
Steins;Gate
a review by Vublia

a review by Vublia
Quick disclaimer: this will have spoilers, summary will not
Music
The thing I pay the least attention too, not any outstanding tracks, but it gives the right ambiance. None of the tracks are bad at all or felt cheesy.
Art-style and animation
The art-style and animation are great, everything is continually moving, and the art-style looks good. The only flaw is that it is sometimes to dark or bright to make out what is happening easily, this luckily gets less as the show moves on. There are pieces of great animation spread across the entire anime, and every 'intensive movement' for animation is beautifully done (think Mayuri's Tuuturuuuu greeting, or anytime Okabe is running).
Story and Characters
All characters were somewhere between good and great, with some of them (Okabe, Kurisu and Mayuri) being between great and amazing. Even more minor characters were good, and they all looked easily extinguishable and had unique and cool traits. The way everyone was introduced felt really natural and made for more and more options to be considered in a story.
The story itself handles time-travel extremely well, I couldn't find any loopholes in how the story explains how time-travel works, and the system lends itself to great storytelling. The first episode was really confusing, which I think benefits the show as a whole, as you slowly realize what happened.
Most outstanding moments in the story were gut-wrenching ones (for example Yuugo killing himself), aside from that no 'major' emotions came up in me. But it still made me continuously feel something, with every episode having them.
How the love relation between Okabe and Kurisu plays out is a great watch. And the personal struggles of Okabe are completely understandable and heart moving.
Side stories like Luka's, Rumiho's and Moeka's, was both fun and interesting, especially when later it turns out that everything has to be turned back, and the struggles Okabe get's from that.
Lastly I find the set-up for the last 2 episodes in episode 1, really well done. It doesn't feel forced at all, and the explanation of what has to be done is great. The entire solution with older Okabe being able to talk after the failed attempt is honestly a phenomanal moment.
Overall
I think the anime as a whole is nearly perfect, the only flaw I pointed out in this entire review was the art-style sometimes being a bit to dark or light, which shows how good of a show this is. However, I think that the entire package doesn't fulfill what I would give a 10/10, which don't get me wrong, still amazing and near perfectly executed, just that it lacks the last bit of 'oomf' that I don't know if it could acquire with perfect execution.
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