“Keep the past, for all intents and purposes, where it is” – Okabe Rintaro.
This Steins Gate Anime review, I didn’t play the visual novel myself.
Steins Gate Review In Few Words (Mini Review)
Steins Gate is an anime that’s very enjoyable to watch, with an excellent plot with many twists and some tragedy, and good variety of character, especially when it comes to Okabe. It is one of the Anime you must watch if you haven’t already, especially if you are into time traveling stories.
If you liked this review, don’t forget to check out my other anime reviews here.
Reasons why you will like Steins Gate
- The story involves around Time-Travel, and it is done very well and in a mostly consistent way.
- Okabe’s eccentric yet interesting character.
- Excellent story with a good pacing. Especially during the climax as well.
- The plot twists, something you need to watch yourself.
- Varied set of characters, which adds to the enjoyment of the anime.
Minor Spoilers Warning:- Because you are likely to enjoy your Anime on your own as much as possible, I promise you that there is not going to be any major spoiler in this review. Just enough information and explanations to introduce you to the Anime, bear in mind I mention some events from the first episode, but barely much beyond that.
I have always like things related to time traveling, which, along with the strange name of the Anime, got me to watch Steins Gate as it was airing back in 2011. I gave it 8/10 in my anime list, which is a very high rating considering the way I rate Anime. Steins Gate got 9.18 average rating in MAL at the time I wrote this review, which is the second highest rating in the whole site.
The story
The story of Steins Gate occurs in Future Gadget Laboratory in Akihabara. Where Okabe Rintarou, the main character, spends a lot of his time inventing “Futuristic Gadgets”. Along with his childhood friends Shiina Mayuri, a nice girl who is a bit slow & Daru the hacker & Oraku. Most of their inventions were nothing spectacular at first. So you may not get into the Anime at first because there is nothing to be expected. Until they discover that their microwave phone microwave, which is only ever good at turning banana into a green jelly, is in fact a time machine, which can send mobile messages to the past, which allow them to change the past based on the contents of the message. And the story continues from there~
While I don’t plan to spoil the Anime for you, one of the things that I liked about this Anime is that it shows you multiple timelines, in each of these timelines something is different from the other ones, and that thing ranges from a simple thing, like the gender of one of the characters, to much bigger things.
For the most part, the story is very consistent. And just like the case with every anime where something paranormal, the anime defines some rules of what is possible and what is not, and Steins Gate does that accurately, especially giving how Time travel loops tend to make things complicated, which is why many time-traveling stories tend to get some conflicting facts at times.,
The art
One of the first things you are going to notice in Steins Gate art is the eyes style, which are kind of weird. But they are not creepy that you won’t enjoy watching the anime, on the contrary, it sets the Anime apart of any other one, and suits the atmosphere the Anime tries to put you in.
Besides the eyes, the art of Steins Gate is very good for a 2011 Anime, even though it is not exactly the top among all the Anime I watched, it is still satisfactory and not bad at all.
Characters
The main characters of Steins Gate
Note:- Feel free to skip this part if you like to explore the characters yourself while you watch Anime.
The main character is Okabe Rintaro, a self-proclaimed mad scientist (or mad do scientistu in Japanese). Who is an eccentric, likes Dr.Pepper, and often pretends to be talking to imaginary people via his cell phone, and mentioning a secret organization that is after him, and more importantly, he has a funny & crazy way of laughing, which he uses many times thorought the anime.
Despite his eccentric natures, Okabe has many interesting & deep quotes, two of them are “If you want to grant your own wish, then you should clear your own path to it” and “No one knows what the future holds. That’s why its potential is infinite”.
Okabe is called “Okarin” by Mayuri and Daru, his old friends.
Next comes Mayuri Shiina (Or Mayushii, as she is nicknamed), Okabe’s childhood friend, who is also voiced by Hanazawa Kana <3. Seems like the naive but kind girl, she has the tendency to say Tu-tu-ru every now and then, which is very cute.
You can see a collection of Mayuri’s Tuturus in the following video :3
And to complete the trio, there is Itaru Hashida, Okabe’s friend since High School. He is a hacker and an Otaku. Mayuri & Okabe calls him by the nickname Daru.
And finally, there is also Kurisu Makise, the main protagonist besides Okabe. Kurisu is a neuroscience researcher, and a talented one at that. She is the tsundere of the anime. And Okabe tends to call her “Christina”, something she always objects to angrily.
Kurisu is not in good terms with her father, and Okabe finds her dead in the first episode. For a reason you will find out later in the Anime.
Other characters are Luka Urushibara, who is a trap (looks like a girl but is actually a boy), Faris Nyannyan, who works in a maid café, along with Mayuri, Suzuha Amane, who is looking for her father & Yuugo Tennouji, who is Okabe’s landlord.
Enjoyment & pace
Steins Gate is a very enjoyable Anime in general, especially at the climax of the story, and during the intense parts. The characters interaction & development are very good as well.
There are parts of the anime that are slow, specially at the very beginning, but once you get pass these parts, which will happen relatively quick. There will always be something to be expected in the next episode once the characters get to explore their discovered time machine, which is one of my two favorite parts of the Anime. And after that you will get to the climax, which is my other favorite part.
In general, you are likely to find out that Steins Gate pace & enjoyment are much better than the most anime. Which is another reasons I think you should watch it.
Various Quotes from Steins Gate?
- “You must not change the past, once it’s been established” – Okabe Rintarou.
- “If you want to grant your own wish, then you should clear your own path to it” Okabe Rintarou.
- “People.. need to be needed by someone in order to live. If a person isn’t needed, they’re worthless!” – Moeka Kiryū.
- “Every brilliant day should be lived for those who passed away”. Kurisu Makise.
And Finally
Steins Gate is one of the best Anime ever made in my opinion, and it is a worthy recommendation for anyone, whether they are new to anime or not. This goes for you specially if you are fan of stories related to time-traveling.
I hope you liked my Steins Gate review, and I hope to see you soon with other anime reviews.
Review Sources & Credit
- Some characters information & characters pictures were taken from Steins Gate Wikia.
If you liked this review, don’t forget to check out my other anime reviews here.
One response