15 Best Animated TV Moments Of 2018

Steven Universe’s Season 5 episode A Single Pale Rose might have only been ten minutes long, but it wrapped up years of speculation regarding the show’s mythology. A completely different type of animated show to the majority of this list, Steven Universe is deceptively complex beneath its rather cuddly sheen.

In this episode, Steven ventures inside Pearl’s pearl (and then inside the Pearl inside Pearl’s pearl, and the Pearl inside Pearl’s pearl inside Pearl’s pearl, in a gag they milk just the right amount). The show has always excelled when it comes to visuals, which more than makes up for the slightly played out repressed memories storyline. The stark contrast of the red, wartorn landscapes inside of the deepest Pearl are particularly compelling.

It’s inside these depths that fans finally had a long-running theory confirmed: Rose Quartz is Pink Diamond. That’s a collection of random nonsense if you’re not a fan, but for hardcore fans it was an earth-shattering revelation.

It threw up even more questions than it answered, but in finally confirming such a long-held theory, it’ll live long in the memory of viewers and definitely deserves its spot as one of the best animated moments this year.