Itaru Hashida

Suzuha Amane

Luka Urushibara

Rintarou Okabe

Mayuri Shiina

Moeka Kiryuu

Yuugo Tennouji

Rumiho Akiha

Yukitaka Akiha

John Titor

Nae Tennouji

Eisuke Urushibara

Dr. Nakabachi

Kurisu Makise

Self-proclaimed mad scientist Okabe Rintarou lives in a small room in Akihabara, where he invents "future gadgets" with fellow lab members Shiina Mayuri, his air-headed childhood friend, and Hashida Itaru, an otaku hacker. The three pass the time by tinkering with their latest creation, a "Phone Microwave" that can be controlled through text messages. 
 
The lab members soon face a string of mysterious incidents that lead to a game-changing discovery: the Phone Microwave can send emails to the past and thus alter history. Adapted from the critically acclaimed visual novel by 5pb. and Nitroplus, Steins;Gate takes Okabe to the depths of scientific theory and human despair as he faces the dire consequences of changing the past.

When I first heard about this anime, I thought it was a horror type anime of sorts.  I had it in my watch list for awhile, and finally heard a bunch of good reviews on a chat or forum I was on, I believe they mentioned it was more a "comedy" than a horror, which got me to give it a go.  Mainly I wanted to see it because Time Travel is very interesting to me.

This story is based on actual events that happened in real life, and modified into an anime.  When I found out about this I was very excited and interested about our real life events that tied into the story.

To be honest I was very confused from episode 1's start, and halfway through was about to give up and go watch another anime.  I decided to watch until the end of ep 1 to see if it made more sense as I went along.   Most of the episode was confusing.  There were vague parts that were confusing, some foreshadowing, but it ended on a very good, but confusing, note that made you want to watch more.

So I watched more.... I ended up watching episodes 2-10 (or so) that night.  I was hooked, and I was enjoying the show a lot.  It started to make a lot more sense from ep 2 on, and they really went deep into what I thought was the plot at the time.  Everything was very good, and I was very excited and couldn't wait for more.  The show was very cheerful, very funny, and overall a good time with many interesting characters.  

I felt the show was progressing very well, teaching us much about "Time Travel" theories and such, and well as the technology behind it; However at one point (around the second half of the show) I just felt the show completely changed direction.   I personally disliked the change, and I felt like they just added a new story/plot in order to finish up the remaining season's worth of eps (12 or so).    It ended well, but  I felt it was just pieced together to form an ending that left a lot to be desired.   Each season could have been a different shows is how I feel about it....  I might just be upset because it isn't what I thought it would be, because the flow of the first part was just so good, and the ideas behind it were great and it should have stuck on that path.

A lot of people say it's still a great show, and maybe the way they looked at it, it was, but to me I felt it was executed poorly, and I felt it could and should have been different.

Overall I liked the show, and would recommend it, but just be cautious of the change of flow.  You will understand what I mean when you get to it, so make your decision to continue the show at that time.  I continued, but I'm not really sure if I wanted to drop it or not.  I figured it might change back I guess, but nope....


Hope you enjoyed this review, any questions let me know.

An anime with a great idea, that started out confusing, progressed well to the middle, declined, then finished decent.

[My opinions on Steins;Gate have changed quite a bit since I wrote this so I no longer stand by many statements made here. I decided to leave the review as is and not make further editing]
 
It’s unusual for me to begin watching something already with the intent of reviewing it. Normally, the decision comes when I’m already a few episodes into the show, or after I have just finished it and believe that I have something interesting to say about it. I can’t exactly point out a specific reason for deciding to review Steins;Gate, but I’d most likely say it was sort of a personal challenge to analyze another work from the “Untouchable” category. The previous one didn’t grant me a single enemies anyway. 

Truth be told, I wasn’t exactly expecting this series to lend me much to talk about. That has nothing to do with any particular negative bias that I had previous to watching it, just that, since I focus on making analysis that don’t come off as derivative, having interesting content to insert in the review is something I constantly worry about, and word of mouth regarding Steins;Gate didn’t give me the idea that I would have anything unexpected in my path. Let’s see how that turned out.

Story and Characters

I apologize for starting this section right on a criticism, but I couldn’t think of a proper introduction. One of the most noticeable and well known traits of the series is how slow its first half is. You perhaps heard the comparison before, but some claim that up until episode 12 Steins;Gate much more closely resembles a slice-of-life with a time-travel twist to it. Now, slow pacing in itself is not an issue, but it requires careful work from the writer’s part to make the most out of it. A slow paced show is at its best when it gradually adds layers to the characters through their interactions or flashes out the world in a manner which, while not developing the narrative by huge leaps, creates an encompassing overview of the setting. That just sounded remarkably pretentious to say, but believe me, it’s much simpler than what I made it out to be.

The point I’m getting at is that Steins;Gate intertwines the slow development of its first half with what can be considered, in simpler terms, as filler. It’s not the usual kind of filler, though, that visibly disconnects the narrative from its normal segment, wastes your time, breaks any sense of progression and can potentially lead the audience to rage-quit (NO, I’m not bitter!), it’s a style of filler that is stealthily played within the story and intertwined in the interactions between characters. It’s noticeable that this is just padding, though, when you finally realize that there is plenty, and I mean PLENTY, of these segments and they help develop fuck-all. It’s not to say that such trait is a massive detriment to the series, though. As I said, the writers were clever enough to hide it within the narrative and depending on your attachment to the characters even these fillery bits can be enjoyable, and since we’re talking about characters, let’s get to them:

Okabe Rintarou, or as he prefers to call himself, Houoin Kyouma, is the lead character and self-proclaimed mad-scientist. Okabe frequently acts in a goofy manner and spouts chuunibyou delusions about a supposed “Organization” bent on dominating the world, and it’s his lunacy that drives the first steps of the story, more than his competence even. One would think that this is a coping mechanism, but as the story gets serious he drops this attitude and is shown to be truly disturbed by the consequences of his experiments.

Makise Kurisu is the second most important agent in the story, resident tsundere and the best character in the show. No, really, from the beginning she displays knowledge that makes her an asset to the group over even Okabe, has highly curious personality, her development starts to appear bit-by-bit already in the first half, with plenty of subtlety to read into and she even has a mild woobie backstory that, low and behold, is actually well-written, with clear effects on her demeanor and motivations. 

Hashida Itaru, mostly known as Daru, is the hacker of the group and resident pervy-otaku, although in certain moments he offers a better voice of reason than Okabe. Not much though. His character is meaningful to the plot due to his knowledge of computers and hacking, but his personality offers very little when it comes to development or dimension, he acts as the moe-obsessed geek throughout the whole series.

Shiima Mayuri is Okabe’s childhood friend and the primary source of “moe” for the series. Despite having one of the hottest character designs ever (Shut up, it’s true!), she doesn’t have much going forward in regards to character depth, development or brain power anyway. Her role in the story consists primarily of getting the crew an old computer and providing motivation for Okabe later down the road, as her security is put in jeopardy by the constant shifts in timeline.

Amane Suzuha is the tomboyish action-girl that constantly fills the audience’s mind with questions of how much does she know of what is going on within this timeline. Thankfully, when the time comes to reveal what is the deal with her character the narrative doesn’t waste time in laying out the important details. Also, knowing the stakes she deals with in the whole ordeal, her development packs quite a punch. 

Kiryuu Moeka appears originally as a mysterious woman looking for an old computer that Okabe later uses in order to decode documents about the experiences with time-travel. Very quiet and inexpressive, fitting the archetype of a kuudere, she seems reluctant in interact with the rest of the cast and only opens up near the end. These traits would be fit to start a solid development, but the reveal of her backstory makes Moeka a fairly shallow character.

Urushibara Ruka is the graceful, polite, shy, endearing, feminine and gullible third male member of Okabe’s crew. Yeah, fate was kind of cruel to the kid. He greatly admires Okabe and wishes to have been born as a girl, a wish that is granted in one of the alternative timelines.

That sure is a sizeable number just for the main cast! While all of them play a part in the story, it’s noticeable that four of them are really meaningful to the progression and only Okabe, Kurisu and Suzuha are effectively well developed and display more than one or two dimensions. The majority of the cast focuses simply on playing one specific personality trait and don’t exhibit much depth besides their defining quirks. The segments of the first half of the story that are relevant to character development come in small, tender moments related to backstory, mainly in regards to how they affect Kurisu and Okabe. These tender moments help to highlight a big positive from Steins;Gate: very clever sense of timing. The series understands the point where it’s most effective to insert the juicy bits of character development, foreshadowing and backstory, when enough of the cast has already been shown so that the addition comes out as meaningful and natural as possible. You probably knew that Kurisu had some sort of family issue beforehand, with plenty of hints from her behavior, so when she finally opens up the information already has ground to stand on. You might find a few points where it slips a little (no, episode 12 Kurisu, Mayuri is really not that smart!), but this is generally one of the aspects of the narrative that the series excels at.

It’s by the end of episode 12 that shit really hits the fan and the cast begins to deal with an effective opposing force, either as a known enemy or simply the natural force of the time-continuity operating. At this point, Steins;Gate does an excellent job of raising the stakes at a very short period of time, helping mitigate the slow pacing seen previously. As soon as Okabe starts to understand the deep repercussions of their previous actions, the crew goes on trying to undo the timeline changes, in a process that involves ordeals ranging from trying to bring moe back once again to Akihabara, to getting Ruka’s penis back to where it belonged in the space-time continuum. No, I didn’t write this by accident and yes, it completely makes sense in context. This specific section of the plot is where it’s most visible that Steins;Gate has its roots on a visual novel. While the series retains for the most part the sense of urgency and seriousness, episode 18 in specific represents quite a departure from the rest, being more comically focused and significantly lacking the urgency seen in the previous and later episodes. Perhaps another point where the series could have performed better is on the antagonist’s side, since SERN, supposedly the main antagonist of the story, has only an indirect presence in the narrative. That is only a matter of “could” though, and I don’t believe it to be a reasonable complaint to detract from the rest of the work.

It’s also at this point that Okabe’s progression manifests at its best. We’ve seen before how he is capable of dropping his delusional façade for a moment and take reasonable decisions, but it’s when he is forced to go through multiple timelines to protect his friends that the stress and the despair begins to take a toll on him, displaying his most vulnerable dimensions, from where he’s forced to take the hard decisions needed to fix everything. All of this also affects Kurisu, who has been his main support during their journey. The conclusion both arrive at is the highlight of their development, showing that Steins;Gate bases the bulk of its appeal not on the time-travel element itself, but on the heavy emotional repercussions characters go through because of such element. Now, this is quite obvious to those who watched the series, but it’s worth mentioning how effectively Steins;Gate ties all of its loose ends as the progression takes place, a result of very sober writing that avoids turning a complex subject into a mess of plot-holes.

Presentation

When it comes to visuals, there is little about Steins;Gate that can be perceived as particularly striking, despite the distinct style. One thing to help keep the series apart from other anime in regards to aesthetic would be the rounded faces, streamlined facial features and the presence of actual gravity affecting the hair in this universe, which allows characters to retain a cute outlook without appearing too otherworldly. Not to say that it strays in huge leaps from the trademark visuals of the media, like what you would see in a Satoshi Kon work, but it has enough of an identity to make it instantly recognizable 

One aspect that is noteworthy about Steins;Gate’s aesthetic is the use of “metallic” shades for the colors, especially in scenes with sharp lighting. Scenes around the time of sunset appear not even in tones of yellow, but golden, while in portions that take place earlier there is a silver-like color-pallet. The same treatment is given to primary colors and in-doors the scenery is washed-out, driving attention to the cast. It’s hard to read any symbolic meaning behind such decisions, but they fit nicely with the aforementioned sober style of the writing and progression. It also blends well on the technical aspect, helping keep the animation consistently fluid, the character models stable and the movement expressive. Though, I still don’t get where do the shadows from cars go sometimes and I doubt that different timelines would properly explain this issue.

When it comes to sound, what generally takes the spotlight is Mamoru Miyano’s performance as Okabe. Miyano has displayed prior and after to Steins;Gate his talent for playing either flamboyant and over the top goofballs, like Tamaki in Ouran Highschool Host Club, to serious and heavy characters, like Kiba in Wolf’s Rain, and while many would hardly say that Okabe is a heavy character, he does have an inclination for drama. The performance Miyano gives to Okabe helps shift progressively from the over-the-top to the dramatic and even gives the real sense of bitterness to moments when the character is trying to play-off and hide his sorrow. One performance that is not so sharp, though, would be Tomokazu Seki, of all people, playing Daru. His character is constantly played in very cartoonish manner and lacks the variation and spice the others display. Okabe, for once, only pretends to be a delusional chuunibyou driven loony, but shows different layers through the acting, while Daru doesn’t go out of the pervy-otaku role, both in character as in acting, throughout the series duration. 

Personal Ramblings

Looking back I wonder if I sounded harsher to the series than what I have intended. In fairness, how good is a series, to me, is not simply a matter of how many flaws it has, but what qualities it has to make up for them, what is the source of any of its flaws and how it goes about balancing the issues with the qualities presented. Truth be told, Steins;Gate is not the kind of series that needs defending, being the third highest rated anime on MAL and the eighth most popular. Do I think it is overrated in any form? No, but, putting my judgment aside, that is because I don’t really accept the idea of an “overrated” work of art. Calling something overrated implies that there is such a thing as an objective standard of quality to which all of anime, or movies, or books should obey, an idea I don’t buy into. It just so happens that, in this case, I agree with most of the series reputation.

Perhaps the interesting thing to do right now is to ponder the source of the series success. I think the first step to achieve that was having an interesting hook, and that sure is something the series provides from episode 01. From then on, it likely built its appeal on the charisma of the cast, while it developed the rules for its universe. The air-tight narrative sure made the experience of following the story unfold quite rewarding for the viewer who has a stronger affection to the science fiction and mystery genres, and while I personally was already expecting that, making my experience more a matter of confirmation bias, it’s easy to see how that style of writing syncs with other preferences. Of course, all of that would barely matter if Steins;Gate didn’t have the strong development it has for its main duo, so it’s no wonder that so many people who have the series among their favorites also have Okabe or Kurisu among their favorite characters.

Steins;Gate is another series of the Must Watch group, one that had an impact and reputation among the anime community, strong enough to place it among the titles that need to be experienced by everyone who considers themselves an anime fan, despite whatever judgment they might come up with after finishing the series. It frankly took me a while to get to this one, considering the popularity and expression it has among anime circles, and while I may not have become as attached to it as most people do, it seems reasonable and honest from my perspective to state that it is, in fact a really great series.


While time travel is often used as a lazy plot device, there are some shows that are about time travel and are able to add something new to the topic that even the first human person thought about after regretting the decision to cuddle the saber-toothed tiger.
Steins;Gate is a story about time travel and its problems. Sure, it might be nice to simply revert time and try again, but can we change fate? How many times will we fail before giving up?

