Steins;Gate

Steins;Gate: The best time travel anime series that ever was or will be. Or exceedingly close to it anyway. And yes, this type of statement needs to be justified so let's rewind a bit and we'll see why it deserves your full attention. This is a clever anime that's initially deceiving, and then surprises you for all the right reasons. Dropping this show before reaching at least the halfway point is an error of gigantic proportions, and it means that some viewers may unfortunately miss out on this gem of a series.

Apart from the opening episode the anime has an arguably slow start, where the ... central characters perform many scientific experiments in their lab to research time travel. That is until we reach the conclusion of one particular test, and then BAM! Just a few minutes later you realise everything up until now has been part of a smartly concealed ploy. You've become emotionally invested in the characters. When bad things start to happen, you suddenly find yourself caring about them. As major events unfold you'll find it hard to tear your eyes away for even a moment. The first few episodes have served to develop the core group of characters as well as to provide details about the experiments, of which the ensuing drama is based upon. Which in turn allows the pacing of the story to speed up when it needs to, and from this point onwards it's an amazing experience.

The transition from the jaw-dropping cliff-hanger ending of one episode to the start of the next, is where Steins;Gate changes from a merely decent anime with an interesting concept and striking visuals into the beginnings of a near-masterpiece in storytelling and suspense. The conclusion to this series is not too shabby either. In fact, it's brilliantly executed and answers many of the questions asked throughout the story.

The lab members are a colourful group who have good chemistry with each other, and there's hardly a single annoying trait between them. You'll quickly become accustomed to each person's individual mannerisms. Okabe Rintarou's conversations with himself, his mad scientist personality, and his amusing interactions with others, are merely a few examples of the things which make him such a tremendous lead character to follow within the story. Makise Kurisu's not exactly far behind; she's intelligent, she's cute, she has several great verbal exchanges with Okabe, and she's a perfect tsundere. Hashida Itaru's perverted imaginations provide some good comic relief, but he's also a capable computer hacker who's a big help to Okabe. Shiina Mayuri's a cheerful, openly honest and good-natured girl who is friendly with everyone, so how anyone can dislike her is beyond my comprehension. She's also Okabe's childhood friend but not a love interest (this is not a romantic comedy). Others such as Amane Suzuha, Kiryuu Moeka and Urushibara Ruka are also recurring characters in the anime but to go into too much detail about them might spoil the story. The total number of characters in Steins;Gate may not be huge, but that's due to the absence of any pointless people; nearly everyone has a significant role in the storyline to at least some degree.

Throughout his adventures, Okabe will inevitably realize that messing around with time travel also affects the lives of the people around him, and so any consequences that arise must be delicately handled. It's in this way that much of the character development occurs for Okabe and we learn more about his friends.

Talented voice actors/actresses, strong opening and closing theme songs, solid yet subtle instrumental music, nice background art, and smooth character animation all contribute to this anime's fantastic production values.

It's common for even the best of anime to contain a few minor flaws, and Steins;Gate is no different in this regard. This includes a distinct lack of action at the start of the anime, and several unconvincingly glossed-over details in the story overall. It's difficult for any form of media such as films or anime to discuss the technicalities of time travel, because in reality we don't know whether it truly exists. Are there contradictions and unexplained theories in Steins;Gate? Perhaps. The important thing, however, is that the anime feeds us with so much exposition (along with a fantastic cast and a compelling story), that we won't care about the small details until long after the final episode ends, if at all.

It's also highly advisable to watch the excellent Steins;Gate OVA afterwards, which is basically episode 25, as it provides extra closure and an epilogue of sorts for the characters. Moreover, tidbits found within the series tease us about events that occur in the future, so hopefully the upcoming Steins;Gate movie will explore this in greater scope.

Steins;Gate is an anime that warrants at least a second viewing. Who knows? You might discover things that you missed out on or didn't fully understand at first. Nonetheless, it offers superb entertainment and thrilling drama that's unlikely to lose out to any other series. Highly recommended stuff for any fan of anime.

Steins;Gate is my favorite show in a season full of great shows. There's not really any 'action' in the classic shounen fighting style, being driven almost entirely by dialogue and character interactions. The story is a strange one that from the first episode shows the signs of time travel and alternate universes, possibly caused by the self-professed mad scientist's 'Phone Microwave.' The highlight of the series so far is the interactions between Hokarin and 'Christina', the genius girl he takes on as an unwilling assistant. The story has been a little slow in developing, but hopefully when things start happening they'll come ... fast and furious.

(Progress; 5 episodes at time of writing)

It started out real sluggish for me for the first 10 episodes or something. "This anime has a ridiculously high rating and it will actually get good" - I kept that in mind as I venture to the next episode.

As I eventually made it to the second half through a fierce struggle, I whimpered "Sh*t just about to get real~" The atmosphere became darker. A lot of plot twists happened. There were things I never expected to happen, happened. As a matter of fact, the climax nearly brought tears to my eyes.

I was thinking about not giving this anime a perfect score of 10/10 because ... I am not quite fond of its art style but the moe characters especially Feyris-nyan, actually wins. m/

All in all, it was a really really really amazeballs fantabulous anime. I never thought I would love sci-fi anime so much it hurts. This anime also turned out to be one of my favorites. If you're a basic anime fan you might find this anime a little dull, but if you're a self-proclaimed mad otaku, you should totally give this anime a shot!! The first couple episodes might bore and confuse you but trust me it would actually be worth watching. I can't wait for the movie to come this April!! El.Psy.Congroo.~

Steins;Gate and Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood. Those are the only two animes I have ever given a score of 10.

I watch Doctor Who and I have played Bioshock, thus I though nothing could ever come close or even surpass such time travel storytelling quality. However, I was mistaken. Steins;Gate is every bit of awesome as those two. The story is utterly excellent, even though one cannot quite understand it at the beginning. It even quotes Heidegger and refers to Einstein!

The characters are so outstanding that it is impossible (or at least highly improbable) not to become attached to them. Makise Kurisu and Okabe Rintarou are both ... two of my personal favourite characters of all time.

The art, sound and pace of this anime are stunning as well. I enjoyed it so much that I could not wait for the following episode! Furthermore, I also believe the OVAs and the movie were great additions to the series. They wrap up every plot line in a very satisfying way.

Steins;Gate is the epitome of perfection. It is funny, intelligent, adorable, sweet, and painfully heartbreaking.

I almost dropped this anime, but a lot of my friends tell me not to, and I really glad that I do as they said.

Story: Stein Gate is one of the best anime that has best plot I ever watch (eventhought my completed anime list not as much as yours maybe, but still doesn't change the fact. Begin with slow pacing and confusing initial eps (that's why I almost dropped it), but after forced my self to watch more and more eps, I found an interesting point, the story development is really attract me. And I have to state that the ending was flawless.

