Summary: An evil organization is poised to rule the world with time travel. They belong to no government, and have no political agenda aside from utter world domination. There is only one organization that can stop their despicable plot - The Future Gadget Laboratory. Can the Future Gadget Lab's leader, Okabe Rintaro, alias Hooin Kyoma, stop the organization? Or, will the third world war commence, and all those he cares about perish in the process?
Review
Plot: The plot of Steins;Gate is both its strongest, and weakest, aspect. The story begins with Okabe visiting a lecture on time travel, and finding the dead body of Makise Kurusu, a teenage scientific genius who has had multiple papers published. He sends a message about her death, and then everything changes. Okabe, inadvertently, discovered a method of sending text messages backwards in time, and by doing so is able to alter events. His first message saves Mikise's life, and begins a chain of events full of mystery, intrigue, innovation, and sorrow. His activity catches the attention of SERN (the show's version of CERN), and soon Okabe and his friends are set on a path that leads to tragedy. As Okabe changes the past again and again in hopes of altering the future, it becomes clear that he is the only person who remembers events from the previous timeline. It is a brilliant story with exceedingly well done time travel, but it has some significant issues in the beginning, and towards the end. The first few episodes are horribly confusing. The first time I watched the show, I actually stopped due to my confusion, and didn't try watching the series again for months. I was very pleased with the show once I got to the fifth episode or so. Then, towards the end of the series, Okabe makes an extremely difficult decision with Makise's help that has powerful ramifications. It seems like the series is over, but there are two episodes left. The final two episodes create a much happier ending to be sure, but they feel odd coming after the events of the twenty-second episode. The OVA takes place after the series, and could easily act as an epilogue episode.
Characters: The cast is diverse and excellent. Okabe fancies himself a mad scientist, but his lunacy and conspiracy suspicions are part of an act that he started to cheer up his childhood friend Mayuri after her grandmother died. Mayuri is lab member 002, and is a bit of an airhead with generally cheerful personality that fits with her job at a maid café, and hobby of making cosplay. Makise is slightly tsundere, and becomes lab member 004. Often called Christina by Okabe, she joins the lab to prove, or disprove, Okabe's time machine. She has problems with her father that lead, in part, to her growing affection for Okabe during the series. Daru is lab member 003. He is an expert hacker, an anime otaku, and is highly sarcastic when dealing with Okabe. Those are the leads of the show, but there are a half dozen other characters that are given personality and depth far exceeding what would normally be expected in the side-characters of an anime. Faris is the wealthy owner of the maid café Mayuri works in, and her cat-girl maid persona is one of the cafe's chief attractions. However, the reason her café exists is due to trauma from her past that she has always regretted. Moeka is a loner girl who talks through text message, and rarely speaks. The reasons for her actions, both good and bad, are revealed late in the show. Ruka is a shrine maiden, and a guy. He looks and acts like a wholly feminine woman, and wishes that he was female. Suzuha is a part time employee of the store below the Future Gadget Lab, and her motivations and actions are central to the plot. It is a truly impressive and memorable cast.
Presentation: The animation is very good, but doesn't stand out. It feels relatively generic even though it captures the exquisite images of the visual novel the show is based on quite well. That said, it is highly detailed, especially the backgrounds. The sound is well done, but as with the animation, doesn't make much of an impression. Neither the visuals or sound are negatives in any way, rather they don't add anything extra to the production. The opening, Sky Clad Observer by Kanako Ito is instantly recognizable, but isn't a song I'd go out of my way to listen to. The other songs are a good match for the series, but aren't nearly as memorable.
Entertainment Value: The catalyst for the enjoyment of this show is its beginning. The cast and dialogue is great, and the time travel science fiction plot is well done and engrossing. Despite the oddness of the ending, it provides an enjoyable conclusion, and then adds a great epilogue OVA episode. It is perfect for sci-fi fans, or those who like tense, and dense, plots full of intrigue and drama. To get to the parts of the show that make it great however, the viewer must first watch the extremely confusing first few episodes that setup the rest of the show. If the viewer gives up early, or can't handle complex sci-fi plots, then this will be an awful experience that is more likely to frustrate than entertain.
Rating: 8/10 - An amazing story with a stellar cast that is brought down by a confusing beginning and an end that, while good, doesn't feel like it fits the plot.
Steins;Gate - 24 episodes + 1 OVA
Note: Steins;Gate is based on a visual novel of the same name. The visual novel is exceedingly well reviewed and has been released on Xbox 360, PC, PSP, iOS, PS3, PS Vita, Android OS, and is set for a PS4 release in the future. English versions are available on PC, PS3, and PS Vita. The visual novel is highly regarded, receiving an 87/100 based on Metacritic and GameRankings. There are also a half dozen manga series, some spin-offs, and some of those series are still ongoing. There are three spin-off sequels to the visual novel as well that provide more comedic versions of the story, or stylistically different ones, such as a an 8-bit text adventure game. A true sequel, Steins;Gate 0 was released in December 2015, and will be released in English this year. A movie was released in 2013, and three drama CD's exist as well. A light novel was planned, but canceled in 2014. There is even a board game. I watched the show on blu-ray in English.
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