AnimeSuki.com Forum

AnimeSuki Forum (http://forums.animesuki.com/index.php)
-   Steins;Gate (http://forums.animesuki.com/forumdisplay.php?f=112)
-   -   Steins;Gate - Overall Series Impressions & Total Series Rating (http://forums.animesuki.com/showthread.php?t=107011)

Klashikari 2011-09-20 10:32

Steins;Gate - Overall Series Impressions & Total Series Rating
 
This thread is to be used for discussing the entire episodes of Steins;Gate ... your thoughts about the show, overall impressions, expectations and hopes about the DVD only footage etc.

A few subjects you might want to ramble on about:
  • General impression of the series.
  • Opinions on the overall story, writing & plot devices.
  • Thoughts about the animation quality.
  • Characters/Character Design
  • Voice Acting

  • Which kind of footage (DVD only) you feel you'd really like to see.
  • What the show meant to you.
  • What could the creators/animators/writers have done better.

And so on.

The poll represents your total series rating. In other words, how you would rate all the episodes combined (1-10)? If you'd rather rate the whole series by technical/artistic merits, you can do so. An example:

Animation Quality: 1-10
Voice Actors: 1-10
Script: 1-10
Soundtrack: 1-10
Editing: 1-10
Enjoyment: 1-10
Emotional Involvement: 1-10

Average = Total Series Rating

Or a combination of the two. Or your general gut feeling.

Feel free to discuss and more importantly, have fun :)

Sheba 2011-09-20 11:01

General impression of the series.

I have come into the show with skeptic curiosity and caution after having heard bad things about chaos;head. I should have checked about the director to cast away my sentiment. While the first episode was intriguing, the first couple of episodes made it hard to get into. But the director with his sense of pacing managed to leave plot hooks here and there like breadcrumbs. The point where my interest had definitely picked up was "Human is dead." and "I want you to be the messiah.", this is where I thought "The plot is thickening, time to keep a closer look over the series. Then I never regreted it. steins;gate have become to me the challenger for best series of 2011 with Madoka Magica, and this is not counting the other serious challenger that is Fate/Zero.

Opinions on the overall story, writing & plot devices.

If there is an image that can describe steins;gate, it is a tower. Carefully built by the director, brick by brick, layer after layer. This is when the episode 23 comes onto your face that anyone intrigued by the first episode would say in Keanu Reeves' immortal words, "woah".

The time travel plot devices were used carefully and with competence.

The "otaku jokes" that many complained about served to add something to the characters, it's when shit hit the fan that spectators realized that they have cared for the characters. They may have annoyed them, made them laugh, cringe, but they never felt "hollow" to me.

Thoughts about the animation quality.

It was okay for most of part, but I did notice some QUALITY moments like in the Feyris Nyannyan ep.

Characters/Character Design

The design mostly avoid the "moe anime pitfalls" so it is okay I guess. The characters themselves takes a while to get attached to. But when they do, you do care for what happen to them in the second half.

Voice Acting


Someone please give Mamoru Miyano and Asami Imai a fucking award. This show convinces me that some VA don't have enough voice roles and should have more loving from the industry.


What the show meant to you.

Clearly one of the series that gives a good faith in the 2010s decade. Also the demonstration that the slice-of-life bits (again the "otaku jokes") can be used for good and be rewarding.

HurricaneHige 2011-09-20 18:24

Animation Quality: 7
While it wasn't poorly animated, it wasn't particularly great either. Plenty of cost cutting shots, sometimes slightly disfigured characters. Overall, it did not hurt the anime, but it didn't really stand out.

Voice Actors: 9
Every Seiyuu did an amazing job on this, there's no other way to put it.

Script: 9.5
It's been awhile since I was this hooked to an anime. The premise is superb, and thanks to the 2-cour format, SG did not suffer the same fate as Chaos;Head. There are very few loose-ends left untied at the end of the series, and the story itself is engaging.

Soundtrack: N/A
I don't do soundtrack review, but anyone felt the OP sounds kinda like old Rockman (Megaman) OPs?

