Steins;Gate

TV (24 eps)
4.431 out of 5 from 49,359 votes
Rank #43

The eccentric mad scientist Okabe, his childhood friend Mayuri, and the otaku hacker Daru have banded together to form the Future Gadget Research Laboratory, and spend their days in a ramshackle laboratory hanging out and occasionally attempting to invent incredible, yet generally useless, futuristic gadgets. However, their claymore is a hydrator and their hair dryer flips breakers, and the only invention that’s even remotely interesting is their Phone Microwave, which transforms bananas into oozing green gel. But when an experiment goes awry the gang discovers that the Phone Microwave can also send text messages to the past. And what's more, the words they send can affect the flow of time and have unforeseen, far-reaching consequences...

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Reviews

lpunnyoos
10

Summary: “If you relish the idea of a gripping and thought-provoking anime, set against a mysterious and ominous backdrop, and spiced with humor and emotional moments, you could not go wrong in watching Steins;Gate.” Introduction: Steins;Gate is perfect. It is the epitome of psychology, the embodiment of intrigue, and the quintessence of written art. It stands above all anime which have come before it. It excels. It micrifies all of its predecessors in all mediums, be they novels, manga, anime, or films. It radiates brilliance. To say that anime actually existed before the rise of Steins;Gate is false. Everything in the future, nay, the future itself, will gaze with awe toward the pinnacle of beauty that is Steins;Gate and find inspiration and hope. Steins;Gate is a sufficient reason for one’s existence. If Shakespeare or Tolkien were to read the plot of Steins;Gate, they would see their first glimpse of true greatness and be humbled. Like a many faceted diamond, there are many brilliant faces to Steins;Gate: plot, characters, setting, art, character dynamics, humor, and theme; and none of these faces are anything less than perfect. Already since the creation of Steins;Gate, the world has become a significantly better place. Criminals are left with no desire to harm others. Governments strive toward newfound benevolence. All people love each other out of heartfelt generosity. Those who experience Steins;Gate reach a level of existence beyond that of anyone else. To not watch it is to be missing an aspect of your life. The story of Steins;Gate commands your attention by the sheer authority of its breathtaking development. Steins;Gate wins. It displays truth to a nearly matchless extent. It is a necessary part of the world and of life. Through all of these observations, one solid and faultless truth is found. Steins;Gate is perfect. Glad to get that out of my system. Now, the objective review. Story: The plot of Steins;Gate is well thought out, creative, and captivating. Intrigue pulls you into the plot of Steins;Gate, and as you continue watching, you yearn to know what happens next as choices are made and mysteries dazzlingly unraveled. While some revelations are not hard to guess at beforehand, others leave you speechless. I have had several chills run down my back as I learn some of the amazing truths behind the original surface of the plot, whether the identities of certain characters, or the reasons for certain events. That being said, I'm also glad at where the author did not choose to leave the viewer guessing. For example, right from the start of the anime, you know who the enemy (organization) is. Also, it does not take long before the characters clearly learn how to achieve certain feats. But because of this, you end up wondering "what will the characters do with this? How will they escape the enemy?" These types of questions, though they don't leave you looking for hints or decrypting riddles, are mysteries of their own, and they keep you clicking "next" after every episode. Psychology/Theme: I'm a great fan of psychological anime. When I say psychological, I do not mean mentally torturous, as in mind-f or horror. I mean thought-provoking. Anime with choices to be made. Consequences for those choices. Themes running through actions. Steins;Gate excels in all of these areas; and it should, since the plot is built on a concept fraught with consequences - time travel. Nearly every episode in Steins;Gate, there are choices to be made. At first, choices are made quite easily, and great joy comes from the characters' actions. As the plot progresses, however, consequences begin to appear, and we learn that nothing is as simple as it seems. A tension appears between choices' benefits and their consequences. This tension progressively builds until it seems like saving some any hope or dream requires crushing others. The butterfly's wings are flapping. Characters: The characters of Steins;Gate are fantastically creative and compelling. Several of them seem, at first glance, to exemplify certain anime stereotypes. But as you experience more of the story, you get to watch the actions of these characters, hear their opinions and thoughts, and realize that for each of them, there is more going on than meets the eye. This is especially true for Kyouma. As the story progresses, he learns more about the consequences of time travel, and he learns more about the other characters, and his enemies. You begin to see beneath his epically flamboyant exterior a thoughtful man whose joy is beginning to be sapped by the circumstances around him. On the lighter side, all the characters are also really entertaining. Despite the overall serious nature of the anime, there are amusing aspects to each of the characters; from Kyouma’s spurts of “madness” to Daru’s perverted jokes and net-references, to Kurisu’s overt tsundere-ness. These fun aspects lead to many entertaining moments. The occasional romance also adds to the entertainment. Nothing definitive really happens, but there are plenty of amusing and sometimes meaningful moments between Kyouma and a couple of the others. Sound: I never noticed much about the music of Steins;Gate. Looking back, though, that's just because it matched the scenes so well. There are definitely both intense and subtle moments in the music, paired well with the plot. The opening and ending also match the anime quite well, and have (to some extent) both an epic and meaningful feel to them. There's nothing ridiculously powerful like Tori no Uta or A Moon Filled Sky, but those both come from solely drama/romance-focused anime, and Steins;Gate isn't that type of anime, so it's not going to have those types of tracks. Animation: I'm not a great connoisseur of animation, but the animation of Steins;Gate seems smooth and appealing. It's unique without being weird. Backgrounds are detailed and characters are portrayed well visually. Conclusion: The plot of Steins;Gate is well thought out, creative, and captivating. The themes are deep and the choices complex and sometimes painful. The characters are entertaining and fascinating. The sound and animation suit the anime well and make it more amazing. If you relish the idea of a gripping and thought-provoking anime, set against a mysterious and ominous backdrop, and spiced with humor and emotional moments, you could not go wrong in watching Steins;Gate. Note: This review is 1,058 words, about 1/60th the length of the average novel. Tl;dr.

