Steins Gate: The Complete Series [Blu-ray]

Self styled 'mad scientist' and geek Rintaro Okabe/'Hooin Kyoma' stumbles across the murder of scientific starlet Makise Kurisu during a lecture on time travel. Following a strange temporal 'event', Okabe sees her alive and is desperate to figure out how this is possible, enlisting her in the 'Future Gadget Laboratory' (his little club) and working on his microwave time machine. One of the finest anime I have ever watched, 'Stein;s Gate' is the antithesis of your typical goofy fanservice fest, offering a smart and often touching take on the power and side effects of time travel. The foundation is absurd for sure, and the show's sense of humour has no problem mining that, but when we get to the members using the technology to alter their lives and in the process, change the world around them, the show pulls no punches. This is amplified by the fact that we have a strong and likeable lot of characters that make up Okabe's entourage: the eccentric lead, the smart but somewhat high nosed Kurisu, the loveably sweet Miyuri, tech and online geek Daru, the silent and reserved Moeka, the timid & transgendered Lukako, the excitable waitress Faris and the high spirited tomboy Suzuha. They all compliment each other well and as the series progresses, you really get behind them and why they want these changes, some of which do tug hard at the heartstrings. However, it is Okabe's story that is the most grueling, as 'Stein;s Gate also acts as a more fantastical coming of age story as he remembers every change in the timeline, and how he must step up for his friends, as well as solving Kurisu's murder. He goes from petty manchild to a far more mature adult by the end and it can be very harrowing. How'd have thunk this could come from the inventor of a microwave & phone based time machine? And the rest is no slack: the animation is subdued but full of nuance and detail, refreshing for a sci-fi show, the music is often sombre but never overpowering or melodramatic, and the voice cast are tremendous, with J. Michael Tatum on the English front giving a career best performance as Okabe. Frankly, I have practically no genuine complaints or issues to speak of, save for maybe the last episode being little more than perfunctory sugaring of an already satisfying ending, but even then, it still has enough laughs to get by. Honestly, I cannot sing the praises of this show enough: drop whatever you are doing, and go see this show. It is criminally underrated, and of the best animated television series to come out in the last decade.

The story follows the self proclaimed "mad scientist" Okabe Rintarō, who calls himself Hououin Kyouma, and the "Future Gadget Laboratory." He, along with his friend Daru and hostage Shiina Mayuri, create a phone-operated microwave that can send e-mails into the past. This, of coarse, interests the scientific prodigy Makise Kurisu (who then becomes a member of the Future Gadget Laboratory). Firstly, I must say that the pacing of the first half of the series is a little slow, but it does pick up around episode 9. From that point on, the show continued to get better. Now, I'm not saying the first half was bad, no, just slow. It still was very enjoyable. All of the characters were interesting and they all had good interactions with each other. I loved the story. I loved the characters. I loved the themes and issues. You see, Steins;Gate isn't just a show with time travel, it's a show ABOUT time travel. Obviously, writing a story that is about time travel is very, very difficult (which is why most people would rather just write a story that happens to have time travel, since that's far easier). However, Steins;Gate does a very good job. I'm not a scientist, so I cannot say how accurate this show's depiction of time travel is, but I can say that after hours of research it does seem close enough. Okabe Rintarō is a very enjoyable main character. Overall, I would highly recommend this series to any fan of sci-fi.

Steins;Gate is brilliant. The series starts out with a lighthearted feel, it almost coming across as a slice-of-life or a geeky sitcom while the main cast experiment with time travel in what has to be one of the most believable methods I have witnessed as well, I like a good series about time travel! The main character, Rintarou Okabe, is a loveable self-proclaimed mad scientist and has to be one of my favourite protagonists in anything, he makes this series what it is. However, when the real shock of the story hits, the anime takes a dark turn that shall grip you completely, I marathoned the rest as it was too good to stop watching. I would say the first part of the story can be a little slow, but bear with it as it is by far my favourite anime that I have seen yet

Steins;Gate is an amazing Anime series with many loveable and fleshed out characters, brilliant writing, a gripping plot with many twists and turns along with well-balanced comedy and drama. The 1st half of the show is really good, whereas the 2nd half is incredible, as the plot kicks into high gear and starts to get emotionally spell-binding once episode 12 finishes. Steins;Gate is a true testament to how talented the Japanese are when it comes to great story-telling and it's the perfect example of how to tell a solid time travel story. Whether you are an Anime fan or not, or just someone who is interested in time travel, I can't recommend this show highly enough.

