero archetype like Goku, all-loving and apparently seen as a goddess by her closest allies given the monuments built to her. Unlike most people who take issue with the idea of Rose being less than pure and ideal, I think the fact that she SHATTERED A DIAMOND gives us a whole new layer of depth to her character! Why did she kill Pink Diamond if she so advocates peace and the idea of reform? Because her ideas are a very flawed mentality. She told her troops that they were perfect the way they were and that they could be anything they wanted to be, which in an ideal world, yes, that's all sunshine and rainbows, but the world of Steven Universe isn't an ideal world.

Amethyst for example was born into becoming a bulky fast war machine like Jasper, but because she's "half-baked", she can't really use that strength to go against bigger opponents and needs to mainly rely on her whip and shapeshifting to compensate. Bismuth is in the same boat as well. Bismuth was used by Homeworld to erect huge, towering monuments to their greatness like I'd assume the pyramids or statues, and when Rose liberated our Bismuth and told her the same rhetoric, she decided to become the blacksmith of the Crystal Gems. And you know what's real interesting? Actual Bismuth gemstones can be used to GROW crystals! So, in a way, Bismuth is perfect for her job either way.

Steven's whole argument about killing the Diamonds isn't so much a matter of Bismuth being wrong to do it, but a matter of them rushing a heavily fortified matriarch with no real plan. Bismuth wanted to head straight for the Diamonds and shatter them for what they did to Homeworld, but does she think it'll be that easy?

Bismuth's weapon is very useful, but it should only really be used as a last resort. While a lot of Homeworld Gems don't like the Diamonds, there are just as many who are brainwashed by them and/or legitimately support them, so there's a chance the citizens would have to die in the crossfire. No war ever comes closed with no casualties. Bismuth isn't just going after the Diamonds, but HOMEWORLD IN GENERAL! She wants to go in Breaking Point a-blazin' without a real plan or strategy. Most Homeworld Gems don't know they're wrong for doing what they do, so they're just as at risk as the Diamonds (if that thing actually works on their hardness).

And about shattering, people often equate it as dying, but it's much worse than death. Being shattered is being conscious, but being completely unable to reform your body! We've seen the horror of shattered Gem shards being conscious before not just from one of Rose's bubbled captures or the Gem Experiments, but the Cluster itself. I believe Steven was going about that there has to be a better way than just subjecting ANYTHING to that kind of horror because Homeworld did indeed do this to other Gems. However, beyond that meaningless platitude of "if you kill them you'll be just like them" and the fact that Homeworld is a Nazi planet, Steven isn't stopping Bismuth because she's evil or she's wrong to slaughter these monsters, he's stopping her because her plan is a SUICIDE MISSION!

Beyond the idea of the plot keeping our main characters alive for whatever bullshit reason, 5 Gems by themselves (7 if you count Lapis and Peridot who Bismuth wouldn't take kindly to) would be very easy for the Diamonds to pick off, and they themselves wouldn't need to get their touch-stumps dirty with all the amazingly advanced weaponry Homeworld has! It's like if North Korea was the superpower, and the USA was the 3rd world! Although honestly, both countries are a really bad place to be right now, but North Korea is worse. Going in and blasting the Diamonds directly (as if there'd be no opposition) wouldn't really solve the problems Homeworld has or convince anyone they were wrong for being treated like single-use slaves. Killing the leader or overthrowing them doesn't immediately undo all the damages, something Avatar: The Last Airbender expanded upon from the four-parter finale "Sozin's Comet" with its comic series.

Bismuth is a soldier, she's been a Homeworld Gem. So logically, she's think everyone else on Homeworld would need the same awakening she received from someone as fundamentally flawed as Rose to really see the light (of the non-corrupting kind) for Homeword to stabilize and be free of tyranny. She's not a psychopath or a monster to believe such things in her mind, it’s a flawed but reasonable assumption to make. Steven has never been to war, he's never really seen Homeworld carnage by this point and learned not long ago those monsters his moms were bubbling were their teammates! Hell, he's even somewhat ignorant to the whole thing with the Diamonds thinking these giant Hitlers can really be reasoned with! And keep in mind this episode is before we learn exactly than Rose shattered Pink Diamond.

I am aware Steven Universe isn't very good at telling its own story or nuance, but this episode gives us a good perspective on just how damaging Homeworld really was to one of the last surviving Crystal Gems beyond the core group. And as the series has progressed we learned more and more about Homeworld and even the Diamonds that, while not proving much, gives us a lot more to really flesh out for the future. It’s possible Rose didn't even really shatter Pink Diamond at all, maybe someone higher up did the deed. The final moments of the episode are some of the most powerful the show has ever been even with its flaws, and just... go watch it! Seriously, you won't be sorry!

Steven Universe is owned by Cartoon Network and Turner Broadcasting.

1001 Animations is from

Regulas314

Description
Show: Steven Universe
Episode: 99-100
Year: 2016

Writer(s): Lamar Abrams, Colin Howard, Jeff Liu, Katie Mitroff

Or as I'll call the episode: オリジナルの宝石を満たします！鍛冶屋ビスマス！(Meet the Original Gem! Blacksmith Bismuth!)