The story follows the protagonist Okabe, an useless member of society and his friends, the "super-hacker" Daru and Okabe´s childish childhood friend Mayuri. The group spends most of its time sitting around in their "Future Gadget Laboratory" and occasionally inventing a new, useless "Future Gadget" with random version numbers. At a congress about time travel, Okabe finds the female scientist Makise Kurisu stabbed, he runs away and gets a text message which triggers a hallucination. After coming back to his senses, he learns that Kurisu is alive, but a big metal thing crashed into the congress building. Kurisu visits the group at the Future Gadget Laboratory and they learn that one of the Future Gadgets is able to send text messages into the past. They spend the first half of the show fucking around with time and helping out their friends, until shit hits the fan and Okabe has to save the world.

While many people say that the first half of the show was boring, it does a good job in setting the rules for the world the story takes place in and introducing us to the amazing written characters. The fact that we know most things about time travel by the time time travel is actually used in a serious way is an important factor that makes this show so good. Many shows have the problem of using time travel as the deus ex machina and making the rules up on the way, Steins;Gate tells us what is possible and what is not. You can´t send messages to the future and the person receiving the message has to actually do the thing to have an effect on the world. The introduction that takes half of the runtime is mostly necessary to make the characters grow on the audience.

The characters, spoken by amazing voice actors, are the biggest source of enjoyment in Steins;Gate, they have understandable motives and are realistic. Okabe is introduced as a sophomoric young man who has nothing but his self-esteem, Daru is a fat pervert who sits on his computer the whole day and Mayuri is a child in the body of a young woman, sweet but annoying. This main cast and the other, not less strange side characters, support each other in their daily life, and this is what makes us love every single one of them. In the second half of the show, we meet every character again, we learn about their past and feelings. Okabe as the protagonist stands out, he has quite a bit of character development in the second half, he is someone who really cares about his friends and wants to help them, but has to recognize that he has to decide whose wishes are more important.

Steins;Gate is a great show, it manages to use time travel to tell its story rather than using it to set up the story or save the protagonist if the writers have written themselves in a corner. If I had to name a thing that I disliked about the show, it would be the supporting characters that appear two or three time throughout the story. While I still liked them and they managed to give a new perspective to some cliches in anime, they still felt one-dimensional in comparison to our amazing written main cast.

Steins;Gate is an anime that nearly everyone in the community watched and liked, it deserves the attention it gets. While some have to sit through the story of the first half, the second half is an example for well structured and written story with characters that have a great dynamic in their group.

This was, on the whole, a thrilling yet thought-provoking anime. Not the one to watch if you’re looking for some mindless fun, but apart from that it has almost everything necessary for a good anime - even a brilliant one.

There is a defined, clever and well-paced plot, a fair amount of character development (not for all the characters, but the main few characters are nicely developed) and some strong feels, shocks and tear-jerking moments.

Plot – not necessarily original, but done ingeniously. It started slow but then picked up. There were some times I wished that it would move a little faster, or where the character did something frustrating that seemed purely for the plot’s sake ~!e.g. Okabe doesn’t tell Kurisu about the fact that he time-leapt until he has redone it several times, or the fact that he undoes Ruka’s D-mail instead of preventing him(her?) from cleaning the shrine and breaking the computer (although the reason for this was explained somewhat later)!~. However, on the whole the plot moved at a good pace, and indeed tied in all the episodes nicely together. It is true that there were some questions that stay largely unresolved at the end ~!(for example about the nature of Steins;Gate, and why there were only two Okabes at the end – when failing to save Kurisu - instead of three)!~, but these questions don’t really detract from the impact and enjoyment of the anime. After all, time travel isn’t something that we can fully get our heads round anyway. 

Warning: the plot is quite technical though, if you dislike science as a subject it might take away from your enjoyment a bit.

Art – really good. Alternated between dark and light shots to suit the mood, characters were drawn well – particularly Okabe’s expressions – and the visual effects (e.g. the ones surrounding the time travel) fitted the theme perfectly.

Sound – was nice. Initially I didn’t like the opening theme song, but it grew on me. The soundtracks and ending theme matched well.

Character development – whilst the anime didn’t focus on developing every character – Daru and Mayuri received very little character development - it shone in relation to Okabe. We see him change from a delusional, somewhat irritating and essentially carefree character to a haunted and even deranged one. He learns that all actions have consequences, and goes from taking everything for granted to appreciating what he has and becoming much more selfless. And it actually feels believable, which is rare when a character changes to this extent.

Kurisu’s character is also developed somewhat, although nowhere near as much as Okabe’s ~!(for obvious reasons though, every time the past changes any character development she had is lost)!~. Through the series she becomes less detached and uncaring, begins to appreciate the value of friendship and even becomes better at expressing herself (albeit only slightly).

Enjoyment level – very high. This anime made me think. At some points it made me go “wow!” at some points “NOOOOO!” and at others it almost made me cry. There were also times I just ended up staring at the screen trying to reconcile myself with what I had just seen. Okay, maybe I’m exaggerating a little – there were some points where I became annoyed after all, but, all in all, it was brilliant, and its place on the scoreboard reflects this.

I did struggle with the rating a bit, because I rarely give over 90s and this anime did have its faults, but after sitting back for a little and thinking on it I decided to give it one. When I was scrolling down for  the ratings, I was reminded that 90+ is for ‘masterpieces.’ And this was overall a masterpiece.


The anime that defeated the three episodes and drop rule

Before I begin, I should make it clear that this review is not meant to promote an anime to those who haven't seen it, but rather, it is meant to evaluate a great title. Thus, be warned that there will be significant spoilers in this review, so do not read if you haven't already completed the show. With that out of the way, let's get started.

Who doesn't love the concept of time travel? Many scientists have been fascinated by the idea, yet there hasn't been any real progress on this field in today's world. Not only is our technology still lacking from accomplishing this feat, but ethical consequences also remind some of us why time travel may not be "ideal". Putting this in perspective, think about what would happen if you were suddenly transferred into a future twenty years from now. You may meet your future child or grandchild and you wouldn't even know it. However, by meeting them in this way, you're also changing history itself, and that could have some serious implications on the present world you live in. Steins;Gate explores the interesting concept of time travel by taking the form of a psychological thriller. 

Story -- 9/10

Basically, we have a group of college students who have discovered a way to send text messages to the past, and in doing so, they can alter the world. This ties back to what I talked about earlier -- should time travel really be attempted? Well, the group experienced first-hand just how incredibly wrong things went after they tempered with time. For each message they sent back to the past, the world around them has slowly, but gradually, changed. All of this eventually led to a secret organization named SERN, catching on to the group's experiments, and brutally murdering one of the members. From there on, the story took a serious turn, shifting genre from a normal Sci-fi/Slice of Life to a Thriller. The protagonist of the story is ultimately caught in a dilemma, between saving the life of his childhood friend (who was killed by an agent of SERN) and saving his new love interest from dying. For the majority of the second half, the protagonist travels back in time repeatedly in attempt to save his friend from dying. It is also in this second half that we can clearly feel the protagonist's pain and suffering, since he is the only character who retains any memory after travelling from one world line to the next. The plot has successfully constructed a "believable" thriller without too many inconsistencies, and it is subjectively very entertaining all the way. 

Character -- 10/10

In my opinion, almost all characters in Steins;Gate are either well developed or just plainly likable. In fact, Steins;Gate wouldn't be half the show it is without these characters. The group of college students I was talking about earlier get together in a shop keeper's basement, which sort of serves as their secret lab. Here's a quick run down of the lab members.

Okabe Rintarou- He is the protagonist of the story and the founder of the lab (which really isn't what you would call a lab... but I digress). Love him or hate him, you will definitely remember the guy. He introduces himself as a mad scientist and calls himself Hououin Kyouma (he actually prefers others to address him as Hououin or Kyouma, rather than his real name). From talking to himself on his own cellphone to giving other characters strange nicknames, you will probably think he's an idiot. Personally, I think he's part of the reason why this show works well; since the overall tone in Steins;Gate is dark, his character manages to provide enough comic relief to balance the mood. In a nutshell, this man is usually a goofball, and only becomes serious when it counts.

Makise Kurisu- She is the main heroine of the story and the "assistant" to Okabe. She often serves as the voice of reason to Okabe's whimsical decisions. Her interactions with Okabe are arguably some of the most enjoyable moments in Steins;Gate. On the surface, they would constantly bicker, but it's clear from the start that they have strong chemistry together. And as one would expect, she becomes the main love interest for Okabe. Thanks to Okabe, she has at least 8 unique nicknames -- the most common one being Christina. She can be best described as calm and intelligent. Also, she's one of the few tsundere characters I actually love with a passion.

Shina Mayuri- The other central heroine of the story. In a sense, her role in the story is just as significant as Kurisu's, since the actual thriller part of the story doesn't begin until she has been killed. She is the childhood friend of Okabe, and has an unusually cheerful demeanor. She often refers to Okabe as Okarin, and calls herself Mayushii.

Hashida Itaru- Usually referred to as Daru, he is the super haker, er, hacker, in the group, who does most of the technical works (e.g., hacking into SERN's system and learning about their secrets). When he's not busy hacking, he is a perverted otaku who likes to make dirty jokes in the presence of girls.

Akiha Rumiho- Normally addressed as Ferris, she works as a maid and has a habit of ending all her sentences with "nyan". Essentially moe personified. 

Amane Suzuha- From the beginning we can easily see that she knows a great deal about time travel. It is later confirmed she is John Titor, the enigmatic time traveller who told Okabe to save the world. She feels insecure when around people, probably due to the fact that she lives in a dystopian future governed by SERN.

Kiryuu Moeka- A girl who is pretty much mute, constantly relying on text messages as her primary method of communication. In reality, she works as a spy for SERN. 

Urushibara Ruka- An extremely effeminate boy who deeply respects Okabe. He wishes he was born as a girl instead, because other guys often made fun of his looks. 

In short, all these characters have their own quirks and serve their purpose well in the story. Definitely one of Steins;Gate's strongest points.

Art -- 8/10

Animated by the relatively new Studio, White Fox (the producer of another great work, Katanagatari), the animation style is pleasing to the eyes for the most part. It isn't comparable to high budget productions of Kyoto Animation, P.A. Works, and Ufotable by any means, but it does serve its purpose for a thriller. The animation is pretty consistent for characters and backgrounds, with backgrounds being more pronounced. Character designs are sufficient enough for the average viewer to stay interested. Last but not least, I should mention that the visuals in Steins;Gate have somber colours, which work well in reminding the viewer that this is a Mystery/Thriller title with an underlying dark tone. 

Sound -- 8/10

The Opening song, along with two other insert songs, are done by Kanako Itou, who, in my opinion, is a talented artist. The songs are pretty catchy and memorable. The original soundtracks are not especially awesome, but they do contain some great pieces, such as "Gate of Steiner", "Christina", and "Farewell". However, I can say that most of the soundtracks fit the animated scenes well, and effectively, accentuating the mood of those scenes. Moreover, the voice actors did a great job on voicing their respective characters. Miyano Mamoru, well known for his role as Yagami Raito in Death Note, did another fantastic job in his role as Okabe; his mad scientist laughs are spot on and effectively captures Okabe's [playful] insanity. Hanazawa Kana and Seki Tomokazu voiced Mayuri and Daru, respectively; both are experienced voice actor/actress's who excel at bringing out the best emotions in their characters. I have to say I have never heard of Imai Asami before her role as Kurisu, seeing how she isn't exactly a seasoned voice actress. But after her performance as Kurisu, I really think she ought to have more roles in the future, for she has successfully displayed emotions on a level I think only a veteran could have accomplished. Special mention goes to Tamura Yukari, who did a nice job on Suzuha's part. The voice acting is overall consistent and great. 

Enjoyment -- 10/10

At this point, you should already know I absolutely enjoyed this show. There aren't many anime out there that have impressed me as much as Steins;Gate did. The first half of the series did well to introduce the characters through witty conversations and dialogues. It's light hearted and comedic at the beginning, then it gradually gets darker as the story approaches its climax. The transition from the light hearted, comedic first half to the more serious, dramatic second half feels smooth and natural. That isn't to say this show has no flaws, because every anime has a flaw in it somewhere. In the case of Steins;Gate, it left a few questions unanswered, along with some very minor issues with the first half's pacing. But that doesn't make it any less enjoyable for me. 

Significance -- 10/10

There is plenty of re-watch value here. Many plot points that come across as confusing the first time around, make a lot more sense during a re-watch, as the viewer gains a better understanding of the characters and the mechanics of how time travel works in the series. Speaking of the characters, I absolutely love the dialogues and the quirky interactions exchanged between the lab members, particular Okabe and Kurisu, and this also contributes to its high memorability. Unlike most shows in its genre, which are seldom memorable in the long run, Steins;Gate manages to establish itself as (arguably) one of the most impactful shows in the medium. 

Overall Score -- 9.7/10

As someone who has seen a lot of anime, and considers himself to be a veteran of the medium, Steins;Gate remains to be my favorite anime to this very day. While it is by no means, a perfect show, I firmly believe that it does many, many things right and very few things wrong. And for that, I consider it a masterpiece on many levels. 

Final verdict? Steins;Gate is a gem among anime. A must-see for any anime fan, especially for those interested in time travel. It is a title to be remembered for many years to come.

El Psy Congroo

A brilliant Sci-Fi Thriller that should be watched by everyone!

