Steven the Sword Fighter

"Steven the Sword Fighter" is the 16th episode of the first season of Steven Universe, and the 16th overall episode of the series.

Synopsis
Pearl tries to teach Steven the art of Sword-Fighting using a holographic version of herself as a demonstration.

Plot
Steven and the Gems are seen watching a Japanese movie called the Lonely Blade IV which Pearl comments on while they are watching claiming that it is nothing like real sword-fighting. She then offers to show a demonstration of proper sword techniques to Steven, which Steven excitedly accepts. Pearl then takes the Gems to a cloud temple where Amethyst is sitting on a cloud floating in the air. Pearl says she needs a sparring partner and Steven raises his hand, but Garnet quickly shoves it down. Pearl then says that she already has the perfect partner, and projects a hologram of herself who is trained to sword-fight. They then have a battle, Steven and Garnet cheering on Pearl, and Amethyst cheering for "Holo-Pearl." Pearl finally wins, and Steven asks Pearl to teach him the art of sword-fighting. She then shows him the basics, leaving him bored, so he asks for Pearl to do the "Boomerang Blade" from the movie. Pearl starts to lecture him on how you have to "wait for the perfect time" in sword-fighting, and gets distracted from her fight. Holo-Pearl then stabs Pearl in the back with her sword, impaling her. All the Gems go in shock as Pearl disappears, leaving only her gem behind. Steven starts crying and saying how it was all his fault.

Garnet then explains that this has happened in the past and Pearl will reappear as soon as she's gathered enough energy to heal from her wound. Steven asks how long it will be, two weeks pass and Pearl still hasn't regenerated. Steven gets depressed and tries to fill Pearl's void by hanging out with Pearl's holographic clone, but the clone is only interested in combat practice. The other Gems tells Steven to stop hanging around with Holo-Pearl, as it's getting creepy. Meanwhile, Amethyst eats part of a cloud and inflates like a balloon and goes flying into the sky when Garnet accidentally lets go of her leg.

Holo-Pearl gets worse. Steven tries to get a reaction by taking her to Pearl's favorite tree, but when he tells her to "not hold back" she takes this as acceptance of her challenge for battle and chops down the tree. Steven, annoyed by how much Holo-Pearl wants to fight him, runs away and back to the house.

Later, Steven is planning to watch "Lonely Blade V", but Holo-Pearl tries to get Steven to fight her again and destroys the TV in the process. Steven finally snaps at Holo-Pearl, yelling how horrible she is, unlike the real Pearl, pushing the holographic version in the process. This resulted in Holo-Pearl attacking Steven in basic attack mode, which Steven throws his toys at, one of them hitting her, only to activate advanced mode. She then attacks Steven, actually trying to kill him, while Steven tries to use items he finds around the house, like a walrus and boomerang. Although neither the boomerang nor walrus worked, eventually he destroys her by throwing a mop like the boomerang blade and impaling her. Finally, Pearl finishes regenerating, sees the mess that Steven's made of the house and the inflated Amethyst, and says she can't leave them alone for a second.

Characters

 * Steven
 * Pearl
 * Garnet
 * Amethyst
 * Lion (cameo)
 * Holographic Pearl (antagonist)

Songs

 * Dance of Swords
 * Holo Pearl (instrumental)

Cultural References

 * There appears to be a Nintendo 64 in the foreground when Steven tries to get Holographic Pearl to organize the figures. At the very end of the episode, the same controller can be seen hanging from the ceiling by its cable (right next to Amethyst).
 * When Pearl was stabbed by the holo-Pearl, it resembled a scene from the movie Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King when Frodo was stabbed by Shelob the giant spider.
 * After the "Two Weeks Later" title card, Steven places a yellow lamp next to Pearl's gem. The lamp bears some resemblance to the Luxo lamp from the Pixar logo.
 * The figures Steven shows Holo-Pearl resemble Pikachu, Gitaroo Man, and Cloud Strife. Another resembles the "Gotta Go Fast" meme, which is fanart of Sonic the Hedgehog.
 * The way Pearl goes back into her gem and out is a possible reference to Genie from Disney's Aladdin.
 * The sword fight sequence between Pearl and her holographic projection could be a homage to Revolutionary Girl Utena.
 * When Holographic Pearl attacks Steven from above, she appears to be using Sephiroth's Hell's Gate move, the same one he uses to kill Aerith in Final Fantasy VII.

Trivia

 * In "So Many Birthdays" it was said that while they do not age Crystal Gems can still die if badly injured; in this episode it's shown that if badly injured, a Crystal Gem's physical form will disintegrate until they gain enough power to generate a new one. It's possible that this is what they meant by "die," or that they can be permanently killed if their gem is somehow destroyed before the regeneration completes.
 * At the end of this episode, an alternate version of Pearl's outfit is shown when she regenerates. Differences: Pink socks instead of Lime Green, aqua shoes instead of alice blue, her frill skirt is replaced with a blue kimono sash, and the white part of her shirt is replaced with a neck high blue piece, making her entire shirt blue (the star on her shirt also appears to be bigger). This has become her new regular outfit.
 * This is the first episode to contain subtitles, if you count the Lonely Blade IV movie at the beginning.
 * At one point during Pearl's regeneration sequence, you can see her Pilot design.
 * As an aside, this episode may explain why the designs of the Crystal Gems changed between the pilot and series.
 * It's possible that in order for Pearl to regenerate, her hologram must be absent.
 * This is the first episode where a crystal gem actually loses their physical form from injury.
 * A small part of Garnet's Room (or that could be The Burning Room) is seen as Amethyst sees that Steven is hanging out with Holo-Pearl.
 * This is the first time rain is seen in the title card, and in Beach City.
 * This is the first episode to air at Steven Universe's new time on Wednesday. This move was due to the [adult swim] block moving its start time to 8:00 PM, necessitating schedule shuffling. Episodes returned to Thursdays when Adventure Time took a regular break from new episodes.
 * A written gem language is seen inscribed on the pillars of the gem temple where Pearl tries to teach Steven sword fighting. More than twenty-six characters are shown so this language might not directly translate into English.

Transcript
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