Why the title? Well, this episode is very much in a similar vein to an OVA found in an anime. I figure if any episode of Steven Universe best represents anime, it’s this one. Truth be told, one of my biggest issues with Steven Universe is that it is a show much more befitting to 22-minute episodes like this one: piecing them up into multipart arcs, ESPECIALLY when it isn't during a "bomb", is a bad idea. Why? Well, with the show becoming more and more continuity driven, if you miss one episode, you'll be totally lost as to what's going in with the plot. A dedicated viewer might know stuff, but to a casual, they won't know, so you can't really jump into this show just anywhere you want, it's not like Adventure Time.

However, I think this episode in particular gives you a really good understanding of the show, and, by this point, gives us a completely different picture of Rose Quartz than we were lead to believe this entire time! For the longest time, Rose was always seen as another all-loving messianic hero archetype like Goku, all-loving and apparently seen as a goddess by her closest allies given the monuments built to her. Unlike most people who take issue with the idea of Rose being less than pure and ideal, I think the fact that she SHATTERED A DIAMOND gives us a whole new layer of depth to her character! Why did she kill Pink Diamond if she so advocates peace and the idea of reform? Because her ideas are a very flawed mentality. She told her troops that they were perfect the way they were and that they could be anything they wanted to be, which in an ideal world, yes, that's all sunshine and rainbows, but the world of Steven Universe isn't an ideal world.

Amethyst for example was born into becoming a bulky fast war machine like Jasper, but because she's "half-baked", she can't really use that strength to go against bigger opponents and needs to mainly rely on her whip and shapeshifting to compensate. Bismuth is in the same boat as well. Bismuth was used by Homeworld to erect huge, towering monuments to their greatness like I'd assume the pyramids or statues, and when Rose liberated our Bismuth and told her the same rhetoric, she decided to become the blacksmith of the Crystal Gems. And you know what's real interesting? Actual Bismuth gemstones can be used to GROW crystals! So, in a way, Bismuth is perfect for her job either way.

Steven's whole argument about killing the Diamonds isn't so much a matter of Bismuth being wrong to do it, but a matter of them rushing a heavily fortified matriarch with no real plan. Bismuth wanted to head straight for the Diamonds and shatter them for what they did to Homeworld, but does she think it'll be that easy?

Bismuth's weapon is very useful, but it should only really be used as a last resort. While a lot of Homeworld Gems don't like the Diamonds, there are just as many who are brainwashed by them and/or legitimately support them, so there's a chance the citizens would have to die in the crossfire. No war ever comes closed with no casualties. Bismuth isn't just going after the Diamonds, but HOMEWORLD IN GENERAL! She wants to go in Breaking Point a-blazin' without a real plan or strategy. Most Homeworld Gems don't know they're wrong for doing what they do, so they're just as at risk as the Diamonds (if that thing actually works on their hardness).

And about shattering, people often equate it as dying, but it's much worse than death. Being shattered is being conscious, but being completely unable to reform your body! We've seen the horror of shattered Gem shards being conscious before not just from one of Rose's bubbled captures or the Gem Experiments, but the Cluster itself. I believe Steven was going about that there has to be a better way than just subjecting ANYTHING to that kind of horror because Homeworld did indeed do this to other Gems. However, beyond that meaningless platitude of "if you kill them you'll be just like them" and the fact that Homeworld is a Nazi planet, Steven isn't stopping Bismuth because she's evil or she's wrong to slaughter these monsters, he's stopping her because her plan is a SUICIDE MISSION!

Beyond the idea of the plot keeping our main characters alive for whatever bullshit reason, 5 Gems by themselves (7 if you count Lapis and Peridot who Bismuth wouldn't take kindly to) would be very easy for the Diamonds to pick off, and they themselves wouldn't need to get their touch-stumps dirty with all the amazingly advanced weaponry Homeworld has! It's like if North Korea was the superpower, and the USA was the 3rd world! Although honestly, both countries are a really bad place to be right now, but North Korea is worse. Going in and blasting the Diamonds directly (as if there'd be no opposition) wouldn't really solve the problems Homeworld has or convince anyone they were wrong for being treated like single-use slaves. Killing the leader or overthrowing them doesn't immediately undo all the damages, something Avatar: The Last Airbender expanded upon from the four-parter finale "Sozin's Comet" with its comic series.

Bismuth is a soldier, she's been a Homeworld Gem. So logically, she's think everyone else on Homeworld would need the same awakening she received from someone as fundamentally flawed as Rose to really see the light (of the non-corrupting kind) for Homeword to stabilize and be free of tyranny. She's not a psychopath or a monster to believe such things in her mind, it’s a flawed but reasonable assumption to make. Steven has never been to war, he's never really seen Homeworld carnage by this point and learned not long ago those monsters his moms were bubbling were their teammates! Hell, he's even somewhat ignorant to the whole thing with the Diamonds thinking these giant Hitlers can really be reasoned with! And keep in mind this episode is before we learn exactly than Rose shattered Pink Diamond.

I am aware Steven Universe isn't very good at telling its own story or nuance, but this episode gives us a good perspective on just how damaging Homeworld really was to one of the last surviving Crystal Gems beyond the core group. And as the series has progressed we learned more and more about Homeworld and even the Diamonds that, while not proving much, gives us a lot more to really flesh out for the future. It’s possible Rose didn't even really shatter Pink Diamond at all, maybe someone higher up did the deed. The final moments of the episode are some of the most powerful the show has ever been even with its flaws, and just... go watch it! Seriously, you won't be sorry!

Steven Universe is owned by Cartoon Network and Turner Broadcasting.

1001 Animations is from

Regulas314