Art and ... Sound: Chara design are so well made and perfectly matched their personalites, so is with the seiyuu voice.

Enjoyment: Although I almost dropped this series, I really found my self enjoying the entire show afterall. Some Romance with (light) harem touch are entertain me, and what makes it better is there's a bunch of absurd behavior and a litte bit of ecchi contained, it always makes me laugh loudly.

Overall: I love this anime, and as I said I really glad to finish it, thanks to all my friends for that. I highly recommended Stein Gate to whoever seek for epic story development.

Steins Gate deserves every bit of the praise the series has gotten since it aired 3 years ago. In my opinion there is no anime that compares to the series. I have been a big fan of time travel stories since Back to the Future (The best time travel trilogy in my opinion) but I went into this anime thinking it would be just another harem comedy with a bit of sci-fi mixed in. I was pleasantly surprised.

Time travel stories usually leave a lot of holes in explanations leaving the audience dissatisfied. However Steins Gate is one time travel story that has all its ... bases covered. The story is based on the true events of the internet meme John Titor who claimed to be from the future and who was looking for the IBM 500 in order to save humanity’s future (google it). When I learned about this fact I was even more impressed with the writers for developing such an interesting plot from a joke someone played on the web. Another thing I liked about the series is that there are three types of time travel. Firstly the D-mail that can be used to shift between world lines, the second Makise’s time machine which can be used to travel back into time in one world line and last but not the least the time machine from the future that physically transfers people. All this is explained very well in the anime so don’t worry if it all seems confusing right now.

The characters are truly jems of the anime world. I fell in love with each member of the “Future Gadget Lab” instantly. I had expected the main character to be your typical anime hero, a loser who realizes his potential due to a bizarre event that changes his perspective on life. However I found Okabe Rintarou or Hououin Kyouma as he refers to himself to be the complete opposite of what I had expected. Firstly Okabe stands by what he believes from the first episode to the last. He claims to be a mad scientist and a mad scientist he proves himself to be. Completely disregarding the consequences of his actions to quench his thirst for creating a successful time-machine he continues to develop the D-mail and later the time machine with the help of genius Makise Kurisu and his college buddy Hashida Itaru.

Makise Kurisu is the perfect counterpart for our mad scientist. Her thirst for achieving success and curiosity about the time machine make her stay at the lab and it is only through her help that Okabe is able to undo his mistakes. Itaru or Daru as he is called by everyone provides some perverted humor but is also a likable character. One of the most loved characters of the anime has to be Shiina, Mayuri our protagonist’s childhood friend. Just a few episodes in and you will be Tuturuuing with her. She also acts as a sort of anchor for the other three whose goals can sometimes blind them to the realities of their actions. The other supporting actors are just as enjoyable and each has a purpose in the story.

The main genre for this anime is obviously sci-fi but the series has equal amounts of humor and some romance that develops later on in the series. The artwork is done well in my opinion the visual effects complement the story wonderfully. I would recommend that you watch this anime with the english dub. The dub script is simply wonderful and the exchanges between Okabe and Kurisu are very entertaining and hilarious.

I have seen this anime eight times till now and have to say I enjoy it more every time I re-watch it. I am sure you will not regret giving your time to this series and will enjoy it as much as I did.

Story: 8/10

Steins Gate is about the emotional outcomes that occur due to the actions from our main character (the mad scientist, Okabe). This anime not only shows how a human can be powerless in certain situations, but how the one specific action can create various effects. Steins Gate also shows how determination can achieve the goals wanted. Most of the anime is about character development and how they go through different hardships to get to their final states. It brings a lot of emotional feelings into the anime through romance between the main characters.

Steins Gate also has many side stories with different supporting characters. ... They, not only have separate personalities, but were given indepth background. It allows the viewer to not only feel for the main characters, but for the supporting characters as well (which does not happen often).

Steins Gate focuses much on the science aspect of the 'microwave' created and how it can affect the general world. One down side (in my opinion) is how the plot line gets a bit boring and dull as the anime goes forward; however, the few ending episodes make up for most of that. The anime certainly doesn't feel rushed and it does show all the personalities of each character.

Art: 8/10

I loved the art because the characters actually showed their emotions most of the times. It not only showed their happiness, but their sadness during critical points of the anime.

However, the characters usually dress the same (except for one or two episodes). This is probably one downside of it.

Sound: 9/10

I loved the music of Steins Gate. The opening and ending themes were sung well! The emotional soundtracks given during the depressing times were also broadcasted well. It made the viewer feel more emotional and 'into' the moment of the anime.

Character: 9/10

I loved how the various characters of Steins Gate have different personalities and how each of them thought differently. Obake, that is the mad scientist, really showed his personality well throughout the anime. It also showed how he develops as a person as a whole through the different people he meets as the story goes on.

I also loved how even the side supporting characters' personalities were shown well. It not only gave life in each of the characters, but also allowed the viewer to feel the moment during the encounters they make with the main character.

Enjoyment: 10/10

I enjoyed the anime because of the great character development and how the main character progresses into the person he is. It not only shows his hardships, but how he tries to manage his situation during each episode. It allows the viewer to see everything in his point of view through a span of a few episodes.

Overall: 9/10

I loved the anime. I would recommend this to anyone who likes romance stories and thrillers, because everything starts unraveling in the middle of the series.

"Whenever you're sitting around in the lab, whenever you sip a drink, whenever you walk around town ... it doesn't have to be every time - one time out of a hundred is fine. All I ask is that you remember me ... because I'll be there. I'll always be there." - Makise Kurisu

Watching Steins; Gate will emotionally impact you. This, I can guarantee, and though the magnitude of the experience varies, you will feel it. You can sleep through series thrown your way by randoms who constantly scream about feels and tears, and I'm sure many of you, including myself, are guilty. ... But sitting through this truly beautiful and sometimes heart-wrenching journey while feeling nothing is an accomplishment outside my reach. The only regret I can take away after finishing that last episode is the bothersome truth that I didn't choose to watch it sooner.

Story - Arguably one of the easiest 10's I have ever given. Time-travel is an incredibly risky foundation to build a story on; delivering a logical, powerful plot on said subject means to succeed in an area where countless failures have, and continue to disappoint. Steins; Gate accomplished this and more.

Characters - Again, another easy 10. An incredible amount of depth and uniqueness resides in every single character, whether you like them or not. To me, the mark of amazing characters reveals itself in how emotionally invested you become as the series progresses.

