I've never been that much of a science fiction fan, it just never really caught my attention.
Until Steins;Gate.
Steins;Gate elegantly weaves time travel theories, fantastic characters, real world events, and romance into something close to a masterpiece.
I will say that this is my first review, and it may not be as long or detailed as others', but I do intend to include everything of importance, so bear with me here.
I'll be trying to spoil as little as possible in this review, but there may be some minor spoilers lying within my words, so readers beware.
Now, onto the review!
Story: 10
Like I said, I'm not too familiar
...
with science fiction, so I can't accurately compare it to many other time travel stories, but that's not necessary to appreciate how fantastic a series this is.
I've come across several series that involve time travel, or throw it into the mix as a sort of "Plot Twist" and just fall flat and ruin everything. Steins;Gate does not do that, however. Steins;Gate constructs a unique story that makes time travel seem simple, realistic and believable while still remaining original and fascinating.
It also not only focuses on the effects of time travel, but on the act of time travel itself. In fact, the whole first half of the show is mostly the characters running experiments, testing the limits of their time machine, and studying ever minute detail. Some argue the pacing during this is too slow, but I believe it's engaging, interesting and incredibly creative. It's a much more realistic approach, and getting the slower stuff out of the way in the beginning is much better than having to deal with it in an anti-climactic way during more suspenseful episodes.
However, about halfway through the series, shit hits the fan when a nasty plot twist emerges. Subtly foreshadowed and perfectly timed, it was neither expected nor out of nowhere. After this, the series becomes significantly less lighthearted and much faster paced and suspenseful. In the latter half of the series it deals with the effect of time travel, but does so in a way that doesn't fall for typical, predictable cliches. Steins;Gate has one of the most intriguing, and creative stories I've seen.
Art: 8
Unfortunately, the art is nothing particularly spectacular. Nothing really stands out, there are no scenes that fill you with awe at how wonderfully animated they are. However, it is in no way bad, or lacking. The art accomplishes what it wishes to accomplish, no more no less. It's nothing worth deducting points off of the show overall, nor is it worth adding any. The animation in Steins;Gate has little impact on the series, so there's not a lot to say about it.
Sound: 9
Like the art, the soundtrack isn't much worth noting, with the exception of the opening, which fits the mood of the show and has become one of my personal favorites that I didn't once skip during the series, the background music is pretty simple, it adds to the scenes, definitely, but there are no tracks I really payed too much attention to.
Now, that being said, I don't like to review voice acting since I don't speak Japanese and therefore don't know how realistic it is, but comparing it to other anime I've seen, it's done exceptionally well. Each characters' voice is lively and filled with emotion, especially the main character. Every voice is perfectly cast and completely fitting to the character's personality. You can obviously tell how much effort was put into the voice acting in the original Japanese dub.
After finishing the series I went back and tried the English dub, which was, while not the worst I've heard, not nearly as well-done as the sub. So, unless you are opposed to having to read subtitles, I would absolutely recommend watching the sub rather than the dub.
Characters: 10
I struggled for a while deciding whether or not to rate the characters a 9 or a 10, but in the end I decided it deserved no less than a 10. The cast, while of course not totally without flaw, is the closest to perfect I've ever seen. You could put all the characters in a room together and just the interactions between them is highly entertaining to see. these interactions are what make the slower first half of the series so enjoyable to watch, there's hardly a dull moment in this entire series.
As all of the characters are so different, and due to how much each of them add to the series, I think the least I can do is review each member of the main cast individually;
Okabe Rintarou: 10
I'll start with our main character, Okabe Rintarou. With how many boring, personality-less male main characters there are in anime, especially more recent ones, Okabe is a breath of fresh air. He is vibrant, lively, and all the flaws with the other characters is made up for with this fantastic lead.
Okabe receives excellent development, and is very... Human, he's realistic. He has flaws, but in the way a good character should, the series would not be the same without him, and I cannot praise him as a character enough.
On top of that, his romantic relationship with another character, Makise Kurisu, is not forced whatsoever. It's one of the few anime romances that I actually enjoyed. The two have great chemistry and while the romance isn't a major focus through most of the show, it definitely added a nice touch.