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_Uma das melhores obras q eu já vi... Muito bem trabalhado e com uma excelente história..._

_História sensacional, ela me impressionou de tão bem construída, acontecimentos q levam a um efeito borboleta sensacional.. Teorias de viagens temporais, linhas Steins, realmente achei o enredo e sua construção muito bom. Esse anime se trata de, para ser mais exato, "viagens temporais", ele possui ideias q fazem sentido dentro desse contexto, até as explicações são boas.. Só q oq me chamou atenção foi o meio pelo qual eles viajam no tempo. Como VC sabe, brincar com o tempo, pode mudar seu futuro e o próprio passado, esse anime está ai para mostrar o q poderia acontecer caso isso ocorresse (e mostra o quão Aflito pode ser mudar o futuro para um no qual vc se arrependa)...  O desenvolvimento do Anime superou as minhas expectativas, ele é muito bem feito, pode até parecer fraco no inicio, mas quando começa a verdadeira viagem no tempo, se segure, lagrimas podem rolar de aflição... 
~~~img220(https://i.imgur.com/2kCVFDu.jpg) img220(https://i.imgur.com/QUvjn5a.jpg)~~~
Os personagens são  muito bem desenvolvidos e realmente castigados, por assim dizer, pelas suas escolhas.. Eles passam por poucas e boas, no meio do Anime Vc começa a adquirir uma aflição bem forte por causa de "mudanças temporais". Eu fiquei muito aflito em certas partes do anime, ele realmente prende a sua atenção e te faz sentir oq está sendo sentido pelo personagem ._
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_O encerramento do anime foi muito bom, apresenta uma linha temporal relativa com um universo arrumado, havia várias coisas a serem feitas para que houvesse um final quase q perfeito, e assim se foi feito, o final me agradou muito, pq oq era necessário foi posto lá (Convenhamos né?! Quase tudo...), finalizando a "Aflição" q foi imposta por ele._

>PONTOS FORTES
 - __Desenvolvimento:__  Por incrível q parece, ele se destaca muito, por causa de vários acontecimentos sequencias q tem um teor de aflição.... Eles N deixam o Anime perder a graça, ele te fazem focar ainda mais, sempre tem algo q te deixa de queixo caído...
 - __Enredo:__ Foi magnifico. Essa história se destaca muito entre os animes, tanto pela construção, quanto pela dificuldade e complexidade q se envolve entorno dela... E também, possui um final muito bom, tendo algo q esperávamos muito q acontecesse.. 
 - __Aflição:__ Por incrível q pareça, essa característica foi muito boa. Dava um "ar" de emoção ainda maior para a história, vc se via na pele dos personagens e ficava vibrado neles, sentido oq eles estavam sentido.. Isso foi uma ótima sensação, a interação q esse Anime fez ocorrer entre o publico e os personagens foi de cair o queixo..

>PONTOS FRACO
 - __Animação:__ N é tão ruim, mas N se destaca muito, se o Anime tivesse uma qualidade maior, ele seria quase q perfeito..

Recomendo fortemente esse Anime, por mais q VC N goste de Sci-fi, ele pode e agradar em outros aspectos, VC N vai se arrepender (espero). 
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Steins;Gate is about time travel and how that have a big impact on the future. Is about the struggle of Okabe Rintarou to fix the timeline, fighting against not only time, but organizations that want the power to time travel too.

So Steins;Gate is a really weird anime at first. Is really funny, yet really serious. The real big plot doesn't really start till the first half of the show, before that it is really slow, but after watching it 3 times I think every episode before the real plot is really important too, so I wouldn't say his slow start is something badly done, it is necessary.

The show starts presenting us ome of the main characters. Okabe Rintarou, who is the main character and calls himself the mad scientist, Hououin Kyouma, boss os the a "lab" where they create "amazing" things and currently are trying to make a time machine with a microwave. Itaru Hashida who everyone calls Daru, and has some good hacking skills, and Mayuri Shiina, who actually doesn't really help creating things but is a friend and spent time with them in the "lab".

I guess u noticed a lot of "this", well, see it by urself for the why xD

The thing is one day, Okabe Rinatarou watch a red-headed girl die, call the police and they manage things from there. But the next day, he sees that girl is actually alive and perfectly fine with no injuries whatsoever. Without really knowing what happened, Okabe and Daru keep working with the microwave to make a time machine, and they manage to do some progress testing it with a banana. The red-headed girl saw that cause she went to the lab and got interested in their work, and start helping them. She is Makise Kurisu a really clever scientist that has a lot of knowledge about human brain and time travel theories.

Can't really say more, this really is an unusual anime, really well done all around, that I'm sure you will love. It is really hard to tell you what is so good if u didn't watched and without spoilers. So doing a review of this is really hard actually. But I encourage you to watch this anime cause it is a masterpiece. Art, plot, characters, soundtrack... everything is extremely good, you really can't go wrong watching this, even if u don't really enjoy sci-fi or time traveling like me, you will enjoy this anyways.

Slow, but necessary start to create the masterpiece that Steins;Gate is.

When you walk the streets of Akihabara, you’re bound to run into many weird things. As the mecca of the otaku world, this district isn’t just a major electronics shopping center. In addition to supplying you with anime merchandise for all ages(and I do mean ALL ages, including those quite a bit older than 18), you’re also likely to find cosplayers, concerts, maid cafes, an entire AKB0048 theater, and enough sexual imagery to make anyone not used to the culture believe they had fallen down the rabbit hole into a perverse misogynistic wonderland.

And yet even the people who have been used to this atmosphere their entire lives have no idea how to react to one of it’s most strange residents, the self-proclaimed mad scientist HOUEN KYOUMA! By all outward appearances, Kyouma… Or, Okabe Rintaro by birth… Is an 18 year old man-child who refers to himself in the third person and always talks as though he’s unveiling his latest diabolic trap for Superman. They think he’s delusional, but little do they… Or even Okabe himself… realize just how accurate his claims are. As crazy as he may sound, Okabe has, through some miracle of science, accidentally created a time machine capable of sending text messages to the past, causing big changes in the future. Will this inexplicable invention be his ticket to the fame and notoriety that he’s always imagined, or will it be the greatest mistake he’s ever made?

Steins;Gate was produced by a relatively new animation studio called White Fox, and out of the dozen shows that they’ve put out, I unfortunately have only seen two others. They did The Devil is a Part Timer, which I highly recommend, but they also did Akame Ga Kill, I show I dropped after seven episodes. Both shows looked good despite having low budgets, and the same can be said of Steins;Gate. It’s not a very expensive show, which is fine, because it doesn’t need to be. The vast majority of it is dialogue heavy, alternating from people standing around talking to people walking around talking… Or, in it’s cheapest moments, people standing around thinking or brooding. It uses a lot of framing and perspective tricks to make these slower moments look less dull, and while I’d normally call a show pretentious for doing this, Steins;Gate is really focused about it, and it never comes close to as bad with it as most Studio Shaft productions can get.

When something other than talking is going on… Say, during the more exciting moments of the show, of which there is a generous amount… There isn’t a spike in the budget, like there would be with most shows, but they use a lot of clever editing tricks so the movement on screen appears more fluid than it really is, which I really appreciate… After all, a well-managed small budget will almost always impress me more than an unrestrained big budget. The character designs, while somewhat simplistic, are memorable enough. The characters don’t exactly look realistic, but in the anime medium, they’re about as grounded and non-cartoony as you can get, one weird moe-girl aside. The color scheme is dull, but it plays very well to the mature aesthetic of the series.

Aside from the really quick and beautiful animations that happen whenever Okabe time travels, there’s nothing really special about the look of this series, distinctive and unique though it might be, but it works perfectly in context, and any more movement than it has would have just felt unnecessary.

The music is also barely noticeable, skulking around in the background of scenes as it does it’s job accentuating the tone of the show without ever standing out. If you’re actually listening for it, the instrumental portion of the soundtrack is comprised primarily of soft piano pieces, although it’s not afraid to get loud and bombastic during it’s more intense scenes. In terms of both music and animation, Steins;Gate never gets more awesome than it does with it’s opening theme, Hacking to the Gate, one of my favorite openings of the decade so far. Having said that, this is one of those rare occasions where I wish the series had split itself into two different openings, as Hacking to the Gate, with it’s fast pace, explosive tune and clock-related imagery overlaying unhappy characters in a way that makes them feel hopelessly trapped in time feels way too intense for the first half of the series. Nevertheless, it’s pretty damn awesome.

The English dub is a Funimation effort, which is normally a good sign… Except for when they hire J. Michael Tatum as the script writer. I ragged on him really hard in my Heroic Age review, and I still stand behind everything I said… He’s a pretentious writer who thinks he’s better than the material, and makes a lot of really bad choices because of it. In spite of this, his style is more or less perfect for a show like Steins;Gate, whose dialogue poses, tries to sound smarter than it is, and panders to the audience just as hard as Tatum does. It made incessant references to Sci-Fi and nerd culture in the original Japanese, and Tatum clearly had a lot of fun Americanizing these references, throwing in nods to Star Trek, Doctor Who, and internet memes that fit well in context… Mostly. There are some quotes… For example, a Leeroy Jenkins reference in the final episode… that feel so out of place that you can’t help but notice Tatum’s giant wink to the audience.

His passion for over-writing also finds it’s home here, as a character like Okabe can only improve as his dialogue becomes more stilted and over-the-top. There are a few moments that do go way too far, one of the worst of which is a confrontation that Kurisu has with her father, who’s lines were so bad that the actor himself doesn’t sound comfortable reading them. Aside from that, it mostly works, and there are only a few moments where different characters sound the same(Mayuri and Dabu both using the phrase “Interwebs,” for instance. Stop trying to sound cool, Tatum).

Fortunately, the acting in general is above par. Tatum actually sounds slightly better in the lead role than Mamoru Miyano did, which is a real feat when you consider just how awesome Miyano was with the character. Being able to both write and act as an over-the-top melodramatic nut-job like Okabe was clearly a huge inspiration for him, and he takes it to gleeful extremes. The only actor in the cast who really surpasses him is Trina Nishimura in the role of Kurisu, the show’s only truly scientific-sounding character. She plays her with a reserved dignity and a genuine attempt at camaraderie that smooths out any tsundere edge that the character may have had, and she pulls off Kurisu’s emotional nuance flawlessly. She’s the rock of Okabe’s team, and Trina makes you believe it.

Jad Saxton and Cherami Leigh do wonderful jobs as usual. They’re both basically playing characters that they’ve played several times before, so this is well-known ground for them, and their veteran instincts carry them through. Relative newcomer Jessica Cavanaugh had a disproportionately tough job with the character of Moeka, who spend the majority of the series speaking quietly and delivering very few lines, but then suddenly having to scream hysterically at the top of her lungs in her big episode, so I have to give her props for pulling it off. As for Daru and Mayuri… Well, let’s just say the actors did the best they could to make them less annoying.

The characters are acted well over-all, which is a good thing, because the sad truth is that they’re not written very well. There are a handful of good or likeable characters, but there are only two in the main cast that I didn’t have any serious problems with… Moeka, the cell phone girl, and Suzuha, the part-timer. They’re both tied very tightly to the plot, and while they initially meander for much of the first half, they don’t disappoint in the long run. Also, neither one is after Okabe’s dick.  Well, one of them had a rapey moment with Okabe that bothered me, but it fit well plotwise.

The two main characters, Okabe and Kurisu, are actually really likeable. Okabe is an interesting and highly dynamic character, and he has a great developmental arc throughout the story, but he’s not believable. He represents two of Japans more recent social issues… He’s a NEET, or “Not in Employment or Educational Training(at least in the anime),” and he’s also a chuunibyo, or an adult who can’t let go of his childhood fantasies. And yet, his weird and socially inept ways are justified by the fact that he’s made one of the most important inventions of all time, and he has three very attractive people so in love with him that they’re willing to do horrible things to themselves just because he asked them to. Hell, he even has a best friend who’s a complete skeezwad otaku just so he can look dignified by comparison. He’s the perfect self-insert fantasy for the very people he’s representing.

And Kurisu? Yes, she’s awesome, but she’s supposed to be awesome. She’s awesome by design, and I don’t mean that in a good way. She’s a nerd’s perfectly idealized girlfriend. Even if it weren’t for her cool head, high tolerance level for absurd people, and laid back personality, she’s still that unrealistic fantasy girl who’s willing to look past your awkwardness and terrible first impression just because your differences from other people are charming to her. I firmly disagree with anybody who calls her a tsundere, as she only acts abrasively towards Okabe when he deserves it for antagonizing her, but she’s still basically a magical girlfriend without the magic.

Then you have Faris and Ruka, whom… And I’m sorry to say this… The show would be better off without. Their only two purposes in the story are to extend the plot by a few episodes and be Okabe’s other two love interests, and they’re both very problematic in their own ways. With Faris, we never find out exactly why she has such a high opinion of Okabe… I mean, if she was just playing along with his BS because he’s a customer, that would be fine, but we get no indication of that. And the idea of a teenage girl being indirectly responsible for the development of Akihabara’s moe culture is a whole other can of worms.

And Ruka… Well, anime normally isn’t kind with it’s portrayal of LGBT characters, but this one crosses a brand new line. He… Well, she, I guess? She’s a biological male who identifies as a female. She uses the time machine to change her gender to the one that feels right, and while her character does involve some ignorant stereotypes, it doesn’t really become a problem until Okabe asks her to change herself back for plot reasons, to which her response is basically “Sure, I’ll go back to my old miserable life in order to prevent a greater tragedy from happening… If you go on a date with me!” Holding the greater good(Her best friend’s life!  Come on!) hostage just to spend some time with our favorite awkward adonis. And of course she’s also in love with him when she’s a boy, because stereotypes.

I’ve already mentioned in Okabe’s description what Daru’s role in the series is, although I do appreciate the attempt to develop him further through his relationship to Suzuha. But Mayuri is the worst. No, let me rephrase that: Mayuri is THE WORST, all capitals. She’s a doe-eyed infantilized moe blob, or basically a toddler with big boobs. Her purpose is to make the viewer feel like she needs to be protected, thus adding more emotional stakes to the second half of the series.

If you haven’t seen the show, but have heard a lot of word of mouth about it, you’ve probably heard something along these lines; “The first half was really slow, but when the second half kicked in, it became the most awesome thing ever!” Or something of the like. I don’t personally agree with that assessment… The pacing of the first half never bothered me, and the second half had more than enough problems that I’ll get to in a minute… But what I do take issue with is when people refer to it as one of the smartest shows they’ve ever seen. Now, I’m not saying Steins;Gate is a dumb show… It knows what it’s doing, and to that end, it never falters… What I’m saying is that it’s full of shit.

I can’t say much about it’s time travel logic without giving away too many spoilers, but it does cheat towards the end and go in the Back to the Future direction. What I can talk about is the huge turning point that everybody loves so much. Halfway through the series, a tragic event occurs, and Okabe starts using the time machine over and over again to try and prevent said tragedy, but his efforts prove futile. This is fine at first, until it’s revealed that even when the cause of the tragedy is completely removed, the tragedy still happens in all of it’s Final Destination glory. Frankly, if you can get through this story arc without even once saying “Oh My God, They Killed Kenny!”, then you’re not somebody I would ever get along with.

Since Steins;Gate is a Sci-Fi story, there are a lot of things it doesn’t need to explain… It is, after all, Science fiction, not science fact. It doesn’t bother to explain how a Microwave can send texts through time, but it doesn’t need to, because no time machine in the history of fiction has ever been fully explained. They give you a few details and you just take it on faith. It never explains how Okabe got Reading Steiner, the ability to retain his memories from alternate timelines, but it doesn’t need to, because Okabe’s the main character, and he needs to have some element of chosen-ness in order to be special. As far as these two details go, everything’s fine.

But if you’re going to insert a giant game-changing plot twist into the middle of a story, it has to follow some sort of in-universe logic. The tragic event I mentioned earlier does not. It never gets explained as anything other than an accepted repercussion of time travel. I guess the best way to describe it would be to imagine that you’re setting up dominoes, and you have a pit of lava in your living room. I don’t know why, just go with it. No matter where you aim the line-up of dominoes, the last one will inevitably land in the lava, regardless of what room it ends in. Now, a normal person would be curious… Is Chell playing a joke on you? But Okabe and Kurisu are not curious. They immediately accept it as a scientific inevitability, and just as immediately jump to possible solutions, probably to save the writers the effort of coming up with a reason for this conflict that still smells like the place they pulled it out of. Hell, even a stupid explanation like “Okabe’s meddling with life and death pissed off the Grim Reaper” would have been a better explanation than no explanation.

And if that’s not bad enough, the idea of other people retaining their memories of past timelines through flashbacks is bullshit. There are several moments where characters that Okabe’s interacting with have visions of their past lives to corroborate with what he’s telling them, and of course, it only ever occurs when it’s convenient for him. He tries to explain it by saying that everybody has Reading Steiner to some degree, but this makes no sense whatsoever. I can think of any number of characters who, if they retained certain memories from past timelines, would have been able to screw Okabe and his friends over six ways from sunday.

Now, I know I’ve been very negative in those last few paragraphs, and that’s because I was saying things I haven’t heard often, and that I felt needed to be said. But the truth is, Steins;Gate does more right than it does wrong. It’s adapted from a visual novel/dating game, which is a notoriously hard source to adapt from, and while it’s attempts to build stories out of two of the side characters’ romantic paths does make for some infuriating filler episodes, it still weaves a better story than most other visual novel based anime that I’ve seen. I haven’t played the original game, but from what I’ve heard, they left a lot of the more ridiculous content by the wayside.

I also appreciate the slow pace of the first half a lot more than other people I’ve talked to about it. Steins;Gate did a great job slowly developing the story and dipping it’s characters further and further down the rabbit hole, dropping subtle clues about the disaster to come when the story gets serious. The build-up is fantastic, and the relationship between the characters and their interactions with each other kept me from ever getting bored. Yes, I said the characters are calculated and unrealistic in the way they’re written, but the friendship and chemistry between them does feel real, and it comes from a very believable place, so I can’t completely write them off. Not most of them, anyway.