Okabe Rintarou, a seemingly insane scientist overflowing with eccentricity and completely ignorant to the feelings of those around him, yet quite intelligent and caring, even heroic on occasion. Makise Kurise, a calm, collected, and mature young woman on the outside who, in reality, still possesses the childish curiosity that often compromises that adult-like facade. You'll wish that they were real by the story's end. At least, I did. That was the level of connection Steins; Gate established between myself and its truly amusing characters. Exceedingly rare, and even more enjoyable.

Sound/Art - 10. I don't really possess the fine ear/eye that some critics have for this. Yet, for the time that this series was produced, the animation and soundtracks, everything was phenomenal. It just adds onto the enjoyment. Speaking of which...

Enjoyment - 11. This is the most amazing time-travel tale I've ever had the pleasure of discovering. This is the most amazing anime, in my humble opinion, that I've yet to see so far. Some series focus too much on tangible features and leave no emotional imprint on its audience, like any B-rated action movie starring Tom Cruise. Some series focus so much on making the audience cry that realistic, believable aspects of the story are neglected, ruining the entire work itself. Steins; Gate has nailed the perfect balance in a way I have never seen before.

Watch it. If you're not satisfied, I'll give you a full refund in Dr. Pepper.

You'll understand

When it comes to anime adaptations of visual novels, I would usually recommend you to read the visual novel first, and with “Steins;Gate” I make no exception. Although this adaptation has some good production value and does perfectly fine at bringing the story to life, it misses some of the finer aspects of the visual novel. In the end though, the content is so rich and exciting on its own, that you can’t help but finding yourself really enjoying it anyway.

The story centers around the eccentric, self-proclaimed mad scientist, Okabe Rintarou and his crew of lab members, including the scientific prodigy Makise Kurisu. The lab ... is initially really nothing more than a group of friends goofing around, inventing strange gadgets such as a remote control shaped as a laser gun, or a bamboo-copter with a CCD camera installed. They also have an invention called the “microwave telephone”. It functions exactly as a regular microwave oven, except that its timer can be set from a telephone through mail. One day, the group discovers that the microwave telephone has an additional functionality. They realize then, that they have by pure accident created the world’s first time machine.

The first half of the story introduces the characters and establishes all of the time travel mechanics. It shows the characters spending time experimenting with the microwave telephone in various ways to see what possibilities they now have, since they have gained the ability to alter the future. The organization “SERN” is established as the villains whom in the future have turned society into a totalitarian nightmare by using time travel of their own.

The second half is about Okabe discovering how all of his time altering extravaganzas have put him and the world on a slow course toward ruin. Now he is on a journey in which he must go back and undo the changes he and his fellow lab members have made, to set right what once went wrong.

Stories that have time travel as their central themes have a tendency to focus very much on the philosophical aspects of time travel, such as paradox theories, fate vs. choice, etc. “Steins;Gate” has this as well, but it also has something which you don’t get to see very often, which is a heavy focus on the scientific aspects of time travel. It is interesting to see how much this particular story is rooted in real life. Although there has to be liberties taken (since time travel hasn’t been invented in real life), it stays very true to how actual time travel is theorized to work. Black holes, light speed travel, space-time geometry, etc. The time travel itself isn’t the only thing derived from real life. Just looking at some of the names and terms says more than enough. SERN = CERN, IBN 5100 = IBM 5100, Large Hadron Collider = Large Hadron Collider, you get the point. Heck, even John Titor is in this as an actual character! In this story, all of the claims he made on the bulletin boards are true and actually happened. “Steins;Gate” paints a picture of a world in which everything you could possibly know about time travel in real life, is known here as well. They even make joking references to other time travel stories such as “Back to the Future”, “Groundhog Day”, and “The Girl Who Leapt through Time”.

Okabe Rintarou is a breath of fresh air from your typical visual novel protagonist in that he is an actual character and not just some generic everyday guy. At times he can be serious, and at other times he is 100% ham. He himself allows the story to go from tragic to hilarious at the drop of a hat. The range of his character reflects the range of the story itself. “Steins;Gate” lets you experience a little bit of everything. It is funny, and it is sad. It has scope and it has depth. It is intelligent, and it is silly. It even has a surprisingly touching love story.

Now, if I was reviewing the visual novel, I would’ve ended the review right here and given it a score of 10/10. However, this is a review of the anime after all and for that I have to take a few points off. It’s not that I think this is a bad adaptation (in fact it is a very good one), but the problem I have is with its transition from one medium to another. Having read the visual novel and seen the anime, I feel as though the visual novel medium seemed like a better fit to tell this particular story.

One of the bigger problems I find is how rushed the anime seems, especially when it deals with exposition. In the original visual novel, the writers invested a great amount of time at laying down all of the exposition in the first half of the story so that there would be no confusion later on about say, the mechanics of time travel. That way, they allowed the story to flow fluently in the second half when things were finally starting to get moving. In the anime however, the exposition is glossed over and only mentioned once it becomes relevant to the plot. This creates situations such as Okabe (and the viewers) finding out about world convergence theory after having already seen it. As I had already read the visual novel beforehand, I already knew what was going on, but I can’t imagine how confusing it would have been otherwise, to suddenly see Okabe repeating time over and over again and yet failing to change the future for no explainable reason, even though it had worked before with the “d-mails”.

In general, exposition is something a good writer would want to avoid, but in certain cases exposition can enhance the story and may even be necessary for it to work, and this is one of those cases. Okabe’s back and forth conversations with John Titor, and his meetings with the other lab members are in there for a reason. They serve to lay down the foundation for everything that is to come later on. In the anime, these scenes go by way too fast for anyone to actually be able to digest all of it. Instead, you only get a somewhat superficial summary that only covers enough for the story to be able to carry on.

The non-exposition parts are pretty hasty as well. Some parts don’t carry nearly the same emotional weight as their visual novel counterparts simply because they go by too fast, hence removing the suspense (anything involving Moeka, Dr.Nakabachi’s fight scene etc). Then, there are things that should be a big deal but their importance somehow got lost on the way (The entire John Titor character for example).

“Steins;Gate” is probably one of those stories that are more fit for reading, rather than watching, if only for having more “meat”. If you have watched the anime but haven’t read the visual novel, you should probably give that one a try, because to me, it tells the story in what seems more like the way the story was supposed to be told. Everything flows together more fluently, the exposition is handled better, its direction is a lot clearer, and it is much more suspenseful and exciting. Despite all of this though, the anime is very enjoyable if seen for what it is, and I would recommend it to anyone who is interested.

Clearly, one of the best animes I've ever watched
Steins;Gate, a story about a self-proclaimed mad scientist, Hououin Kyouma or
maybe you know Okabe

I don't know whether I could tell that the story is fully revolving around him or no

Steins;Gate was a wonderful journey.

It took me at least 3 years to get past the first 3 episodes.
Keep repeating, and repeating.
... Keep watching, and watching again.

