EternalPolaris
Hamasaki Hiroshi
Hamasaki Hiroshi
Kobayashi Tomoki
Sakai Kyuuta
Satou Takuya
Satou Takuya
Probably not an understatement to say that this anime is about the best anime to date. It has perfect balance in pretty much everything and excels in a lot of areas, simply put. That said, i... Home Twitter
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Probably not an understatement to say that this anime is about the best anime to date. It has perfect balance in pretty much everything and excels in a lot of areas, simply put. That said, it does not make itself out to be some pompous fully genius work which is a downfall of quite a few anime that rely on pathos. It is also important to note that this is probably the most successful adaptation of a game or VN to an anime series.
One thing I would like to note is that this anime as an adaptation is rather different from source material in several aspects, from plot to animation. This difference is good in and of itself, but it should be kept in mind for anyone who is going to play or has played
the VN.
The anime itself is an adaptation of an equally good visual novella (VN) of the same name, though there are changes, ranging from changes done to characters to certain plot elements and presentation. The premise of this anime revolves around time travel and is set in the Science;Adventure setting of other VNs by Shikura Chiyomaru's team. The premise of this anime also uses certain assertions and the existence of a person who went by the pseudonym John Titor in early 2000s and wrote on the internet about how he claimed to be a time traveler. His internet activity has earned him a Wikipedia article. The character "John Titor" as well as his online persona and some of his assertions form the basis of the plot of the anime. Not often you see such intricate, discrete, and deeply integrated references in any literary piece. The plot also makes references to a mass surveillance network, and they even call it by name in Steins;Gate 0. In the VN, there was also reference to the Committee of 300, which is mentioned quite often in Sci;Adv series VNs. The whole thing about the LHC being able to make black holes as mentioned in the anime comes from several incidents when people opposed CERN's research because they believed that it would make a black hole or some other cataclysm. IBN is obviously a changed name for IBM, with whom Steins;Gate even had something of a collaboration with. A lot of these aspects (with some exceptions) that make up the setting of the anime can be classified as conspiracy theories and that is something that Sci;Adv series uses in almost all of its work; SciFi and conspiracy theories in an otherwise normal Japanese setting.
There are a lot of themes shown in this anime and there is at least one theme per character that they are designed to explore by their story. For instance, Moeka's story shows, among other things, dependence. It shows how a person can be stripped of all meaning other than to do anything for something or, as in this case, someone and not bat an eyelid when that action is despicable. Rukako's arc is a bit weirder in that it seems less philosophical but it does show emotional problems related to gender and, in the case of this story, confidence. Suzuha is most closely related to duty and the future, in that she consistently struggled with keeping said duty and also her very existence starts and she is shaped by the future that she wants to change. The whole conflict between Kurisu and her father also shows things like ambition and how corrupting it may be, though this is overshadowed by other things in plot. Probably the most important theme in the whole anime is fate and how people are shaped by it as well as its nature. All of these characters have had their lives changed, possibly forever by the time machine. Time travel even has power over life and death. This anime puts a worldview that is something in between being a deterministic and a non-deterministic view of fate, in that in one world line a person will die no matter what you do if their death is a "convergence" and most such events are. However that is avoidable by going to another world line where such a thing does not occur.
The plot is near perfect for a sci-fi piece. It is unitary in that it all comes back together and intertwines various arcs perfectly after reaching the turning point. The creators have wisely not unloaded a ton of events and knowledge onto the viewer, as is often the case with most sci-fi, like Serial Experiments Lain. Instead, the plot is relatively simple and progresses at a decent pace, though one will only recognise said pace after the turning point. By the plot being simple, one can follow what happens with no effort easily and not be overwhelmed. The pace is slow enough that one can distinguish easily events within the anime after watching it.
While this is not noticeable by the average viewer, there are some moments which the anime skips out that were in the VN and that would have made the plot slightly more coherent as well as add more lore to the anime as part of the Sci;Adv series. Fortunately, here this problem is not as severe as it was in the later Chaos;Child, where the story line just ceased to make sense because they removed far too much from the initial plot of the VN. Here it seems they did that just to cram more scenes per episode, but I would argue that in adding all of the more crucial little bits missing here but present in the VN they would not exceed one more episode in running time. For instance, the VN had a lot more tie ins with other Sci;Adv stories. Some of the excluded episodes actually covered some would be plot holes. For instance, they "compress" data in a black hole (this is stated explicitly, we assume that this is a mechanic and is not something easily disprovable and therefore not a plot hole), but they need to receive it back fast before it decompresses. In the VN they show that the whole house is directly connected to SERN via cable, though that also gives more questions than answers. There is no similar explanation in the anime; they just stated that they had a direct connection to SERN. There were also other small bits and pieces that added to the story and the atmosphere. Either way, it is a good idea to watch this before or after playing through the VN for the lore.
