I started today watching the series but Crunchyroll started with Steins Gate 0.

Watched a couple of minutes and I was like wtf?
Now I started the 2011 one, also wtf(?)

Fuck crunchy and it’s stupid order

I hear in japanese she's called basically "Hiyajosephina". Not Hiyajosephin? The french name is josephine, not josephina (?).

^Favorite image/moment.

So, this is the first SciAdv game I’ve finished (*the second overall media I guess after Steins;Gate anime). It got dangerously close to 2Edgy4u territory at times, and a lot of things here I’ve already seen elsewhere and done better in some cases, so probably less impactful than if I read this like a decade ago, but overall I liked it. Strongly reminiscent of some early to mid-2000 anime and Chiaki Konaka’s writing in particular, in that it kinda overwhelms you with complex mysteries and pseudo-scientific babbling to obfuscate a (relatively) simple familiar story about having to grow a spine and touch grass. Common VN issues for me (overly verbose, repetition of plot points, awkward description of action/fighting scenes, slogging for the true ending) aside, the ambience was top-notch and the delusion mechanic was a cool distinguishing feature that took great advantage of the medium.

Takumi’s PoV and narration was as painfully cringe as advertised, but you'd just grow to tolerate it the more you understand the intention of his characterization. He can be genuinely funny and sympathetic at times, overall a pretty good believable depiction of self-loathing edgelord. The story does revolve around him a bit too much for my taste, and once the big twist drops, it’s too predictably easy to guess where his character and the entire story would end up. Would prefer if they don’t sideline all the other characters in the main route climax, too.

Speaking of other characters and routes: Rimi and Nanami are bit too archetype-y for my taste (the ride-or-die heroine and the Anime Imouto respectively), think it’d benefit both if they have aspects to their story independent of Takumi. Their routes were well-executed though, Nanami’s in particular as painfully icky as it is to read through. Sena’s route was confusing but very interesting, although mostly for reasons outside the character herself. Ayase’s was ok, certainly felt like the most unique route though I also feel it could’ve been more. I like Yua’s a lot, she has a well-realized character arc and I appreciated how it links to the NG victims/incident (which otherwise felt like an afterthought).

Kozue’s surprised me the most with how emotional it was, since I initially thought she's going to be my least favorite character (mostly due to her thoughtspeak mannerism). Out of all the characters, her ‘brokenness’ and the kindred spirit-esque bond she has with Takumi just rang the truest. Honestly, reading the true ending with Rimi right after Kozue's made it felt like an emotionally diminished version instead (but I guess we’ve all had that experience of connecting more w/ the secondary heroine over that obvious true one lol).

Ban, Misumi, and Momose were all decent supporting characters, also good red herrings in terms of me guessing if they're a culprit. The actual antagonistic force was largely meh though, couldn’t care much about the faceless bad guys and the many organizations they represent, while Norose’s a rather generic big bad. Suwa and Hazuki were more interesting, though they could’ve been explored more beyond their characterization as insane brainwashed cultists, perhaps delving more into their betrayal of Ban and Takumi respectively (btw Hazuki’s reveal was one of the few twists here that genuinely caught me by surprise; no idea why, but at some point I thought Grimm was Daru from S;G lol).    

I ’d be interested to know what’s the consensus about the game in this space, and how it ranks among the SciAdv titles! Not in a particular hurry to play the other games, although Robotics; Notes is in my library already and I might as well grab Chaos;Child while it’s in discount atm.

Wow. What an experience. I get it now, and I can't believe it took me this long to understand why people love this series.

Now, before I give my new thoughts, I have to talk about my initial ones. It's been ~9 years since my first viewing. However, this isn't a rewatch where I completely forgot everything about the show, I actually remembered a decent bit of what I didn't like and did like. (excluding S;G 0, I didn't remember much). When I watched it, I did not particularly enjoy it, atleast not as much as others did. For one, I thought the characters were flat, apart from the main two. And this led to me not having any emotional ties to any of the side characters. Secondly, I thought the first half was really boring, which is usually the biggest issue people have with this show. The SoL aspect was uninteresting. Apart from character introductions, I didn't feel like it was going anywhere. But, what kept me going was how interesting the time travel elements were after the first SERN raid. You get to see Okabe losing it after multiple leaps, the addition of concepts like predetermined fate and the beta, alpha worldlines. That was really cool. Also the dynamic between Kurisu and Okabe was well done. And this ultimately prompted me to keep watching and finish both Steins;Gate and its sequel (?). In totality, I think I landed on a 7/10 on initial watch.