It was 2023, or 2022, I couldn't recall.

I was just watching this thing non stop, and holy smoke this was good.

From all the little things.
The soundtracks, the feel, the humours (or humors)

Or the things I would love even more to mention

The way Okabe's lab feels like, it FEELS like YOU belong there
How likable the characters are,
How Kurisu being a tsundere while Okabe teasing him
How Daru is being a weeb (likable one)
How Shiina beingi a pure soul you must protect
How that Shining Finger girl, oh yeah Moeka Kiryuu somehow is kinda innocent
also yeah she's cute

The characters are so likable
Then again, the story was boring at first
But I'd sell my parents' house to have an experience to watch this thing for the first time again

This was beautiful, something really enjoyable
10/10

Steins Gate was an anime I was skeptical about for the longest time, it seemed like something I wouldn't like and it seemed to lack any bit of originality. I love being wrong, not only did I enjoy myself the entire time, but I also wasn't able to find any flaws with anything in it. It is a masterpiece of an anime and I can understand now why it is held in such high regard by many people.

Story- The story is about Okabe the mad scientist and his friends adventures upon discovering they have made a time machine out of a microwave, but it's ... quite a bit more than that. There is so much depth to not only the story but the characters in Steins;Gate that it's kind of insane. Since it's about time travel the slightest change can make things spin out of control drastically and that's where most of the story happens. At first it might seem like a comedy, which it is and it actually has some really good comedy in it, but it does get a lot more serious later down the line after a certain event happens. I'm glad that they were able to make it a bit more serious while also keeping the comedy in there. It does comedy and mystery extremely well.
But wait, there's more. Not anywhere does it mention this, but it also has a very romantic side to it, I would even argue that's it's a romantic comedy in disguise, which is a good thing. It has great comedy, a well thought out story that stays interesting the entire time as well as having really emotional scenes that tear at your heart strings while the characters still stay in character. It also has one of the most satisfying endings I've ever watched. To me it seems like too many animes coming out recently are almost scared of actually ending the story so they give you a half ending just in case they want to milk the viewers some more and come out with a dragged out second season which will also probably end on a rather bad note. Not here though, everything is wrapped up rather nicely and I was extremely happy to have spent my time watching it.

Art- The art style is pretty normal and rather simplistic in steins;gate, which is the way it should be. The animation and art-style is all really smooth and high quality and there are some scenes that are done extremely well and are really stylistic, but for the most part it's above average and regular. Those few stylistic scenes really do add a lot to it though and are very memorable.

Sound- The intro to steins;gate is amazing, so are the endings. Most intros/endings I shrug off and forget, but I have a feeling that I will remember steins;gate for a really long time, I just don't see myself being able to forget them because they were so good and well done. The soundtrack and musical ques are equally as good as well, it's a very atmospheric anime and certain segments in the anime are reminiscent of the "other world" scenes in clannad, which I definitely did not expect from this.
I would also like to talk about the english dub. I'm the kind of guy that just ignores english dubs all together mainly because it's usually a lesser version than the japanese dub, but not for steins;gate. I haven't even heard the japanese voices, but I don't see how they could be better than the english voices. The voice actors nailed their characters spot on and it was kind of amazing. Okabe sounded like a mad scientist and Mayuri's voice actress nailed the cutesy Japanese girl quite well. Everybody else also nailed their rolls, but those two stuck out the most to me.

Character- Usually in most animes you find out mostly about the main character and maybe have one small segment about one of the more important side characters, but that's it. Not in steins;gate. You get involved in every character that appears on screen for at least 1 or even 2 episodes worth of story, which to me was kind of amazing. I really enjoyed actually knowing about all of the characters that surrounded Okabe, it made them actually them feel real and only added to the immersion factor. Speaking of Okabe, his character development was kind of amazing. I don't want to ruin it, but he slowly changes throughout the anime and by the end I thought the was the same, but also completely different somehow. It was kind of amazing to see a character develop like that, usually character go from being wimpy to badass and losing all of if not most of their original traits, but not for Okabe. Other than the Okabe the other character develop in a similar fashion. Kurisu for example stays mostly the same during the whole anime, but she slowly becomes more "open" near the end, which is what I was hoping would happen, but wasn't expecting to. It's just nice to see things go the way I want them to every once in a while.
As for Mayuri I wouldn't have minded seeing her develop more like the other characters, but we did get to learn her back-story and learn how she came to act the way she does and to be honest sometimes characters don't need to "develop", sometimes they're fine the way they were and that's what I think about Mayuri. The other main character Itaru is in the same boat as Mayuri except i feel that he does mature a little bit by the end of the anime, even though it's not much it really does seem like he changed, if only a bit.

Enjoyment-If you couldn't tell by now then i'll just go ahead and say it. STEINS;GATE WAS ONE OF THE MOST ENJOYABLE ANIMES I HAVE EVER WATCHED. There, it was really enjoyable, it was hilarious, it was sweet, it was horrific, it was intriguing, it was everything but boring. There isn't a dull moment in steins;gate, there is always something going on that is keeping you entertained, it's fun just watching the characters talk and interact with one another and it's even more enjoyable when they're faced with a challenge. It's simply enjoyable through and through and I can't think of anyone that wouldn't enjoy steins;gate.

Overall- Overall this anime is a masterpiece. It does what it does perfectly and has no faults that I can think of, and I can usually pick apart any anime. It was high quality, enjoyable, written extremely well, atmospheric and just incredibly well done. I can safely reccomend this anime to anybody. Anyone can watch and enjoy steins;gate, but people that really enjoy science or romantic comedies will appreciate it that much more. We need more anime like this, more anime that isn't scared to tell their story and wrap itself up, more anime that don't waste your time, more anime that is high quality an original. Just go an watch it, you won't regret it.

I'm gonna start this review out right. HOLY SWEET JESUS. THE PLOT.

Now that we have that out of the way let's continue with this ramble of a review. Steins;Gate was an anime that I was rather skeptical on. Don't know why but I saw no appeal into it. Even the first few episodes of watching I thought this was going to be a rather mediocre and cliche story.

...As I speak i'm kicking my own ass for this. Steins;Gate is what many consider a marvel. A simple masterpiece of the explanation of time travel. While this is in it's own respect an excellent anime, to ... call it the best anime would be overshooting it. While everyone on the face of the earth is trying to find all the good things about this putative 24 Episode epic, i'm going to try my hardest to bash this anime. Believe me, this is going to be a very hard job to do.

First things first, this is not a Sci-Fi show you don't simple wait a day for an episode to watch. A lot of anime have a rather annoying knack to drag you in with a completely unrealistic plot that just brainwashes you into watching 6 or 7 episodes a night, losing sleep. As I say that, I just burned through 12 episodes in one day.

