Air date: April 6, 2011 — September 14, 2011
With the disclaimer that I’m not familiar with the video game the eponymous anime is based off of, nor the other games and their respective animes in the Science Adventure series, I begin by saying: it was eerie. But the good kind…overall.
I finished watching the anime a few days ago, after a few months of watching 1–2 episodes a week (why this is pertinent might elucidate itself later). There’s a second season (Steins; Gate 0), following an alternate ending to the first season, written by the same writer but different director(s).
Storyline
Time travel as a plot device is incredibly easy to botch. Even the fairly easy-to-follow plot in Avengers Endgame left many viewers confused, debating the butterfly effect, and the idea of multiple worlds or “dimensions”. Even if you believe time travel won’t ever be possible, it has to be consistent within the rules established in the world, and follow some cohesive line of logic.
Steins; Gate in this regard is a plot follows many details to a tee (I say many, not all, because I need a rewatching to ensure everything was accounted for)—even details easily forgotten or missed in the background noise. Because of this, it’s an anime that demands to be watched multiple times because in the first viewing I failed to take note of “irrelevant” details that litter the first half of the anime but become unambiguously vital in the last half. The anime takes its sweet time to establish character motivations, personalities, and goals, centering Rintaro Okabe as not the sole protagonist but simply the one we follow among a vibrant cast who play their own roles in shaping the story. Okabe, a university student and the head of small lab, assumes the place of a self-professed mad scientist, which naturally accompanies a catalog of eccentric behaviors and socially inept moments.
He’s joined by Mayuri Shina, a childhood friend, and Itaru Hashida, a hacker and manga/anima/maid cafe aficionado. As their lab grows, the discovery of messages that can be sent into the past to change events catapults them into a mystery and dystopia of global-proportions, setting in motion events long before they (and we) can foretell them.
But, at the cost of this world-building and establishing a solid background and storyline (to later mess with as time travel shifts into focus) is an achingly slow pace. If you’re binge watching, this might not be a substantial issue, but it takes eleven to twelve episodes to reveal the true grim and thriller nature of the anime, as opposed to the light-hearted camaraderie the viewer becomes accustomed to. It’s a double edged sword, as misdirection has its own place especially in the thriller genre, but risks losing viewership before the mystery unravels. Steins; Gate doesn’t hit the ground running by any means. The first episode, though there’s a character found dead but later alive and a spaceship seen crashing into a building, quickly settles into a comedy routine for the next few episodes, with time travel shenanigans interrupted with occasional doses of serious contemplation over the nature of what they’re pursuing.
But perhaps it’s this very entanglement of daily, often mundane lives of the researchers/students and their grueling work with epic catastrophes that makes you invested in their world and to see them reign victorious. The touches of allusions to real life — John Titor, CERN — and other elements make it a fun hunt for time travel-related easter eggs.
Characters
A mad scientist, an otaku, a tsundere, and a waitress at a moe cafe couldn’t scream popular culture in Japan louder, especially aspects that have been transported overseas and permeated American-anime culture. But, this doesn’t undercut the often very-serious nature of past trauma and the paths to resolve them, from losing a loved one to teetering on the brink of suicide.
It takes some time to establish the rapport between he main players in this world, and some of the back stories. There’s a love story as well, brewing in the background (or foreground, if you’re familiar with character tropes), that doesn’t come to fruition until very later in the story, with nearly an entire episode dedicated to that arc. Though it might seem random, or on the other end, like it didn’t have enough build-up, it works because that particular relationship isn’t meant to be the focal point. The role the relationship plays is in what that relationship exemplifies: sacrifice, like other people in Okabe’s life. A theme of Steins; Gate, I think, is about the past. We have to live with our consequences. We cannot change the core reality, and even if we did, it doesn’t guarantee peace. We can only wade through the consequences of our actions for a better future. Okabe spends the better part of the story coming to terms with this, using the quality the got him into this mess — stubbornness, almost to a frustrating degree— to get him out. His character growth is linked to the relationship he enjoys with others, from his friends to his romantic relationships. The series of events leads him to truly come to terms with the consequences his premature actions had on their lives, the price they all have to pay, and the astonishing capacity to persevere.
Animation
In terms of pure visuals, Steins; Gate is not the most vibrant. Muted tones and gives it almost a sleepy, dreary quality, one that persists until the most crucial moments, where the anime takes advantage of black-and-white flashes and close-ups on details. The background is almost lifeless, maybe to funnel focus onto the livelihoods of the characters.
There were a handful of simply stunning, startling scenes — a combination of sound effects, angles, and jump cuts that make for a memorable, jarring anime.
Other Notes
There’s some graphic scenes — of death, murder, suicide, bloody fights, sexual humor.
