STEINS GATE

(REVIEW BY ROOPAYAN GHOSH)

Anime:- Steins; Gate

No. of Episodes-24+1OVA+1 movie(Movie is not included in this review)

Genre:- Sci-fi/thriller/Romance/implicit harem

Rating:- Animation-9, Music-9.5, Story-10, Characters-10, Enjoyment-10(48.5/50)

It is the best time-travel anime out there. Period. It is arguably the finest work of science fiction in animation. It is my third favourite anime among all genres. It is a masterpiece. (However, even this anime pales n comparison to the VN of Steins; Gate, which is widely hailed as one of the greatest ever.)

The weakest point of this anime was animation, or was it? It had like a 1/100th the budget of the current Fate/Stay Night and still the animation produced was absolutely par. It was different from the usual colourful world of anime, instead of using colour this anime modulated brightness of light and created a surreal effect. This was one of the problems for me when I started the anime. I could not bear with the animation and put it on hold after 1 episode. I took it up this summer due to coaxing by various friends, and I felt like kicking myself for leaving this for an anime like Shakugan no Shana. The opening song, the ending song, the in-anime OSTs, the ending song of episode 23 are out of the world! It's music probably just falls short of the best out there like Guilty Crown, Fate/Zero etc, but still its an absolute treat for the ears. The moods are brought out beautifully by the music. Now coming to the story. Until I watched this anime, I believed science fiction was all brain no heart. Little did I know that this anime would take me on a “feel”-trip like no other. The time-travel technique is flawed obviously, but in reality we do not know how to time travel. If they gave a realistic picture they would have probably won all the prizes of the world. However barring the technique, the logic behind the time travel is unbelievably compact. This is coming from a theoretical physicist. I do not know whether they hired a scientist for the story, but concept of black holes and world lines intermingling with the story left me awe-stuck at the creativity. The characters of Steins; Gate are probably one of the best developed characters you will see in an anime. That is until you play the VN, after which you will think the anime never developed them properly. However as a standalone anime, this anime towers above the rest of its genre in character design and interactions. The detailing and backstories are so intense that it might make you teary-eyed. The ending resolution for me was perfect, however some people think the anime should have ended by ep 23. But I will leave it to you to decide. Enjoyment? Is that even a question? This anime has one of the greatest re-watch values if you can handle the “feels”.

Verdict:- The praise I have given should be enough to make you understand this is one of the best anime ever. And it seems that a large section of anime-lovers agRee with me. Check the forums, Steins; Gate will almost always be in top 10 if not top 5 of all time.