Anyways, to what actually matters. Steins;Gate has a somewhat predictable plot. Provided that the beginning of the story seems very mysterious and kinda blurry. Once you finally synced into the plot of what Okabe's motives and inventions are, it becomes a rather predictable and somewhat based story line. Of course, this adaptation came from a game so that doesn't help.

It ain't no color masterpiece. There really hasn't been too many scenes in the anime where the main characters will go out the window and see the world filled with beauty, grace, disgust, or griminess. It's rather disappointing because they can make some photogenic clouds man. :c

The Characters are your standard bread and butter characters that you get to see in tragic times. Meh. What can I really say except, ditto? The Tsundere acts like Tsundere, the Yandere acts like Yandere, the mad scientist acts like a made scientist. What else do you want?

The story is somewhat of a common idea; not exactly being overdone by other various popular topics like the over exaggeration on adorable people and items. Time Travel is a mythology that has been implemented into many video games, shows, and movies before Steins;Gate's time like Star Trek, Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure, The Legend of Zelda. The difference here, this is a different type of Time Traveling. Maybe I am being too biased onto how varied Steins;Gate's theories are. Take a guess.

So overall...It is an outstanding anime. It isn't named ranked #3 of the best anime in MAL for satirical reasons. The plot has some of the best views and images of how time travel can come to be. All the characters play their parts correctly and add their own flare to them. To me, this anime took the best of meme jokes and cheap gags and combined it with a mixed plot, science, and a really bizarre and crazy scientist. It flows evenly and nice throughout the whole show and I would be lying to you if I said that the plot isn't amazing. Check this one out as soon as you can. I can guarantee you, it will not disappoint.

Have you ever noticed how any movie or TV show about time travel has such a convoluted plot that that you can never quite remember what the heck actually happened? If you were to ask me to explain the plot of “Back to the Future” I wouldn’t know where to begin. Steins;Gate, however, manages to cut through all of the convoluted plots, scientific jargon and confusion in a presentation that is startlingly simple, yet very effective.

Steins;Gate seems to be that dark horse that no one expected to do well, yet finds itself ranked among the top shows on MAL. So is it really worth your ... time?

Absolutely!

Breakdown:

Story (10/10)- Steins;Gate is largely about the concept of time travel, yet much of the plot occurs without the presence of an actual time machine. So what does that leave us with? Well, the thing that attracted me to this show early on was how simple and charming it was. I could tell by the dramatic way this show opened that I wasn’t watching a comedy, yet I kept finding myself laughing at the way the characters interacted with one another.

The caste consists largely of the members of the “Future Gadget Lab”, a group of nerdy, aspiring scientists (and a few others) who work in a small apartment. Their leader, a self proclaimed “mad scientist” has a vision for making all sorts of strange gadgets, but since his work is largely useless, they lack the funding to do anything substantial. By pure luck, they create a gadget that sends a text message into the past, and their small lab is never the same afterward.

Steins;Gate remains unique because the creators of the show didn’t abuse the concept of time travel. Frankly, they don’t even bother to throw a bunch of techno-babble at you. They simply show that the characters have created a device that sends text messages to the past, and allow the viewer’s imagination to fill in the gaps. This is much better than trying to come up with some ultimately made-up solution that doesn’t even make real sense.

Frankly, there’s no way to explain the plot of the show without giving everything away. However, as many shows with this theme do, Steins;Gate goes through quite a series of twists that you more than likely won’t see coming. Every time I thought I had this show figured out, it would surprise me again. No details are forgotten, and seemingly inconsequential things will frequently come back to become major obstacles for the characters to overcome. By about halfway through the show, you’ll begin to understand how truly intense the plot becomes.

The best thing about the story was that it kept me hooked, which is frankly the best, albeit subjective, measure of how well a story is designed.

Art (8/10) - A lot of this show seems to have a white, washed-out sort of look to it. It certainly helps to give the show the mood it’s going for, but does get a bit monotonous at times. The characters’ movements and costume designs are believable and satisfactory, but not outstanding. Frankly, there isn’t much more to say about this show’s art. There were barely any action scenes or explosions and no weird creatures to draw, so I suppose the creators left it simple. Well done.

Sound (9/10)- I noticed early on that there wasn’t much music in the show, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but Steins;Gate pushed the envelope in this area a bit. In lieu of music, there are often cicadas screeching in the background. This remains a theme throughout the show, and occasionally grew tedious to listen to. But during the shows more dramatic parts, music fades in on a much more regular basis, helping to add mood, but not much else. The only real musical bright spots were the opening and closing themes of the show, which I enjoyed tremendously.

However, it wasn’t the music that caused me to score it a 9/10, it was the voice acting. The voice actor for the protagonist was outstanding, and the rest of the cast filled in their roles admirably. The dialogue in this show easily could have come off as cheesy or overdone, but the skill of the actors involved really helped to keep everything believable. I especially enjoyed listening to that mad scientist cackle, which might have sounded ridiculous from another actor.

Characters (10/10)- Very few shows have made me laugh as hard as this one has, mostly due to the shenanigans of the protagonist, Okabe Rintarou. He calls himself “Hououin Kyouma”, the mad scientist, but his friends all call him “Okarin” (presumably short for his full name). Okabe frequently pulls out his cell phone to talk to no one in particular, explaining how he’s being tailed by “organization” agents. His friends frequently point out that he isn’t talking to anyone, but this doesn’t seem to deter his paranoiac tenancies. He also gives ridiculous nicknames to many people he knows, such as “Christina” for Kurisu and “Mr. Bruan” for his landlord.

Okabe makes for a surprisingly believable “mad-scientist” and his antics will certainly keep you entertained while the plot gets going. His friends Myauri (Tutulu!), Itaru and Kurisu make for a very interesting grouping. Mayuri is just downright adorable, Itaru a perverse computer hacker, and Kurisu a brilliant college student who won’t admit that she actually likes Okabe. Kurisu and Okabe see a lot of development as the show goes on, and they form a very believable friendship, where it seems as though neither of them truly understand how they feel about each other until late in the show. Okabe really just annoys her at first, but she later warms up to him as they continue to experiment on their gadgets.

The character that receives the most development is Okabe, who is forced to witness true horrors over and over again as he tries to use time travel to sort things out. Watching him go from a quirky, paranoid goofball into a determined, yet depressed man is fascinating, if not sad to watch. Watching his character slowly change as he works to overcome the mess that he helped create is a very satisfying experience, and you’ll find yourself loving him as he seems to mature in front of you.

