What started out as fantastical delusions and playful scientism bred an incidental invention that has led Okabe Rintarou and his lab members into an awesome fray of time travel and conspiracies. Witness as they experience an almost endless three weeks of undoing the result of exploring and experimenting their latest innovation as they go through hell and back and then back again.

Steins;Gate could may well be the best science fiction thriller that has ever come out. It may also even be one of the best series that have come out of all time. Whatever rating it may be getting or whichever list ranks it high or not, there’s no doubt that this series is one rollercoaster ride you cannot afford to miss just because it’s not like Naruto nor a feel-good series with panty shots. You may argue that its plot has similarities to Western movies like Back to the Future where there are even direct references to it – even throw in Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure if you want to say that the phone booth in that movie inspired the concept of the Phone Microwave. But one thing for sure is it certainly has brought more to a story about time travel than those two combined.

It looks fun and games at first since all they do is mostly experiment, argue, fool around a bit and then experiment some more while they argue. Don’t be fooled into thinking it’s just that though as the series is a full-blown thriller packed with twists and surprises that will hold you in suspense as Okabe desperately tries to undo a single death regardless of a much bigger conspiratorial plot. Furthermore, as the story progresses, we’ll see that everything from the most minor detail to the most important plot device is connected in one way or another. That’s right; the simplest argument, each and every one of their experiments, a single text message or dialogue, even the Upas are significant to the story as a whole and that’s one of the things that makes this series so amazing.

Aside from the thrills, it is also quite intellectually engaging. Unlike most stories about time travel, this series discusses a wide range of theories and hypotheses about time travel, its methods and of course its effect on the world. It also tackles a very different concept about time in the form of World Lines. In theory, it is similar to parallel universes but it is not. Rather, it is the divergence of the path the world is taking every time they try to alter the past even by a little. In other words, the world is split from a world line where one thing happened where it didn’t occur at another due to their alteration of the past and it will continue to split as long as they use their time machine. If you want to find out more about this though, you should watch it for yourself as it may take more than this review can cover.

Characters are very likeable, although, if you have seen its predecessor Chaos;Head and disliked the main character, you may at first think Okabe Rintarou is the same delusional yet less paranoid character as Nishijou Takumi. Don’t let that put you down though as Okabe is shown to be a normal yet playful guy who values his friends later on in the story. The cast may be ripe for a harem series as it is mostly girls. Much more, we have a collection of them with traits that can be found in said genre such as the athletic girl, the quiet glasses girl, the childhood friend, the popular girl, (everyone’s favorite) the tsundere, and the trap – okay, maybe this one has yet to establish itself in the typical harem genre. Anyway, the point is even though it has what it takes to become a harem title, it does not wholly venture into it and stays on its own path which in turn maximized plot progression and character growth for not only the lead character but the entire cast as well.

It was mentioned that another series has preceded this; do you need to see it to understand the story? To answer the question that you will most likely ask: no, as Chaos;Head and Steins;Gate are two different stories that just happened to be in the same setting. They have no other connection other than that.

In conclusion, Steins;Gate is a must-see series. It may not have a lot of action, but it is definitely one of the most suspenseful series you’ll ever see thanks to its masterful storytelling mixed with a great composition of music put in the appropriate scenes, an awesome voice cast and a great delivery. If you’re already a fan of Nitro+’s works, then you should know how good they can be.

Is it worth to re-watch? Definitely as you will be surprised to find minor details that you will not think of anything but unimportant on your first viewing. They are small details that you would probably not think it was anything significant but are actual hints of what is ahead so you need to pay extra attention to every bit of detail presented. In any case, no matter how many times you’ll see it, it is guaranteed that this series will take you for a ride.

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