Thankfully, they announced a movie and the trailer shows nothing but things we already saw in the anime and I have no idea what the hell they'll put in that movie. An alternate ending maybe?
While it isn't one of my favorite anime ever it is something I want to re-watch. It is something I enjoyed from the beginning to the end and it definitely is something I'd recommend.
The reason is simple, its fits a lot of my requirements for anime (not that there's such a fixed list in my head but who cares?)
- The plot is interesting. Even before knowing about Steins;Gate I knew I'd enjoy this, people making a time machine out of a microwave? It just sounds so weird that it's bound to be at least a bit interesting.
- It's well written. The pace is great. It introduces characters little by little, slowly builds the tension until the events finally take a tragic turn and everything goes faster. I complained about the episodes dedicated entirely to a single character before, but in the end everything falls together perfectly. In each of these episodes Okabe grew to understand people more, he grew to care more, to feel more, just so that in the end he and the world can be happy. It does show that nothing is truly meaningless and I find that a great lesson.
- The cast is eargasmic. Mamoru Miyano is someone I grew to love a lot since his role in Durarara!!, and to be honest I didn't recognize him at first and as much as I loved Light and Kida, Okabe is now my favorite role of his. He managed to voice the mad scientist moments as well as showing the despair that hit Okarin, that was quite the challenge I think. Aside from Kana Hanazawa (who I love) and Kobayashi Yuu (who I hate, I'm glad Rukako doesn't speak much) I wasn't too familiar with the girls but I was glad to ear Saori Goto (as Moeka) again (she's Q damnit! I loved Q) and very glad to discover Imai Asami, her voice really quited Kurisu well.
- It's pretty. I've admired huke's work for a long, long time so I'm always glad to see more of his designs animated. The atmosphere too is really well done, you can feel the tension sometimes or the peace of mind of the protagonist only by looking at the scenery around them. It's quite great.
- It's entertaining. That's one of the main point of anime isn't it? It's amusing to watch and I loved to see them all interact, even in the darkest moments of the story.
- It made my brain work. The ones who do that are always the ones I remember the most. Once you got the hang of it you couldn't help but wonder how the hell things will turn out, what will be achieved by working together, whether or not they'll beat CERN and how, at every episode there were things to think about.
Even if it wasn't the most brain wrecking anime I've seen, far from it, the simple fact it dealt with time travel just forced you to think to understand how it worked (and I just felt like I had to do researches afterwards)
And while I know it obviously had flaws, for now, I can't find one to share. (I'll probably do when I'll rewatch, you never pick everything up at the first watch)