Nor can I write off the overall story. I don’t think it’s the work of sci-fi genius everyone else does… Sorry, I don’t… But it’s still a pretty damn good mystery, with enough build-up and payoff to keep you on the edge of your seat from episode to episode even after multiple viewings, noticing small, seemingly insignificant details you might have missed on previous viewings. It’s at it’s best when it’s focused on this mystery, and to that effect, it’s executed really well… And even when it’s not, it’s emotionally resonant enough for it’s flaws to be largely excusable. But as a sci-fi time traveling show, it really does make shit up as it goes along.

Steins;Gate is available from Funimation. It was originally released in blu-ray/DVD combo half-packs, but it has since been released as one product in the Anime classics format, and for a much more affordable rate than before. The original visual novel has been released stateside for several formats including the PS3, with the text actually translated, but I haven’t played it and probably won’t for a while. The 2013 movie, Fuka Ryoiki No Deja Vu, has not yet been released stateside, but it has been licensed by Funimation, and good news: It’s not a cash-grab movie! It’s an actual sorta sequel! A sequel series named Steins;Gate 0 has been announced, and appears to be set in an alternate universe that Okabe left behind.

You can love an anime series while impartially acknowledging that it has problems, and that’s the camp I find myself in with this series. Steins;Gate doesn’t really live up to all of the hype, nor does it deserve it, but it’s still a pretty fun series. It’s well produced and cleverly directed, and it’s original enough that I can honestly say I’ve never seen any series like it before. I guess it kind of reminds me of Angel Beats, insofar as the fact that it works far better emotionally than logically, but that’s pretty much it. The comedy and drama are blended well, but it’s just too problematic for me to give it the high mark it’s clearly aiming for. However, just like all of Okabe’s friends, I accept this show and all of it’s weirdness and pretension. I give Steins;Gate a 7/10.

I'm not saying Steins;Gate is a dumb show.  I'm saying that it's full of shit.

Steins;Gate is often touted as one of the most complex and engaging time-travel stories in recent memory; a sci-fi thrill ride that holds at its core, a tender tale of love and friendship that touched me. Originally a visual novel highly praised for the attention to detail, branching plot points and masterful utilization for the style of gameplay, the anime adaptation by Studio White Fox carefully blended these aspects from the game into a compelling plot traversing several timelines for a memorable experience unlike no other. Revolving around a makeshift lab group who unexpectedly wound up inventing their own time machine, they explore the idea of “D-Mails”: messages sent back in time with the potential to change the world around them. But curiosity gets the better of them and they delve too far into the realm of time-travel, taking viewers on an enthralling journey filled with intrigue and upset. This journey starts with a more light-hearted approach to introducing characters and concepts that come with some pacing issues, before the series takes a drastic change in tone and stakes, turning into the emotional rollercoaster that makes Steins;Gate a masterpiece in the eyes of many. The consensus is this shift marks the point where the show “getz guud”, but what’s often left unrecognized is how essential the slower, witty earlier episodes were for the weight and tension to have such a profound effect.

Set amidst the sun-beaten city of Akihabara lies one self-proclaimed “mad scientist” Rintaro Okabe, the man with the plan to thwart malevolent strategies of the elite, an underground freedom fighter striving for justice. A seminar on time-travel has caught his eye, but only comes to find out it’s nothing more than plagiarism. After causing a ruckus and leaves he stumbles across something much more alarming – the dead body of a young auburn-haired girl. Disheartened he texts the news to a friend, and with the click of a button, the world around him changes in an instant. At first glance it all appears identical, but soon learns his memories do not quite match with his surroundings, most notably Makise Kurisu, the woman he thought dead appears before him alive and well. What follows is an uncanny chain of events that bring Okabe and Kurisu together as the duo along with the rest of the Future Gadget Laboratory seek to understand how such events came to be; the science behind it all. During this time the entire cast is introduced in some way, with adequate time spent fleshing out characters. 

Okabe shines as star of the show, bombarding scenes with several bursts of ridiculous theories and conspiracies of a supposed “Organization”, even referring himself in third-person as “Hououin Kyouma”. The scientist is anything but lucid, coming off an enigma equipped with such comical prose that has all around him in awe. Or bewilderment. Nevertheless he keeps the level of intrigue at constant max. Next to him is fellow scientist Makise Kurisu, except she legitimately warrants the title as a genius neuroscience researcher, famous for many accomplishments at such a young age. She’s a firm believer in order and logical reason, making her a perfect opposite for our protagonist and has no problem pointing out Okabe’s bulls**t. Unfortunately for her, she’s also a tsundere – a trait Okabe often teases her for. The dynamic between the polarizing duo is always creative, playful and especially a treat when attempting to explain technobabble and scientific lingo. Makise acts as the level-headed, analytical shadow to back up Okabe’s imaginative and expressive mind, with the plot being a perfect environment to develop a relationship between the two over the course of the show. 

Other members of the Future Gadget Laboratory consist of Mayuri, Okabe’s childhood friend and the most upbeat of the group, with her optimistic and somewhat dim-witted nature has her regulated to keeping team morale high. However, she becomes an essential part of the plot progression in the latter half. Daru, the sarcastic hacker of the group and a colossal pervert, but with a preference to a subtler approach, allowing for more glimpses of his good nature to shine past his vulgar behaviour. Suzuha, a tomboy that started working near the lab and is drawn towards their work, but constantly shows to know more that she should about the group. There’s also a woman that only communicates through text message, a maid with a knack for cat noises, a man with the mannerisms and voice of a woman… yet still a dude, etc. Steins;Gate happens to have a cast full of intriguing, quirky personalities with constant chemistry between them and a distinct script to match that keep the slow parts of the story worth the investment.

Perhaps the most notable aspect of the writing in Steins;Gate comes from its concept of time travel and how it’s integrated in the narrative. Most time travel stories never go in depth with any rules or limitations that come when tampering with time; rather only use the idea as basic plot devices, but this is when Steins;Gate breaks from the crowd – it aims to give viewers a solid understanding of what is and isn’t possible, along with effects that come as a result of hopping through “World Lines”: divergent worlds that one can move to and from through time intervention. This is shown through using D-Mails to change Okabe’s reality; the only one with the ability to carry memories across when the timeline is altered, permitting viewers to witness the phenomena from his perspective; a fresh take on the common butterfly effect. It’s a unique, believable perception on the subject which works coherently with the narrative for the most part, giving the series an edge over other time-related shows. However Steins;Gate never gets bogged down in theories or tries to explain itself to the over-analytical; les not forget the original time machine is basically a phone connected to a microwave. It understands the strengths of being a piece of entertainment, effectively balancing hard science with fun hijinks. What I also find impressive is how the theories presented evolve proportionately as experiments are performed, to where the discoveries made are ground-breaking and immensely sought after by powerful organizations. Grasping the severity of their situation leads them to ponder how and if they should continue research, questioning what’s more important to them as a group – touching on topics I never expected from a show so deceptively comedic.

Sadly, as everyone who’s finished the series knows, this deception was not meant to last. Looking back, there’s a significant amount of foreshadowing sprinkled across this period, that something drastic was bound to happen. Something was coming, and no matter what choices were made, they were not going to stop what is now destiny…

_“My watch has stopped.”_

This is the point when Steins;Gate shows its hand, moving from the funny, well-written slice of life we knew to a darker, intense thriller that never looks back; as if the series took a shot of adrenaline where the rush of exhilaration is almost palpable. It still has its fair share of humour present, but now the direction of the show is clear; Okabe desperately trying to escape from fate’s clutches after countless time leaps all lead to the same predicament followed with the same result: death. Like the watch and hourglass show, the time for fun and games is over. The conflict of “Man vs Time” conveyed here was excellent, with time serving as an unforgiving, ubiquitous antagonist and a cruel reminder of the dangers that come from meddling with multiple world lines. Tension and stakes are raised to the heavens as Okabe must try and reverse all the effects of past D-Mails sent in order to return to the original timeline in a nail-biting thrill-ride if he ever wishes to reach happiness, whilst doing so allows for a greater understanding behind each character’s motivation for their personally sent D-Mail. Unfortunately some subplots, most notably the romance-driven ones with side characters can come of flat, tedious and even ludicrous, falling victim to common visual novel tropes that do more harm than good here. However Steins;Gate still holds up throughout thanks to Okabe and the tribulations he faces.

It’s easy to get lost in the world of Steins;Gate – the mostly smart plot, eccentric cast, striking visuals, beautiful music, etc. are all great pieces to the series on their own, but what makes the show so incredible in the eyes of many is thanks to Okabe. While originally established as an off-the-wall character whose oddities can come off strange or jarring, his actions and thoughtfulness keep him from becoming a mere walking ball of cringe and more like an actual human. But it’s not until Okabe finds himself in a never-ending cycle of despair where his outlandish persona is revealed to be just a mask; a façade to hide his true feelings. The incredibly wacky mad scientist is still a part of his essence, but that’s all it is, a singular part of the whole Okabe. His moments of compassion beforehand are only glimpses to his true self, and it’s not until his smokescreen is blown away when we are left with a near-painfully kind individual that longs to form bonds with others. At the heart lies a lonely man who finds difficulty in expressing himself, and when push comes to shove he can be deadly serious and sombre. The juxtaposition between his former idiosyncratic self and this broken man now is so brilliantly written that watching it all unfold hits hard, coming across a lot more empathetic and, dare I say relatable than what most people are comfortable coming to terms with. Pushing him so far down a desolate, agonizing state made him realize his disguise and reminded him what he really cares about most, urging him to rise against adversity and be the hero he needs to be, leaving viewers to experience one of the most suspenseful arcs in all of anime.

When looking at the technical side of Steins;Gate, there’s something alluring with the art used: striking character designs with uncanny, intimidating eyes and stark textures comes off expressive and engaging. Coupled with a high contrast, sterile pallet that adds to sci-fi and mystery elements, often giving a grounded, dreary feel that somehow manages to compliment the numerous antics taking place on screen. Speaking of, there’s a clear understanding of camera placement and shot composition present throughout, almost always feeling as though viewers are in Okabe’s head. The cinematography and lighting is used to maximum effect, never relying on animation to keep the story moving forward. The animation used is solid, but not particularly noteworthy and cannot compete with some of the best animation of its year, though this is never a problem as the overall presentation does a splendid job capturing the bleak setting with muted colour schemes and easily transitions between different atmospheres. 

Regarding the sound, Steins;Gate always manages to hit the right notes at the right times. The soundtrack composed of piano pieces that when used consistently helped increase the impact of the emotional and powerful moments, with both “Gate of Steiner” and “Believe Me” standout tracks that were always a pleasure to listen to. But nothing compares to the anime’s opening, “Hacking to the Gate”, an iconic theme with some of the best use of concise animation, symbolism and subtle foreshadowing in recent memory, bound to get even the deaf excited for the show. The ED’s used are also very well done in their own right, but nothing is going to come close to matching the sheer hype of the OP. The voice-acting for both subbed and dubbed versions are outstanding, most notably for the main character, matching the witty dialogue with a magnetic tone and range that is rarely found in the medium. The only issue with the English dub is the slight changes in the script that can negatively impact on the immersion, but with a series like this I highly doubt that would be a problem for most.

Steins;Gate is like a puzzle that slowly and methodically comes together over the course of its run, combining pieces of a great time travel tale with gripping drama to bring us something special, doing so with grand flourish. Looking back there certainly are issues and flaws apparent, but they aren’t enough to stop the wonderful ride Steins;Gate takes you on: a journey filled with all sorts of emotions and intrigue that is nearly unmatched. What started as pure innocuous curiosity ultimately came down to Okabe having to choose between the two people he cares about most where he’s left with an impossible decision, making for an incredibly tragic climax. The ending does cheapen this highpoint and is poorly constructed compared to the rest of the runtime, but personally I feel Okabe and the series in general deserved the kind of conclusion it got – the true end emphasizing that getting what you want always comes with a level of sacrifice, but by enduring such, you have the power the overcome any obstacle in your way.

_~ Everyone has Reading Steiner. Even if the worldline changes. Even if the past and the future are rewritten. Your memories remain. You've merely forgotten. All it takes is a push, and you can remember. The memories of those lost three weeks. The memories we made together. "Welcome back, my assistant, Makise Kurisu -- no, Christina." I reach into my pocket and take out the last pin. Nobody knows what the future holds. And that is why, just as this reunion demonstrates, the possibilities are endless. I place this pin in Kurisu's hand. I gently close her hand in mine. And, holding back my tears, I tell her... "This is the choice of Steins Gate." ~_

“He who wants to do good knocks at the gate; he who loves finds the gate open.”

Steins Gate is an enjoyable experience that really is a character forced piece. The story has interesting aspects with numerous twists and turns, some which can be obvious while others can be surprising and unexpected. To give an appropriate and thorough review of the show I will be breaking it down into two separate aspects of the show and analyzing both of them individually:
1. Story
2. Characters

# __Story:__  
The story of Steins Gate is a complex web of time travel and mystery as characters act recklessly to alter the past for their own personal gain without regards to the consequences of their actions before finally everything comes dramatically crashing down on them. Now without giving away to much, I believe that the story is the weaker parts of the overall show. The first half can often seem very slow and random and even led me to initially drop the show after I first tried it. However, the show does significantly improve in excitement after the halfway point after a certain event occurs (one that I won't say as it would spoil the show). 

Where the story struggles is where most time travel stories struggle: time loops & time inconsistency. This show is better than most at avoiding them, but it does struggle with most stories where the characters have access to time travel, "_why can't they just go back to the beginning and not do what they did to get there in the first place?_ " Much of the story revolves around the main character just trying to fix everything individually when he could just go back and tell himself not to use the time machine. Issues like this bring down the overall plot as it makes the journey next to pointless if you could just solve your problem with a click of a button. 

As a results, I would give the story a __70%__.

# ____Characters:____
Where Steins Gate really excels are its interesting, relatable, and entertaining characters that you easily grow attached to. Chief among these are the main characters:
 - Rintarou Okabe
img220(https://s3.anilist.co/character/large/35252-1ImRzGyXCcDa.jpg)

-  Kurisu Makise
img220(https://s3.anilist.co/character/large/34470-IzLhGkc8RMqu.jpg)

- and Mayuri Shiina 
img220(https://s3.anilist.co/character/large/35253-AicLJPGR8ne4.jpg) 

Every single time these characters interact, you feel like you understand them better then most characters in other shows. Okabe is a goofball kid who wants to be a mad scientist but also genuinely cares about the lab members under him as if they were family, while Kurisu is a tsundere scientific genius who learns to appreciate the community and friends she gains in the lab, and finally Mayuri is a slow, airhead with a heart of gold whose mere presents makes you smile with how adorable and bubbly she is. The characters feel more real and understandable then most shows can achieve in a greater amount of time. They are all flawed, imperfect people who have stumbled upon the greatest discovery known to mankind and have to overcome their flaws while simultaneously supporting one another.

Due to the ease at which I could spoil major plot elements if I describe their back stories in to much detail, I will simply state that you will easily cheer for our heroes to overcome their boundaries and flaws in order to save the future, not because they are superheroes who we, the audience, aspire to be, but because they are represent who we really are. Most people would make the same mistakes they make, for the same reasons. However, they show us how anyone can have the courage to pick themselves back up and try to make amends to save the world and the people they love from suffering, no matter the cost.

As a result, I would give the characters a ____100%____.

Overall, Steins Gate is a good show with a decent plot about great characters making mistakes and learning to overcome them at all costs. I'd recommend this show to most people, as the characters alone are worth watching the series for.

Steins Gate is a show with a decent plot and great characters that blend to make an enjoyable watch.

# [~~~**This review will contain Heavy Spoiler for the show!**~~~]()
 
Some context before I jump in. (Just doing this to show how good this show was)
Back before I watched Steins;Gate I used to not be interested in Anime, I loved Visual Novels though (Mainly Katawa Shoujo and DDLC). I was looking for more VNs to play when I heard about "Steins;Gate", the visual novel that was amazing. I didn't have the money to buy it at the time and the idea of it seemed really appealing to me so I decided to watch the show and my god has it changed me and my likes.

[**_(MAJOR SPOILER AHEAD)_ STORY:**]()
To summarise, the story focuses on a group of friends who discover a time machine that can send e-mail into the past which allows them to alter the future, later on the crew discovers how to send memories back. Each alteration of the past has a huge impact on the future, from Luka turning into a girl to Akihabara becoming a boring old town.

Along the way they look into SERN, an organization with several rumours about them experimenting with black holes and time travel, they find out that they did infact manage to somewhat send people back in time. Soon after finding that out SERN storms in, murdering Mayuri, a childhood friend of Okabe. This moment is the most pivotal moment, the show undergoes a change in genre and atmosphere, from happy group of friends tinkering with electronics to tear producing, adrenaline inducing story of Okabe and his quest to find a World Line in which both his childhood friend (Mayuri), and ~~crush~~ Assistant (Kurisu) live. He tries over and over to save them both only to end up in spiral of depression as he has to work harder for to achieve this goal. (I'll leave out the last few scenes but you get the jist, right?)

We got to see a really interesting story, one that to this day manages to be one of the best stories out there. The way the world got built and the characters developed, it all felt really real, like they were non-fictional friends but animated. 

