Steins;Gate was a wonderfully executed series, excelling in almost everything it did. I had way more fun with it than I thought, and got emotionally involved along the way. After that, there was no turning back, and every event that played out on screen was interesting, sometimes heartbreaking, and often thrilling.
The animation and art was nice to look at throughout the series. The character designs in particular were very well done. While there weren't any mind-blowing scenes of splendid animation, I never saw anything worth raising a complaint over. I enjoyed the soundtrack quite a bit, and the opening and ending were a match-made-in-heaven for the show, setting the mood perfectly.
The voice actors were absolutely amazing. Top-tier performance all the way through from the entire cast. Okabe's voice actor delivered every emotion convincingly, and his insane rantings were delivered with incredible gusto. Some of the funniest voice acting in recent memory. Makise Kurisu's voice actress (Asami Imai) has been a favorite of mine for a while, she hasn't done very many anime roles, so I was delighted to see her in a popular series like this, and she did not disappoint. Her voice fits Kurisu perfectly, balancing confidence, shyness and feminine appeal. I could go on, but names like Tamura Yukari and Hanazawa Kana speak for themselves. Nothing less than an impeccable cast.
The characters had great chemistry, and played off each other very nicely. The humor in the show was pervasive, but never overshadowed the dramatic scenes, which were hard-hitting and scattered nicely throughout the series, coming to an extremely satisfying climax in the end. The only part I disliked was some of the humor early on in the series, especially from Daru. In general, he's the only character I have any sort of a problem with; sometimes he's a bit much, and I never found his antics endearing, though I understand why he's there. The vast majority of the time, however, the humor was spot-on. The show knew how to play with cliches without becoming a parody of itself, and how to have silly, funny characters that could still deliver emotionally heavy material.
Steins;Gate was just damn good. Fantastic characters, a plot centered on an awesome idea which is put to great use, solid visuals and a magnificent cast of talents lending their voices to the series. There's really nothing like it out there, and you'd be doing yourself a huge disservice if you did not at least give this one a chance. One of (if not
the) strongest series of 2011, with one of the best pairs I've seen in a while.
Rating: 9/10; Fantastic
Quote:
Originally Posted by Akito_Kinomoto
I'm still not a fan of Dr. Pepper, though.  |
I actually tasted my first Doctor Pepper because of this show. (It's not a popular beverage where I live.) It's... not to my liking, I vastly prefer Coke. But hey, this isn't a soft drink review thread I guess.