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TL;DR - Anime is a very rushed visual novel and I'm surprised more people haven't noticed.

Quick backstory: I've actually watched Steins;Gate back in 2016 and liked it a bit. Not by much, but I remember having fond memories off it.

Now, 2023, few days ago I've got a sudden urge to play some visual novels. Reason is not important, what matters is that I wanted to read some story with many branching paths and endings. Thought Steins;Gate would make a great contender for that.

And it did. I enjoyed the visual novel a lot.

I even shed tears on two occasions, and that's something. I could count all ... the stories that made me cry ONCE on two hands, yet Steins;Gate VN somehow managed to do it twice? That's just how deeply I got invested into characters.

So then, I decided to check the anime.


Well, I knew it'd be rushed, VN and LN adaptations, by being mostly text-medium, are bound to be slower than their anime counterparts. But I didn't expect this level of rushiness.

I noticed it the most when seeing characters. Mayuri in VN was one of my favourites. Mayuri in anime was just.. meh.

It felt like the studio animating it wanted to get from important moment to another important moment as quickly as possible, cutting off most of the things in-between, which obviously didn't leave enough room for the characters to grow into something more than just one-dimensional stereotypes. Maybe except Okabe, who, while definitely not as fleshed as in the visual novel, still got some character development of his own.

One of the best parts of VN for me was seeing Kurisu slowly open up to Okabe more, slowly start getting closer to him.
In the anime it feels more like she's just always been this "tsundere" girl.

Also omitting stuff like two-days-loop from the anime pains me, as probably many other people that played through the VN.
Sacrificing Suzuha's memories didn't hold nearly as much weight in the anime, as it did in the VN where Okabe literally looped the last two days before her departure sio he wouldn't have to sacrifice her memories.

Watching this anime is very painful.
Back in 2016 I've heard, that Toaru Majutsu no Index is very good light novel, so I've decided to watch the anime adaptation .After watching first two seasons of TAMNI I was wondering "this is at most decent, why is it considered a very good light novel?", so I've decided to try and read it. I don't regret this decision. Toaru Majutsu no Index is the best light novel I've ever read. And I'm not overrating it, I loved almost everything about it. Besides La Regina del Mare Adriatico Arc, even in light novel it isn't good. I've read whole ... OT in about a year, and then started NT, which in my opinion is worse than OT and I never ended it.
After I heard that there will be 3rd season of Toaru Majutsu no Index I was scared. I know J.C.Staff very well and I was sure that they will ruin it. But this is even worse than I imagined. But let's start from the beginning
Story: 9/10
Even if it is executed poorly, it's still the story that I love so much.
Art: 5/10
After I heard about 3rd season I thought that it will have similar art to that in Railgun S. Wrong. It's even worse than in previous season, but maybe a bit better than in first. The fights could have been epic, but they aren't. I thought about rating it even lower, but I've seen anime with worse art than this, so I won't do it
Sound: 8/10
Soundtrack is good, it fits this series and I like it. After it comes out on youtube I'm sure that I will add it to my playlist "Favourite Music"
Character: 3/10
Inner thought of characters from light novel are cut off. Because of that the characters lack depth and I can't identify myself with them. And I'm not only talking about supporting characters, even the main trio is bad. I really liked Hamazura in light novel, I felt he is very similar to me, but I don't feel the same in anime. I hate this anime because of it, characters were the strong point of TAMNI light novel series, but in anime adaptation they're the bad point.
Enjoyment: 2/10
As I writed in the beginning. Watching this anime is painful. It's so painful that every episode I think about dropping it. But I'm still watching, only because I still had hope in J.C. Staff, that maybe when one of the best arcs in the whole series starts up, it will be adapted properly. But after watching episode 6 I think I'm done with it. I'm dropping this series.
Overall: 3/10
Good job J.C. Staff, you ruined one of my most favourite series. I wish that season three would never come up, or that other studio would animate it properly. You had very good source material, how could you fuck this up. I'm done with you, it's my last time I ever watched something made by you. To the people who are only anime viewer - read the light novel, I'm sure you won't regret it. But do it before you watch the anime, because it will spoil the best of it in the worst way possible.