~~~img420(https://pm1.narvii.com/6479/69ed91f9a07e686623e1afa07d1e88b20c801882_hq.jpg)~~~
 

[**CHARACTERS:**]()
All of the characters found in Steins;Gate are amazing and well written.
I'll only be talking about my 3 favourite characters but all of them are great and feel realistic.
Okabe Rintarou, the mad scientist and a chuunibyou, despite me disliking his chuuni side I grew attached to it. He acted like he didn't care about anyone and anything but as the show progressed we got to see how he does care deeply about his friends.
Makise Kurisu, best girl for years, she is clearly a tsundere. I didn't know what to think of her character, when I watched the show I was new to the terms and stuff so I was not used to this loving yet aggresive type, though that being said she was an amazing member of the show!
Shiina Mayuri, a cute ball of sunshine, she is not as clever so she doesn't further the plot of the time machine scenes but she fills an important role in the show, so 1. Stress relief. When she enters the scene, you know its gonna be good and fun :D 2. A turning point for the story which grasps me everytime and hooked me in so much.

~~~img420(https://thumbs.gfycat.com/ElegantHardFlicker-small.gif)~~~
 

[**ART/ANIMATION:**]()
Steins;Gate has a great artstyle. Its not the best looking show out there, yeah. But its very pleasant to look at, does not take anything away from the show at all. Steins;Gate being quite a dark and mysterious show the colour pallete is more on the washed out and drab, which adds more to the whole mystery of the show.
The show has really nice and smooth animations, as I said with the art, this makes it very nice on the eyes I was not tired of watching it or had any complaints when I binged it in 2 days.

~~~img420(https://media.giphy.com/media/noLRCS63NWcqA/giphy.gif)~~~
 

[**MUSIC:**]()
The overall soundtrack of Steins;Gate is amazing. Loved it.
Each and every song fits so perfectly with the vibe of the show and the scene its playing in. I even listen to it while doing work (I'm listening to it now even!). Very catchy indeed.
The Opening! The most awesome part of the music topic. Its one of the best ones out there, everytime I hear it I get so nostalgic. Its catchy, plus the lyrics are also very good, they give insight into the world and story that will uneveil itself.

~~~img420(https://i.gifer.com/9Bas.gif)~~~
 

[**OVERALL OPINION:**]()
If what I said above make you think I loved this show so much then let me repeat.
I loved it, so much. The story, characters, everything tied in to so well creating one of the best shows I have seen to this very day.
This was a very great introduction into Anime. I recommended everyone to check this series out or even pick it up again if you dropped it due to the slow start. 

It really is worth watching.

_(Note - This is my first review, I hope y'all liked it. I'll write more in the future and try to improve on each and everyone I write!)_

Steins;Gate, one of the best shows to this day.

~~~___"Tempus edax rerum.."___ _- John Titor_
_Temps, dévoreur de toutes choses.._~~~

__Steins;Gate__ "Visual novel" créer par [Naotaka Hayashi](https://anilist.co/staff/119169/Naotaka-Hayashi) et Vio Shimokura du studio [Nitroplus](https://anilist.co/studio/459/Nitroplus) _([Nitro+](https://anilist.co/staff/99960/Nitro))_ en 2009, devenue si populaire qu'une adaptation [Manga](https://anilist.co/manga/47517/SteinsGate/) fut réalisé par [Yomi Sarachi](https://anilist.co/staff/108513/Yomi-Sarachi) la même année. Ensuite en 2011, le studio d'animation [White Fox](https://anilist.co/studio/314/White-Fox) produit une adaptation Anime réaliser par [Hiroshi Hamasaki](https://anilist.co/staff/101369/Hiroshi-Hamasaki) & [Takuya Sato](https://anilist.co/staff/104572/Takuya-Satou).