Aside from lore and some connecting bits, the VN also had a fair bit of theory and physics knowledge presented to the viewer in order to back up the "scientific" part of the plot. In the anime this was seemingly cut because it would inevitably just overload the viewer with information that becomes irrelevant as the viewer gets drawn away from the technical side of the plot towards the second half of the anime. Normally, including such information would make the anime much more sophisticated for viewers. Anime like Serial Experiments Lain have large portions of the anime dedicated to almost lecture like bits explaining complicated computer science history and concepts which gives it a level of sophistication, but this is an extreme example. Steins;Gate does not bomb the viewer with information seemingly to streamline the pace of the anime, though for some this would (erroneously in my opinion) indicate a lack of sophistication.
Despite the anime's ingenuity, there are some parts that may be considered plot holes or ambiguities, though you need to look very deep to find them. That said, looking at the reviews above, ostensibly if you do not look hard enough you run the risk of erroneously finding plot holes that are otherwise explained in the plot.
They did not show that Okabe had to have undone the second D-mail towards the end, but that is a trivial part that can be accepted as fact. There is also a small contradiction when they sent the D-mail for Daru to win in his match and that did not work. It is not that the past did not change, it is that the outcome did not change and they sent the D-mail to change that outcome anyway even in that world line. They still wanted to change the outcome of that match. Even with the past changed the experiment still occurs, but they do not how the match actually went. Alternatively, it could be that they do how the match went but they expect that it went differently because they did the experiment and checked regardless because the outcome initially did not change. If it is the former then it is a plot hole.
There is also a bit of an inconsistency to Makise Kurisu's actions at the start of the anime. In World Line Beta she writes a sort of a paper dedicated to time machines and was shown to come to the conclusion that they may be possible after all. In World Line Alpha, however, she was pretty adamant about their impossibility and in the VN she even goes through some of the theories regarding time travel and highlights that these theories are based on concepts or objects that are at best theoretical. It is unclear as to why there is this difference in attitude and what actually happened to the paper she wrote in the Alpha world line. The only thing that is known for certain is that the conference for which she made the paper was cancelled before the venue was damaged by FG204. Perhaps she wrote the paper just before that in the Beta world line and therefore did not do so in Alpha, leading her to not reconsider her position. This difference is highlighted for Kurisu's familial problems arc and in Steins;Gate 0 and therefore it is a bit upsetting that the plot is not clear on this.
Another review (credits to ThatAnimeSnob), that was much older, found another inconsistency. While I reject most of the plot holes that they wrote about (in the very least those that are coherent), the one where there should have been at least three Okabes in Episode 24 seems to be valid. I do not think that the anime explains why this would not be the case, though there is a very similar event like this in the Steins;Gate movie where there should have been at least two Makises, so perhaps I missed something. Perhaps it is similar to the Daru match thing written above in that their second trip on the time machine was actually their first as the real first trip changed no outcome and otherwise their actions on both trips were identical.
I would argue that the scientific basis for the anime is not a plot hole as it is with any sci-fi, especially since the science in the anime is more or less believable.
Episode 25 is a bit of a blunder in of quality overall, but it is still moderately comic. It was released half a year after the series ended and it is rather raw in animation quality in several scenes. There is also a game called Rai-Net within the anime. It is shown only about 3 times, but one could say that it is in the anime only because the VN also had it, because otherwise it seems redundant and not fully worked out and only takes up time even if that time is measured in seconds. The "But he's a guy" line can get a bit annoying, but considering that it actually became a sort of a meme it is not too cringe. Amane Yuki is also shown in Episode 25, but for some reason her character design here and in the movie is radically different from the one in Steins;Gate 0.
The soundtrack is very well made. Some of it is soundtrack that is used from the VN which is also very nice and most of it is upbeat but at the same time calming. Other parts of the OST are obviously made specifically for the anime and are quite memorable and pleasant. The OST is good enough to listen on its own, but it is not particularly distinguished as music. I do wish however that more of the VN soundtrack was used after all. Quite a bit of it had a much more fitting atmosphere than some of the newer soundtrack. For instance, OST Chaos Mind was used for literally only a couple of seconds in the anime, and it would have fit so well in certain points in the anime. These VN OSTs make up a large part of the atmosphere in the VN and I feel that they could have brought more of that atmosphere had they simply used more of the OST from the VN. Quiet Air was also a very nice OST that deserved more screen time than it got. But I can understand these OSTs not being included as much as the atmosphere had to be changed to accommodate them in certain scenes.