The thing that impressed me most was how the show avoided “stock” characters. There wasn’t one specific “comic relief guy” or the “aloof, secretive, detective guy” or even the “hot, fanservice chick”. Instead, you had all of the characters working together to drive the plot, mood, and emotional impact of the show toward its conclusion. The charming cast is really what makes this show into the exceptional work that it is, even weird characters like Feyris, who feels the need to insert “nyah”( the Japanese version of “meow”) in nearly every sentence she utters.

The show did a remarkable job of making me actually care about nearly every character it introduced, which is certainly no easy feat.

Enjoyment (10/10)- Normally when I enjoy a show, I’ll limit myself to one or two episodes a day, so that I can watch it for longer. I couldn’t help myself with Steins;Gate, and watched the final six episodes in one day, not to mention watching multiple episodes on several other occasions. The best way to explain it is that this show hooked me from early on and never let go, winding up on the list of my all-time favorites. Perhaps it’s because I went into it not knowing what to expect, and was pleasantly surprised. This is one of only six shows I have ever given a 10/10, so you could say it impressed me quite a lot.

Give this one a shot. You won’t regret it.

Overall (10/10)- My overall scores don’t actually add up to ten, but there’s something about this show that I simply love. Somehow, this show was able to overcome its flaws in ways that made something truly exceptional. There were plenty of flaws in this show, and a number of ideas remained unexplored, but further explanation would have just bogged down the pace of the show, and would have ruined what I felt was a very satisfying conclusion.

Maybe some people don’t like happy endings, but I feel like some script writers try so hard to avoid a cliché ending, that they ultimately make the show worse. I think Steins;Gate managed to avoid that trap in a way that didn’t make the ending feel cheap or artificial. I think a lot of shows could take a leaf out of the book of Steins;Gate, and who knows, maybe some will.

Here’s to hoping.

El. Psy. Congroo.

I know this anime is highly acclaimed by virtually everyone, I understand it is a favorite of many respectable anime lovers, and I don't want to offend anyone. I am posting this review simply for the fun of expressing my (divergent) opinion. Please read on before judging and feel free to discuss!

***

Steins;Gate is definitely worth watching for its peculiar take on time travel and its unique main character, but it otherwise doesn’t stand out as an exceptional anime. It never completely sheds its visual novel skin, and therefore the storytelling and characterization feel stiff and restricted.

Story 8
The basis for the story is excellent: a ... very intriguing concept of time machine is introduced early on, and the possibility of switching between world lines is a gold mine of narrative opportunities. What makes these ideas even more remarkable is the fact that the whole thing feels well-researched and consistent, respecting its own set of rules without major contradictions. However, I don’t think the show took full advantage of its powerful plot drive. The first half of the series is mostly dedicated to pedestrian slice-of-life that feels shallow and repetitive. The pace picks up halfway through, but even then, the plot remains disappointingly linear for a story about time travel and there are few actual surprises. If anything, some plot points seem rather random. There is no definite statement about time travel, no obvious consequences, which feels lackluster as it is in essence a sensitive ethical question. Had the series ended at episode 22, we could have concluded that messing with time is futile in the face of fatality, but the last two episodes changed the game and made another kind of time travel acceptable. Overall, it felt like time travel was used as an excuse to create personal drama rather than as a way to drive the story forward. Incidentally, drama is precisely where the anime is most successful in my opinion: it depicts the emotional journey of the main character with commendable sensibility. So, although it isn’t as poignant as Toki wo Kakeru Shojo, I think Steins;Gate fares better as drama than science fiction.

Characters 7
The main protagonist deserves praise for being so unique and off-the-wall. He surrounds himself with friends by assuming a mad scientist persona, and although he can be quite extravagant and bossy, he is actually a very caring person. He has enough charisma and quirks to be credible as the mobilising force of the group. On the other hand, the said friends are bland cardboard cut-outs from every anime you’ve ever seen - tsundere, moe, maid café, otaku - and they remain perfectly one dimensional throughout the series. Not only are these characters defined by their stereotype, they barely interact with each other beyond the usual “you’re cute” and “you’re a pervert”. The interactions between the protagonist and the side characters nonetheless manage to be interesting, and it leads to heartfelt moments towards the second half of the anime. Once again, the real highlight is the character development on the protagonist’s part. The way his tribulations shape his motivations and behaviour is both captivating and endearing.

Sound 9
The opening is very catchy and will probably stick with me for a long time. The voice acting is great. Sure, it made me question the clichés at stance (do fat guys really have to have that voice? do you know any girl who actually talks like that?), but considering what they were given, I think the voice actors did a fantastic job. They kept it real and enjoyable, without going over the top. Similarly, I enjoyed the rest of the soundtrack, which was mostly subtle and understated.

Art 7
I liked the character design and the art style in general, but I thought the animation was average. Faces got distorted under certain angles and perspective wasn’t always done right, which ended up being a distraction. On top of that, backgrounds were mostly dull and repetitive.

Enjoyment 5
It’s hard to understand why I didn’t enjoy this anime when everybody else did. Perhaps I had too much expectations going into the series, but to me it felt like a dry visual novel adaptation. Between the pacing problems, the annoying characters and the pointless conversations, I had to drag myself forcefully through the first half of the series. The episodes were so uneventful I honestly couldn’t tell whether I was at episode 3 or 7. During the second half, it became truly enjoyable and even thrilling, but it was not enough to make me forget about the boring start. I found the story to be well crafted on a technical point of view, but lacking purpose or surprise. It ends up being a good anime, but nothing more, and I am left wondering what is supposed to be so great about it.

In summary, I think the real strength of Steins;Gate is its genuine depiction of emotions, whereas it falls short in terms of having a convoluted plot or a philosophical perspective. The anime also irremediably suffers from its unoriginal cast of characters, except for the exceptional protagonist.

***

I apologize again for trashing the # 2 anime on this website, I can’t believe I’m saying all these bad things about an anime that scores so high. I can’t seem see what makes it so perfect in other people’s eyes, I really can’t, and I wish I could because I love time travel and good stories.

I like to think of this anime as two separate ones: the first half and the second half. I would like to review the two separately because I feel they are radically different in many levels.
There’s a few super spoilers in this review, and that’s because it’s meant for people who’ve already watched the show. If you don’t want spoilers, this review isn’t for you.

First half.

We, the viewers, get introduced to all the characters, and see exactly what they do and how they function. We also get a sense of what type of mood this anime is trying to set for us, which we ... quickly realize is a sort of relaxed slice of life sort of thing.
A few crazy things happen such as Kurisu’s dead body, and we learn that this anime will probably have plenty of serious moments. The viewer learns about John Titor and the conspiracy with SERN, and we get to learn with the characters how time travel works in their world.

I must say that I thought the first half of the anime was extremely compelling and a great watch. My favorite scenes are when Okabe is chatting with John Titor online, and when the crew reads the info about sending people into the past and them turning into green gooey messes. I found it very interesting when they finally built their time machine and began sending text messages to the past in order to see the effects. While sometimes it didn’t make any sense (Ruka for example), it was nevertheless interesting and fun to watch the characters squirm over it.

