The plot of this Anime is really creative and clever as well. In fact, I have never seen something like this before. It's about a 17 year-old scientist, named Okabe Rintarou, who is highly intrigued of time travels and believes that they are possible, and meets a 18 year-old woman, named Makise Kurisu, who does not think so. In the beginning, he has three laboratory . Hashida Itaru, also known as Daru, and Shiina Mayuri. During his research of time travels, he obtains more laboratory due to the oddest situations. Once, in a scientific building, he saw the corpse of Makise Kurisu. He sent a E-Mail to Daru, and oddly, it says that he sent it one week ago. Confused, he concludes that the E-Mail was sent to the past, and right after his conclusion, he saw Makisa Kurisu alive, although he has seen her corpse.
Steins;Gate has done something none of the Anime I have seen so far has done. The story is absolutely consistent, it is totally flawless. Some parts of the story are really difficult to follow, and although the story is so complicated were mistakes are easily done, Steins;Gate did it perfectly. Even if haters were supposed to find a mistake in the story, they would fail. The story is absolutely flawless, and then it's even brilliant, too. The only thing I failed to understand is how everything that is written in a D-Mail will automatically be realized. In the past, it would have the same effect as a E-Mail, so that fact should be clarified, but maybe I just missed it. Nonetheless, you can dislike the story, but never say it is a flaw.
The story is interesting all the way, but you will easily get lost, so when you are watching Steins;Gate, make sure you do not turn your brain completely off and concentrate in order to understand the story decently. If you understand it, you will see why it is so clever, and it is actually really interesting, too, especially how the time travel theories would actually make sense, even though it is impossible to do. It sounds like it would actually work, which is quite interesting.
While the pacing might feel really slow in the first twelve episodes, after you watched them and look back to what happened, you recognize that they have actually accomplished more than it feels. If the creators would try to make the pacing feel faster, it would probably end up horribly rushed, so actually, even if it feels sometimes the opposite, the pacing is perfect. This Anime gives you the feeling that it will always go on like that, but it would end up having 12 or 13 episodes, would not be dramatic at all, wouldn't be as popular as it is, and SERN would feel completely out of place. The plot-twist in episode 12 was definitely surprising, but it was amazing. It feels like now it would get deeper in the thriller genre and comedy will totally be left out, but it is interesting how Steins;Gate does actually never loose its comedy. It doesn't feel out of place and it's actually really hilarious as well.
There is one aspect Steins;Gate lacks at immensely - the character development. Actually, only Okabe Rintarou and Makise Kurisu are developing slightly, but their personalities never change. To be honest, character development in Steins;Gate was not too necessary, though. It is always refreshing to see how the characters are always the same, and it is good that the only existing character development in this Anime doesn't change the personalities and the comedy. Every character has an unique personality, which is cool and/or hilarious in various ways. Okabe for instance, gives everyone odd nicknames (including himself) and has odd habits, but is serious when necessary. No secondary character feels actually out of place and plays a fair role, and most of them hide a certain secret as well.
Every character has an unique appearance and seems to never actually change its clothes. Okabe wears always his laboratory coat, while Mayuri wears always the same hat and dress. Kurisu always wears her pullover so, that it doesn't cover her shoulders, and Daru's clothes are pretty much Standard. Mayuri's eyebrows look strange, but I guess it has a purpose. As far as I know, "mayu" is Japanese and means "eyebrow" in English, so that is probably their intention. The animation is usually not bad nor good, but there are situations where the animation is wonderful. In Anime the animation tends to be occasionally particularly fluid, and Steins;Gate is no exception. The art is a true eye-candy. It looks truly outstanding. The eyes look a little bit strange, but it is tolerable. The backgrounds are mostly detailed create a decent atmosphere.
The Seiyuu cast has done an amazing job. Okabe's voice fits just perfectly for a mad scientist, and Kurisu's voice sounds great and fitting as well. Mayuri's voice is also amazing and fits perfectly, too, not to mention Daru's voice. They definitely made proper choices and they do not sound lifeless or emotionless at all, they have an accurate sound and even emotional scenes were well done. The sound effects are greatly done as well. In this Anime in these special situations, the sound effects are of course special, too, but they sound logical.
There is only one opening, while in the last two episodes have, the opening was modified with the lyrics of the full version, which sound better in my opinion and is a great idea. Nonetheless, the opening is probably one of the most amazing ones I have ever heard. The singer has a great voice, and the same applies to the ending, too, though in the last episodes there were different endings, too. Episode 23's ending is definitely one of the best songs I have ever heard. The lyrics are decent as well. As for the background soundtrack, it's definitely one of the bests out here. While most of the tracks do not sound really particular, which are always the comedy and science background musics, they fit pretty well and do not sound bad, too. The important themes are those which are used in emotional scenes, and nobody can complain about those themes, since every single one sounds utterly amazing.
This is so far the best Anime I have ever seen. You do not have to be into Sci-Fi to like it, it is actually for everyone. It has a really brilliant and emotional story, decorated with wonderfully executed comedy moments, which were simply genius and made me laugh every single time. The characters are definitely the bests I have seen so far as well, even though the character development was missing, but every character was hilarious and cool. No character is actually annoying and even the secondary characters give a fair input. Everyone has to watch this Anime, simply everyone. What you will see in this Anime is awesomeness on the highest level, and in all seriousness, I could describe this Anime almost as a drug. I can not get enough of it. I want more, more, more and more. I seriously can not wait for the movie and I will make sure to review it as well.
