Steins;Gate [Complete Series] – Review

Okabe Rintarou, an university student who refers to himself as Crazy Mad Scientist Hououin Kyouma and his lab’s members work on a microwave device that can transfer messages to the past. Without getting captured, they should get it working in order to beat the evil organization, SERN and stop their evil plans. The highest level of achievement in anime history. Why is that? Because it has a mind-blowing plot, an amazing soundtrack, and an even more amazing and genuine Main Character: Okabe Rintarou. The director and writer of this anime did a perfect job in joining action- sci-fi -drama – comedy genres, always using the amazing music in the most appropriate times. In the early episodes he sets about using the machine to improve the lives of his various friends but becomes aware that he has come to the attention of SERN and they want to stop his actions.

As stated before I really enjoyed this; I was quickly pulled into the story and eagerly looked forward to seeing each new episode. Rintaro was a great lead character as he was both funny and sympathetic and the rest of the group were fun to watch too. I had thought it was a comedy until the ‘tragic moment’ when I was genuinely shocked! However, I will say this: if you’re somewhat appalled by fan-service characters, overly dramatized reactions, childish characters and anime stereotypes, wait patiently because a beautiful story is about to unfold and the necessary plot preparations must be done. For this story, a careful setting of the stage is very important. The pace of the show is rather irregular with a slow start and a somewhat abruptly orchestrated (yet satisfying) finish and many of the characters lack depth; they just fill a designated role.

Each episode makes you yearn for more and more. About halfway through the series, the show takes a turn from its simple and slow style to a massively emotional and intellectual one. With near perfect pacing, amazing writing and direction, deep and involved characters and spectacular voices, this show is one you will remember for a long, long, long time. I love the idea around the time travel in this series, the story starts off very playful and foolish almost idiotic, but as it develops is almost as if evolution itself is happen in front of your eyes it turns into something masterfully absolutely beautiful. Steins;Gate is a show that is made up of many disparate parts: a dorky harem comedy, a (fairly) hard sci-fi time travel story, the narrative of a man losing his humanity in order to save another… somehow, all of these elements hold together fairly well.

A very small and insignificant change in your past can change your future completely. That’s the philosophy behind the world lines. And that’s exactly the philosophy behind Steins Gate. This is not to say that it’s a perfect show — some of the more minor characters feel like two-dimensional fanservice, and the last two episodes are a pretty blatant deus ex machina for the hole the writers dug themselves. But there’s also a lot of genuine emotion running through it, and the same time of joyful geekiness that, despite all of the urban blight and tears, Steins;Gate is ultimately about celebrating. A solidly above average anime. All builds up to an intense finale. Here, the writers missed a chance to end it in a sad but beautiful way. Now, we have a satisfying but by no means exceptional conclusion that isn’t stupid and dorky like Lost and Battlestar Gallactica. People with an open mind who want to see something more challenging really should check this out.