Steins;Gate
a review by NovaZero
a review by NovaZero
Note 1: This review will NOT contain major PLOT spoilers, but I WILL incorporate a few THEMATIC spoilers and minor detail spoilers, which won’t really spoil any of the story itself.
Note 2: This review will cover ALL of the main Steins;Gate story, not just the 2011 installment. More on that below.
Note 3: As many other series do, Steins:Gate has a chronological order and a release order. They are as follows:
There is one side story for the original S;G called “The Sagacious Wisdom of Cognitive Computing.” This reimagines the show as a cutesy gimmick with one of the show’s in-universe franchise mascots as a plot device. It should be watched at any point after the original. Additionally, there is one side story for S;G 0 called “Valentine's of Crystal Polymorphism - Bittersweet Intermedio.” It’s a fanservicey-type Valentine’s Day spin off that doesn’t really do much other than being extra S;G content. It should be watched at any point after S;G 0.
I personally recommend watching in Release Order. There are pros and cons to each, but watching Chronological Order essentially crushes the final climax of the original by starting a new series. However, Chronological Order will also slightly increase your enjoyment of S;G0 (more on that in the actual review).
And before I say anything else…
What do you think would happen if a crazy university student, his perverted weeb hacker friend, and his naive childhood friend… microwaved bananas with their phones?
This is the premise of Steins;Gate, and its outlandish summary might seem ridiculous, but let me assure you, it’s the bizarre situation that contributes greatly to this being one of (if not THE) best anime ever.
Steins;Gate is a 24-episode adaptation of the eponymous visual novel (which is even better than the show, check it out if you liked it!) about time travel. There have been countless time travel stories, yes, but I believe none come close to what Steins;Gate does. S;G has one of the most concrete time travel systems in all of fiction, leaving almost no space for plot holes (aside from a minor biological impossibility that doesn’t really matter).
But seriously. S;G evolves into a genius masterpiece of storytelling that started out with an idiot accidentally creating time travel with a microwave.
S;G is the story of a university student as he tries to detangle and understand the mess that inevitably comes with screwing with time. He’s on the run from the clutches of the malicious Organization, keeping his friend hostage, and employing his hacker friend on dangerous missions. His name? The (self-proclaimed) MAD SCIENTIST…
~~OKABE RINTARO~~ HOUOUIN KYOUMA! He might be a lunatic, a paranoid schizophrenic, or simply a chuunibyou… or maybe he was right all along? In any case, you’re either going to find him unbearable, or funny as hell. I found him as the latter, because his delusional antics proved to be a good humorous backbone to the series.
He’s Lab Member (labmem) 001, the founder of the Future Gadget Lab, where he and his friends create inventions that are meant to overthrow the world’s ruling order and establish himself as a dictator of evil. (Don’t let him fool you, though, all they’ve ever made has been useless toys…)
His childhood friend is labmem 002, a sweet and adorable girl who will melt your heart, and brighten your day whenever you hear her iconic phrase. She cares about her friends more than anything, and doesn’t like it when people fight. She’s also very much into cosplay. But maybe there’s a story as to why she smiles so much?
SHIINA MAYURI, “Mayushii” His other best friend, labmem 003, is an overweight otaku… like, seriously, other than his epic Supa Haka moments, all we ever see him do is play hentai games… This dude is frighteningly relatable for all of us, perhaps. But, I discredit him. Despite being hilariously perverted, he’s actually a computer genius, hacking into secret organizations with relative ease.
HASHIDA ITARU, “Daru” 
They’re just a close group of friends that mess around… until, of course, they create the Phone Microwave (name subject to change). The Phone Microwave (name subject to change) (which is later renamed to simply the PhoneWave for simplicity) is a normal-looking microwave, except that instead of punching numbers in manually, you put in numbers from your phone. Oh, and the tray spins counterclockwise.
What they discover is that the PhoneWave can somehow transcend the barriers of time… and this is where things become weird. A little more on that later. First we’ll talk about the rest of the main characters.
In the first episode we see Okabe (sorry, I mean Hououin Kyouma) and Mayushii go to a time travel convention by the renowned Dr. Nakabachi, where he gives a lecture about time travel. However, Kyouma notices he’s actually just ripping off the alleged time-traveler John Titor (who was a real-life figure; see here) and calls him out on his B.S. He is then called aside by a red-haired girl named…
MAKISE KURISUOf course, Okabe has never seen her before, yet she claims that he had previously tried to get her attention about something urgent.
