Title: Steins;Gate
Genre: Sci-Fi, Thriller
Rating: 9.7/10
Summary: Steins;Gate is set in the summer of 2010, approximately one year after the events that took place in Chaos;Head, in Akihabara. Steins;Gate is about a group of friends who have customized their microwave into a device that can send text messages to the past. As they perform different experiments, an organization named SERN who has been doing their own research on time travel tracks them down and now the characters have to find a way to avoid being captured by them.
Review: Steins;Gate introduced tons of time traveling concepts and did so quite well. Theories that circulate in our world were implemented into the series to give it a more realistic feel. It did a great job creating a believable setting with unbelievable inventions and gadgets. However, it wasn’t just the strong hold it had on time travel that made the series good; it also had a strong hold on plot development, character design, music, art, and just about everything else that brings an anime together. Has
Steins;Gate become my new favorite anime? It’s possible. If not, I would still definitely suggest it to anyone who hasn’t watched it yet. An epic anime such as this should not go to waste.
This jaw-dropping series was easily the best of the Spring and Summer shows. I couldn’t believe what they had done with it. The art style perfectly portrayed the anime’s serious and comical sides. The realistic colors and heavy shading kept the world believable. Time and time again I could feel myself being pulled into the world of
Steins;Gate. It was as though I was standing right next to the characters as everything was happening around me. The character designs are what really got me excited to watch the series. The faces had subtle differences that still kept the characters unique. The hair styles, clothing, and everything else gave rich visuals to very well thought out personality models. I was pleased to see different environments as well. There were a lot of continuous backgrounds due to the anime’s storyline, but they still tried to keep things fresh. Moving to places like the a playground, new apartment, market district, conventions, etc, kept the series from having a carbon copy look. Of course events within the story also helped quite a bit. Possibly the only thing that I wasn’t too fond of was the static clothing. Although rare, I’ve fallen in love with anime that continuously change character’s clothing over multiple days. Many try to avoid doing such things by throwing it into a work or school setting (where uniforms are always required). A small detail that I overlooked while watching the series that had absolutely no effect on the brilliantly written script.
The dialogue and story of
Steins;Gate is top tier. It had just about everything you could want in a sci-fi. The touchy topic of time travel is rarely explained in various anime because there are hundreds of theories and possible loop holes.
Steins;Gate wasn’t rushed, and took its time to explain every little detail through action rather than dialogue. It was rare to have an episode that was pure dialogue. A scientific anime that isn’t conversation heavy is a feat on its own. I was shocked by the amount of information they gave without going overboard and boring the audience. It seemed like there was always something going on in the series. None of the episodes should be considered filler and there was absolutely no downtime in an episode. The interactions between the characters seemed believable and steady. The overall plot of time travel and “saving the world from impending doom of a controlling organization” feels over played. Until I started watching this series. They took a rather basic plot and made it complex. It soon became more about the mini-plots than the overall story. These mini-plots are what created such a great atmosphere for the series. It allowed for excellent character development and interesting turns. They also took you through the idea of time travel one step at a time. How did they manage to perform such a task? By starting the story off where the characters themselves didn’t quite understand time traveling. Just as the plot development blindsided the characters, it also came to a surprise for the audience. This method of story telling kept the audience in tune with the characters, making them seem more relatable. The times where you felt lost and confused on what will happen next, so did the mighty Okabe Rintaro. It wasn’t like the characters had all the answers or knew exactly what was going on. It is rare for an anime to actually start from the beginning and run till the end.
Steins;Gate managed to pump out a very well written story in only twenty-four episodes and can easily be used as a model for other anime. Now some of you may be wondering with so much praise and no real negative comments why I didn’t give such an awesome anime a perfect score. The answer is pretty simple. For me, a perfect anime can never exist. A perfect anime must have absolutely flawless art, story, characters, and tap into every emotion I can possible feel from anger to sorrow.
Steins;Gate, although extremely engaging, didn’t quite do that. The touching scenes between Kurisu, Mayuri, and Rintaro gave my heart a little swell but nothing as euphoric as some other anime. Nonetheless I do not regret watching
Steins;Gate at all and cannot say it isn’t worth watching to anyone.
The soundtrack for
Steins;Gate was nothing to scoff at either. Another brilliant aspect of the anime that kept me listening to the opening and ending over and over. The only reason I wouldn’t listen to the ending is if I was backlogged and dying to watch the next episode. The soundtrack was beautiful. The pianos of “”Gate of Steiner” simply superb. Not to mention the sexy cover art. If you are a fan of classical definitely check this one out. It is filled with a lot of piano pieces which I love. The opening “Hacking the Gate” can satisfy your rock cravings as well.
Final statements: After such an amazing twenty-four episodes, I cannot wait for the movie. I couldn’t get enough of this series when I watched it. Everything about it makes me wonder how some people haven’t picked it up yet. It seems to have something for everyone, and does it all well. Considering
Steins;Gate has one of the highest ratings I have ever given an anime do I even need to say it is a
must see? El. Psy. Congroo.
