Steins;Gate

Eccentric scientist Rintarou Okabe has a never-ending thirst for scientific exploration. Together with his ditzy but well-meaning friend Mayuri Shiina and his roommate Itaru Hashida, Okabe founds the Future Gadget Laboratory in the hopes of creating technological innovations that baffle the human psyche. Despite claims of grandeur, the only notable "gadget" the trio have created is a microwave that has the mystifying power to turn bananas into green goo.

However, when Okabe attends a conference on time travel, he experiences a series of strange events that lead him to believe that there is more to the "Phone Microwave" gadget than meets the eye. Apparently able to send text messages into the past using the microwave, Okabe dabbles further with the "time machine," attracting the ire and attention of the mysterious organization SERN.

Due to the novel discovery, Okabe and his friends find themselves in an ever-present danger. As he works to mitigate the damage his invention has caused to the timeline, Okabe fights a battle to not only save his loved ones but also to preserve his degrading sanity.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

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Background

Steins;Gate is based on 5pb. and Nitroplus' visual novel of the same title released in 2009. It serves as the second entry in the Science Adventure series.

Episode Videos

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Related Anime

Adaptation:	Steins;Gate
Alternative setting:	ChäoS;HEAd, Robotics;Notes, ChäoS;Child, Occultic;Nine
Sequel:	Steins;Gate: Oukoubakko no Poriomania
Other:	Steins;Gate: Soumei Eichi no Cognitive Computing
Alternative version:	Steins;Gate: Kyoukaimenjou no Missing Link - Divide By Zero

Yamamoto, Ayano
Japanese

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Staff

Cook, Justin

Producer

Iwasa, Gaku

Producer

Kananiwa, Kozue

Producer

Tanaka, Shinsaku

Producer

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Opening Theme

"Hacking to the Gate" by Kanako Itou

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Ending Theme

	1: "Toki Tsukasadoru Juuni no Meiyaku (刻司ル十二ノ盟約)" by Yui Sakakibara (eps 1-21)
	2: "Fake Verthandi" by Takeshi Abo (eps 22)
	3: "Sky Clad no Kansokusha (スカイクラッドの観測者)" by Kanako Itou (eps 23)
	4: "Another Heaven" by Kanako Itou (eps 24)

Reviews

May 19, 2024

GOOGOOGAGA2

Recommended

Stein's Gate is not just one of the best animes I've ever watched, but one of the best TV shows I have ever watched, period. I've seen more than my fair share of time travel in media today, and to be honest, it's gotten rather dull given all the times I've seen it flop in other forms of popular media. Most TV shows or movies that use the concept as a major plot point end up making major plot holes, and up squandering the execution miserably. Steins Gate does no such thing, and utilizes time travel masterfully to produce a unique and refreshing experience. Steins ... Gate not only produces a compelling tale about time travel however, but also conveys other themes very effectively, such as friendship, suffering, and fate.

One of the most riveting components of Steins Gate is its absurdingly accurate depiction of time travel. Of course, if you take it in a literal sense, you can take a reductive approach and critique the absurdity of a 'phone microwave' as a time machine. The use of time travel in Stein's Gate is much less a device commenting on its practicality, but rather a device to outline consequence and other themes which extend beyond the idea of time travel. Again, the execution is excellent. For example, the idea that world lines converge on certain events is a particularly compelling narrative, and further reinforces the aforementioned themes in the show. Or, we can talk about how the idea of multiple world lines is explained. Stein's Gate takes a difficult concept and makes it very simple to understand.

Of course, the essence of a good show lies in the development of its characters, which Stein's Gate also does exceedingly well in. Okabe Rintarou starts off as a truly mad scientist, creating absurd and seemingly useless inventions, until we are introduced to the phone microwave. As the series progresses, he loses himself through the process of time leaping hundreds (or maybe thousands) of times, only to witness the same tragic outcomes. We see the degradation of his enthusiastic nature throughout the series, and he transitions towards this traumatized and apprehensive character. Mayuri is the most innocent character of all time, and it is quite literally impossible not to like her character, unless you're a psychopath. Makise is a tsundere, but far from shallow. I could go on and on about the characters; they all have pivotal roles in the show, and are all well fleshed out. Daru's weird tho, but I guess he's cool in the end.

Some minor qualms I have with the anime are that the first 12 episodes build up to the major plot points, but can feel tedious to get through. I think the latter half of the anime does more than enough to compensate for the former's shortcomings. Given that the ending of the anime completes some of the confusion brought up in the first few episodes, I can see why this show necessarily starts slow.

