Steins;gate is an anime that aired in Japan during the summer season, but one that really surprised me. And given that there have already been surprises with this year in anime, that's saying something. What surprises me the most is Steins;gate shows just how good an anime can be. Nine times out of ten, anime is complete garbage, but every now and then one comes along that makes anime worth defending. I give you my review of Steins;gate.
Steins;gate centers largely around a story about time travel. But instead of focusing on two split timelines, the main character travels through many different variations of a timeline. While it doesn't explore the full possibility of seeing the same world in drastically different ways, it does give each timeline more meaning by having the main character tasked with changing only one thing about the timeline at a time, causing a new timeline to occur. This wouldn't be so compelling if it didn't personally involve the entire cast of characters. The anime makes very good use of everything they present to us.
The main character, Okabe, is drastically different from most anime protagonists by first having an actual personality. Instead of the cardboard cutout characters we've see that are either heroes that either stomp around, declaring shamelessly the values of good or just being indifferent to everything while flocks of girls assemble around him, Okabe actually leaves a strong impression. He's a scientist, or at least he says he is, but instead of acting in a calculated manner, he acts like he's caught in his own fantasy from time to time. He'll often pretends to be talking on a phone while rambling about some anonymous organization, when there really isn't any organization at that point, or attempt to be clever in some way that's completely transparent. But all the while he does these goofy things, he always remains completely self-aware of it all which gives him a lot more validity than most anime characters I'm used to seeing. Even later in the series, he goes through subtle changes while still maintaining the characteristics that make him likeable, but ads an undertone based on what he's going through. Wait, did I just say an anime was subtle about something? By God, that can't be right. Anime is about as subtle as a buffalo running through a daycare. It's actually true. This anime has subtly and it uses it well.
Okabe being goofy as he is while wearing a lab coat does create some authentically humorous moments. Picture if you will him sitting next to an otaku and Okabe is the one socially embarrassing himself so the otaku is ashamed of being seen with him. That's just funny.
When he's not goofing off in public, he's at his lab, which is really an apartment above a shop, messing with future devices or talking to his team which comprises of Daru and Mayuri.
But an anime can't survive on one cast member alone, luckily Okabe is surrounded by a great collection of other characters, all of which serve some purpose to the plot. Starring opposite him is Kurisu. She's an actual scientist and a genius to boot. Somehow she gets caught up in the antics of Okabe and his club and usually expresses the desire to have nothing to do with them, and yet she always comes back for more. She's the more serious character but has her goofy moments, so she compliments Okabe's personality very well.
Daru, the previously mentioned otaku, is just that. He's also a computer geek and master hacker. He adds more to the humor than anything else but does take part in some of the more shocking and dramatic moments in the series.
Mayuri is the least compelling of all the characters. She doesn't change much throughout and is only used as a plot device later in the story. But that doesn't mean she doesn't contribute nothing to the cast. She has her quirk of saying 'tutturu' which replaces 'hello' or 'goodbye'. I think she's mostly there to give us a baseline for everyone else, so everything isn't just serious or slightly off all the time.
Moeka is the silent type who communicates to everyone through her cellphone. She plays a heavy roll in the middle of the plot which at one point is despised but then later pitied. The writing has to be good for that to happen and the plot pulls it off well.
Ruka for all purposes is a trap. A boy that looks very much like a girl but isn't thrown in for some misplaced fan service or popularity. Ruka's situation lends itself to one of the more dramatic moments in the story, which shows good use of character beyond artificial reasoning.
The rest of the cast are equally strong and involve themselves in interesting ways in the plot, which is really nice to see in an anime. The plot makes use of every single person, nothing is just thrown in for no reason which seems to be the trend with most every anime. Since this is an eclectic cast of characters, the dialog is very entertaining. With Okabe at the helm of most conversations, it gives the rest of the cast something to work with. Even though this series does have its dramatic moments, there's still a lot of well-placed humor to be found.
The only criticism I have for the show is a minor spoiler about where the plot takes everyone so feel free to skip passed this next paragraph.
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About halfway through the series, in order to change the timeline to a more desired future, each character has to undo something about the timeline they changed revealed to them by Okabe. This involves all the minor characters sacrificing something important to them for something bigger than themselves and really evokes a sense of sympathy for them, especially Rika. It's heart-breaking to watch Okabe encourage them to do this while he's so determined. But when it comes time for Okabe to sacrifice something, the anime dodges the issue so that he doesn't really have to give up anything. I think it would've been more meaningful if he had to personally go through what he was making all the minor characters go through since he was more than willing to let them give up their timeline.
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So other than that one flaw in the later theme of the story, this anime is gold. I had a lot of fun watching it. It does things better than most any other current anime out there today. The animation is above average and the soundtrack gets the job done. I don't exaggerate when I say this is one of my personal favorites.
It may take a while to get to the United State, if it's brought here at all, but it's worth buying the DVDs / Blurays. And it shows that anime isn't always terrible-flavored terrible covered in weird, it's just like that most of the time.
