Stein's:Gate

Score: 10/10

Recommendation: Buy it on Blu-Ray and frame it

Summary: One of the best time travel stories ever told.

Review:

Stein's:Gate is an anime adaption of a visual novel released for the Xbox 360 back in 2009. It follows a self proclaimed mad scientist, Rintaro Okabe, who discovers how to send text messages back in time to his former self. Quickly, Okabe's messages cause the present to change more and more until he must face the question of whether or not the negative consequences of his actions can be rectified.

If you're just a few episodes into Steins:Gate and unsure if you want to finish, keep going, trust me. If you make it to episode 14 and you still aren't sold, fine. But I can't image you'll be able to quit by then. Since I will hopefully convince new people who have not seen this series to watch it, I will try to keep this review spoiler free.

Steins:Gate can pretty easily be divided into two halves, the first 12 episodes comprising the first half, and the rest of the episodes make up the second half. The first half is, admittedly, very slow. The pacing follows that of a slice-of-life anime instead of a typical science fiction adventure. I would have given up were it not for the little developments that develop while they are discovering time travel. Of course, I'm personally a sucker for time travel stories.

When the second half of the series, and you'll know when it starts. If you're unsure, its the moment your jaw drops and you fall out of your chair. Looking back on the entire series, the first half of the series is pretty much pure character development. The change is so drastic that the audience feels just as out of control and the characters. Suddenly, every decision made before carries a greater weight than one could've imagined.

The characters are definitely an acquired taste. I found most of them annoying at first. But some of the dialogue is cleverly written and well delivered. The English dub in particular earns my praise by dropping several references to Western Sci-fi like Star Trek and Doctor Who (look for those and more). The characters will eventually become more charming as the series progresses and as the audience learns their stories. Several are surprisingly well developed even though much of the series takes place in a single apartment.

The animation is acceptable, even if it's not as impressive as Fate/Zero or even One Punch Man, it's still better than a series like Death Note. The slow first half doesn't need as much animation and the second half of the series does a good job at looking for ways around drawing too many frames while still giving the sense of urgency and panic that the characters feel. As for the art style, the most interesting choice is how light the colors are. Everything is so bright as if a JJ Abrams lens flare was constantly shining right into our eyes. There's something very cold and scientific about the overly white light leaving the audience a little uncomfortable as if the characters are being watched and as if it is all a controlled experiment.

Overall, Stein's:Gate is one of the most fascinating storylines I've found in anime. It is well told and although the pacing makes it feel like 2 different shows, it works perfectly in this case. If you haven't seen Stein's:Gate somehow, go watch it. If you have, go buy it.

This concludes my love letter to Stein's:Gate. I give the series 10 little glass cicada figurines out of 10.