Rintaro Okabe fancies himself the ultimate mad scientist,
the one who will solve the mysteries no one else can and bring an end to a
shadowy organization. His mind, will and mettle are put to the test when Okabe
begins warping back and forth through time. No one seems to believe him but that wont stop
Okabe from getting to the bottom of this plot: a plot that involves microwave
time machines, a beautiful scientific genius and, potentially, the end of the
world. Okabe fancies himself a
hero. By the time this is all over, he
just might have to become one for real.
What happens when you try to give Anime a character who
is a mix of Doctor Who and Sherlock and factor in time travel, murder,
microwaves used as time machines, bananas and…well you know that’s a fun mix
already so you can guess it all equals Steins;Gate. Before Erased came along to give us a fun
time travel mystery for the new age, there was this title. Based on the popular visual novel (in the
same vein as Fate/Stay Night), id seen the characters from Steins;Gate
cosplayed many times at conventions, mostly Okabe and Kurisu. Having seen bits and pieces here and there,
plus a little of the recently stateside released movie back at Katsucon, I
decided to give the first couple of episodes a watch.
Okabe might be the factor that makes of breaks peoples
interest in this series. As I said
above, he’s a mix of Doctor Who and Sherlock.
He’s brilliant with a very paranoid and eccentric personality. He claims to be the smartest man in the room
and barely takes in any other opinions other than his own. The line stops with Okabe when it comes to
anything scientific…or anything in general.
It’s attitude like this that makes me want to punch Sheldon from The Big
Bang Theory. Okabe is about two steps
away from that level of irritation on my end.
Thankfully, there are times when he can be more entertaining with his
nonsense. My favorite moment from the
first couple of episodes is easily when Kurisu eloquently craps on all of
Okabe’s notions of time travel (even making a Doctor Who reference
herself). Okabe’s mental breakdown is
hilarious and offers proof that Kurisu could be more the breakout character of
the show than he is (her choice of wardrobe helps too, very cute for a
published physicist).
There are glimpses of a potential end game presented
right away: a fallen Satallite, Kurisu murdered. But other than that, the first two episodes
are world building and getting to know Okabe and the company he keeps (God only
knows how). His repor with Daru and
Mayuri often keeps him in check and they play off each other surprising well
given Okabe’s penchant for ticking people off easily. There are a couple more faces like a mystery
girl who loves her mobile phone, the cute waitresses of a maid café, and a shrine
maiden who Okabe has to constantly remind us is actually “a dude”. It’s a fun bunch to be sure. A lot of the show is dialogue heavy though,
mostly Okabe narrarating every last little thing that he does. Much of it did go over my head and it becomes
clear, at least, that this is definitely an Anime you have to pay attention too
otherwise you’ll miss an important detail.
As for the time traveling bananas…that hook plus Kurisu
showing up just as Okabe and Daru accidentally pull that off might be enough to
keep me on board. Steins;Gate is a much
beloved series and when I saw that little bit of the movie, the screening room
was packed. If youre tired of constant
action and shouting of ultimate attacks, this is a step back in the action
department though Okabe will be trying to scream his ideals and theories as
loudly as Goku or Naruto. If anything,
I’d want to keep going to see if Kurisu can be saved (the Anime world can have
at least one super intelligent hotchick…actually it could have a few million of
them, SPARE HER!!!).
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