Du genre Thriller Science-Fiction, plein de références à la physique quantique, __Steins;Gate__ est une épopée à la fois psychologique, humaine et philosophique tournant autour de la _légende urbaine_ de [John Titor](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Titor), presque comme un témoignage, comme si toute l'histoire c'était passé réellement !

~~~_Rintarô Okabe est un "étudiant" excentrique, paranoïaque, limite schizo et autoproclamé savant fou du nom de Hououin Kyouma... Alors qu'il participe à un séminaire sur le voyage dans le temps, il est plongé dans une ville fantôme... Dans le but de comprendre ce phénomène, il effectue différentes expériences dans son appartement transformé en labo et avec l'aide de son ami Daru il invente le gadget n°8..._~~~

__Steins;Gate__ est un anime profond, construit comme son titre, en deux parties...
___Steins___, _de l'épisode 1 à 10._ C'est la partie _"théorique"_, on plante le décor, les personnages, le contexte, l'univers global. Sur un rythme plutôt lent, cette première partie assez classique est une introduction aux concepts temporel, à la théorie d'Everett et aux notions clef de la _pseudoscience_ qui vont régir toute cette histoire. _(oui, cela reste de la SF avant tout.)_

___Gate___, _de l'épisode 11 à 24._ C'est la partie _"pratique"_, on passe la porte, le rythme s’accélère pour devenir effréné, des twists très bien gérés et des cliffhangers de furieux nous happe dans un tourbillon émotionnel... Une tension dramatique apparaît, le suspense grandit et nous fait réfléchir, _"Pourquoi, comment ?"_. Le destin, le fatalisme, l'impuissance... Les émotions sont partout !

C'est avec du recul que l'on se rend compte du génie du scénariste. Chaque petit détail à son importance, le moindre point de vue ou événement est décrit de manière réfléchie afin de nous guider sur un fil de l'histoire bien définis. Et alors que le thème du voyage temporel est délicat à mettre en place dans le cadre d'une histoire sérieuse et compréhensible, nous avons le droit, ici, à une œuvre qui s'en tire avec brio et nous sert un scénario innovant, logique et crédible ! _Malgré un début assez dissuasif !_

Les personnages quand à eux, bien qu'étrange à première vue, on s’aperçoit vite qu'il s'agit d'un des point fort de cet anime, particulièrement celui de Rintarô. Ses délires ajoutent une magnifique touche comique à l'anime, sans pour autant compromettre son intelligence ou ses convictions. Pour les autres, on a le droit à une palanquée de personnages atypiques : Kurisu, la scientifique de génie calme et posée, Daru, le hacker otaku un peu pervers, ou encore Mayuri, la fille gentille dans les nuages. Aucun n'est superflu, tous ont leur rôle à jouer et sont présentés à la hauteur de leur importance.

Niveau visuel, avec beaucoup d'effets de lumière bien utilisés et de superbes mouvements de caméra lors des moments forts, c'est beau !! Les scènes d'extérieurs très lumineuse contraste violemment avec le climat oppressif qui s'installe petit à petit, notamment à cause de nombreux motifs récurent donnant l'impression que les personnages sont surveiller en permanence.
Et la finesse du character design, particulièrement _"exacerbée"_, est très jolie aussi.

Brief, __Steins;Gate__ est un pure chef d’œuvre qui se détache des autres par ses qualités qui parviennent à éluder ses quelques défauts.
Le tout avec cette _légende urbaine_ en toile de fond, comme si on découvrait enfin _la véritable_ histoire de John Titor.

The mind-blowing John Titor's chronicle! (French Review)

Parto dal presupposto che questo è il primo anime in assoluto che recensisco.
Di anime nella mia vita ne ho visti tanti, ma mai nessuno come "Steins;Gate", che è diventato il primo nella mia top 10 ancora prima di finirlo. Pochi anime si avvicinano alla perfezione assoluta, e questo è uno dei pochissimi ad arrivarci, ma partiamo con ordine.

Trama: vede le vicende di questo laboratorio per gadget futuristici riuscire a creare per caso un microonde che riesce a mandare messaggi nel passato, e fin qui storcerete subito il naso, ma non lasciatevi ingannare né dall'incipit né dal comportamento slice of life dei personaggi nei primi episodi, soprattutto del protagonista affetto da un'evidente sindrome di terza media. Questo è necessario perché noterete subito tanti elementi frammentati che piano piano verranno al pettine e vi faranno capire di star guardando un prodotto di un altro livello. 

Senza soffermarmi troppo, per evitar ogni tipo di spoiler che in questo caso ucciderebbero proprio la visone, passiamo ai personaggi: il lavoro svolto è perfetto, ogni secondario sembra un protagonista, con una narrazione e spiegazione esaustiva che si incastra perfettamente con la trama e soprattutto un'evoluzione dei personaggi che trasforma l'anime slice of life in una spirale contorta e cupa all'inverosimile.

Animazioni: unica pecca del lavoro, le animazioni e le inquadrature sono fantastiche, ma nulla che faccia pensare di ricordare questo anime per questo motivo; sono sufficienti per farti concentrare sul resto, direi.

Audio: qua ci superiamo, con un'opening fantastica e delle soundtrack azzeccate per ogni momento.

Commento finale: non lasciatevi ingannare dall'inizio lento, anzi approfittatene per tenere conto dei dettagli, e capirete il livello dell'opera che state visionando. Un inizio che piano piano arriverà a portare l'anime in una spirale cupa e psicologica che rende "Steins;Gate" il miglior anime di tutti i tempi, secondo la mia opinione, in quanto nulla, e dico nulla, viene fatto senza una ragione.

N.B Sto comunque definendo un anime quasi perfetto, non ho trovato  nulla che mi potesse far screditare un lavoro fatto di maestria tratto poi da una light novel, personalmente voglio citare anche le opere successive ovvero Steins;Gate 0 e Deja Vu, entrambe in grado di reggere il confronto di conseguenza facendomi considerare il tutto come un cerchio che si chiude alla perfezione. VOTO: 10 pieno nessun difetto di nota in grado di abbassare il livello dell'opera.

L'anime che più si avvicina alla perfezione che io abbia mai visto. Un opera che non potete non vedere.

I understand how most people feel about Steins;Gate. I understand that it has caused many people to be invested in anime and appreciate anime better. I understand that in many ways people felt sympathy for and related to some of the characters in Steins;Gate. And I also understand that for many Steins;Gate is an experience they will never forget. There are many reasons Steins;Gate has had this impact on people, and more often than not, the reason is personal and many people might find difficulty putting it into words, as I have noticed that when they try they will simply just end up reiterating that they love it a lot without fully understanding why, which is fine.

I do not feel the same way about Steins;Gate as most of the people that have watched it. I will not be the person to praise it to no end and say that it has made me feel things nothing else ever did. But it left an impact on me regardless, because of its core strengths: Its capacity to make you sympathize with the characters on screen and presenting very fluent characterization that captures who a character is and why they behave in the way they do. 

Like it or not, otaku culture is not looked well upon by a lot of people, and this causes some people to steer clear from anime as a medium. The reasons all relate to how anime causes people within the otaku culture to behave or even those that are enthusiastic about it . Be it because they are afraid of how certain people project certain traits they wish they had through the shows they have watched, be it because they apply to real life the mentality of a character from a fictional show that has a setting with heavily fantastical elements that do not apply to reality, be it because people end up closing off from their social life and replace their group with idealized versions of who they wish they could interact with, and the list could go on further. All of these unhealthy traits are not only considered socially unacceptable and cause people to behave such, they also cause these people to think in ways where if you do not understand the context behind what they say, their interests will cause them to alienate themselves from whoever they might try to interact with. I do find it unfair to reject an entire medium based on the behavior of certain people, but I understand why the disdain for anime is produced. It is not as simple as „aren’t you too old to watch cartoons?”

The story of Steins;Gate is set in Akihabara, a commercial district within Japan where otaku culture thrives, and all of the characters within its story have this culture either deeply ingrained into who they are or are outsiders who on some level have difficulty interacting with the culture or world. The story presents who each character is through the quirks they have and how these quirks cause them difficulty when interacting with others, while during the process setting up for the events that unfold. Close to most of the quirks relate in some way to otaku culture and to fully understand who they represent you would need context from the culture itself to understand what type of behavior each character is following within it. Still, even without the context, even if you won’t understand how this behavior was formed, Steins;Gate will eventually get you to understand the reasons for which these characters behave the way they do by showing you what the characters and what they struggle with. 

The story is driven forward by Okabe Rintarou, who is characterized as a Chuunibyou, which is a japanese colloquialism for people that act on their delusions of grandeur and develop a persona just for that. The term exists because these people act outwardly as if their delusions are true, in an attempt to stand out and be desirable to people, throwing their imperfections to the side. Okabe, acts in the stereotypical manner of a Chuunibyou. First of all, he pretends that he is fighting against an organization, often talking on a phone on which there is no call about a mission with heavily exaggerated code names that sound cool. This is done by Okabe in a way that outwardly targets the person observing his behavior and this interaction for Okabe has the purpose of making it seem as if there is more to him than what is displayed, with the intent of causing the target to be interested on who he is. However, with one quick glance and very little thought, it becomes obvious to anyone that if anybody would actually have a grandiose mission, they would not talk about it openly and secrecy would be of utmost importance, so this façade fools nobody, even if his friends accept it. On a smaller scale but with the same purpose, Okabe also sometimes acts as if he has special powers and he understands things of supernatural nature or that the very least can hardly be explained. And last, he acts in a manner that is meant to put some distance between himself and other people. His behavior often puts people down, due to the façade it is seen as harmless, but Okabe essentially just plays hard to get. He essentially through his persona tries to push people away from who he really is, with the hope that his persona is going to be so interesting to them that they will pursue Okabe. This behavior really is just a projection of what Okabe truly wants, which only sabotages his goals because it is a behavior that is dishonest. Rather than engaging people about their interests and carefully observing them for who they are, Okabe chooses to take every idealized notion he thinks other people would admire, and creates a persona deeply influenced by what is considered cool within the otaku culture.

But the story goes beyond just portraying that Okabe’s behavior and mentality and it instead challenges Okabe’s psyche by making everything that he tried to portray to other people become true. 

Okabe and his friends have a “science laboratory” where they create experimental gadgets that center around some ridiculous idea. Most of them have very little practical use but there is no denying that the people within the laboratory have a grasp on the in-world’s scientific concepts. Eventually, as time goes on they hit a breakthrough and manage to send phone messages back in time. The more they develop this idea, more people join in and they learn more about the world and how it would intend to use this technology. Every single scene is one more piece of the puzzle that provides even more context about what impact this technology can have, how it gets these characters to interact, how the world would make use of this technology and the fact that Okabe has some ability that causes him to be affected differently by any changes done to the timeline. Without giving the outcome away, eventually, all the events around him cause Okabe to be what a Chuunibyou aspires to project outwardly. He truly does end up fighting against the circumstances he is placed in, with them having large ramifications on the world at large, and due to the fact that he has a special power he is the only character to have retained this information. He now knows things no other people should, secrets that he cannot tell, and he is the only one to have the capacity to do anything about it due to the fact that he is special. But while the Chuunibyou stereotypical behavior assumes that this behavior would cause people to gravitate Okabe because he is important, thus making it easier for Okabe to open up outwards, these circumstances only cause Okabe to only retreat even further inwards. It is partly true that these circumstances, as the Chuunibyou stereotype would assume, would put distance between him and people, but at the same time it also has the intended effect Chuunibyou’s try to project. People become interested in Okabe, because they become concerned and want to help him. But while a Chuunibyou would welcome them even if outwardly they would act in a way that maintains their superiority, Okabe cannot open up to them or let them in. Because no matter how much he wanted to, his circumstances are actually true and he cannot be helped as he actually is indeed special. Rather than accepting the people that approach him, he can only repel them because they can never have context into his situation. Describing Okabe any further than this would be telling you how his character arc concludes which I won’t do.

But this is enough for me to start saying how exactly Okabe’s story has affected me. It has shown me that even if I do not understand the intent or cause of someone’s behavior, I can find them something that is respectable about them. You see, I personally shun a lot of the behavioral traits about otaku culture. Acting like a chuunibyou, projecting your love life onto an idealized 2D picture, all of the weeaboo associated nonsense. But just because I renounce the behavior itself that does not mean that I also have to renounce the person that has this behavior. There was more to Okabe’s behavior than met the eye, and there is a lot more context to him that I did not provide. But after this behavior was very slowly but carefully removed from the person enforcing it, all I could observe was a person that desperately did not want to be alone. It was something very basic and human that was being approached in an incorrect manner. Okabe was wrong and portrayed as heavily flawed, but a genuinely good person that would forever suffer if ever left alone. Steins;Gate has not proven me wrong, but it has given me more to think about. I am correct to reject the behavior itself and not accept the negative consequences behind it. But just because I understand the outcome of the behavior, it does not mean that I do understand the intent. The intent itself is something that I do not have context on and it is most likely something that I could sympathize with. So even if I find someone’s behavior abhorrent, I should at the very least try to understand why they behave that way. I should have at the very least some degree of understanding and patience.

As I have said, every character in some manner has been affected socially by the otaku culture. The story showcases who each character is, what are their flaws through dynamic interactions between each character that are portrayed in an often comedic and somewhat neutral way, and why they exist by exploring what they desire through exposing their behavior for what it is. Each character has some depth and their behavior is displayed well through skillful characterization.

Other things that Steins;Gate has to offer is a lot of theoretical concepts that border on metaphysics and discussions surrounding things of that nature, as well as some information on conspiracy theories. The world behaves in a manner that assumes these things are possible and feasible, and incorporates them into the world. In some cases it gives you the context from real life. Most of the ideas of Steins;Gate are not its own, and are used as a realm to explore the group it portrays, so do not expect an anime that rethinks a theoretical concept or the world order at large. Yes, it puts them together in ways that are unique to itself it takes, but its focus is to explore the people it presents, and the theoretical concepts and conspiracy theories are just tools to give further shape to the world of Steins;Gate. If you came for a story that is an adventure about time travel, this will be very different from what you expect, and that can be both a good and a bad thing, depending on what you want to experience.

You see one of the things everyone likes to address, but also has to, is the slow pace of the show. Every scene focuses on providing the viewer with context into what they are watching, and rather than focusing on Steins;Gate being an entertaining process from start to finish, it chooses to put all of its energy into the outcome of each scene, making sure that every scene carries what it intends. Steins;Gate does not pander to provide you with something fun every second of its watch time, but rather to provide you with everything that would help you understand what is going on with who you are seeing. Some people might criticize it for not delivering constant entertainment value on screen, but Steins;Gate through Okabe openly renounces acting cool for no reason. It doesn’t goof off for the sake of goofing off.  If a scene is there, it is because it tries to tell you something or inform you about something you’ll need to understand for the next message it delivers. Its slow pace is warranted. 

Still, regardless of how well it does the things it does, as well as how genuine it is, Steins;Gate still is something I only personally consider to be fine as a show. A lot of it comes down to personal preference, as I prefer shows to be focused on progressing forward, rather than taking their time. It definitely has a more than warranted enough reason to pace itself in the way that it does, but that doesn’t mean it will change my preferences simply because of that. Another reason is that, even if I do understand who the characters are and why they behave that way, and I see that there is depth to them, for the most part I do not like them. I don’t feel a strong dislike towards them; I simply do not care much about them. The reason for that being that: each character was created to fit what the show tried to convey, that they would only matter within the context that they were placed. There is depth to the overall message that is displayed through their use and their behavior, but strip away these elements, and all you are left with are husks. I do get that to a degree that is part of Okabe’s characterization, but that is the point. He is a husk because it is part of the characterization. In some cases, I did fully understand the behavior, but I was just not interested in who the character was and felt little to no sympathy for them. 

Regardless of that, I praise Steins;Gate for the message it has managed to deliver to me. I’m sure that the people that have the otaku culture planted deeply into them related in some way to the story, and I am sure that this is one the best stories to humanize the culture to people outside of it. As I have said, if you seek to start sympathizing with the otaku culture as a whole, Steins;Gate is going to be very helpful, as it was helpful to me. It is one of the best shows to be introduced to anime, as it has the potential to eliminate a lot of the preexisting prejudices for the medium. However, I’d avoid Steins;Gate if the pace itself is something that would really bother you. It has the best reasons it can possibly have to take its time, but again, as it is the case for me, personal preferences are not something that can be reasoned with.

If you seek to start sympathizing with the otaku culture as a whole, Steins;Gate is going to be very helpful

Well! After 24 episodes I’ve completed one of my favorite anime of all time! This psychological drama has plot twists almost every episode, it was almost too good to be true. Even though the beginning took a little while to pick up, I was never bored or felt like there were any filler episodes thrown into the anime at any point. In terms of just pure storyline, it’s almost scary how perfect this anime was. The pacing was fast, but it was somehow appropriate for the scenarios at hand. You could clearly see the character progression as each episode passed, making for even deeper character interactions as the irony of the main protagonists life progressed. Without further ado, here’s my review:

Art and Animation: 8.9/10
- Even though this anime is somewhat older, the art/animation is nothing to sleep on. The character designs were both unique and great to watch. Everything moved so fluidly, it was made with the highest care and quality in mind. The only thing holding back this anime was the lack of color and vibrancy, which may have been on purpose to create a certain mood for the anime. It also didn’t really have any breath taking moments that left you in awe, but that didn’t really hurt it in the end.

Storyline and Character Progression 9.8/10
- The one thing that I appreciate about this anime is that it never used “time” or “time skipping” as a filler for a hole in the storyline. The storyline itself didn’t even have any holes, which is why it has such a high scoring in this department. Steins;Gate had masterfully handled its plot in a way that would keep the viewers engaged and invested every episode. I’ve never seen another anime that holds the attention as well as Steins;Gate, because almost EVERY episode had a cliffhanger. When it came down to the character progression, this anime got things done. You could clearly see the progression and maturity of Kyouma develop as he was presented with more and more challenges. Even his interactions with the other characters got a lot deeper because of this maturity, it helped to give the supporting characters a lot more meaning.

Soundtrack and Audio: 9.1/10 
- The vocal cast in this anime was flawless, with no annoying voice actors getting in the way of the beautiful atmosphere. It had voice actors that fit their roles perfectly and emotionally connected with them. You never once felt that any particular emotion was forced or drawn out, it all came together perfectly. As far as soundtrack goes, the OST is great (although not mind blowing) and musicality throughout the anime is sparingly used when appropriate. Sound effects were also higher quality and never sounded cheap or generic.

In conclusion: A MUST WATCH! Especially for those who are into the psychological/drama genres with a touch of romance. This anime continued to keep me on edge and is truly binge worthy. Therefore, I’m proud to give this anime a 9.5/10 as its final score. Until the next one everyone......

El...
Psy...
Congroo....
~~~Streaming Platform: Hulu~~~

A psychological masterpiece that nailed character progression and storyline, it’s a classic for a reason

TL;DR This anime is a YUCKY good character driven slow burn. Stop reading this review and start watching! You won't regret it.

This review may contain spoilers, you have been warned. 

_Steins;Gate_ is __amazing__. Not only is it far and above the absolute best anime I have ever seen, it's probably one of the best shows I have ever seen. I can count on one hand the number of things while watching this show I wished I could change, and I've watched it 4 times in a row (I'm obsessed with shilling this show to my friends). In fact, if you haven't seen it yet, send me a message and I will watch it with you RIGHT NOW.

Every piece on the technical side of storytelling is honestly flawless. You can't simply watch this show and not be amazed at some of the scene transitions. It must be something with this coming from a visual novel, because I have never seen a show master the generic elements of telling a story like this show. 

One of the most compelling things about this show is the protagonist, Okabe Rintaro. He is the far and away best character I have seen in an anime, ever. This story is the definition of character driven, and Okabe fits beautifully into it. Every character in this show is great, and fits their roles perfectly, but they can't lay a finger on him. Masterful performances by Mamoru Miyano and J. Michael Tatum show this off beautifully. Kurisu Makise, the secondary protagonist, is also amazing.

The plot of this show is perfect. I honestly don't understand how a story like this is written without having massive gaping plot holes that remove the viewer from being immersed in what's going on screen. And yet, it's right here. The weakest episodes of this show are still great when held up to most other anime, but when surrounded by genius I can pardon it. 

The music is great, too. _Hacking to the Gate_ took a few episodes to grow on me, but the catchy intro is nearly unskippable for me now. The ending song is great too, and it's best seen in episode 9's ending. _Skyclad Observer_, played in episode 23, is honestly the peak of this show's use of music to set the tone, and I can't remember the last time something so upbeat had me almost in tears. I still turn this show on and watch both prior examples on repeat.

>Hear me, privileged companions. Time is ours. Hououin Kyouma's mind recognizes no limit. Neither does his reach! Heave anchor, this ship of fools is about to embark!

I want another show like this one. I was floored by how awesome this show is, and I'm scared I won't feel the same about another show again. All I can really say is, "Wow". The last time I liked a show this much I was a lonely, depressed, and horny high school freshman watching Rosario + Vampire. In conclusion, Steins;Gate is BASED. Watch it.

# Steins;Gate

**_Quick disclaimer: this will have spoilers, summary will not_**

**Music**
The thing I pay the least attention too, not any outstanding tracks, but it gives the right ambiance. None of the tracks are bad at all or felt cheesy.

**Art-style and animation**
The art-style and animation are great, everything is continually moving, and the art-style looks good. The only flaw is that it is sometimes to dark or bright to make out what is happening easily, this luckily gets less as the show moves on.  There are pieces of great animation spread across the entire anime, and every 'intensive movement' for animation is beautifully done (think Mayuri's Tuuturuuuu greeting, or anytime Okabe is running).

**Story and Characters**
All characters were somewhere between good and great, with some of them (Okabe, Kurisu and Mayuri) being between great and amazing. Even more minor characters were good, and they all looked easily extinguishable and had unique and cool traits. The way everyone was introduced felt really natural and made for more and more options to be considered in a story.
The story itself handles time-travel extremely well, I couldn't find any loopholes in how the story explains how time-travel works, and the system lends itself to great storytelling. The first episode was really confusing, which I think benefits the show as a whole, as you slowly realize what happened.
Most outstanding moments in the story were gut-wrenching ones (for example Yuugo killing himself), aside from that no 'major' emotions came up in me. But it still made me continuously feel something, with every episode having them.
How the love relation between Okabe and Kurisu plays out is a great watch. And the personal struggles of Okabe are completely understandable and heart moving.
Side stories like Luka's, Rumiho's and Moeka's, was both fun and interesting, especially when later it turns out that everything has to be turned back, and the struggles Okabe get's from that.
Lastly I find the set-up for the last 2 episodes in episode 1, really well done. It doesn't feel forced at all, and the explanation of what has to be done is great. The entire solution with older Okabe being able to talk after the failed attempt is honestly a phenomanal moment.