Enjoyment: 10
I definitely enjoyed my journey across the Alpha and Beta line with Hooin Kyoma. Every episode left me wanting for more. Even though the ending was not the "bang" everyone was hoping for, it didn't suck, and that's saying a lot considering the scriptwriters nowadays.

Emotional Involvement: 9
I found myself cheering for the self-proclaimed mad scientist, a lot.

OVERALL RATING: 9

When I have time, I'll re-do this in more depth...and maybe post it on mai blog. Until then, El Psy Congroo!

Asuras 2011-09-20 21:12

Animation Quality: 8
Nothing special, but certainly not bad. Very little scenes made me stop to consider the quality, and I found no screaming errors at all.

Voice Actors: 10
I greatly enjoyed Okarin's voice actor. His laugh and manner of speech managed to get some laughs from me, and the overall cast did a splendid job.

Script: 10
About once a year do I find gold such as this. I can tell when a series has left an impression on me when I lose sleep the night I finish it. I actually felt for the characters. I tensed up when I knew something was coming. I felt sad when someone was hurt. The relationships themselves actually got me to believe in them for once.

Soundtrack: 9
It never got me to listen to it again, but I was never forced to turn the volume off. A plain soundtrack. Though I do love the ending theme's tune~

Enjoyment: 10
See "Script"

Emotional Involvement: 10
See "Script"

OVERALL: 10

Reckoner 2011-09-20 22:42

As the latest visual novel anime adaption to come out in the anime industry, Steins;Gate goes above and beyond what many of its contemporaries have accomplished.

The main plot of Steins;Gate revolves around the experiments and activities of a certain group of friends who managed to customize their microwave into a machine that could send text messages into the past, and the resulting consequences of their actions as the organization SERN, researches on time traveling, tries to capture them.

While Steins;Gate is a science fiction story, the core of its story was always the characters and it was the science fiction elements that acted as its framework. Most of the story is built upon highly entertaining interactions, as well as wonderful character development that really manages to come through to the audience and elicit empathy. As the story goes on, one cannot help but feel the desire to root for the cast to succeed.

On the production side of things, the budget certainly could have been better, as the anime's visuals sometimes lacked the impact I felt they deserved. The audio was generally very good, but not spectacular. What really shined through though was the quality of directing. The way the camera moves around during certain climax scenes, and the use of the few stand out songs from the sound track managed to bring out the best of certain climax moments throughout the show's run.

Another thing that most certainly should not be forgotten is the quality of the voice acting in this show, especially that of Okabe's voice actor, Miyano, Mamoru. Miyano's performance in this show seriously deserves a standing ovation. The sheer emotion he managed to express in his role was chilling. It really helped in engaging the audience during key scenes.

One thing that must be appreciated in this anime is studio White Fox's ability to adapt the story well. Too many times in the anime industry have we seen a combination of poor planning, production values, and an inability to stay faithful to the source material ruin an otherwise quality source material. Coming into this anime it was hard to not be wary of the same problems arising due to its predecessor Chaos;Head being an absolutely terrible adaption.Thankfully, Steins;Gate manages to trump the usual issues of many other visual novel adaptions, earning its place as a very enjoyable anime.

Overall, while Steins;Gate is not a hard core science fiction story, it manages to bring enough intrigue plot wise while balancing out a very endearing character driven story. The amusing character interactions manage to make sure that the story never becomes stale, and its build up to its most shining moments always draws you in for more. Steins;Gate has it least in my book earned its way as one of the most impressive visual novel adaptions to date.

Rating: 9/10

RadiantBeam 2011-09-20 23:06

9/10 for me. The show wasn't completely perfect--some of the time travel stuff, while easy to follow most of the time, was occasionally lost on me, and I felt that some of the characters didn't get quite as much focus and development as they needed to really make their stories more emotional. But it made me care about the main cast and root for them, and that definitely makes it one of my favorite anime.

Kaioshin Sama 2011-09-21 13:15

I think I'll copy/paste (not link, oh lordy no we'll be doing none of that then there) my post from episode 24 since it essentially serves the same purpose here.

So then let's talk Steins;Gate and visual novel adaptations for a bit.

