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Steins; Gate is an amazing anime. A reductive take on this show is that its just another time travel thriller, but that is far from the case.

First off, the show does time travel very uniquely and has a, for the most part, fleshed out set of rules and internal logic for its time travel mechanics. It's takes a lot of looks at wiki pages and comments to fully grasp the way it works and there are even theoretical situations where the answer to what would happen is still uncertain, but the great thing is that we can approach these situations given our knowledge of the ... methods of time travel.

As you know, there are three methods: DMail, Time-leap, and physical time travel. Not gonna go in detail, but the way they interact with worldline divergence, causality, and the point of view of characters (ie: okabe's reading steiner objectivity clashing against the changes to the those around him) brilliantly maps out an expansive timeline that goes beyond just this anime and into other source materials from science adventure.

Anyway, if you're not the type to get bogged down by all those details, it's absolutely fine because steins; gate is VERY strong emotionally. This ain't your tenet thriller with cold Nolan dialog and only spectacle to offer. I think tenet had pretty good mechanics and allowed for imaginative scenarios, but that lacked the visceral emotion of steins; gate. That's one of the things that allows for Stein to stick out; the implications of time travel, playing the role of God, and how the fate unveils on characters like Mayuri and Kurisu. It's truly tragic, and the importance of memory is so very much considered and a strong theme (esque of Memento).

Welp, after those general notes, let's get more into each of my sub categories:

Story - It's just outstanding. Yes everyone talks about the first 12 episodes being boring and mid, and the counterargument is that they do set up juxtaposition with the later episodes. But, moreover, the episodes within themselves give great vibes of uncovering mysteries and casual chilling out with friends.

Art - Visual direction is actually really good. Y'all probably heard already how it captures hot summers and the sound of cicadas cause its in Japan. I only put 8 because there are animes that are just really good and better, not necessairly that stein was lacking significantly

Sound - Sound gets the job done in the show. There are a few significant ones but generally it's just how sounds should be. Lyrical music is phenomenal.

Character - Stein has a few really good characters I would say. Okabe is really good, Kurisu is too, Mayuri is fine too. Daru and the others get the job done, but aren't really complex. So I give it a 9.

Enjoyment - Really enjoyable, not much else