Jan 17, 2020
(Major spoilers ahead)
What was the point?
I don't remember 90% of what happened in the first 12 episodes because the storytelling was so unfocused, meandering, and confusing. Aside from Okabe and Suzuha, all of the characters were stale caricatures of anime cliches - the tsundere, the moe, the pervy NEET, etc. Screentime was wasted on scenes that did nothing to advance the plot or build character in a meaningful way, ex. Okabe's date with Ruka taking up a whole episode so we'll feel extra bad for her. Even the comedic parts were unfunny, especially the persistent reminders that Hashida is horny 24/7; his character was
...
fine without the borderline sexual harassment.
I wanted to drop after episode 12, but I kept watching because I've heard this anime has a slow start. But it just got worse. The middle arc could be summarized as Okabe making a chain of frankly idiotic decisions that he has to spend the rest of the season undoing. You would think after the first few D-mails didn't work out properly, especially after Moeka's D-mail backfired, Okabe would think twice about messing with timelines. So what does he do? Send another D-mail. Character motivations in general were forced into molds that allowed the plot to move in a certain direction. Kurisu's father stabbing Okabe is a prime example of this - we're expected to believe a highly intelligent and educated man would resort immediately to violence to oppose his rivals in a public place, risking his entire career, instead of employing subtler methods. The fact that he took out a knife before Okabe provoked him means it can't even be excused as a crime of passion.
Worldbuilding was also glossed over as a convenient plot device. SERN was barely explored - for instance, where did it get funding to provide livelihoods for its agents? How was it able to commit blatant crimes (through its agents, not by time travel) without attracting attention? How did SERN even know Okabe would successfully create a time machine, so early on that they planted FB to watch him? Why was a random picture of a creepy doll texted to Okabe? What was the purpose of discovering that time traveling humans turned to jelly if memories could be transferred instead? The point is, worldbuilding was used to serve the plot when it should have been the other way around, resulting in a bunch of seemingly random and unnecessary details.
The core problem of this anime is its storytelling, which is a shame because Steins;Gate's one redeeming quality is that the themes it explores are actually quite compelling. Okabe's character development through the lessons he learned about the dangers of time travel could have truly shone, if handled with better storytelling. Yet all of that development, all the suffering he endured to learn those lessons, is thrown out the window by having Okabe resolve the central conflict with another time travel deus ex machina. What's worse is that his ultimate motivation was saving a girl he liked without any regard for the fate of the world. Apparently - and Okabe implies this himself - the world could burn as long as his friends survived.
The deus ex machine itself doesn't make sense, either. Just because his past self believes the past hasn't changed, doesn't mean the past actually hasn't changed. And nothing suggests that his past self wouldn't restart the cycle of events from the beginning of the season in an endless loop.
So, back to my first question: what was the point? This anime would be two episodes long if not for Okabe's reckless actions. Perhaps I would have enjoyed the #2 highest MAL rated anime more if I was invested in the characters. Either way, this time the hype let me down.
Reviewer’s Rating: 5
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