**Overall**
I think the anime as a whole is nearly perfect, the only flaw I pointed out in this entire review was the art-style sometimes being a bit to dark or light, which shows how good of a show this is. However, I think that the entire package doesn't fulfill what I would give a 10/10, which don't get me wrong, still amazing and near perfectly executed, just that it lacks the last bit of 'oomf' that I don't know if it could acquire with perfect execution.

Steins;Gate is befitting of being considered one of the best anime and makes for a great sci-fi

I’ve come to the realization that my past 3 reviews have been pretty overtly negative, so I felt like writing a positive review for once, either that or it was the choice of the Steins;Gate that I chose to write this, either way, let's get started

Story:

The story of Steins;Gate is about a rag-tag group of lab-members discovering that they can travel through time.

I know that plot-synopsis of Steins;Gate is basic as fuck, & probably doesn’t tell you much about the story, but I’d like to keep the story of Steins;Gate as spoiler free as possible. With that being said, the story of Steins;Gate is fairly complicated, but it’s not difficult to grasp or understand. It achieves a great balance of being a complex storyline with many twists & turns along the way, but it never becomes overbearing, difficult to follow, or unnecessarily complicated. I don’t want to spoil what our group of lab members will get into, as everything in Steins;Gate has a meaning that, would be outright spoilers if I started explaining them, so I’ll contain myself

Characters:

Steins;Gate has one of my favorite cast of characters in all of anime. Every last one of them have unique personality traits, & all contribute to the plot in some way. Okabe’s antics are just a joy to watch, Kurisu is the lab member there to keep every-one on track with her serious & stern personality. Mayuri is the exact kind of some-what innocent character that a series like Steins;Gate would need, & Daru is quite the lad himself. Those are just the main 4 lab-members. For the sake of staying as spoiler free as possible, I won’t mention all of them. I will say however, that every last one of them has an arc they go through in the show. All of them are fleshed out, & all of them contribute something to the narrative at large.

Art:

Steins;Gate has incredible artwork on all fronts. Character designs are distinct from one another & incredibly memorable. On top of that though, the character designs all reflect the personalities marvelously, you get a great idea of who these characters are & what they’re like just by looking at them. Backgrounds are also well designed & have a sublime level of effort put into each & everyone of them. Steins;Gate does make use of CGI, but it’s blended well & compliments the scenery, you can hardly tell it’s CGI if you don’t have an eye for that sort of thing.

The animation in Steins;Gate is, of course, excellent. Even the greatest attention to the smallest of details have been taken into account, so even the most static of shots in the series are exciting & a joy to look at. The action scenes are just as well done as the scenes where the characters are just standing around talking to each other & explaining the intricacies & science of the show.

The Storyboarding is also spectacular, every shot leads into one another so seamlessly & gives the show a flow that I really have yet to see in other shows. The directing is also great, the framing, compositional work, & editing are all as equally on point as the storyboarding is, so I have no complaints there

Sound:

The voice acting in Steins;Gate is incredible, these aren’t people in the booth, these are the characters themselves in the booth. Miyano Mamoru as Okabe is the huge stand-out performance, but I don’t want to undersell the talents of actors such as “Kana Hanazawa”, “Haruko Momoi” & “Yukari Tamura” as Mayuri, Suzuha, & Faris respectively.

The music in Steins;Gate is good, but not one of Steins;Gate’s stronger aspects in my opinion. It’s all good stuff that sets the tone of a scene masterfully, but the music is a bit too atmospheric to be memorable in my opinion. Still though, it’s not bad stuff at all, just weaker comparatively too all the unbelievably strong aspects about this show.

Overall:

If I could sum up Steins;Gate in one word, I’d go with “Excellent”. Steins;Gate really doesn’t have any glaring flaws to it, I really don’t have anything negative to say about the show. The characters are all likeable & memorable beings. The story is complex but not hard to understand, achieving a great balance. The visual craftsmanship on display is well made. The directing & storyboarding are expertly done, & the music, which I said was probably the weakest aspect of the series, was still great & just adds to the series. So with everything said, my final rating of Steins;Gate is going to be a deserving 10/10. I implore anyone reading to stop what they’re doing & go watch the series, & if you’ve seen the series already, well go rewatch it. Treat yourself with a good anime. P.S, Steins;Gate has one of the best 1st episodes in anime I’ve ever seen. It also isn’t badly paced in the 1st half either.

Steins;Gate is my favorite anime. When it comes to "what I want from anime", it's shows like this.
Now I'm writing this review mainly to replace the ones currently online. I've seen Steins;Gate three times now. Once in late 2016, another in early 2018 to prep for Steins;Gate 0, and this third watch was to show two of my friends as the last two times it was my turn to choose something, they were Michiko & Hatchin (which we all thought was boring) and Terror in Resonance (which I still really like but they were not as enthusiastic). My credibility was declining and I needed a trump card and my favorite anime is that. Did it succeed? Well, both have told me it was better than those two so sure.

It was interesting seeing them watch it for the first time, because my preconceived notion was that if there's something you DON'T like about the show, it's that the first half is slow-ish paced. Then again, these are the people who had just seen Texhnolyze and loved it, so clearly they didn't care about that. I think their problems were more in the show's origins as a visual novel, in that this sci-fi thriller also wants you to "pick a waifu". They also HATED the treatment of the character of Ruka, which I will admit is the part that has aged the most. While it didn't affect my enjoyment of the show, it certainly affected their's.

Is Steins;Gate really a "perfect show"? Not really, there are sideplots that didn't really need to be here, specifically that of Ruka's and Faris's. But I still love this show. I love the characters, I love the writing, I love the direction (this would be such a different show without the directing), I love where the story goes. Sure the show can be cringe here and there but I still love it.

At first you think Steins;Gate is a show about college kids that discover time travel and their wacky adventures, but in reality the show is about death. Characters here must either confront death or die themselves. Okabe specifically is the only one who is able to time travel with all of his memories intact. So he must carry the burden of watching death happen countless times. It becomes a question of "which deaths should and should not happen", a question that becomes the basis of the sequel series Steins;Gate 0 (which isn't a direct sequel, instead it continues the story of a bad ending). I really get engrossed in Steins;Gate's plot each time I watch it.

Now I watched a show prior to Steins;Gate called ChäoS;HEAd (yes, it’s as stupid as the title). I was engrossed in the show’s first half. I kept wondering whether or not the character was schizophrenic, debating if what he’s seeing is real or not. In the second half the show completely flops and the answers to the questions are not the ones you want, likely because of the rushed nature of the adaptation. I've heard the visual novel is like the first half for the whole thing, so I'll look into that whenever the English patch of NoAH is finished.

That never happens with Steins;Gate. I'd say the plot becomes less captivating with each rewatch, and some twists were always insanely predictable, but the quality doesn't plummet like ChäoS;HEAd did, if anything it improves as the show goes along. Steins;Gate takes a dark turn right when it needs to.

There's a bunch of highly rated anime that I think are overrated (even Code Geass R2, I like it but it was not better than the first season), but Steins;Gate is one of the rare few that I honestly think has earned its reputation. This is what I want from anime, actually no, animation in general. This is my favorite anime and I will stand by that.



El Psy Kongroo.

Steins;Gate is my favorite anime and has earned its reputation.

_A spoiler-free review~_

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_Tuturu~_

Once in a blue moon I chance upon an anime that knocks the wind out of me. The impression is one that I shall reminisce about for a long time. In all likelihood, it’s a feeling that I wouldn’t forget, even if I could. The impact is deeper than merely a story that was enrapturing and a bundle of fun. I’m talking about the magnum opus of Sci-Fi anime— Steins;Gate. Admittedly, the theme of time travel is no stranger to the realm of anime, so making a time travel story stand out isn’t as easy as shooting a fish in the barrel. Steins;Gate delves into this realm of time travel and worldlines, putting in acknowledgements to bona fide theories viz. the butterfly effect, and how, once you alter even an inconsequential thing of the past, the future transitions into one large scrambled egg. The laws of time travel are possibly pseudoscience, but S;G sticks with these laws and makes it seem as though they are indeed the real deal. The story and narrative of this Sci-Fi gem is exceptionally well researched and meticulously hand-crafted; virtually like a luxurious item, with a sizable detail added to conjure up a plausible narrative of time travel and the anticipated catastrophic changes that come with it. In spite of being somewhat complex, the time travel mechanics hold together reasonably well, and are instrumental not merely as the prime catalyst for the plot, but also its resolution.

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I’ll be dead honest and say that the first few episodes are incredibly slow and random to a point where it may turn some of its viewers down. However, this rather slow start is actually of the essence in order to establish the nitty-gritty concepts concerning time travel which the anime utilizes, and setting the foundations for the characters and their relationships. Once it picks up, the mind-blowing Sci-Fi thriller fires up its engines, the intrigue and mystery kicks-off, and the pace of the series accelerates; putting its viewers on the edge of their seat. What follows is an enthralling plot, which managed to blow my mind each episode. The ending is equally spectacular, tying everything together like a dream, and even presenting a new perspective on prior events (I oh-so suggest rewatching episode 1 after you finish). The characters for S;G, as far as I’m concerned, are developed remarkably well, and on top of that are some of the most captivating fictional humans that I ever had the pleasure of beholding on screen; which is why I was also able to connect with them in terms of their emotions and goals. If I could travel back in time and tell myself to watch this modern classic sooner, trust me, I would. Alas, I don’t have a time machine to my name which will enable me to accomplish such a feat… and after watching this anime, I think it’s opportune if I’d rather not haha. Every once in a while, an anime will spring up that will withstand the test of time and join the ranks of other anime series which are counted as one of the best ever created. In my humble opinion, Steins;Gate is one of those masterpieces. I’m not writing in hyperbole when I declare that Steins;Gate is the best anime that I have ever seen. Not only is it well constructed and emotionally resonant, but it’s also by far the best-executed time travel narrative that I have encountered. In my view, it’s pretty much an unprecedented piece of art, and I unreservedly recommend this anime to anyone who is even remotely interested after reading these aforementioned thoughts of mine on it.

_This is the choice of Steins;Gate._

_El. Psy. Kongroo._

A masterfully crafted, emotionally powerful time travel marvel. 

#~~~__Opinión sin Spoiler__~~~
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En primer lugar, es importante destacar que este vistazo se refiere únicamente a la adaptación al anime de Steins; Gate, sin tener en cuenta las novelas visuales en las que se basa ni obras posteriores en otros formatos.

En este caso en particular, creo que la mejor aproximación es llegar totalmente ciego a la serie, simplemente sabiendo que merece de sobra la pena, por lo que, en caso de querer saber más, avance el lector a la sección con spoiler bajo su propio riesgo.

"Steins; Gate" es una serie de tipo seinen a la que parece que le cuesta mucho arrancar. De primeras, seguramente el espectador medio llegue recomendado y sabiendo que es una serie ampliamente aclamada, como ocurrió en mi caso. Debido a este arranque lento, hay ciertos aspectos de la serie que considero que destacan especialmente antes de empezar a entrar en su trama principal.

En primer lugar, estoy enamorado del tuturú de Mayuri. Cada vez que sale me da un montón de ternura, aunque se que hay gente a la que le molesta. En segundo lugar, el opening es maravilloso y sigo escuchándolo de vez en cuando. Es un caso de libro de no saltar nunca la introducción. Dicho esto, nadie quita que sea difícil seguir la trama hasta el punto en el que se pone realmente interesante, y estoy realmente contento de que esta obra no haya desanimado a tanta gente como podría pasar por su inicio lento, y los que la hayan visto la recomienden sin dudarlo.

El resultado es una serie que espera hasta el momento oportuno para pegarte en todos los sentimientos, con un final cerrado muy disfrutable y recomendada tanto como introducción como para gente que en su día se perdió este (creo que puedo asegurar) clásico.

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#~~~__Opinión con Spoiler__~~~
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Como ya he comentado en la opinión sin spoiler, creo que la serie tiene un inicio muy lento, pero a final visto creo que es totalmente necesario. Es más, me gusta el detalle de que no caiga en la típica argucia de enseñar un primer capítulo impresionante y que enganche para luego decaer una vez hecho el trabajo inicial. En este caso, Steins;Gate sabe a dónde quiere llegar y se dará la prisa estrictamente necesaria.

En los primeros instantes se nota que el dibujo que hace Steins;Gate es diferente a lo habitual. Es destacable el doble círculo en los ojos, que da una impresión de profundidad que no se conseguiría de otra manera. Puede ser tontería, pero es un detalle que me ha gustado mucho y me ha metido en la piel de los personajes. Por otra parte, me gusta el dibujo estilizado y de alguna manera oscuro, que contribuye mucho a la atmósfera opresiva que se irá desarrollando a lo largo de la serie.

Los personajes son presentados escalonadamente, teniendo ya relaciones antiguas con el protagonista algunos de ellos. Me gusta este detalle, de cómo se van integrando poco a poco en la trama y como se desarrollan sus relaciones. Desgraciadamente, se caen en bastantes tropos (moe, tsundere, nerd, etc.) pero el alivio cómico que hace Daru del tema es bastante acertado.

La música acompaña muy bien a lo largo de la obra, con temas que se te quedarán en la cabeza una buena temporada (el ya comentado magnífico OP y el tema principal que viene de las novelas visuales originales).

Una vez conocidos los protagonistas, entramos de lleno en la trama, y he aquí el giro de Steins;Gate. Mayuri muere a la misma hora, inexorablemente, y hay que deshacer lo andado para conseguir salvarla. Precisamente en este proceso es cuando empieza a desarrollarse la agridulce relación entre Okabe y Kurisu. El hecho de confiar en ella a lo largo de tantas repeticiones hace que Okabe se vaya enamorando, con el inconveniente de ser el único que recuerde todo, con el dolor y la ansiedad que conlleva tener que actuar de manera normal ante  una persona con la que ha sido muy íntimo en una realidad alternativa, para no echar a perder su oportunidad actual (véase que dicho truco temporal es utilizado en uno de los últimos capítulos de Rick y Morty, aunque con resultados diferentes ~). En este momento, estás involucrado con los personajes y se llega a momentos especialmente emotivos. En mi caso, no me cuesta nada admitir las lágrimas que tragué con la desesperación de Suzuha ante su vida gastada sin motivo. Hay que decir, aun así, que se nota la influencia de novela visual en las mini-relaciones que Okabe desarrolla en capítulos separados con el resto de chicas a la vez que va deshaciendo sus desvíos temporales, algo moderadamente molesto.

El punto central de la serie, que es la irreemplazable persona que es Mayuri para Okabe, evoluciona hacia su final mientras el espectador descubre con terror algo que había tenido delante de las narices durante toda la historia, la pronosticada muerte de Kurisu y la historia detrás de ella.