Second half (begins when Mayuri gets shot by the FB girl)

This is when the show radically changes its mood. No longer are we just watching some scientists discuss time travel oh no, now an important character has been killed and Okabe is on a quest to save her. This second half is really just awful, and completely transforms the anime into something it was doing so well not being; a standard time travel show.
Now, the mood change alone isn’t what makes this second half so bad. In fact, the shift could have been awesome if not for one thing: the plot. The plot at times just doesn’t make any sense logically. Let me run through the ones that most bother me.
1. Mayuri dying.
Was there any real reason why Mayuri was destined to die regardless of what Okabe did to try to save her? Not that I can recall. As long as Okabe pulled her away from the first way she died, which was getting shot by the FB girl, Mayuri should have been fine. But no, for some reason, in order to save her, Okabe has to reverse all the texts he sent in the past and only then will Mayuri be able to live.
Am I the only one who doesn’t see the logic in that? What exactly would reversing the texts accomplish? Maybe reversing FB’s text would stop her from killing, but what relates the remaining texts to Mayuri at all?
2. Breaking the anime’s own rules.
The anime made it very clear that they were only capable of sending a few bites through time and anything larger would become a green gooey mess because it would have to be compressed and whatnot. However, it discards that completely by revealing that John Titor indeed came from the future with her very own time machine. The anime pulls a double whammy of breaking it’s own rules by first having John state that she cannot go forward in time, only backward. However, later on John comes back with a time machine that can now travel both ways. Come on, give me some consistency.
3. Many girls Okabe talks to suddenly gets flashes of parallel worlds.
Was there any reason that the Nyan nyan girl, Ruka, or Kurisu would get flashes of what happened in alternate time lines? Okabe is the only one who can recall the alternate time lines, and why that is is explained in the anime. No logic is given as to why these girls suddenly remember what they did in a world that didn’t happen for them. Nyan nyan should never have recalled that her father died in the other time line. Why would she?

In addition to these flaws in the logic, I also just had trouble keeping up with Okabe. I just didn’t think Mayuri was worth saving. Maybe if she was a more interesting girl who I, as a viewer, also got attached to, then I would have cared. Unfortunately, she isn’t really developed much at all, and as such I couldn’t have cared less whether Mayuri died or not. Maybe if Kurisu was the one getting killed each time that might have helped.

Those are my main complaints about the latter half. It also gets painfully obvious the anime is based off of an H-game in this half, as Okabe later gets some alone time with each girl. Those scenes are neither fitting for the mood, nor entertaining. It was especially bad since the anime long abandoned it’s slice of life cheery mood in exchange for the rush mode in the latter half. These dating scenes were horribly out of place, unless, of course, I was playing an H-game.

If I got to rewrite the latter half, I might take out the Mayuri getting killed shenanigans completely. The anime didn’t have to turn into a rescue mission, it could have just continued with its first half’s style of time travel research, and continue teaching it’s moral lessons about how changing the past has drastic consequences that nobody could anticipate. They could have sent some message into the past which causes a certain character to never be born, or to never meet Okabe, and the characters could be developed as Okabe tries to fix the messes he’s responsible for. Okabe could send a message into the past which triggers himself never being born, ooh that would be really interesting. They could have, while researching, received a text from themselves in the future. What kind of message would it be, and would they ignore it? John Titor’s method of time travel could have been something crazier, like a worm hole appearing in the future. Time travel is a great concept, and could have been done in a much more compelling way in the latter half. The first half is great though, so I recommend watching that.

Well, it's time to write a huge and no one interesting feedback on this title If anything, then there are no spoilers. He definitely went into my top 10 anime and definitely went into my soul, but let's start in order.

Story 9/10- It is interesting, it captures and is a bit complicated at the beginning, only after watching a few episodes begin to understand what's what. At the same time everything begins with fun and adventure, and then you watch 12 episode.... for the whole title I had time to experience many emotions and tenderness, and joy, and happiness, and shock, and pain, but despite ... the last interest only increased. Of course, without story holes did not happen for example at the end you can find several her which seem to, be significant, but also not and yet we do not know much about the future worlds.

Art 8/10- In general, the drawing is good, given that the title is already 7 years old.

Sound 8/10- music is always on topic, the voices of the characters are very cool.

Characters 10/10- all the characters in action are revealed very well, the main characters, such as Mayuri, Main hero or Kurisu for example, very much empathize, to them you penetrate and you understand them. For their development is interesting watch. So you can see how throughout the title Okabe, Rintarou changes and by the middle it is not the same person, as it was in the beginning, well, and Kurisa top tsundere, they all have their own problems, and they all have to make tough decisions, in one word they are felt as alive, and not as a puppet doll. It is a pity that all this time was not enough time for Moeka, Ruka, and Rumiho, but even to them you have time to penetrate.

Enyoyment 10/10- Anime did not let go until the end.

Overall 10/10- Although someone complains that the beginning is stretched, but on the contrary it was fun to watch this atmosphere in that small laboratory- Masterpiece

Review wrote on emotions.

Steins;Gate is a fascinating anime with a different take on time travel than other shows and movies. Where Steins;Gate really shines is in its story and character development.

The story starts off a little slow, but has a good amount of comedy and references that keep it interesting until the "time machine" has been fully developed. At this point, the story really takes off and becomes very serious at times, while still bringing up some humor and references to keep the show and the characters from becoming too depressing.

Steins;Gate does very well in character development, particularly in the main character Rintarou Okabe. At first, Okabe was ... a rather obnoxious character who did not take the morals behind time travel seriously, only looking at it with curiosity. Over the course of the story, however, Okabe's experiences with time travel really change his attitude towards his friends and really his overall demeanor. Okabe's development really made his story worth telling and sympathies for his plight are well deserved.

My only problem with the characters in Steins;Gate is that not many of the other characters go through much change, which makes sense because they are not time traveling like Okabe, but I would like to have seen a little more backstory for Makise Kurisu and Mayuri Shiina and more character development for Itaru Hashida. I did like the bits and pieces of backstory given about the other side characters which made their problems seem just as important and Okabe's, making his decisions all the more difficult and showing how admirable he was in the past and present.

Steins;Gate has very good animation and sound, but these are not the focal points of the show. There is very little action sequences or many superb animation scenes, but that really fits with the story and the show and makes it seem all the more realistic. The soundtrack did a very good job of lightening the mood when necessary and making emotional scenes more emotional, but there are only a few soundtracks that are really exceptional. I do have to say that Steins;Gate has one of my favorite openings.

