REVIEW - Steins;Gate (Anime, 2011)

When it comes to science-fiction, or any kind of fiction for that matter, it seems that no matter what the hardest thing to base a plot on is the theory of travelling through time. With so many complex theories such as The Butterfly Effect or the theories of John Titor, it's hard to wonder how anybody could even base a plot off of time travel. Well, today's anime certainly knows how to deal with the subject of time travel, and how to explain it in a fun, entertaining but very serious way.

Steins;Gate by WHITEFOX, 5pb and Nitro+ is simply a masterpiece.

The story of Steins;Gate takes place in the summer - specifically July and August - of the year 2010 in the Akihabara district of Tokyo, Japan. On July 28th, self-proclaimed "mad scientist" Hououin Kyoma (his real name is Okabe Rintarou) attends a conference dealing with the ideas of time travel. At the same time back in his "lab" (which is actually his apartment), his friend and "lab" member Hashida (everyone calls him Daru) is working on a Phone Microwave (name subject to change), a device which can manipulate objects and send things back to the past, such as text messages. At the conference, Okabe sees the stabbed body of one Makise Kurisu on the ground, and proceeds to text Daru about it. This text is unintentionally sent at the same time Daru's phone is connected to the phone microwave. As such, the text is sent back to the past, and changes the future immensely. Makise Kurisu is now alive and well, much to the surprise of Okabe. The rest of the show is about the Lab Members (of which 8 eventually join) trying to figure out what purpose the Phone Microwave could serve, and also trying to keep SERN, an organization researching time travel themselves, as far away from them as possible. If SERN finds out about Okabe and co's experiments, it coule mean the end of their lives - and the world - as they know it. The plot of the show is very well thought out, even if it starts off quite slow but the pace from Episode 9 onwards more than makes up for it. It's a show filled with unpredictability and it also helps to explain some time travel theories in layman's terms, to make it easier on people and to make the concept more approachable. It's more focused on the cause and effect side of things rather than characters travelling through time. I love the plot and it's just one of the reasons why I think this show has topped all others.

The characters of Steins;Gate are without a doubt some of the most eccentric and deep characters in the anime medium. While there are some that don't get that much development (Moeka and Feyris come straight to my attention), they all serve some purpose in the plot and all have implications on the plots direction. With the way the plot works, you can intricately read these characters and see their feelings for one another slowly develop as time goes on, and it's one of the wonderful things about this anime. As per usual, main character and my personal favourite will get a paragraph dedicated to them.

Okabe Rintarou (Hououin Kyoma)

You can't not love Okabe. You simply can't. He's an eccentric who thinks that the world can only be saved by him, and he's constantly switching between being the nice and caring "Okarin" and the mad and bombastic Hououin Kyoma. Okabe is sweet and cares about everyone's feelings, and does his absolute best to try and prevent anyone's fate from being fatal. He's not a quitter either and often puts himself in harms way to try and prevent anyone from being hurt. When he activates his Hououin Kyoma mode...he completely changes, and becomes an eccentric "mad scientist". Wanna see an example of his humour?

It's scenes like that that make me love this show.

Makise Kurisu

Probably the deepest character in the cast, besides maybe Okabe, is the girl who should've died on July 28th, Makise Kurisu. Believe it or not it was her design that actually got me interested in watching Steins;Gate, with those bewitching grey eyes and crimson red hair of hers. I went in Makise was going to be a serious, somewhat depressing character actually. Turns out, she's actually a loud mouth Tsundere who is very smart and intricate with her thought processing. She's the character that pushes the plot forward most of the time, as she is the one who develops the time leap machine and figures out how the Phone Microwave works and what the conditions are for time travel. She's my favourite because of her amazing design, thinking and her development is the most expanded on in the whole series.

The animation in Steins;Gate was done by a company known as WHITEFOX (yes, all caps) with assistance from the original Visual Novel developers, 5pb. and Nitro+. What I love about the show is how bright and stylized it is. People's eyes in this show are definitely unlike anything I've ever seen in any anime prior to Steins;Gate. It's hard to explain how I find it different, but once you see the show you'll understand where I'm coming from. The animation itself is bright and colourful, with plenty of detail in background, and characters look solid and built right with a smooth frame-rate to boot. For a show that's more "realistic" (as realistic as anime can be) than moe, the world and art of Steins;Gate looks simply fabulous.

The music in the show was composed by the same person who composed the original Steins;Gate visual novel, Shikura Chiyomaru. I must hand it to Chiyomaru-san....this soundtrack is gorgeous. It's actually flawless. I love every single song on this OST, but if I had to pick my favourite it would be - of course - Gate of Steiner. Then we have the opening and ending themes, 「Hacking to the Gate」and Toki tsukasadoru Juuni no Meiyaku, both of which have become my favourite Opening and Ending themes to any anime ever. The pace of the opening along with it's animation is just out of this world and the ending is sombre in tone and just picks up with a bang and it all culminates together near the end. The soundtrack to Steins;Gate beats out Shingeki no Kyojin as my all time favourite anime soundtrack. It's THAT good.

It shall be known that it's not easy to get a perfect recommendation off of me, especially when it comes to anime as it's a lot harder to judge an anime than it is a game in my opinion. Let it be known though, that Steins;Gate could never ever be anything less than perfect. Some argue that the show's slow start and themes bring it down, but I don't see how.The slow start is needed to ease the viewer into the ideals of time travel and to show us the way the gadgets of the "lab" work. The characters are great, the animation is superb and the soundtrack is simply gorgeous. Steins;Gate may not be for everyone, but to me, it is without a doubt the best anime I've seen, and completely trumps Clannad After Story in every way possible.

Story: 10

Characters: 10

Animation: 10

Sound: 10

Personal Enjoyment: 10

FINAL SCORE FOR STEINS;GATE: 10/10

A Masterpiece.