DarkSarcasm
5.5

This is a spoiler-free review.Steins;Gate/ ahh, this show. Simply put, it's a marvelous idea that was disasterously executed. This show goes up and down so much during its running that I almost feel like it's imposiblle to review it as a whole, and there are moments when it's great, and there are moments when it's tedious as f*ck and you can barely continue watching. It takes effort to watch this show, it needs a long time to pick up its pace, and when it does, you foolishly hope something is gonna happen when it only kinda starts repeating, same plot-only reversed.To keep it short, stuff I had issues with this show:1. Major plotlines holes and mistakes and the show self-condradicting itself, I felt my logic was being raped so many times. 2.The show builds itself by creating some mystery, only to have those mysteries answered by the sloppiest, laziest, most unimaginative writing I've come up to see on any anime so far in my anime watching years. The solutions also added major plothole issues and it seemed they were done that way only to not expand on the 10 characters the show was forcing all the time, even when their place didn't belong there. 3. Episode 23 and 24. It was like the show was shooting itself and destroying what it had already achieved. 4. THE FUCKING VEGETABLE/MEAT THING. Honestly, I wanted to throw all my medicine books at the screen when that thing happenned. That stuff is more sci-fi than time-travel. The writer(s) wanted to bring up an issue, kudos for that, but they butchered the character and desperately wanting to reach an effect, an end-result, they did it so by ignroing all the science of the world that the show was selling and basing itself on, suposedly.However, some stuff was made top-notch, and I loved it. That includes:1.The protagonist's character development. The writing didn't fail there. It was splendid. 2. The animation, especially on the first episodes. Loved the scenes when the characters were being reflected on the TV screens.  3. Suzuha Amane! I won't continue due to spoilers. 4. Episode 21 and 22. For all the lows and highs, these episodes were superbly done and captured the whole essence of the show. Okabe's interactions with Mayuri and Kurisu, and especially with Kurisu, were the highlight of the show. As I mentioned above, Ep 23 and 24 were a complete disaster and I'll try to forget I ever watched em.All and all, it's an ok show, with moments of excellence, but I must be blunt, it doesn't deserve the rating it has, not even close. Hopefully, the ranking system doesn't disappoint me again as much as it did with this show. My expectations weren't at all fulfilled. But hey, you, reading this review, give it a shot, and tell me what you think :) 

DeusenMoose
9.5

I don't usually write reviews. I'm not very good at them, hence the reason why I don't write them too much. But, I'm going through my anime and decided I'm going to review all the anime I've watched. Why not, ay? Story: 8/10 Steins;Gate is about an eccentric mad scientist called Okabe Rintarou and his two lab members, Shiina Mayuri and Daru formed this lab called the "Future Gadget Research Laboratory" where they make futuristic gadgets (obvious enough). However, all of their inventions are extremely boring and useless, and the only one that's even remotely interesting is the Phone Microwave which turns bananas into oozing green gel. But, when Okabe sends a text message to Daru, whose phone was connected to the phone microwave, he discovers that the phone microwave can send text messages into the past. And what's more, the words they send can effect the flow of time, and have unforseen, far-reaching consequences... consequences that Okabe may not be able to handle. Being a fan of science-fiction, and also time-travel fiction, this was the reason that made me watch Steins;Gate. So, if you're a fan of science-fiction, I'd seriously advise you watch this. If you're wondering, yes, I did rip off most of this from MAL. Animation: 9/10 I really love the animation for Steins;Gate. Just looks awesome. Well, anything above the year 2000 should look good, but there's just something about Steins;Gate for some reason that just makes it look even more awesome. I don't know, maybe I'm high when I watch Steins;Gate,  so everything looks fascinating. Sound: 8.5/10 HAH! I put a .5 there! What you gonna do, huh? Anyway, the soundtrack for Steins;Gate is amazing, and the opening is also great. Everything to do with sound is awesome, aight? AIGHT MATE? Even their voices! FASCINATING!!!!!!!!!!!! Characters: 9/10 I like almost every character, well, main character, I'm not too sure about other characters, don't know. Anyway, every character is pretty well developed and there didn't have to be more work done on them. They were all pretty much developed perfectly. Okabe Rintarou's character development throughout the series is probably my favorite one. Favorite character, right there. Overall: 9.5/10 The anime had an awesome ending, the OVA was quite good, not too good, but it was pretty good and the movie I especially liked. This series has got to be one of my favorite anime series of all time and take note of the "one" because, that's important. I'm not saying "THIS FOCKIN' ANIME IS A MUST WATCH U STUPID FAGGOTS CUM WATCH IT NAO!!" I'm just saying it's one of 'my' best anime series of all time. But... it pretty much is one of "the" best anime of all time because it's rated pretty highly...

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