Sometimes a show or film just grabs you so completely that you can’t escape it, no matter how hard you try. This has been my experience with “Steins;Gate,” a time travel anime series that transcends its genre and tells a profound tale of growing up by fighting for the ones you love.
The show stars Rintaro Okabe (J. Michael Tatum), a recent high school graduate who rents an apartment in Akihabara, Tokyo, Japan, with his best friend and resident computer hacker, Itaru Daru (Tyson Rinehart) during the summer of 2010.
Okabe comes off as hilarious and delusional as he adopts the persona of mad scientist Hououin Kyouma, going on slice-of-life misadventures with Daru and childhood friend Mayuri Shiina (Ashley Burch), whom he considers his “hostage” and first lab member (the lab is his apartment). It comes off as an act a little kid would do, but as insufferable as Okabe can be, his friends humor him.
The format of the show and its initial immature demeanor will immediately turn off some, but it takes a drastic hard turn midway through that will hook any who stay on past the midway point.
Okabe and company eventually hack into the research organization SERN and use their data to power a contraption consisting of a phone and a microwave, from which they send bananas back in time, turning them into green gelatin husks. Their research quickly progresses when Okabe recruits American scientist Kurisu Makise (Trina Nishimura) to the lab, who is visiting Japan to give a lecture. She immediately butts heads with Okabe, dismissing his quack science, but agrees to join his club nonetheless.
This eventually leads to the breakthrough of D-mails — text messages the group of friends send to the past in order to alter it — which results in everyone changing world lines (moving to different alternate realities), with only Okabe being able to retain memories from different timelines.
I won’t spoil this show any further — seriously, go and watch it for yourself. You’ll get much more enjoyment seeing it firsthand than reading it here.
The show changes genres about halfway through when the group is put in danger by real-life mercenaries. Suddenly, the prideful and childish Hououin Kyouma melts away to reveal a terrified young man who will do whatever it takes to save his friends — even if that means watching them die over and over until he figures out how to get to a world line where they all live.
This show has perhaps the best portrayals of loss of innocence in fiction, with its methodical breadtrail narrative paced to perfection. Its first half might start off rocky for some, but it is completely necessary in order for its midseason gut-punch to hit so hard.
Unlike other anime, where great powers are often granted at little or no cost to the protagonist in order to progress the narrative, there is a devastating price Okabe pays for unlocking time travel, and he ultimately realizes that it isn’t worth it. The knowledge he gains of the technology and the future becomes a burden he’s better off without.
Okabe has perhaps one of the greatest character arcs in fiction that snaps into place almost instantly halfway through the show; he initially comes off as an immensely selfish person and transforms into someone whose life mission is to save others.
The show also has a widely well-used ensemble cast that includes Okabe’s landlord, Mr. Braun (Christopher Sabat), who runs a CRTV repair shop downstairs from his apartment, where he employs the “part-time warrior” Suzuha Amane (Cherami Leigh) while looking after his daughter, Nae (Brina Palencia). Okabe, Daru and Mayuri also have friends littered around town that include the maid cafe owner Faris (Jad Saxton), shrine keeper Ruka Urushibara (Lindsay Seidel) and Moeka (Jessica Cavanaugh), a mostly mute newcomer who communicates primarily through her phone.
Everyone has episodes dedicated to their unique quests, through which D-mails play a central role. And like the advent of time travel, everything they gain comes at devastating costs. Nothing can be gained in this show without losing something significant.
I cannot recommend this show enough. It’s a masterclass in narrative construction and character development and it is perhaps the finest time travel show or film I’ve ever seen.
“Steins;Gate” gets a 10/10
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