Back to ruby_whistler's Profile ruby_whistler's Profile

Steins;Gate is a flawed anime with a solid plot and strong lead. No more and no less than a really good anime - definitely not a masterpiece. It might’ve been harder for me to enjoy this show because of the high expectations, but at least it lets me write what I believe to be an objective critical review. (I am writing this while listening to 0’s OP, so my love for this anime is very high at the moment either way.) There will be vague, non-specific spoilers for both this show and the sequel.

I’ll start off by saying that my favorite bit of this season ... was the first 12 episodes. There was this sense of suspense that made me sick to the stomach. Okabe becoming a stranger in his own world was absolutely terrifying, even before the main plot kicked off. The rest of it had neat development of Okabe and Kurisu’s relationship leading to a semi-satisfying ending. The happy ending only really seemed “deserved” after watching 0 - through despair and error it gained a lot more weight retrospectively, which is a big reason why I rated the original an 8 instead of a 7.

The soundtrack is very fun, especially that one song with whistling in the lighthearted scenes, and the themes are all bangers. The animation is decent enough to carry the plot and atmosphere. The character designs are also really unique in my opinion! Labcoats will always be in fashion.

Before talking about the characters, I have to first talk about the Romance, and the main problem with the second half of the show. Instead of developing Kurisu’s and Okabe’s relationship or giving the trope-filled cast some solid retrospective development, it turns into an overly-dramatized dating show.

It shattered the whole flow up until that point and made watching what was supposed to be the suspenseful resolution incredibly drawn-out and chore-ish. If the whole harem bit was scrapped, I can see this show being close to a masterpiece, but it really made it feel like the characters were wasting precious time for the sake of fan-service. The tidbits of development could’ve become something much better and made some background characters feel more important.

Okarin is one of the best protagonist I’ve ever encountered in fiction. That includes Mayuri; what I mean by that is, she isn’t really her own character, moreso an extension of Okabe. They are tied so well and so tightly together, and I honestly love how the show slowly reveals them as desperate, broken individuals in a sense. Both her immaturity and Okabe’s ‘delusions’ are explained as stemming from other, more serious problems, and we can see a spark of who they really are through that. I’m trying to avoid specific spoilers, but I really find that beautiful, and I hope other people watching do too.

Besides, it’s fun to be able to relate to a fellow neurodivergent person - I too want to laugh maniacally in public sometimes. Okabe is in no way annoying, he’s actually very smart; just somewhat different, and it makes me so incredibly happy to see him supported by his friends.

I don’t get any enjoyment from romance in general, but I did like Kurise as a character tying a lot of the story together as well as her relationship with Okabe. I would be lying if I didn’t say I constantly rolled my eyes at her being a tsundere - I’m assuming it probably just aged poorly since 2011 though, with how overused the trope is nowadays.

On another hand, I think their friendship was really well-written, but a solid romance would need more than just them blushing a couple of times. It was also kind of being actively undercut by Okabe dating literally everyone else and their mom instead. Just an episode’s more worth of development to their relationship at all could’ve made a really big difference.

The background cast is pretty tropey, with mr. Braun and Daru being a nice breath of fresh air. Catgirl, Phone girl, But he’s a guy and Suzie served the plot well, but their development felt shoe-horned in a lot of the time; I actually think 0 handled their characters a lot better.

As for the plot, there is not much to say; a lot of people seem to be treating it as something incredibly complex, but I think it’s quite easy to grasp. The revelations on this universe’s laws never made me feel confused, just really happy about how neatly it all managed to tie together.

I definitely recommend watching the sequel as soon as you can, as it fixes a lot of the problems of the original, although bringing its own with it. Overall, Steins;Gate is more entertaining and well-written than most other anime, though I feel I’m missing something since it’s in my eyes far from a masterpiece.

Also, people signing off their comments about this show with “El Psy Congroo” is unironically really funny to me - it’s some of the most stereotypical ‘anime fan’ stuff ever, and yet that kind of fits with the theme or the show; being embarrassing is the point. Still getting a bit old, though. Instead, please imagine me hysterically laughing at the end of this review.

BTOOOM! seemed like the psychological aspect would work in the beginning, but it ended up being a power fantasy that barely makes any sense. For a show that is supposed to bring game logic to the "real world" and let the characters deal with the whiplash, it sure is lacking in realism.

Apparently, the main character, despite sitting around and gaming all day, is fit and very resilient. If there was any hint towards him exercising, I would let it pass, but there isn't. Despite that, he throws like an athlete with amazing aim, and can dodge as if he'd trained martial arts his whole life. ... There is a difference between aiming in a video game and throwing in real life, so it doesn't make any sense why the show tries to make it his main selling point.

His actually advantage in this situation would be knowledge of strategy and the mechanics of the game, not physical prowess. That would actually be interesting to see; how can he utilize what he knows about the BIMs, predict his opponents' moves, use tricks he'd learned during the countless times he'd played? Can he use experience to balance out his physical mediocrity and survive?

Instead, he goes on to be as oblivious as if he had only played the game that one time five years ago - very slow to grasp the simplest of rules, with irritating amounts of plot armor being the only thing keeping him alive. Genuinely, the sequence where he runs from the first enemy is painful to watch. It could've worked to explore the character's psychology in that situation, but it drags on for way too long. The viewer already knows what's going on and has to wait for the character to catch on - which leads to impatience and frustration, especially with how dragged out the segment it. That is some easy-to-spot bad writing.

I actually thought they were on to something interesting with the female character, but most of that is just fan service. The show sexualizing a character who hates being sexualized for a very real reason is pretty uncomfortable to sit through. On top of that, the show wasn't subtle with the "gamer meets his online girlfriend who is as hot in real life and they get together" thing. If they at least tried to work it into the plot, fine, but it was just more characters being idiots and not making obvious connections.

The show tries to be realistic with its psychology, and the characters are flawed which I usually like a lot, but if you combine that with bad writing and a general lack of realism, it makes it very hard to enjoy. There is no tension, all opportunities for actual drama and interesting concepts are squandered, and the plot is painfully predictable. Frankly, it's just boring, and not worth your time if you came here for the psychological aspects and a thrilling plot.