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This post is by guest writer Liam O’Loghlen.
In this golden age of western animated television Rebecca Sugar’s wonderful Steven Universe might just stand tall above the pack, and for a lot of good reasons. It makes small and large scale storytelling, endearing chemistry, diverse representation and plain fun good-natured sincerity look incredibly easy. Steven Universe is also proud to take inspiration from its many geeky interests, especially its many loves when it comes to anime. Here are a few of Steven Universe’s best references to the eccentric animation juggernaut in the east.
In one of its earliest and most shameless anime references, Steven Universe does a near frame-by-frame homage to Revolutionary Girl Utena’s iconic sword duels in the episode ‘Steven The Sword Fighter’. As Pearl battles her sparring doll Holo-Pearl we get some special renditions of key animation sequences, from Utena’s rapid zooming thrust to its swift over the shoulder panning shots to Utena’s backflip technique from her final duel with Touga. This is only one of several love letters the series gives to Kunihiko Ikuhara’s magnum opus, but it’s the loudest and proudest.
As well as the much more obvious references there’s also some subtle nods in Steven Universe. For a brief moment at the end of the episode ‘House Guest’ we see a volume of the renowned magical girl series Sailor Moon in Steven’s drawer. It’s in moments like these that we see the series’ geeky influences transcend the creators and become an internal fixture of the characters themselves.
‘Garnet’s Universe’ is essentially one extended sequence of anime tributes set in Steven’s childlike headspace. But one quirky moment in particular that storyboard artist Jeff Liu took credit for was the final scene, which he noted as a stylistic reference to Hiroyuki Imaishi’s slice of macho mecha flamboyance Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann. Garnet’s fists stretch to absurd proportions as she rapidly pulls back and then propels forward into a manically screaming scratchy stencil dominating the entire frame. There’s a laundry list of wonderful anime tributes in this episode, but none speak quite as loudly as this.
In the episode ‘Lion 3: Straight to Video’, we see one of the most intimate moments of the entire series when Steven and Sadie watch an old video tape featuring Steven’s mother Rose Quartz and his then slightly less balding father Greg. This entire sequence is itself a stylistic reference to the space noir classic Cowboy Bebop, loosely imitating gestures from the tape featured in the episode ‘Speak Like A Child’.
In another moment of unabashed cheekiness, we get a parody of the infamous final scene of the seminal Neon Genesis Evangelion TV series. In the episode ‘The Test’, after Steven clears the trials set for him by the other Crystal Gems, they stand at the finish line to give him their “congratulations” one by one. And just to turn the referential corniness up to 11, it also decides to underscore the scene with a flourishing piano rendition of its own theme song.
If you pay close enough attention during the episode ‘Nightmare Hospital’, you’ll find a chuckle-worthy nod to the character of Dr. Gero from Akira Toriyama’s iconic Dragon Ball Z series. As Steven is on the run from a mob of failed gem fusions along with Connie and her mother, they pass by a patient room with the Cell Saga antagonist’s name plastered on it. He’s also referred to as “Patient 20”, a reference to his alias of Android 20. Pretty sneaky!
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