Briefly regarding the sound and the animation. Steins Gate has absolute bangers for the opening and the closing themes. The sound engineering in the show is also magnificent, and there are some killer moments with the background audio in some scenes. The animation is average. Colors used in the anime are mostly dull, and there is little vibrancy. The art is not outstanding, but it is not horrible either.

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Mar 24, 2024

System_Data

Mixed Feelings

TLDR: Interesting story idea, poorly written and bad execution. 6/10.

Style and Animation: Ok, nothing astounding. Character styling and world backgrounds were decent. For the animations, nothing too intricate, but there's probably a lot more moving still frames than one would noticed if they weren't distracted by the story.

Sounds and Voices: Decent soundtracks, they fit the series, but weren't overbearing that you would feel like it's out of place. Voices were fine, you could tell who was who and the voices felt appropriately chosen.

Character growth and Likeability: Could have been better. Male and female leads receive most of the series focus and end up being more ... fleshed out at the end. The rest of the cast felt lacking ending up as more tropey and simplified. It's not that you can't feel for them nor like them, but they can sometimes feel more like props to the story instead of being an actual person. Personally, i dislike the majority of the cast, they don't feel believable, fleshed out enough and/or have unappealing personalities.

Male lead is cringey and has chuunibyou syndrome or believes in conspiracy theories. Not really likable early on, but ends up growing as a person and being slightly more tolerable. Female lead's actions early on can be questionable and makes you wonder why they would act this way if not simply to drive the story forward. They do grow as character, but it feels tropey, like a typical tsundere personality, making it hard to believe they're a realistic character.

Uniqueness and Worldbuilding: Interesting take on time travel, but the show makes it hard to believe some of the story elements shown, often forcing the audience to hand-wave common sense or logic. No point asking how or why, just let the story and emotions of it pull you in. Story settings in fantasy or futuristic worlds often allows the audience to believe in it more, whereas modern fiction can be a hit or miss because you end up being more critical of the reality of it. This issue isn't solely unique to Steins Gate.

Story and Pacing: As a whole, it's a fine story, but depending on the viewer the pacing of the show can feel a bit slow. The first half of the show is about setting up the story elements and introducing the cast. While appreciative that the author(s) took the time to introduce and give backstories to cast, if you don't relate or find any of the characters likable, the first half of the show really feel like a slog to go through.

I've known of about the series when it was released back in 2011 and even had friends back then recommending the show, but i wasn't interested in it. Now in 2024, i've gone through many anime series, mangas and light novels. After watching the first episode, it didn't really made me want to keep watching it, but decided to give the show a few more episodes to see. At around episode 8, i was really considering on dropping the show because it wasn't that good. Only after digging around and finding someone pointing out that the show shifts half-way in did it incentivized me to keep going. I also watched related materials to Steins Gate(specials, 0, movie, ona,) and it doesn't get any better if not worse. Maybe you'll have a few good moments, but most of the time watching it was barely enjoyable.

Nostalgia or first time animes often blur viewers perception of the quality of the show. I like the story idea of Steins Gate, but it really wasn't that good of a show. It might have been a great series in 2011, but there has been great releases throughout the years as of 2024 with believable and grounded cast. Steins Gate is just an Ok anime.

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Jan 1, 2024

SooomeDonkus

Not Recommended

Funny

The story is basic, the art style is the same as most anime but less saturated, the male characters are gross and annoying, nobody has goals that I can relate to, and it takes way too long for any simple story beat to happen

Apparently this review need more words, but I'm not a professional reviewer so I think that's stupid, and don't want to waste your time with a whole essay essentially saying "I didn't like it" so instead I'll recommend some time travel stories that are better. Futurama. It's funny. I don't know why they're rebooting it though, it's such an early 2000s show. ...

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Poll: Steins;Gate Episode 7 Discussion ( 1 2 3 4 5 ... Last Page ) zimno - May 17, 2011	310 replies	by sidusX7 »» 7 hours ago
Poll: Steins;Gate Episode 22 Discussion ( 1 2 3 4 5 ... Last Page ) LadyOrihime - Aug 30, 2011	806 replies	by Neon7o7 »» Yesterday, 3:19 AM
Poll: Steins;Gate Episode 20 Discussion ( 1 2 3 4 5 ... Last Page ) Activelee - Aug 16, 2011	486 replies	by Term4738 »» May 14, 10:07 AM
Poll: Steins;Gate Episode 24 Discussion ( 1 2 3 4 5 ... Last Page ) shanimebib - Sep 13, 2011	1,830 replies	by wibugar »» May 9, 3:19 AM
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Steins;Gate

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