Steins;Gate is a thought-provoking exploration of the effects and consequences of randomly meddling with time. From the opening episode, where self-proclaimed mad scientist Okarin suddenly shifts world lines after sending a seemingly random text, the plot evolves in a coherent way and climaxes in a truly emotional final episode. The first half of the series contains much of its comedy, even though there are still interesting demonstrations of the Butterfly Effect, and how paradoxes are negated. During the second half, the full weight of the time travel experiments comes home to both Okarin and the viewer, presenting one tragic scenario after another as Okarin is faced with a seemingly impossible dilemma. The emotional core of the story is the relationship between Okarin and Kurosu: evolving from allied rivals to close friends and beyond, Okarin's journey resonates the most when the viewer sees how it impacts his feelings for Kurosu and her own view of him. The final OAV included in this collection is just a little piece of tying up loose ends, switching over more to pure comedy, but it still carries over Okarin and Kurosu's emotional journey and brings it to a suitable climax. Aesthetically, the anime starts out looking rather bland and continues to be throughout, but rather than this being a negative effect, it instead drives home the hard sci-fi atmosphere and the dark themes explored in its story and characters. There is also absolutely no need to know about the game it's based on, and it's a trifle more family friendly in its depictions of violence and language than many other equivalent anime series. The character designs and overall production values are excellent, while the voice acting for both the original Japanese and the English dub are splendid. Special features are very sparse (commentary for selected episodes), and some subtitles are a little flaky in when they appear and how consistent they are in a particular translation, despite that translation being accurate enough to pass muster. On the whole, this is an excellent sci-fi anime in a polished package. Buy now. And prepare for the advent of Hōōin Kyōma (and friends)!

Steins gate is great - you don't need me to tell you how good it is, searches online will give you that. I will say though that this impressed me, not only for the characters, plot and level of engagement, but because of satisfactory resolution. A lot of anime leave plot points unresolved, character relationships having unsatisfactory endings; but steins gate deals with these brilliantly, considering the standard format of 20ish mins per episode over 24 in total for this story. It's quite western in that respect, and a joy to watch. The romance is also very well done and believable. On to the blu ray itself, the quality is very good - as per the norm with anime watching on blu ray, you do notice some banding across the screen at higher resolutions and some grainy effects here and there, but I don't believe it's designed for 55inch OLED televisions. Still, the colours are bright and vivid, and sound quality is fantastic.

This is going to be a review of the case and extra content because I assume that, if you are thinking about buying this show, you've already see it and have decided you liked it enough to purchase the physical copy. and The case contains 4 discs in a a case that is twice as thick as a normal Blu-ray case for no apparent reason. Other shows were able to put 4 or even 5 discs in a normal size Blu-ray case. However the artwork on the case and disc is spectacular and is almost worth buying on those alone. The discs comes with a few extras including commentaries by the English cast on episodes 1, 12, 19 and 24. Overall it's a nice addition to any collection.

I marathoned this series in 2 days. Hands down the most intelligent series that I've ever watched, it will make you completely re-think the way you look at time travel and all the paradoxes that comes with it. PROS: - One of the most cleverly written and well thought out stories. - Hands down the best depiction of "time travel" in any medium. - Looks GORGEOUS on these blu-rays - Intriguing from the get-go - The dub is FANTASTIC - Characters are very well flushed out, you will feel for them BIG TIME - Amazing soundtrack - All 25 episodes are included, best short anime that I've ever seen CONS: - You will run out of tissues. 10/10 Anime; a MUST buy.

