Here's hoping that they actually develop and flesh out the characters this time. Having started with the anime and then the VN, I'm very disappointed that they sidelined Rumiho and only delved into her character superficially. Rumiho is probably the best character in S;G - she has the most depth, is one of the most compelling and interesting characters and is above all, relatable. She's just so generic in the anime, though. When i first saw her in the anime, I paid her no mind. Her 'nyan-nyan' was even more annoying than 'tutturu' simply because she used it in every sentence she spoke. That made me dislike her as a character, as well. However, Faris' ending in the VN, and more importantly how they flesh out her character in Linear Bounded Phenogram is the best characterisation I've seen in ages. Naturally, of course, there are parts of her character that are rough around the edges and could be improved, but I really wasn't expecting it out of S;G, a series that had disappointed me with its generic characterisation.
Long story short, the VN is waaaaaayyyy better than the anime. Well, honestly, what did they expect fitting a 20-hour long VN into a 6 hour long anime? Naturally, details were going to be cut out. Ah well.
The fact still remains that Rumiho remains sidelined in the anime and in the VN. She's a side character, but she honestly deserved the role of Mayuri or Kurisu. Hell, even Daru, maybe. They have such a great character, but she's never used to her full potential. Instead, a generic, archetypical character like Mayuri gets the spotlight. In fact, it's because of Mayuri that I couldn't invest myself emotionally in the anime in the first place. I honestly couldn't care less that she died because there's nothing interesting, compelling or deep about her character. She's really quite bland. Massive miss-fire. Rumiho (or Faris) reflects Okabe's character, yet they never delve in-depth with this.
Ughhh, let's stop talking about the disappointing parts of the original series, otherwise I'd go on a tangent about it for another 200 or so lines. I'm hopeful that Rumiho gets some spotlight in Steins;Gate 0, because I really want to learn more about her character, as she is one of the only characters I'm attached to in the series (even though 'nyan-nyan' annoys the hell out of me), but this probably won't be the case. Some interesting character development for Okabe, though. I can hope that Mayuri's character gains some complexity and depth, but that's probably hoping for too much. I wonder if Daru will develop as a character - there certainly is room for it. After all, Amane Yuki is in this one.
Well, the VN will naturally be better than the anime, no doubt - this much is already obvious. This has some real potential for Okabe's character, though. I guess you could say I like him as a protagonist, but I think the depths of his character have already been explored in the anime adaptation. This series can ground his character more, I suppose, but I don't know how I can put it - what I don't like about Okabe is that he's a really simple character with really simple motivations? It's not exactly like that, but it's like he has superficial depth or something? I can't put my finger on it. There's just something a bit off about his character that prevents me from really connecting with him. However, I think with this new adaptation, I'll be able to truly like Okabe as a character. At least, that's my expectation for this series.
*Edit - Forgot to include my other expectation.
In addition to my expectation of Okabe being totally fleshed out and growing as a unique and compelling character, I'd really love it if we could see some 2020-2036 future stuff. What, with Okabe spearheading the resistance and developing a time machine. Maybe a throwback to episode 23 when he records his message for Okabe. All of this future stuff has been clouded in mystery and it's a real shame that they reveal hardly any of it except through Suzuha's minor explanations. Of course, I don't expect to see a helluva lot of it, considering this series is probably going to be going on for a long time, but I would like to see an episode or two on it. Getting a bit psyched here. |