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I finished Steins;Gate some time ago, but recently I found myself thinking about a review from Steins;Gate now that it's got it's recognition and it's really nicely ranked on the site. This review is more about my thoughts on the Anime and not much a preview and may contain spoilers. So here I go.

Steins;Gate is one of those Animes that really catch my eye at a first glance. As you watch the first episode, you keep looking for common anime characters or common anime traits to try to settle what's going on with the Anime or where it will go, but to no avail. You ... really feel a bit lost at the begining, as the anime tells it's own story without giving you more than just hints on what's really happening, and without following major anime trends or themes(initially). So, no big fights, no big boobs, no "suddenly my life changed when I entered High School". And when I see this in an Anime, I know that there's something intersting coming, because the Anime is trying to tell it's own personal story, be it good or bad. Now what's really awesome, even outside of my personal tastes, is that this is one of those animes that gives us an original piece of something AND what a briliant piece it is! Following the middle of the story, you just can't move your eyes away from the screen and, by the end, you just can't hold your jaws up. Yes, that's right, this anime is what we call a masterpiece.

Steins;Gate starts very slowly, and introduces very crazy(interesting for me!) characters, like our beloved scientist Hoouin Kyouma. He keeps spouting nonsense and people around him seems to jupt keep up with him. It's easy to perceive that they are nothing more than internal jokes or "delusions" and we should expect someone who is a friend of his to be as crazy as him or extremly friendly or understanding, as we find the ones around him to actually be. And those characters really make up the show. It's easy to fall in love with them and their manias and personal stories that are very well developed throught the Anime. Even the "bad guys"(not actually bad guys) find a place in our hearts. Character development is impecable, specially for Kurisu and Kyouma, who change completely towards the end of the show without losing their essence. Other characters also develop, but more in a "revealing" way, as main events are more focused on the main characters. But their side stories stay as a major part of the show and are very, very entertaining. Last but not least, all characters have very remarkable and belivable(in their context) personalities that make the show so funny, sad and dramatic at the same time. So, 10 for characters!

The story, as I said, start kind of slow(not for me!) while building up a mysterious atmosphere(wich I personally love) towards events surrounding time travel, wich is the main (serious) theme. Okarin just can't keep away from that, as if a conspiracy is running in the shadows. It prepares us and feed us important information that allow us to understand and enjoy even more the events that succeed the introduction.
The scientist start to mess with time, trying to change the fate of the world, the true job of a "MAD SCIENTIST, SUNOVABITCH". Only to end up messing things a bit too much. Chaos distorts the world beyond the planned(what we call teh butterfly effect) and then Kyouma has to fix what he's done, but it's not an easy task! We embark on a journey involving action, drama, science(believable, much) where shit some times get totally out of control. This is the part where your eyes are glued to the screen. I just couldn't stand the wait, episode after episode, it's SO COOL. And, piece by piece, the story unfolds into a beautiful plot that will leave your mind blewn while, at the same time, entartaining you and your feelings to the max. By the end, you're just amazed by the story and the emotional rollercoaster feels really great. It has briliant thinking, wrap up all the mysteries perfectly and you're just satisfied with what you just watched, all of that summed with a very nice work on the scientific side including time travel. Steins;Gate really tells the story using plausible explanations and event that follow all the rules of physics and reasonable, believable logic. I say believable because when logic is applied to events that may result in paradoxes, today's scientific explanations are all based on theories that, some times, seem to go beyond ou understanding of what's really possible. But this Anime follows what a good article on physics and time theory would say. So, for a story that entertains, is a perfect combinatin of funny, sad and action packed scenes(action as in making you sit in the tip of your chair), concludes epicaly and is in the good side of Science, 10 for story!

Well, about the Art and Sound, I usually am not very specific on these because I think that Art is not something good or bad, it's something fitting. Same for the sound. But I find almost no complaints in this section of this anime.
For the Art, the anime features a good drawing that fits extremly well with this scientific, yet comedic and emotional show. But it has not anything that is specially beautiful, hard to draw or to animate. Nothing that makes your eyes shine, but I must give Art a 9 for the really fitting design and almost flawless animation in what it does animate.
For the sound, Steins;Gate has some really nice themes that fit very well the very diferent moments that the Anime features, but no one of them is really something to remember. That may be a good point, because that means that it doesn't steals all the atention from the sreen. But I must emphatize that the OSTs in the Anime really contribute for the scenes and deserve praise. The opening really is notable, even if I personally didn't enjoy it as much as most people did. About the ending, I actually really liked it, more than the opening. All in all, the sound score of Steins;Gate deserves a 9 too.

Enjoyment: Well, I guess that all that I previously said contributes to this. I really loved this anime. I'm a fan of this one since the first few episodes, and I remember when most peple had just dropped it because they didn't like the pacing. Look where this anime is now, third place(as I write this review) on the site. I really think that people should change their ways of predicting if an Anime is going to be good or not. Steins;Gate is a perfect example of that. I am even very surprised at how high this anime got, because people usually don't go throught their "cover judging". Steins;Gate really is an anomaly in this kind of anime. Cough... 10 for enjoyment!

Concluding, I really recommend this anime to EVERYONE. Even to people who don't usually watch anime. I have a list of animes that I think are meant to eveyone, not just anime viewers, and this anime is on top of that list, together with animes like Shin Sekai Yori or movies like Ghost in the Shell. Just bear the "slow beginning" of the anime(imagine the roller coaster cart going up the rail) and then enjoy one of the best rides you will ever get.

