Steven Universe: Future aired on December 7, 2019 as an epilogue for the original series of Steven Universe. It continues from where the movie left off, with Steven, as the title suggests, in the future. Steven is now 16 years old. He has saved Earth once again and the Diamonds don’t bother him. Everyone in Beach City is growing up and moving on, except for Steven. While he has aged and is more mature now than in the original series, he is finding it hard to move on. For most of his teenage life, he had to be a saver of others. He was always needed by someone. His life was for others. Now, everyone is safe and moving on with their lives. They don’t need Steven like they did before. He is free to do what he wants, however, he doesn’t know what that is. He doesn’t know how to handle the change that the future has brought. Slowly, Steven starts to act out in fits of anger when the past of his mother is brought up or the idea of future change. He just wants things to remain as they are. However, as everyone knows, that is not reality.
Most young adults, including myself, can relate to Steven on so many levels. As we get older, we are fearful of change. We want to remain in our comfortable presence but life keeps moving, with or without us. Some people, like those in Beach City, embrace change for the better. However, like Steven, some of us have harder times accepting this change. Thus, we begin to act out in negative ways or try and hide our emotions. Steven does both. He begins to have fits of rage where he turns pink and becomes much stronger than before. This has caused some concern in the Crystal Gems. He has also started to distance himself from those closest to him, mainly, the Crystal Gems. While this is an animated TV show about a half human-half gem boy, the heavy emotions of this epilogue are all too real and relatable.
I look forward to the new episodes of the show that will be premiering on March 7th of this year. According to the recent trailer that was released, the rest of the show looks intense as Steven has to come to terms with his emotions and his new pink powers.