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.
