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Steven Universe Future Episodes 15-16 Review

I knew going into the second half of Steven Universe Future that things were going to get dark. However, after watching last night’s new episodes, I found myself in a state of shock. I swear I could feel my mouth hanging open for a minute or two as I processed what I witnessed. The epilogue series has already given us many dark moments, or at least reflected on them. The penultimate episodes before the series finale, though, may be the darkest the series has ever done.

Jaw-Dropping Moments

In “Mr. Universe”, Greg tries to help his son deal with his trauma by taking him on an impromptu road trip. It goes fine at first, until Greg decides to show his son what inspired him to become who he is. As a result, they end up sneaking into a house that is eventually revealed to belong to Greg’s own parents!

It turns out, Greg’s parents were very strict when it came to his upbringing, never really let him do anything fun. So after hearing a song called “Mr. Universe”, Greg finally snapped and left on his own, and now he hopes that same song will inspire Steven.

Greg’s solution backfires in the worst way possible. Unlike his dad, who wants nothing to do with his uptight folks, Steven’s ecstatic to learn he had human grandparents this whole time. That soon transitions into disbelief and finally rage, though, as Steven can’t understand why Greg would give all of that up and just snaps at him. I don’t blame him, either. This epilogue has been all about Steven dealing with the angst of his childhood, and to have him learn that he could have led a normal life this whole time? That would seem like a huge slap to the face. I get what Greg was trying to do: he wanted Steven to have the freedom he never did, but not telling him about his grandparents, ironically, took away that choice for him. Not cool, Greg.

Nightmare Fuel Scene

As if “Mr. Universe” wasn’t jarring enough, “Fragments” felt like it was going to give me nightmares. Steven’s anger continues to go out of control and the Gems have no clue how to help him. Thus, Steven decides to turn to the one Gem he think can help, Jasper, to teach him how to channel his anger, with almost tragic results.

In my review of Future’s premiere, I compared Jasper and Steven’s relationship to that of Piccolo and Gohan from Dragon Ball Z. However, now I see it as a dark and twisted reflection of the rapport that Gohan and Piccolo built. Jasper’s “training” is basically teaching him to let his anger loose without restraint. As a result, we get a visually impressive battle that ends with a far darker Steven shattering Jasper’s Gem.

Even before I saw what Steven had done, I could tell by his reaction what it was. But when I actually saw Steven trying to heal Jasper’s gem, I almost felt my heart break. While he does manage to save Jasper and keep himself from becoming a killer, the damage is done. Poor, sweet Steven must now only see himself as a monster.

Steven Needs Help

I’ve said it already, but I’m going to say it again: Steven needs help. He’s spent his entire trying to help others, putting everyone’s issues before his own. Now, though, we see that its subjected him to trauma and stress that no one should ever have to endure. At this point, I don’t even know if Steven can ever fully deal with what he’s gone through, and like a lot of fans, that’s enough to make me cry. He doesn’t deserve this!

Next week, we have the series finale and the end to Steven Universe the show, and I’m wondering if Steven will be able to recover in that short time. The only way I can even remotely see a light at the end of this tunnel is by everyone Steven’s ever helped coming together to help him in his time of need. It’s a bit cliche, but it would also bring the series full circle by showing us how much Steven has done for everyone before showing what they do for him. Here’s hoping.

I Give “Mr. Universe” and “Fragments” Each a 5/5

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Stray Observation

• I loved how the scene in the bathroom parallels the moment when Steven’s restoring the Corrupted Gem in “Little Homeschool”
• Steven’s unkempt hair reminds me of Josuke Higashikata from JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure

Earlier in the month, I did a writing about a Dragon Ball Z Abridged Christmas Special: The Christmas Tree of Might. Last year, Team Four Star produced a follow up: The Plan to Eradicate Christmas. I was browsing through the internet, and I thought it would be fun to watch this again. 

Like Christmas Tree of Might, this is not really a Christmas Special. This is actually based on an OVA that came with the game Dragon Ball Z: Raging Blast 2. Plan to Eradicate the Saiyans was about a supercomputer made by a species the Saiyans wiped out trying to get revenge for it’s deceased creators. That is disregarded in this special.