Wait, what?
How odd that she knows him, but he doesn’t.
Anyway, she hears about his bizarre PhoneWave “time machine,” and tags along to his lab (which is actually just a rented-out apartment) where he forces her to become labmem 004 before she’s allowed to see the PhoneWave.
After a few experiments and such, we see more and more people join the lab, some of them previous friends, some of them new faces.
Starting off with labmem 005, we have
KIRYU MOEKAA large-breasted slender woman, who has a bit of an addiction to her phone, and for some reason is looking for the antique computer the IBM 5100. She’s very shy, and something seems off about her…
Labmem 006 is best… boy? Girl? Yes? Who the hell knows, and who cares?
URUSHIBARA LUKAThe mannerisms and voice of a woman. No… more feminine than any woman.
Luka is a shrine “maiden,” who trains under the tutorship of Okabe.
Anyways, labmem 007 is for all you catgirl lovers…
FARIS NYANNYANClose friends with Mayushii, and one of the few 3D women Daru actually likes. She works as a cat maid at her own cafe, and seems to have a deep affection for Okabe. And, yes, she acts very much like a feline. She’s also a pro at the in-universe board game Rai-Net, being able to defeat Daru with a single move, even when he had cheated to know what her move was going to be.
And finally, the last member of the original series, labmem 008, an odd teenage girl who seems on edge about everything…
AMANE SUZUHAThe Part-Time Warrior, who gets a part-time job at Tennouji Yuugo’s CRT Television Shop. Tennouji (whom Okabe nicknames Mr. Braun, because he likes giving nicknames to everyone) is the man who rented out Okabe’s apartment (which is upstairs of the shop). He could easily twist you into a pretzel and Okabe is scared of him.
Anyway, that covers who the characters are. In terms of what makes the cast so special, however, there is quite a bit to say. It’s such a wide (so to speak; you have the quiet ones and the louder ones) and eccentric cast. They’re all friends with hopes and dreams, with wishes and sacrifices. As most fictional characters are, some elements are exaggerated, of course, but they’re still written realistically. They each have desires and demons. They all have reasons for doing what they do. And when you find out just what that is- your understanding and/or enjoyment is elevated to a whole new level.
That being said, in the case of the 24-episode original series, we don’t see much in terms of character development until the second half of the series.
Episodes 1-11, everything seems okay, it’s almost like a mystery/slice-of-life where these friends cause weird changes. Episode 12 is when everything changes- it’s where the “thriller” genre tag begins to apply itself seriously. And seeing everything unravel is where we come to see and understand more of the characters. Speaking of story, let’s go on to
The story part of Steins;Gate is truly, in every way, a masterpiece. It’s a geniusly-written tale. The series deals with themes of powerlessness, alienation, sacrifice, insanity, and free will. It’s one of the best thrillers of all time, across any medium.
As I mentioned earlier in this review, Steins;Gate is a show about a “Mad Scientist” who finds a way to mess with time, tries to do it to his advantage, and then everything goes insane. People are not who they seem and everyone has more to them than they show initially. We can see the psyche of the scientist as he truly goes, well, mad.
And, of course, nothing complements a good story better than great visuals and an awesome soundtrack. (Of course, visuals aren’t necessary to tell a good story, but it works for S;G specifically) The artstyle is amazing-looking, all the time shifts have pretty cool effects, and the music… Oh god, the music is a blessing. The opening for the 2011 S;G, Hacking to the Gate, is one of the best OP’s ever by far. The ending isn’t as good, but the OP for S;G 0 Fatima is also really exciting (more on why in a bit). And the ED for S;G 0 (Last Game) is probably one of the best songs ever, along with HTTG. Even the background music helps to make the tense moments tenser, so to speak.
That being said, a lot of people find the first few episodes kind of boring and slow. I beg to differ- they aren’t fast paced, and take their time to build the world and explain what the hell’s going on. You might find them a little slow, but I thought the mystery/suspense was done just right and didn’t rush nor take too long. Everything that happens is important in some way.