So when I came into this show I wasn't really sure what to expect, but I quickly found myself taken a back by how quickly these characters were growing on me, how even the pace was, how stable the production values were, and how much of a thriller the plot turned out to be in the second half. It may come as no surprise, but typically I'm not a fan of the visual novel adaptation scene in the slightest. For the most part I find the average one chock full of bland characters, inconsistant production values, bland romantic love triangles and a second half that's typically more emotional manipulation than intriguing and high stakes.

Steins;Gate offered me something different, it offered me a visual novel adaptation that I could actually see myself recommending to some of my friends. I don't think that's happened since the Higurashi adaptations, and we all sadly know how those have ended up as of late. They're no match for this one on the production value side or arguably even the pacing and writing side, so I have to say....Steins;Gate is easily the best visual novel adaptation I've ever seen hands down. I think that counts for a lot more in the long run than any rating I could ever possibly assign it.

I mentioned to someone yesterday that I kind of view Steins;Gate the same way I do Madoka Magica, but now that I think of it that might be an inappropriate comparison. The thing is, I already kind of liked the magical girl genre going in so already there was a hook for me, but for Steins;Gate it had to do it all from the ground up. I think it helps if you have some source material other than a dating sim, but I also think to put too much emphasis on that sort of thing cheapens what White Fox accomplished here with Steins;Gate. They've justified the right for the visual novel adaptation to persist into whatever era of anime is coming, and that is by no means an easy feat considering where I started with this genre at the beginning of the year.

I struggled with the rating here like nobodies business and eventually had to decide to flip a coin between 9 and 8 and even then I still couldn't reach a decision. After 10 more minutes of considering matters and weighing what Steins;Gate met to me in my history versus it's own merits I eventually came to the conclusion that there's no reason why a 9/10 should be out of the question here. Just Please please PLEASE don't let this be the end of quality visual novel adaptations though anime industry. Not after I've finally made a majory headway into the scene and have scene what it can offer at it's best in terms of pacing and content.

HurricaneHige 2011-09-21 17:20

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kaioshin Sama (Post 3774877)
Just Please please PLEASE don't let this be the end of quality visual novel adaptations though anime industry. Not after I've finally made a majory headway into the scene and have scene what it can offer at it's best in terms of pacing and content.

With most VN adaptations, they only allocate enough budgets for 1cour. I always argue that its simply not enough to cover the VN at all with 1cour, it's almost like: Character intros --> 4 eps to rush the story. Chaos;Head is a really good example. VN was done by the same companies as SG, and story wasn't bad, but getting only 1cour destroyed the adaptation. Tsukihime would be another example (Vn fans: What? Type-moon never animated that, I don't know what you're talking about...).

For a VN adapt to be done right, I feel 2cour is the minimum a studio should shoot for, but budget cuts nowadays simply won't allow for such big investments.

CatOfTime 2011-09-21 18:39

Pretty obvious that this post will include spoilers for the series.

Animation Quality: 7

Like many others have said, the animation quality overall wasn't bad but it wasn't really as good as it could have been. There were some awesome moments but also some very cheap moments and overall the quality to me was just average 7.

Voice Actors: 10

Absolutely 10. Every character was voiced perfectly. They could bring the emotions and the characters to life. Especially Mamoru Miyano (Okabe's voice actor) deserver a special thank you as he was just so brilliant in this series.

Script: 9-

While at the start the whole time travel concept seemed extremely complex in the end the actual plot wasn't that versatile as I could have hoped it to be. Though, I am happy that they didn't try to pull anything too hard as when you play around with such difficult things as time travelling it's more than easy to mess it up. Of course this was't the animation studio's decision as they didn't create the original plot but whatever :)

Even though it wasn't that complex as I had hoped it to be, in the end, the series did what it wanted to. It never actually tried to go for a more complex story than necessary. Sure there were "hints" that we could see Okabe go and fix some stuff in future or in other time but I am pretty fine with all the "change friends' lives -> problems arise -> save Mayushii = deny everything you just did -> Save Kurisu" plot.

Overall the script deservers a 9-. It was well paced and not once did I feel bored. Every week I was waiting for a new episode to come up and I enjoyed every episode.