Evil Santa

In keeping with the Christmas theme, this special sees the Earth being threatened by a giant cloud of coal dust and naughtiness, and the ghost’s of Christmas Villains past. You know how this song and dance goes. Fight, Goku and allies first lose, they rally and win. 

What I liked about this special is that it once again shows how creative Team Four Star is able to get with their work. They took an OVA that had nothing to do with Christmas and make it into a holiday special. They even added Santa Claus into it.

Everyone is Naughty! Except Gohan!

Speaking of Santa, he’s the one behind this mess. Team Four Star must have taken a page from the evil robot Santa from Futurama, because this Santa has deemed everyone on Earth naughty. And the Saiyans and Piccolo are at the top. Piccolo for him and his dad trying to take over the world, Trunks for the time travel thing, and Vegeta. Dear god, where do we begin? But Goku is the worst because he’s put the universe at risk. And as if to prove a point, Team Four Star puts up an ad to the watch the Tournament of Power arc on Crunchyroll. Gohan is the only one who’s on the nice list.

So, Santa has clearly gone evil, which means the group has to waste him. To the tune of “Carol of the Bells”, which was one of the best things I’ve ever seen.

So, Santa is dead, but the point the group is about more than just Santa. I know that’s been said time and again, but we still need to hear every now and then. After that, everyone goes home to Goku’s home for Christmas dinner. Even Vegeta, and he hates everyone. Christmas miracle.

So, that was a traditional Saiyan Christmas, I guess. It was, it was weird. I wonder if Team Four Star would do another Hellsing Christmas Special? I got to go find out! Or maybe they’ll done another Dragon Ball Z Abridged Special for Christmas!

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Now I know what you’re thinking: this is not a Christmas Special, it’s DragonBall Z. Normally, that would be correct, but this is DragonBall Z Abridged, a popular, fan-based parody done by a group of fans in Texas. Known as Team Four Star, they do a hilarious re-dub of the original DBZ, keeping the story intact. The characters and even some of the events, though, are greatly changed. Goku’s even dumber, Krillin has his own “own’d counter”, and Vegeta’s ego is bigger than ever. Oh, and Nappa comes back as a ghost.

DBZ Abridged Is Awesome

Fans love DBZ Abridged, and even the cast of the official dub like the show. They even managed to sneak themselves onto the Abridged series in guest roles. The cast has even been invited to provide voices for official DBZ games, plus this.

But then they couldn’t air it, because of legal reasons. And some companies don’t understand the concept of “fan-based” parody.

So, they retooled the movie The Tree of Might into a Christmas Special. Here, you can watch it for yourself, and then come back afterwards. One more thing: they have these captions called “English “Canada”” which are way funnier than normal captions. Turn them on:

I really liked how they made Shenron incredibly frustrated with the Z-Warriors. Not only with the fact that they’re the only ones who usually summon him, and the ridiculous wish. And that song: “Yamcha The Scar-Faced Bandit” is so hilarious. A running gag is that they always make fun of Yamcha for how weak he is. He doesn’t deserve it, though. At any rate, here’s part two:

A Team Four Star Christmas

That wasn’t a traditional Christmas Special, but I like it because I think it shows just how creative people can be with abridged series. All it takes is the use of old clips and new voice acting and Team Four Star was able to make this fun re-imagining of a DBZ film. 

The jokes were pretty spot-on, too. Remember Icarus, that little dragon that is sometimes Gohan’s pet? Team Four Star hates him apparently, as they keep killing him in the films he’s in. Same with Maron. 

This was made early in the series’ run, and in hindsight, it shows how imaginative TeamFourStar is able to get with such a beloved anime. Now, they have connections to FUNimation, Screwattack, and RoosterTeeth, among others things. They even got Kyle Herbert to play Santa. How awesome is that?

Yeah, this wasn’t a regular Christmas special, but I liked it nonetheless. TeamFourStar, I hope you guys keep making amazing stories! Merry Christmas, everyone!

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