The animation quality done by White Fox is variable, but is good overall. Particularly in close ups of things, like faces of characters, does the animation truly excel. There are certain animation sequences in the anime that are fluid and showcase some of the best quality animation I have seen, even if the animation itself is brief. It is like the animators went to the maximum at those select sequences. There is also a significant work done on shadows. Those are consistently well done. That being said, quality noticeably drops even if the viewer is about 8m away or at a weird angle. It is not impossible to make high quality animation even in those circumstances, but because of its simplicity, the animation remains fluid and the quality drop is barely noticeable. Inanimate objects, like rooms and furniture, are often either drawn in a different much more polished style or drawn using CGI altogether. Either way this was a good decision as when this is the case, characters do not look out of place as their animation keeps up normally, and it allows just for a more polished picture overall. I suppose completely following huke's (character designer for the VN) would be both too expensive and probably out of place. While his character designs are amazing, I find it hard to imagine them being animated, even if it was done to the last detail, although I would like to see that. The changes done to character designs here were also good, in my opinion, as were the original designs. Nevertheless, there are still better examples of animation out there like anime by Shaft or KyoAni, which can be more detailed and more fluid.
The opening and the ED are both excellent. I have no idea what deal Chiyomaru has with people working under him, but generally Ito Kanako and FES(Sakikabara Yui) have made some of the best and most original songs for VNs and anime that I have heard, and Steins;Gate is no exception. Though I personally favour the opening from the VN, the one here is more energetic as well as complex in visuals and music alike. The ED is also visually pleasing, though a bit underwhelming compared to the ED of Steins;Gate 0. It seems to represent the "you that goes beyond time" as was put late in the anime. In this case the "you" is Makise Kurisu, hence her naked form at the end of the ED.
The character development in this series is probably second to none. For such a relatively large ensemble to develop, be intertwined, and explored in a relatively short time, the writing has to be on point. The only anime that goes to similar lengths that comes to mind is Monogatari, but even then the story and lore is sometimes sacrificed for character development and vice versa. S;G does compromise not that way; the story is whole and at the same time enables a mass of characters and their stories to be developed. Okabe himself is shown not only to develop, from a edgy uni student to an also edgy student just with a bit more awareness, but also unravel and make decisions that would normally unthinkable for a person like him and do whatever it takes to achieve his goal. The various situations that he encounters have him deviate from his norm of half normal student and half chuunibuyou to other roles ranging from a properly decent and even pleasant human being to a truly horrible person. There is also a bit of irony in the way Okabe acts early on.
Because he frames all of his worries to fit in with his cringe fantasy and brings anticlimax to many scenes, people around him forget that they are dealing with an immensely important discovery and compete against an organisation shown to achieve their goals by any means and with no regard for life. That carelessness is what leads them to their fate, though some reviewers have written it off as just the character being annoying to the viewer. Kurisu's character is also excellent. She was first introduced as a collected but arrogant academician which later on intermixed with a classical tsundere personality. However, she was gradually shown to be a very understanding and reliable character. Without her, Okabe would have probably not have gotten anywhere. Mayuri's character is somewhat harder to discern. It did change, but the majority of the time she was left intentionally ignorant of what was really going on to provide a contrast to the dire situation. Nevertheless, she certainly knows more than she should. It is possible she is in a way the personification of fate as a concept in this anime or rather fate's inevitability.
My only critique of Makise Kurisu as a character is that quite often her dialogue involves like 'logically' and other words that mean the same thing in that context. It is meant to bring weight to her words as logically sound, but instead it somewhat cheapens them and gets annoying. This is also a hallmark of other more derivative anime. As was said before, the character design is good, but is subtly different from the designs in the VN. Even so, one can still sometimes see those boxes in the characters eyes, that look reminiscent of TVs...
In general, the direction of this anime is great. It is much more conventional in things like "camera" angles, lighting, and dynamic as opposed to other anime of similar caliber, like Monogatari or Tatami Galaxy, which is not limited by keeping even basics like colour palettes consistent. The very fact that some scenes in this anime look nothing short of perfect, despite using a modest set of instruments to do so, is proof of how well directed it is.
A noticeble feature used by the director is foreshadowing. Normally this is a rather primitive literary feature, but here it is done very well. Never have I seen it be used so subtly and effectively, though it is very likely that you will only notice it on the second watch of the anime. Especially in episodes 1 and 5 there are seemingly random scenes, one of them only lasts a moment, that later reappear after the turning point in important junctions.