Soundtrack: 9,5

Overall the soundtrack was awesome. Especially loved the two moments in the series, one when Feyris' d-mail caused Akihabara to change and the ending song was played during animation. Second was the episode 23 when the VN's opening theme was played during animation. Those two moments alone made the soundtrack worth 9. The extra 0,5 comes from the general soundtrack used in the series. It fit well with the mood and overall no complains but it wasn't so great that I would buy the soundtrack of this series. Not really that eager to just listen to the soundtrack, that's what I mean.

Though, I absolutely loved the ending theme and I had my friend who was visiting Japan to buy me the single cd of it. Love it <3

Enjoyment: 10

I enjoyed every single episode of Steins;Gate. I already expressed my feelings in the episode polls and if you can't see from those posts, well here's a surprise, I absolutely loved this series!

Emotional Involvement: 10

The series made me care about the characters. That's all I need there to be. So few series can actually pull this off but Steins;Gate did it. Great job!

OVERALL RATING: 10

My favourite anime of 2011.

PS: Favourite episode number 23. EL PSY CONGROO. MWAHAHAHA.

kenjiharima 2011-09-21 21:31

10/10 for me.

If your gonna watch Steins;Gate watch it as whole or marathon it. It really picks up after episode 1. Story imho is flawless, plot twists and back stories for each character are brilliant, the lines and voice acting are very well done and most of all it's scientific.

For my favorite episode. I like it as a whole series episode.

Aqua Knight 2011-09-22 09:21

I think watching the show as a whole is much better. Even watching 2 episodes in a row was better than watching each separately.

Overall 9/10, as the show clearly had somewhat small letdowns after brilliant episodes i.e. Feyris, Rukako episodes and the last episode. I mean you are all hyped up but the episode is not up to your expectations. So that's why it's better to watch it as a whole.

VA were perfect, OST was fitting and animation was appealing to eyes.
Didn't watch Madoka, so it's the best show of this season(not taking Fate into account).

HurricaneHige 2011-09-22 17:31

Not sure of where to put this:
Perfect timing

They are distracting us from what they really created!

serenade_beta 2011-09-23 01:28

A really, really interesting show. It was just amazing. Interesting to the very end, and they showed everything really well.
The protagonist was interesting, the heroine (Kurisu) was good, and it has been since Death Note since I heard such a good Miyano. Well, can't top it since it still has his annoying random English lines that he does everywhere.

I guess my few complaints are:
-To be honest, Mayushii wasn't very interesting or attractive as a heroine. Machoshii was hilarious though.
-Moeka was really extreme and they never really gave a clear reason for why she was so psychotic. Not that I really care about her character anyways, but just a shame. Voice actor did great job with the rape scene though.
-When they started deleting all of the text messages, what was until then a straight story all of a sudden felt episodic. The first one (Felis) especially felt rushed. The others weren't that bad though.
-The art quality occasionally went Yugioh (Inoue), mainly the face. Wonder if it is because of the character designs...


But anyways, great show and the only show recently that I felt really deserved, needed, and used well 2-cours. The OP didn't beat Chaos;Head, but everything else did.
Glad it didn't turn out like that...

10/10

Aqua Knight 2011-09-23 11:58

Quote:

Originally Posted by serenade_beta (Post 3776846)
A really, really interesting show. It was just amazing. Interesting to the very end, and they showed everything really well.
The protagonist was interesting, the heroine (Kurisu) was good, and it has been since Death Note since I heard such a good Miyano. Well, can't top it since it still has his annoying random English lines that he does everywhere.

I guess my few complaints are:
-To be honest, Mayushii wasn't very interesting or attractive as a heroine. Machoshii was hilarious though.
-Moeka was really extreme and they never really gave a clear reason for why she was so psychotic. Not that I really care about her character anyways, but just a shame. Voice actor did great job with the rape scene though.
-When they started deleting all of the text messages, what was until then a straight story all of a sudden felt episodic. The first one (Felis) especially felt rushed. The others weren't that bad though.
-The art quality occasionally went Yugioh (Inoue), mainly the face. Wonder if it is because of the character designs...