Makise Kurisu: 9
Kurisu starts out as just your typical, cliche tsundere love interest, and while she doesn't develop as much as the main character, she does evolve into a much more interesting character, and I feel she pulls off the tsundere trope much better than many.
The problem with so many female anime characters is that they're usually either ridiculously overpowered and have no point other than to be badass, or are weak, whiny, and really have no point at all, with the latter being much more common. Makise Kurisu takes both of these and blends them together into what I think is a really great character. She's intelligent, and strong, and at the same time has real emotions and weaknesses, but she still really stands out from other tsundere characters in different shows.
Hashida Itaru (Daru): 7
Daru is definitely the weakest of the main characters. He doesn't develop at all, we get no backstory on him whatsoever, and we really don't know get to know much about his personality, all we know about him is he's a perverted, nerdy computer hacker with a fetish for “2D Girls” and is constantly spewing double entendrees.
Now, with that in mind, he's still pretty important to the plot. Well, parts of it, anyway. He's in charge of the hacking, and the computer stuff, and nearing the end there is a bit of a plot twist involving him that was pretty interesting. What I said earlier about how enjoyable it is to watch just the interactions between the characters, he plays a big part in some of those scenes.
So he's not exactly a bad character, but I think he could have been done a lot better than he was.
Shiina Mayuri: 8
Okay, so I really like moe characters. I know they're a really overdone anime trope, but they're so cute and likeable! I think a lot of the time they just add so much lightheartedness to a series. Making Mayuri a moe character was a good choice, and I feel the series would just have taken itself too seriously if it weren't for her. You can't help but smile when she's on screen, and her innocence and naivety makes certain parts of Steins;Gates a lot more powerful and memorable.
And she wasn't just there to make the show more lighthearted, I won't say why, but she's actually one of the most important characters in the cast.
Really, I can't go into much detail about Mayuri without spoiling things, but I did enjoy her, my only problem is that they should have given her more development, and her personality could have been fleshed out a bit more.
I think we could have gotten a bit more backstory on all of the characters,
We don't really know anything about their pasts, apart from some flashbacks of Okabe and Mayuri as kids, and a little info about Kurisu's past. This isn't a flaw, per se, but it's something I would've liked to have been included, but I understand there's only so much you can put in a 24 episode series.
Enjoyment: 9
For the most part, I really enjoyed this series. From the pacing, to the character interactions, to the suspense and intrigue, everything was great. It was happy, fun, emotional, and just fantastic in so many ways.
My only real problem was that nearing the end it started to become very much like a harem. I mean, it wasn't exactly boring, but during one of the most suspenseful times of the show, suddenly they're dedicating entire episodes to Okabe going on dates with side characters who you knew full well there was going to be no real romantic development with. It's a little more complicated than that, and I do appreciate that they tried to give more focus onto individual side characters, and maybe I'm just nitpicking here, but I think it was rather anti-climactic.
Overall Rating: 9
After how much praise I've just given Steins;Gate in this review, you may be wondering why I gave it an overall rating of 9 instead of 10. Well that's because of one thing; the Deus Ex Machina ending. For me, endings of a series are pretty important, it's the last thing I see, and that makes it the last thing I judge a show by, so if a show has a bad ending, I will think of that bad ending whenever I think of the series itself. And I'm not saying the ending was exactly bad, but I didn't like it. I can't really talk about it much without getting into huge spoilers, but the last two episodes seemed to be tacked on out of nowhere to give the series a happy ending. While it was well done, it seemed to undermined everything that had happened before it more than a little bit, and I think it would've been better had they ended it after 22 episodes, maybe an extra episode to wrap things up.
Apart from the ending, I think Steins;Gate is an amazing series, with great characters, suspense, and a great example of an anime done right. Overall, I cannot recommend Steins;Gate enough.
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Jun 10, 2015
Steins;Gate
(Anime)
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I've never been that much of a science fiction fan, it just never really caught my attention.
Until Steins;Gate. Steins;Gate elegantly weaves time travel theories, fantastic characters, real world events, and romance into something close to a masterpiece. I will say that this is my first review, and it may not be as long or detailed as others', but I do intend to include everything of importance, so bear with me here. I'll be trying to spoil as little as possible in this review, but there may be some minor spoilers lying within my words, so readers beware. Now, onto the review! Story: 10 Like I said, I'm not too familiar ... |