Particularly the second such scene lasts for about 4 seconds during which time Kurisu says something to Okabe like "Hurry up before time runs out and you lose" over a shot of the empty platform of the local train station. The scene then changes to show that she was referring to a timed Rai-Net game they were playing. If you have gone past Episode 13 you would know what this is referring to.
My guess is that this is normally not used because it is too subtle. In fact there is a lot of dialogue that can be completely reinterpreted from the context at the time to refer to the things yet to come, so much so that it is creepy. Most people will miss this. But anime is not limited by one watch nor is it impossible to pause at those scenes.
Another element of foreshadowing is that Okabe slowly seems to get distracted for some reason when anything related to the turning point is brought up, as if he is fishing for something in the back of his mind, which is another element of foreshadowing for the terrible things to come. The emails he receives and the visions/dreams that appear to him (in the VN it is hinted that they are "projected" into his mind, a reference to Chaos;Head of some sort) are a not so subtle example of the same thing.
All of this foreshadowing and uneasiness adds to a large atmospheric part of the anime that itself links to the theme of fate. As Okabe digs deeper without a care in the world he unwittingly sets himself up for much more than he bargained for and the foreshadowing elements are the small signs that point to one irrefutable fact, as the VN says; they have gone too far. Related to this is the massive amount of symbolism due to time. For instance, the stopped hourglass, which is also sometimes broken, as well as Mayuri's broken pocket watch that is sometimes apparently missing its clock hands when it is in pieces.
While this anime ranks high on the list of watched anime for anyone who is even remotely acquainted with anime and literature, other anime adaptations of other VNs in the same Sci;Adv setting have generally been a failure despite sometimes excellent original material. Chaos;Head had a questionable art style and could not reconcile changes made to itself with the original themes and plot of the VN. As a result it came out messy, but watchable for 2008 standard. In 2011 came Steins;Gate. In 2013 the movie sequel for Steins;Gate came out. In 2014 came Robotics;Notes, but its problem was in the fact that the plot felt like it did not change from the VN. As a result, it was rather long and did not have the content to fill the length of 24 episodes, in the very least dynamically. On the other hand Chaos;Child (2017) was far too short for the content of the original. The Chaos;Child VN could easily take much longer to fully complete than probably all of the other VNs in the series, and yet they cut out a lot of the important parts to the plot and shoved it into a barely 14-episode anime, which obviously was not a good decision. Out of those 14 episodes, the first episode was a very quick filler for Chaos;Head VN, a story that has no relation to Chaos;Child other than being in the same setting. Steins;Gate 0 came out a year after that and while it did not reach the same level of ingenuity in plot and direction, it was still a strong adaptation, probably second only to the original itself in the Sci;Adv series. There is also Occultic;Nine, but apparently that is a separate story and it also was not infallible to say the least.
This anime is generally as good as it gets. It can be enjoyed by both people looking for a nice 1 watch scifi action anime and people who overanalyse anime way too much. It is true that many people praise it whereas it seems that some of this stuff was unintentional and rather primitive, like foreshadowing. Even if that is the case, frankly that is even more impressive that the people that made this got the balance between pace and plot right on accident. I would normally binge watch it, but one could take it slower. There is also a question of how to watch this and Steins;Gate 0. The main problem with Steins;Gate 0 is that it is chronologically positioned just before the very end of Steins;Gate, which makes for a somewhat awkward watch, if you decide to watch 50 episodes at once. I think that it would be much neater to watch Steins;Gate 0 on its own. If you stop at episode 23 and move to Steins;Gate 0 it feels rather unsatisfying as everything before that episode was building up for a nice unitary epilogue, but you would be starting another 24 episodes. It leaves you with a rather unsatisfying feeling as you start Steins;Gate 0. On the other hand, watching Steins;Gate 0 on its own is also a bit weird. Steins;Gate 0 requires context to watch it. Looking over the reviews for this anime, I have come back to the realisation that anime, and cinematography in general, is extremely subjective. I have laid out a lot of objective reasons to like it, like themes and directorial instruments, but other things, like pacing, OST, and even the plot itself, may not be everyone's cup of tea. As Tarkovsky said "Never try to convey your idea to the audience – it is a thankless and senseless task. Show them life and they'll find within themselves the means to assess and appreciate it". On one hand Steins;Gate does not dwell on a set idea and rather allows the viewer to take the story as they want it, so to speak. Even so, there are some set pieces, like the aforementioned pacing, that are too solid to be for everyone. But I strongly believe that this anime comes as close as any anime I have seen to satisfy everyone's demands and it does that well.