But anyways, great show and the only show recently that I felt really deserved, needed, and used well 2-cours. The OP didn't beat Chaos;Head, but everything else did.
Glad it didn't turn out like that...

10/10

Agreed, that's main issue with SG becoming a bit predictable for 2-3 episodes.

Lord of Fire 2011-09-23 15:00

Quote:

Originally Posted by serenade_beta (Post 3776846)
I guess my few complaints are:
-To be honest, Mayushii wasn't very interesting or attractive as a heroine. Machoshii was hilarious though.

I agree. Though her character got fleshed out a bit later on, she never really managed to struck the right chord with me.

Quote:

-Moeka was really extreme and they never really gave a clear reason for why she was so psychotic.
Assuming you're referring to the struggle between her and Okabe in her apartment, I thought that was quite obvious: she was addicted to texting FB (who was the only person she talked to on a very frequent basis and whom she got emotionally attached to) and the loss of contact gave her withdrawal symptoms (evidenced why the frantic texting she did when Okabe found her). Okabe taking away her phone only enhanced those symptoms, making her go crazy. This even explains why she would eventually hang herself if no one intervened.

As for rating, a 9.5 is the least I can give it. The studio did a great job at showing Okabe's struggle with and through time, and I think this is pretty much how shows like these should be made. Any flaws in script or art/animation are easily overlooked by everything else, from the VA's performances to the music.

webkid94 2011-09-25 14:20

Animation: 8/10
It's alright and it's not really a problem, though there were some bad lighting decisions.

Voice Actors: 10/10
Those who say Mamoru Miyano is over-rated: You're jealous. He can do a boring emo kid (Setsuna), a pretty boy (Tamaki), a demented psychopath (Light/Kira) and a Mad Scientist (Okabe). That's not only range, but talent. Kurisu's VA, Asami Imai, also does an amazing job and she's in her 30's! Kana Hanazawa as Mayushii was d'aww <3, but special shout out to Suzuha (Yukari Tamura) and Moeka (Saori Goto).

Story/script: 9/10
It started off pretty confusing and slow, but it got a whole lot better afterwards. The twists kept coming, and the thing is...they were part of the plot! Not some contrived BS last minute decision by the staff, but actually a part of the whole story.

Soundtrack: 8.5/10
Really unnoticeable in the beginning, but starts to get a lot better especially music whenever Suzuha's around or episodes 22-24.

Enjoyment: 10/10
No doubt about it, this show easily trumps Code Geass as my #2 favorite show of all time. Amazing cast/characters and a story-line that keeps you watching and waiting for more. Normally i don't like any kind of romance in a non-romance anime, but KURISU X OKABE!!! You can't finish this series and not root for that pairing!

Akito Kinomoto 2011-10-03 22:47

Wow. I'm surprised this series even got its own sub-forum considering the turnout seems to be rather small.:heh: At any rate, this is entirely raw so I won't be influenced by the replies in this topic.

Spoiler for length:

tl;dr: Aside from the few lingering plotholes and the fact that the cast felt a bit archetypical for a narrative that takes itself seriously, both the story and characters were incredibly solid, something that I find uncommon. Technically speaking however it was just adequate, but really, Steins;Gate is watched for its story and ensemble.

I'm still not a fan of Dr. Pepper, though.:heh:

Echoes 2011-10-03 23:31

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 (Post 3791595)
I'm still not a fan of Dr. Pepper, though.:heh:

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. :heh:

Junchi 2011-10-04 08:11

This stuff was my _GREATEST_ anime experience of all time, therefore, 10/10 is the only rating which I can imagine for it.

Likeable characters (with strong development), awesome plot, faithful to the source, so many different genres (drama, comedy, sci-fi, etc.) and instead of black out, they intensified each other, which is a rarity in the animeverse, and I consider myself as an emotionally strong person, but nearly MANLY TEARS'd at ep22. T___T

Good job, White Fox.

HasuMasu 2011-10-09 06:37

9/10 for me, it's a lot better when
you understand the physics and stuff,
plus, it's always better to watch in
one go. :heh:


All times are GMT -5. The time now is 13:09.

Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.11
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions Inc.