Aku no Hana is what could be said barely an anime. It is delivered for us in an anime form, in anime ways. But what we get isn't what most of us are waiting for in this medium. Rather than your general anime, where we get a stereotyped story that makes it easy for us to classify it - The action filled shonen; the humoristic harem or school club - the bittersweet, funny ecchi comedic-romance - we are presented with a story wich wants to send us more than enjoyment, but also a message. Doing so, it can't fit in any ... common anime theme we may quickly think of, and it develops in it's own personal way, and I've got to say, this is were anime, and all kinds of art, really shine for me.

I can but laught of that description they came about of this anime - not because it was lame, but because of how it could be miss interpreted by many people. It, firstly, signals a comedy-harem setting, letting down most of watchers who were expecting that. Actually, 90% of audience dropped just because of the realistic art style, and maybe for good, as it's art style isn't the only part of the anime incompatible with standard anime expectations.

I will try the most I can to not spoil anything, while trying to transmit my feelings and toughts about this anime to those who watched it.
I will starting saying that this anime has high philosofical and psychological impact to those who watch it open mindedly, and enjoy learning a thing or two with a story. The characters have very strong caracterization towards what the diretor planned them to be. Nothing about their personality helps in comic relief, or anything that would serve to any other purpose away from telling the story and proving it's point. And I think they work very well with the plot. I might even say that they ARE the plot.
We can tell that the diretor really couldn't care less about what we might think of his storytelling. While the story and characters are very deep, It will hardly make you smile even once, you won't want to be any of the characters - you will probably get upset about how they act- but it's just part of the point of this tale.

By now, I will assume that the second season will be aired, for it seems obvious that the part two is already fully animated and ready to be presented.

This anime shows us a deep, ugly truth about kasuga and the others, and also about all of us. It also shows psychological aspects that amuse me. The way they act, their toughts, and the development of the plot alog with the subtle messages is what made it enjoyable to me. As the foruns and my anime experience shows me, these points may not be very atractive to most anime watchers, so I cannot recommend this to most people, even qw I think of Aku no Hana as a great work of art and a great story that might teach you some importante stuff.

We like to think how safe we are inside of ourselves, how we are "normal". Yet we delve hiding into worlds that doesn't exist, trying to feel what we can't in real life, and yes, I'm telling this directly to most of you anime watchers, who just can't apreciate and learn form a story that tells us about problems we might have inside. - I might even go further and say that this is the main reason a lot of people dislike Aku no Hana - They want shows that give them characters they feel good pretending to be.

Well, away from the bashing, watch Aku no Hana if you're like me, who loves an original story that makes you think, and in this case, might even give you a minor life lesson. I must add that I have not read the manga and I won't read it ever, I will just wait for season two. For my score, I will give it 9 out of 10, as the anime pacing really was a bit, just a bit exagerated. We could have gotten more in one season.

Well, I'm not certain why I'm writing this or if I should do it, I'm probably just being selfish but anyway I'll do it. I hope someone enojy reading this tought I just want to express some feelings I had as a true fan who watched Shakugan since season one and waited years, prayed to God for season 3 to come, and that the tsunami hadn't killed the show's cast. After that, I got really, really excited when I heard the rumors that it would come out. I waited for really long. This series was my top rating series ever. I can't describe the feeling ... this series gave me, because since I watched my 50th anime, I don't get them anymore for a unknown reason. The thing is, when the official anouncement came, I was hardly happy. Why? You tell me. Maybe I waited for too long? I watched it anyway, hoping the final season would bring me the feelings I had long experienced. I am aware about the actual quality of Shakugan's plot since the start of it and I'm aware it is not top notch. But what I got from the final season was mediocre seinen. Even with most struggle I can't build a logical thinking about the build of the plot. It is just bad. I know maybe I'm digging too deep to find things that are hardly found in anime, but then it makes Shakugan no Shana Final just another anime. Season 3 is about a fake emotional struggle, where the main characters create a war where most people say that love or saving the world can explain it in some way. If it is centered on changing the world, it has no sense together with the show's circunstances. If it's about love, it's even more stupid. The only way I can see it is the lack of creativity from the creators. All that summarizes this final season is the kiss in the very last minute of the anime, something every fan really waited for long enough. Actually, this season could have been really good if the protagonist motives were just evil, or if the character made explicitely human mistakes. The nature of a thinking being was incredibly distorted in a way that happens in most fantasy themes, where they just stop following logic or, they lose their brains and start acting like dolls controlled by an umature person who can only see the ending, in this case, the final kiss, whitout caring about the present of the story. Because even the final minutes where typical nonsense, stuff that would only be interesting if in a show ironizing and criticizing the way most animes are poorly done, like with "epic" senseless battles and weird cuteness or polictical bs and random people dying, like those things, just for themselves, make it good. I really wish I didn't think like this. I wait months or years now for a good anime to come, with some very rare ocasions where I find one that is entertaining. The good this is the anime industry is not the only place where you can find good stories, well, this is almost a stupid thing to write. Going back to Shana, no, it didn't make me feel like the first two seasons did, Even more, it made me look back to my past and see that I wouldn't enjoy them also, with the stardards I carry today. The thing is, this isn't a bad anime, when compared to most anime. You can certainly enjoy it, and feel like I did in the past. I can't even described the feelings. I don't like saying this, but its the damn truth, all anime watchers around hate hearing. Growing up. People mature in different ways from each other. At least thats what I think from my experiences. Some people will get more serious like me, and I gotta tell you it really sucks lol. Other will forever see the comedy and fun of watching nonsense. And it's not sush a bad thing. It's selfish of me to wish that all animes made out there fit my taste. But this one really hit my personal feelings. Yeah I'm this weird. Enjoy. Overall, I was really touched by this series, for some reason, but after years, it now sucks, and, even if I will never trully know, I think this is the worst season of them all. Love is the most powerfull spell, and it also makes animes look better than they are. Like with everything in life. So love everything and be the happiest person ever.