I recommend Steins;Gate to anyone looking for a really enjoyable plot with a set of very diverse and interesting characters. While not without flaws, Steins;Gate does present a new story with a very satisfying development and conclusion.

I started off watching Steins;Gate because I'd seen it had a very high score on Anime News Network, but I didn't know anything else about it (not even the premise) so I gave it a shot and threw the first episode into my pilot list. Maybe it could live up to the hype, and if not, I'd only have wasted about 20ish minutes. The first episode got me wondering, but the second caught me hook, line, and sinker.

Steins;Gate is largely a dialogue heavy story about time travel and the effect changing points in time will have on the reality you know to be true. I ... could say it like "diverging world lines", but c'mon, I don't want to poorly explain M theory here. It'll change entire parts of peoples lives and memories, parts of the city, and even parts of history itself for an observer, that's all you need to know. The main protagonist, Okabe, is an eccentric "scientist" with a rag tag group of friends. Within the opening episode, he accidentally changes a point in time by pretty much using a phone that sends texts to the past, causing someone who should be dead in his reality to remain alive, the second main protagonist, Kurisu. As the show progresses, each "lab member" gets to change one piece of the past, slowly but surely changing everything Okabe knew to be real, leading to a terrible future where not all of his friends get to live. The time travel mechanics in this show open up a huge range of ways to keep the show from becoming stale and are probably the tightest I've ever seen outside a book, and the chemistry between the characters makes them feel more human than some people I've met. It's a deeply immersive show that you can really get pulled into, which is my excuse for watching the whole thing in one go and not my apparently terrible self control.

The writing in this show is superb from the each one of characters to how the plot progresses and deals with time travel changes, but what makes this show a ten in my book is the voice cast. This has without doubt the best english dub I've ever seen, there is no line of dialogue out of place. It made a place in Japan, where I'm pretty sure the culture is fairly different to mine, feel like a place I knew just down the road. Everyone feels genuine and believable, and it's hard not to want everything to work out for them. This is what got me to fall for the romance undertones of the two protagonsts, this show made me want them to be happy together. I really enjoyed how they didn't force a romance plot down your throat, it's done slowly and surprisingly tenderly throughout the show. You'll even like the platonic relationships before the halfway mark. The climactic scenes got my heart racing, my eyes watering, and my sleep schedule incredibly interrupted. Watching a man's desperate struggle to change fate and save the people he cares about has never been done so well on any show, not just an anime. Just imagine it, if you could go back in time to save someone you cared for, how many times would you try until you got it right, and what would happen to you in the process?

The animation was very, very good. This is the kind of show that has a fairly limited amount of moving parts like fight scenes, but I never took my eyes off the screen thanks to the subtle ways the show kept me engaged, from choices of colour, to set and character designs and unique poses, and background animation. The sound fits like a ribbon around the whole thing, never breaking the mood for a second and really toying with my emotions in those touchy feely scenes.

All in all, this show that I took a risk on with no knowledge about turned out to be my favourite modern (read post-2010) anime series I've ever seen, and I can't stop recommending it to my friends. I've already converted one, why not become number two and roll the dice like I did? There's a labcoat in it for you.

Honestly, I've never cared to write a comment or review about anything in my life. Not for an Anime, a Show, a Movie, not even on those discussion posts they make you do in college, but something about this masterpiece compelled me too. The way this anime made me feel, is what I thought images from a screen could never do. If you're a meat head like "MrHaben89" and you don't like it, it is what it is, but I recommend everyone to at least give it a chance.

It's like "Kyouma Hououin" says, nothing ventured nothing gained.

If I could give it an 11 I ... would.

When reading negative reviews, I can't help but think that some of these reviewers forget: anime is ultimately supposed to be entertaining. Movies, tv shows, and anime all fall under "entertainment" bracket for a reason. If your biggest priority in what you look for in anime is moral epiphanies or life-changing lessons, you're often going to be disappointed. You're much better off reading books, listening to lectures, or experiencing more real life events. Not to say that anime or movies can't give you education or culture, but if a visual medium is not entertaining, it's not a good anime/movie/w/e regardless of its conscious message. Steins;gate ... is entertaining.

At this point, to make this review worth reading, I want to address what people don't like about it, the most significant one being its slow start and trope characters. I think most people acknowledge it handles the plot that actually deals with time travel well which I agree considering how heavily scrutinized every film about time travel is. As for its flaws--what can I say--it didn't bother me as much as the people who hated it, and at that point, good or bad score depends on how bothered each viewer was by this. I mention it b/c I don't think it would be as bothersome if they came to terms with what anime is about.

I'm not someone who has watched anime all my life. As a relative "outsider" therefore, it's easy to see the unique "charm" (perhaps comparative advantage) of anime that makes me go back to this niche every now and then. I hardly approach modern sci-fi anime with a stern "Minority Report" tone or "Blade Runner" tone because it's the inherent silliness of some characters in anime that I precisely appreciate and what I think stands out versus other visual medium. And that to me was what the first half of steins;gate was about. More importantly, I didn't think Okabe Rintarou was a cookie-cutter protagonist. I thought he was developed well and, towards the end, it really showed that the whole show focused more on Okabe's mental toll of dealing with time travel and his perspective on what is worth changing vs not about ourselves rather than any social commentary or a cautionary tale about time travel itself. As for the other characters, even though they succumb to "tropes," I thought the show made them much more iconic than in other shows. In other words, they entertained and did their purpose as supporting characters. Memorably. One thing that fell under radar is how they cleverly "showed" character development by not showing it--when you realize that time travel can change a character by superseding or deleting their past and future, it's quite powerful especially through Okabe's perspective. So for me, I enjoyed the second half like most people, but I also had a fun time with the first half as well, mostly b/c it matched my expectations of what anime entails.

Needless to say, the second half of Steins;gate is compelling. Anime as a whole (especially shonen) usually pulls more deux ex machina than I can handle, but I thought Steins;gate had one of the least forced climax and resolution in a while, precisely due to its impeccable groundwork. It certainly explores the uncomfortable truths of time travel but it never forgets to be quite personal even while maintaining a grander purpose. You'd be surprised how easy it is to be lost in bland butterfly effect fiascos and "save the world" cliches in time travel stories.

As for soundtrack and animation, it has 2 or 3 gems that fits the show well overall and, as stated in my profile, I don't really look into animation much when assessing anime unless it's terrible, which wasn't the case for steins;gate imo.

Ultimately, I personally think Steins;gate, like other popular anime, suffers from unfair criticism. It's expected--every action meets an opposite reaction. Wouldn't necessarily call it nitpicking, but some people enforce much heavier impact on the "negative" things about steins;gate when grading while ignoring the many things it got right. Point by point, I think Steins;gate is one of a kind.