Taking place in Tokyo, Japan during the summer of 2010, Steins;Gate mainly follows the character Rintaro Okabe (J. Michael Tatum), a university student and self-proclaimed mad scientist. He is the founder and head of the Future Gadget Laboratory, a small organization based in an apartment dedicated to creating new technologies. Along with him are his long-time friend from childhood Mayuri Shiina (Ashly Burch) and expert computer hacker Itaru "Daru" Hashida (Tyson Rinehart). Rintaro is interested in the possibilities of time travel and attends a conference on the subject, but some strange events start side-tracking him until the whole world seems to change. However, only he can remember what the world was like before the change. Things become even more confusing for him when he encounters the young scientific genius Kurisu Makise (Trina Nishimura) whom he had previously seen dead before the world changed. Meanwhile, at the Future Gadget Laboratory, Rintaro and Daru's experiments on a microwave oven seem to have given it the ability to send text messages into the past. I first heard about Steins;Gate a few months ago through the original video game, originally released in 2009, that is available on Steam. I have always liked time travel as a mechanic in storytelling and the video game interested me. After playing through it, I was not disappointed and immediately fell in love with the interesting and complex storyline and the characters. It was inevitable that I would eventually check out the anime adaptation. The anime adaptation follows the game's story fairly closely, though there are necessarily some scenes that were eliminated and details left out for timing. Still, the core story, following the "true ending" in the video game, is followed faithfully. That is the main attraction of a series like this. It is difficult to really talk about the brilliance of the story without going into spoilers, but I will give some idea as to what this story is about. As mentioned earlier, time travel is one of the main themes of this series. Rintaro uses this technology to make alterations to the past and notices what kind of effects they have, though not everything goes according to plan. Throughout the story there is the question if what they are doing is ethically correct, so there is a sort-of philosophical element to the storytelling. I also really enjoyed the integration of real-life elements in the story, most notably by making the story of John Titor (an individual famous for making postings on the Internet in the early 2000s claiming to be a time traveler from the future) an essential part of the plot. While some aspects of the show may be bizarre to the Western viewer without a decent knowledge of Japanese pop culture or anime in general, it does not really detract from the story too much. The science fiction element and emotional responses of the characters are what really drives the story. That is another bright spot of this anime: the characters. The cast itself is rather minimalist with only around a dozen characters, but they are well-written and memorable. Almost all of the characters go through their own journeys and experiences that reveal more about them than first appears and this keeps the show interesting. To take a few examples there is the main character of Rintaro who starts off by acting obnoxious and immature, but as the events of the story go on and he is tested again and again as he experiences the consequences of his decisions you find yourself rooting for him to ultimately succeed. Mayuri comes off as an airhead in the beginning, but as you learn more about her background and her relationship with others you start appreciating her good heart and honesty. Moeka Kiryu (Jessica Cavanaugh) is introduced as a rather mysterious person and socially inept, but her presence in the story becomes a major turning point and, despite what she does, by the end you sympathize with her as well. These are just some examples I can talk about without spoilers. Make no mistake, by the time you finish watching this series each major character will leave their mark on you. When it comes to the animation itself, I am at a disadvantage since I am not that familiar with anything comparable. Aside from some Japanese anime films, this is the first anime television series I have watched since my days of watching things like Pokémon and Yu-Gi-Oh! when I was younger. Overall, however, I enjoyed it for what it is. This is primarily a character-driven story so there are no big action sequences. Still, as a means of telling its story, it comes off well. The music is generally okay, though I must say it felt inferior to the superlative music composed for the video game. This box set itself contains the complete series on both DVD and Blu-ray. This includes all of the original twenty-four episodes of the series plus a bonus OVA episode that acts as a postscript to the main story. There is the option to watch the dubbed version done by Funimation or the original Japanese voice work with subtitles. The original Japanese is a treat for those that have already played the video game as the main cast from the game reprises their roles for this anime. The dub is also pretty good, though with the usual adjustments for cultural differences. The Blu-ray version, which is the one I viewed, looks absolutely great with a nice, sharp image. I suppose the only disappointment here is the lack of bonus features. Aside from some trailers, the only bonuses to speak of are some audio commentaries on four random episodes done by the English voice actors and some other crew at Funimation. I usually like commentaries because of the insight offered into the creative process, but in this case it is overwhelmingly uninteresting as they just talk about voice acting and their own backgrounds. In conclusion, this is a fantastic series that is likely to be enjoyed by those that like science fiction stories involving time travel. Indeed, this is easily one of the best time travel stories it has ever been my pleasure to experience.

A quick delivery a week before it should and a price which is not to high. All in all a good choice to buy. And the anime is very good as well.

Simplemente esta serie es una obra maestra, un argumento que a pesar que el inicio puede ser algo lento es magnifico, los personajes tienen personalidades reales y son sometidos a situaciones extremas que te han compadecer de ellos, la banda sonora es adecuada en todo momento... 100% recomendada. Hablando de esta edicion de DVD lleva audio japones con subtitulos en ingles, estupendo. Y ademas lleva el OVA, tambien añadido en japon como el capitulo 25 que hace cerrar bien toda la trama. Otra cosa de esta edicion de DVD que me ha llamado la atencion es que contiene las versiones creditless del OP y END.

Wow excelente! Y a un precio de regalo! Una de las series más geniales que he visto, imagínate que todo lo que hagas en tu vida pueda ser alterado con un simple mensaje de texto! Pero como dice el tío de Peter Parker, un gran poder conlleva una gran responsabilidad

I must admit I took the plunge on this show purely based on the positive reviews for it. I didn't really have a good picture of what I was getting into, but it sounded like a fun quick anime to watch. In hind sight it was probably a bad idea not to check it out first, but I can't say that I regret it. A fantastic price for the complete collection of a fantastic show. It starts off with a lot of slow exposition, but it carries such zany charm as it does it. It might take a few episodes before you really get beyond the grok barrier, but once you do it's hard to stop watching them. Every character has their own unique personality, built on classic anime tropes with extra layers to keep things fresh. Just a note on the packaging, I think the discs are just reprints of older collections, because discs 3 and 4 say "one" and "two" on the menu screens. Not a big deal, just something I noticed, and the labels still say 3 and 4 anyway. All in all, I didn't know what I was getting into, but I think that was the best part. Jumped into the deep end and loved every minute of it.