Wednesday, September 14, 2011

[Ended] Steins; Gate: Hey Mister, I am A Mad Scientist, Sunuvabich


Before Steins;Gate came out, despite all the hypes around it, I was highly skeptical about the series mostly because 5pb's previous anime adaptation, Chaos;Head in my opinion was highly disappointing. In fact, I retained the same opinion early during the series because both Steins;Gate and Chaos;Head started almost in almost same mysterious fashion.

Fortunately, the similarities of the two series stopped there. On top of that, since my expectation was so low, I was completely unprepared for the amazing journey that was about to embark.

It's really hard to describe or even express any opinions about this series without spoiling anything. So I'm not even going to try. But just to give an overall feel, it is like the movie the Butterfly Effect on steroid.

As the series actually tries to be somewhat scientific about the concept of time travel, it manages to avoid most paradox which are created by time travel. However, the very last time traveling event of the series has a hug gaping whole that is fairly easy to notice. But I'd give them a free pass on that since it's somewhat difficult to tie up all loose ends without it. Overall, the space-time continuity is rather a difficult topic to build a story upon, and they did quite a good job with.

Aside from not having too much big gaping holes on the technical side, there are quite a few other things it has done well. For any story, the top two factors that would sway my opinion the most is plot construction and character development. Steins;Gate managed to do an excellent job in both. Like most time travel themed story, the constant struggle between the desire to change the past and what that change may bring in the future is the center of everything. During the course of this struggle, we see some in-depth development of characters, even those of very minor roles. In fact, after finishing the entire series, you'd realize the plot is rather simple. It's the characters that made the biggest impact.

Final scoreboard:


Drama: 95 (In dramatic fashion)
Comedy: 90 (I am a mad scientist, sunuvabich)
Action: 90 (For what it had)
Art/Animation: 88 (good, but a bit plain)
Sound/Music: 92 (Good music)
Character: 98 (Very well done)
Plot: 91 (Simple yet effective)
Ending: 90 (Steins;Gate)

Re-watch value: 60 (Loses surprise factor, but may pick up more details)

Overall: 92 - I am a mad scientist, it's so cooooool, Sunuvabich

Recommendation:
Every year/season, there will have some truly exceptional animes that I would consider "must-watch". This is one of them. On top of that, I would hand it

Long Season Anime of the Season for April 2011 Season

2 comments:

yoekix said...

I found the ending somewhat weak, it is like they didn't really know how to properly end it. Then there is the feeling that the high point in this anime occurs somewhat around ep 18-20 with failed retries to recreate such moments.

But it is like you said that the characters are the ones that makes this interesting. I started watching due the mystery of this anime combined with the humor and i didn't regret it.

Anonymous said...

El Psy Congroo.