What’s also interesting to note is that it takes place in Akihabara of Japan- a real setting. Most buildings in the show reflect real life, too, so you could take a tour through the real Future Gadget Lab or the Radio Building. A lot of the show, in fact, uses real-life inspiration. John Titor being part of the show, Dr. Pepper being Okabe's favorite drink, CRT TVs, and the IBM 5100 are some examples.
Now, the show works with a timeline, yes? So let’s look at the Chronological Order to expand the review to the other installments.
After the first 22 episodes, we run into the alternate episode 23. This alternate ending to the original episode 23 segues into Steins;Gate 0. I won’t go into spoilers as to what happens, but S;G 0 is a midquel to Steins;Gate, happening between episodes 22 and 23. Because of the way time works, there can be multiple worldlines where things either go great, or go terribly, and Steins;Gate 0 explores a worldline where things go very bad. We see a tonal shift from a suspenseful and tense “mad scientist will rule the world haha oh wait no the world is screwed over I need to fix it” to “I don’t care anymore, there isn’t a point, I want to die.”
Steins;Gate 0 is the part of the story where Okabe messes up, and loses the will to finish his final mission. He starts referring to himself as a “sad scientist,” rather than a mad one, and drops his Hououin Kyouma alter-ego and all dramatic flair. You can see the mental effects of everything that happened wear down on him.
Now, personally, I found S;G 0 to have its ups and downs. My big issue with it was that it wasn’t as exciting or thrilling as the first one, at least not towards the end. The second half/last quarter of the show has some events that are just as awesome as some of the scenes in the original. Additionally, there’s a lot of ecchi fanservice added that simply wasn’t part of the original (which isn’t bad, but shows the different direction it took with a new director and whatnot). Again, this is also why I recommend Release Order; the final climax of the original is crushed by starting a new series that just isn’t as exciting if you watch Chronological. That being said, Chronological Order will make the despair of S;G 0 greater and more tense. Either way, Chronological Order should be reserved for rewatches.
While the story fails in a few ways, if you look at it as an extension of S;G itself, then you seem something better that wasn’t in the original: extended character development. Most development in S;G happens in the second half of the series, but S;G 0 develops the characters even further in a way the original didn’t fully do. We see much more of Daru, who somehow didn’t show up as much as he could’ve in the original. And we’re introduced to new characters who are pretty fun. Specifically, we are introduced to the last three labmems,
HIYAJO MAHO, 009
SHIINA KAGARI, 010
AMANE YUKI, 011Steins;Gate 0 will help add a little more backstory to the penultimate and ultimate episodes of Steins;Gate, and is worth a watch, but is simply not as good. Amazing ED though, rivaled only by the likes of Shimoneta’s Inner Urge, and an OP that reflects the desperation of needing to finish the last mission.
I would like to say that S;G 0 expands on S;G in the way of the romantic subplot. I won’t say who, but there’s a romance in the show that transcends time; it’s very endearing and quite nice to see throughout both the “good” timelines and the “bad” timelines.
So now let’s look at the true end of the series, episode 24 of S;G. A few months after the end (chronologically) we get the OVA, special, episode 25, whatever you wanna call it, by the name of “Egoistic Poriomania.” A certain lab member has lost their memories due to time being messed with, but they still recollect fragments of previous worlds. They meet up with Okabe and Co. and they become friends again, adventuring to America. And then we get the movie, which wraps up the end of the series.
When I originally saw the series, as much as I loved it, the ending felt incomplete, and the movie helped fill that void. It is not VN-canon, and the major plot point contradicts a little bit of the system established previously, but when you consider what happened in S;G and S;G 0 and then think about it from a slightly different perspective, it makes sense and allows you to fully complete the series.
Either way though, it’s just a nice little send-off from the main series, and isn’t necessary to watch.
Steins;Gate is a genius masterpiece of time travel that could probably be enjoyed by non-anime fans, even. In fact, if you don’t like watching in sub (this show has amazing Japanese voice work by the way; Okabe is voiced by Light Yagami), the English dub is phenomenal (even other languages work great, probably). The jokes they changed still work to their intended comedic effect.
So in the end, the point I’m trying to make is that I really, really, really love Steins;Gate. I was at the edge of my seat the whole time, feeling the stress and insanity of the characters, and fell in love with every little aspect, and I think everyone else could, too.
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