En este punto, Okabe toma la decisión más difícil de su vida, y escoge a su amiga del alma frente a la persona que ama, y vaya si queda claro que la quiere en esa confesión. El drama se huele y habría sido un final muy aceptable con la muerte de Kurisu, pero no siempre hay que sufrir y en este caso se acepta muy agradecidamente un final que, aunque menos impactante, hizo que no me tuviera que ir llorando a la cama.

Como apunte adicional, hay una pequeña OVA que cierra un poco la historia en la última línea temporal, que recomiendo encarecidamente a quien le gustase la relación de Okabe y Kurisu.

En resumen, queda una serie muy redonda (nunca mejor dicho) y totalmente disfrutable en todos sus aspectos (teniendo en cuenta la fecha de lanzamiento original). Para mí alcanza el rango de clásico y recomendación indispensable a cualquier aficionado al medio.

¡Gracias por llegar hasta aquí! Un saludo de SiegmAer, de Catarina.

Este thriller maneja muy bien su historia y personajes, mereciendo el título de clásico y una recomendación garantizada

>TU TU RUU

Esse é o meu primeiro review então ainda estou aprendendo a escrever reviews não me julguem muito.
img220(https://br.images.search.yahoo.com/images/view;_ylt=AwrJ4hAm9mhf1_0AR.716Qt.;_ylu=X3oDMTIycXRjMzV2BHNlYwNzcgRzbGsDaW1nBG9pZAMzYmFkZDAzYjBiOGEwODkxOTQxNjBhMGNhMTJhNTFjOARncG9zAzcEaXQDYmluZw--?back=https%3A%2F%2Fbr.images.search.yahoo.com%2Fsearch%2Fimages%3Fp%3Dwallpaper%2Bsteins%2Bgate%2Blinhas%2Bdo%2Bmundo%26n%3D60%26norw%3D1%26ei%3DUTF-8%26fr%3Dmcafee%26fr2%3Dsp-qrw-corr-top%26tab%3Dorganic%26ri%3D7&w=1600&h=900&imgurl=wallpapercave.com%2Fwp%2Fwp1858935.png&rurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwallpapercave.com%2Fsteinsgate-wallpapers&size=294.8KB&p=wallpaper+steins+gate+linhas+do+mundo&oid=3badd03b0b8a089194160a0ca12a51c8&fr2=sp-qrw-corr-top&fr=mcafee&tt=Steins%3BGate+Wallpapers+-+Wallpaper+Cave&b=0&ni=96&no=7&ts=&tab=organic&norw=1&sigr=_jqmMDGY04z4&sigb=aX5viPFKlm7m&sigi=bACQdDtjJ1OX&sigt=a02w8QF5wFqY&.crumb=ltqGXLQtRB/&fr=mcafee&fr2=sp-qrw-corr-top&norw=1)

O anime dirigido pela dupla de diretores Takuya Satou e Hiroshi Hamasaki, se mostra bem dirigido, e com uma paleta de cores mais sombria, e sóbria, a qual tenta dirigir nossa atenção não para os movimentos e para as cores, mas sim pelos diálogos dinâmicos e bem colocados, e nas expressões dos personagens, as quais em sua ideia, são até que razoavelmente desenvolvidos, a exceção do Okabe, da Kurisu e da Suzuha, os quais detém desenvolvimentos lindos, do ponto de vista de roteiro, onde nós não apenas vemos as coisaqs do ponto de vista do Okabe que é o protagonista como comumente acontece, mas também vemos da Kurisu e da Suzuha e conhecemos a visão do que está acontecendo pelos olhos delas e como elas se relacionam com os outros. O desenvolvimento da Suzuha é particularmente interessante, dado que as pistas que o anime joga são muito sutis e legais, junto com uma relação conturbada com a Kurisu, justificam o porque dela ser a melhor personagem daquele anime.
A história é bem concisa quando precisa mostrar uma situação dramática onde há um sentimento de urgencia e necessidade como a situação onde o Okabe busca a salvara vida da Mayuri, ao mesmo tempo que aprende que nem sempre pode-se salvar alguém. Dou destaque para a cena do trem, que dado o contexto parecia que daria certo, porém a história nos surpreende, dou destaque para os episódios 12 e 13 que tem tons completamente diferentes, contudo se mostram extremamente complementares dentro do anime.
A parte audiovisual do anime não se destaca tanto, sendo esse talvez o ponto mais fraco do anime, não tendo uma trilha tão marcante a exceção da sua abertura a __Hacking to the Gate__ da cantora Kanako Itou.
O plot do anime é algo interessante, uma vez que a parte "chata" do anime é a base para entender, o que vem depois do episódio 12, sendo os últimos 10 episódios uma literal corrida contra o tempo, fora que a questão das linhas alfa e beta do mundo são bem legais e bastante plausíveis.
O papel que cada personagem desempenha não é insubstituível, em alguns casos, porém isso não deixa personagens como o dono da loja, também chamado de __ mister braum__  que poderia ser facilmente trocado pela Moeka Kiryuu, mas no episódio 22 ou 23 ele desempenha um papel importante, não quero dizer que são inúteis, mas que são bons por não serem únicos.
Por último, gostaria de parabenizar ao Nytroplus, pelo material original intrigante, que posteriormente gerou o anime steins gate, esse anime se mostra incrível e essa obra merece a sua nota 10.

 Todas as notas apresentadas se referem a como esses aspectos se comunicam com o anime como um todo.
__ANIMAÇÃO__   10/10
__TRILHA__        10/10
__ENREDO__      10/10
__DESENVOLVIMENTO__        11/10
>EL PSY CONGROO

Anime incrível, bem dirigido, e incrivelmente intrigante, recomendo fortemente.

First of all, if you're a big fan of shows like ERASED or Re:Zero, I highly recommend watching this because, in my opinion, it's very similar to those but with a much more interesting and developed story and if you didn't like the mc's from those other shows then I'm sure you'll like this one because he has much more personality.

Warning: Spoiler-filled Review

For starters, this is actually my first ever full review of an anime. I usually just write a little note after a finish a show highlighting some cool stuff in case I wanna look back on my thoughts but I had a good amount of stuff to talk about for this show so I figured I may as well share in a public review so here we go I guess.

I started watching this with some friends going in pretty much blind to the plot and I do not regret that decision. The show was filled with incredibly well fleshed-out characters and I can definitely say Okabe Rinatarou has easily become one of, if not, my favorite protagonists of all time, however, none of the other characters disappoint in both importance to the plot as well as creative design/personality. I'm really not a big fan of the chuunibyou character for the most part in any show but I have to admit Okabe's personality grew on me throughout the show and by the end, I grew to love him mainly for 2 reasons.

1. A lot of the serious stuff he says to other characters gets passed off as a joke but we know as an audience that he's telling the truth. One such instance of this was at the very end when he was telling Hashida about his daughter in 7 years but the response is just "haha more delusional comments by Okabe". Moments like this are gold.
2. Okabe often says he doesn't care about anyone else or anything unless they are an important part of his own desires but we can see pretty quickly how untrue that is as he clearly cares deeply about all of his friends as he's willing to do almost anything in order to save them. Despite all that, he keeps up his persona in order to make his friends feel comfortable even though he knows much more than they all do and only confides in Kurisu who he finds out he's in love with by the end of it all. Also, one of my favorite moments was when he gave Moeka her lab member badge at the end of the season because he knew that all she wanted was for someone to give her a place in the world. Even someone he said he would never forgive was given another chance because that's just the kind of person he is and I fucking love it.

img100%(https://media2.giphy.com/media/mPxA66wgs8s4o/giphy.gif)

Besides Okabe, I loved the fluidity of the other lab members mingling with each other. Makise Kurisu is the most tsundere a girl can get and her curiosity shines in a way that shows how smart she is as well as how much she doesn't know. Mayuri Shiina is your typical airhead bubble of joy and paired with the resident weeb pervert Itaru Hashida and mad scientist chuunibyou Okabe, they make for a great group as a basis for which many friends to join.

As for the audio elements of the show, both opening and ending are catchy and enjoyable to listen to and the OST is great! I love the sci-fi sound effects that are mixed into the background music; reminds me of the Danganronpa OST a lot (which, by the way, is really fuckin good give it a listen). As far as animation goes, I'd say it's pretty solid for the majority of the show especially that sick ass opening scene which caught my attention real fast. 

img100%(https://giffiles.alphacoders.com/162/162534.gif)

Overall, this show was quite a pleasure to watch and I would recommend it to anyone regardless if they're just starting to get into anime or have been an avid watcher. If you're already into sci-fi shows and you somehow haven't watched this, do so now because it's definitely one of the best the genre has to offer. 

Thanks for reading, feel free to post feedback on my profile if you wanna chat about anything! I might write more "reviews" or more just my thoughts on a show if I have enough to talk about in the future.

_Light spoilers if you're great at inferring, anything important spoilered out._

You have to wait until episode 11 they said. I don't want to have to wait that long for a damn show to start. On the other hand, the show following this point is alright, nothing special. As to whether or not the ending made up for it, I'm not sure if I would say it did. For a time travel based show, the story is reasonably well fleshed out, and mostly original. It manages to build a lot of suspense, while trickle feeding you important, sort of rewarding bits throughout it to keep you entertained. The characters throughout this are reasonably well developed, and while lacking motivations (at least until the final conflict) they have well delivered reactions. At times they are a pretty annoying, but it's made up by their interactions between each other. They sort of compliment each other in great ways, there's always ying to someone else's yang you could say.

The visuals are really hit or miss depending on the scene, but leaning more towards lacking. Despite the shortcoming visuals, it does give a style that fits the show well, making it not terrible to look at. To sum them up, it's really just a bit bland and lacking detail to the backgrounds. The extras in the background however, are normally animated rather than static, and sometimes they even reacted to the mains. It was a nice touch, and certainly noticeable, and it wasn't too extra that it pulled away from anything else. 

The soundtrack is great, and the OP/ED are really hit or miss, but they all perfectly fit with the show's style so I'm not going to dock too many points off for it. The characters voices on the other hand, are annoying and don't seem to fit, save for the main, and maybe Kurisu. Especially the chubster, he sounds like he has a stuffy nose when I think they were just trying to make him sound fat. Mayuri also irked me a little, but that may be because her character was just a ditsy emotional support for the main.

That statement sort of transitions me to the problems I had with the characters. Mayuri was annoying, and only existed to drive plot. Kurisu had the same problem, ~!while also just being a romantic interest,!~ and chubster was there to be the cool nerd. In a way, kind of tropey, but also not. The characters just felt a bit raw and undeveloped despite having points where they all got something added to them.

Overall, I didn't hate it after about halfway through, but the buildup sucked and I still hold my argument that any sort of buildup or introduction should never be overly extended. It killed Hunter x Hunter for me and it practically killed this show. At least with this show it had a purpose and wasn't just a extended training arc. I really feel like this show should be lower in my list, but I don't think it's fair because it did have some good qualities - I just don't think it fit me.

Terrible build up to a great reveal. Some lacking aspects but excelling in others to deliver an interesting experience.

• This review contains spoilers


What to talk about Steins;Gate .

 It's kind of hard to find words and say how much this masterpiece is part of my life. Steins;Gate is one of the best things I've ever seen and that made me interested in the Science Adventure Series, if you don't know what I'm talking about it is better to research the visual novels that make up a series! For those who don't know, Steins;Gate is an adaptation of Visual Novel and it was the only one in the series that had a good adaptation and that gets to be better than the original.

img400(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/798291340495945752/802682770509791262/images-21.jpeg)

The story tells of the self-proclaimed mad scientist Okabe Rintarou who lives in a small room in Akihabara, where he invents "devices of the future" with fellow laboratory members Shiina Mayuri, his childhood friend with an airhead, and Hashida Itaru, a hacker otaku. The three spend their time tinkering with their latest creation, a "Microwave Telephone" that can be controlled by text messages. Lab members soon face a series of mysterious incidents that lead to a revolutionary discovery: Phone Microwave can send emails to the past and thus change history. Adapted from the critically acclaimed visual novel by 5bps. and Nitroplus, Steins;Gate takes Okabe to the depths of scientific theory and human despair as he faces the dire consequences of changing the past. 


 The way the story is told is the highlight of Steins;Gate, the beginning can be a little slow and confusing, which drives many people away. But after you finish the anime, thank the beginning for being that way, because if they changed, the story would lose its essence.

The first part of the anime is an introduction, and things start to get interesting after episode 12, which I believe is one of Steins;Gate's biggest points. It is at that moment that we really realized that the anime only made you become more attached to the characters and then destroy you completely.

 I can't get enough of saying that Steins;Gate has such a well-written story, and the management manages to capture the essence of each situation perfectly. Steins;Gate has a circular history, meaning the end connects with the beginning, and everything makes sense. No point in the anime, no scene, is there in vain. Everything has a purpose, so details are essential to understanding plots!

Another element is the SERN that appears so much in the work. In real life, CERN is a European Organization for Nuclear Research, being the largest particle physics laboratory in the world. And last and most importantly, John Titor, who was an Internet user in the 2000s and 2001s who claimed to be a time traveler in the year 2036. John's story is very intrinsic to Steins' story, that's why it is so important. Many events are based on what John Titor claimed at the time.

▪︎Soundtrack

 Well, the soundtrack composed by Takeshi Abo is undoubtedly one of the great pillars of the series and of great importance in moments of tension. Gate of Steiner is one of the best things I have ever heard!  Not to mention the exceptional work of Ito Kananko singing Hacking to the gate and Sky Clad no Kansokusha.


I'm just mentioning this plot cause is my favorite in the serie.

Suzuha's plot..

img400(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/798291340495945752/802693831539687424/20210123_211745.jpg)

The episode 14 where it is revealed that Suzuha came from the year 2036 to save the world from SERN's domain, in my opinion is undoubtedly one of the best and most written things I have ever seen. When you think of John Titor it soon comes to mind that he would be a man in the anime, but it never crossed my mind that he would be Suzuha. Therefore, she used the name John Titor on the Internet forums for Okabe and the others to notice. It was she who made the time machine collide with Akihabara in 2010, just when the Microwave on the phone was being developed. This time machine, revealed to have been created by Daru, could only go back in time, but it could never go to the future. To find the IBN 5100, Suzuha decides to go back to 1975 and then bring it to Okabe to stop SERN. In deciding this, she would have to leave 2010 and could not return. Dedicated to her mission, she decides to go. A few hours after her departure, Okabe and the others receive a letter from her, written in 2000. She reveals that she was unable to recover her PC due to the malfunction of the time machine, causing her to lose her memory until the year. 2000.

img400(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/798291340495945752/802694591631327262/20210123_211730.jpg)

The scene in Suzuha's letter is very painful and one of the saddest parts, seeing that all the good memories she made with the other members being erased is painful, but even more painful is to see how much Okabe gets more destroyed.

Steins;Gate Series Watch Order

Steins;Gate

Steins;Gate 0

Steins;Gate Con't

Steins;Gate Egoistic Poriomania

Steins;Gate 0: Valentine's of Crystal Polymorphism - Bittersweet Intermedio

Steins;Gate The Movie – Load Region of Déjà Vu