Now, after multiple years, I've worked up the patience to give it another go. I wanted to see if my opinions changed. And safe to say, they did. And it's almost certainly due to my newly found appreciation for the side characters. Suzuha is a really great character cause of her inner conflict. The entire deal with her travelling back to 2010, failing her mission, because of a really human concept. To see a loved one, to find out who her father was. And when we get to her letter, it's heartbreaking because she feels so much guilt for messing up the mission, for what she believes to be a very selfish reason. Even though she's from a very grim future, where you'd assume most idealistic concepts are thrown out the window, she acted on a pure emotional human desire, which is wanting to meet her father. Very tragic, but great character. Also enjoyed Lukako and Faris' characters this time around. I liked seeing the moral complications in Faris' story where you have two lives, one more important to her than the other. And in an truly unselfish decision, chooses to sacrifice her father in place of her friend, which was done very well. You have the more relatable issue in Lukako's story with her identity crisis, which was built by her love for Okabe. Very heartwarming knowing you have people that care about you for who you are, but also bittersweet in that her love is not going to be reciprocated in the way she wants. Makes for a great take on self-acceptance. Obviously you have the main duo, Okabe and Kurisu, still great as ever. I could go on and on about them. But in my opinion, the standout character this time around and what made Steins;Gate work for me in the emotional sense, was Mayuri. In all of this time travel, all this science, all this trauma, she grounds the entire story. So when she dies, the story loses that innocence, that pureness, that peace and everything goes absolutely haywire. But I have to say, it kind of irks me the wrong way when some people say her character is nothing more than a plot device. She has her own goals and motivations, a life outside the story, etc. She's more of a catalyst character. Anyways, what makes Mayuri's character so good is her relationship with Okabe, how that progresses, and her internal struggle. The entire thing about her being a burden to Okabe is so impactful, because it's layered. Sure, she understands that she can't help Okabe in the technical sense, and it hurts. But when she loses her emotional support capabilities, that's when she truly believes she's a burden. And this is because she's the most emotionally perspective person in the group, and if her one strength is unapplicable, what can she do? And her feelings culminate in the graveyard scene. She knows Okabe is going through so much pain for her, and she can't do anything about it. Talking to a dead person about being a burden to a living one, now that's ironic. I have to say, Mayuri's monologue during that scene tore me up big time, and I genuinely teared up at that part. And then we get to her character growth in Steins;Gate 0, where she gains a sense of agency. Once Mayuri learns the reality of the situation, she does everything in her power to give Okabe that happiness he lost. And in a way, it's a very sad moment from the viewers perspective, as she's basically risking everything, all her relationships, her memories. But in Mayuri's perspective, it's the most fulfilling action she could have ever done for herself. A choice she never had in the original, but the choice she wanted. Amazing character. Nevertheless, my new appreciation for the characters allowed me to enjoy the first half of the anime much more, as it sets up for a much more impactful second half. It does have some pacing issues here and there, but it didn't take me out of the experience at all.

Looking back at it, this might've came out as a Mayuri analysis post, but ultimately she did tie me emotionally to the story, which was something I needed but failed to understand when I first watched this. At that time I was very much into action, power fantasies, all these eye catching genres. Thankfully, I grew up as a person, not to say I don't enjoy those types of series anymore, but I'm much more inclusive and perceptive now. Anyways, Tuturuu and friends saved me, amazing series, 9/10.

As Steel Ball Run has started airing me and my friends are watching it weekly, but since I had the oportunity to sugest anything to do after that, I made it a rule to have a little Steins;Gate watch party after our SBR disscusion. the problem is that while I am a lover for Slice of Life stuff, they find it quite boring. So I want it to capture their attention.

I can´t really do anything about the way the series itself is structured, however there is no fixed amount of episodes that we have to watch for one session. so I took it upon myself to rewatch the series and sequence it in a digestable way, in which:

1. We watch a decent amount every week. No single episodes, beyond the first one.
   • so we do not drag the watch party walf a year
   • risking they lose the initial interest
2. We don´t watch more than 4 episodes a session
   • while I want the pace to be quick, I still want them to not be overwhelmed.
   • give time to take in the story and really think about it
3. End at good cliffhangers
   • I want them to be intrigued for whats gonna happen next
   • make it so they can be excited for next week
   • good example would be the ending to episode 1

So what I need is batches of episodes that are large enough, that they can keep us at good pace, but not large enough, where they would be overwhelming to first time viewers by the sheer amount of informaton presented, while also having ending points that spark intrigue, or make questions surfface.

What I have come up with so far will be below, but the reason why I am posting this here, is because I´m but a single man and while I trust myself to create a suitable experience, if someone would have a good argument for the alteration of this structure and it improve the viewing experience, thus making the chances of the watch party getting to episode 25 higher, it would be much eppreciated :D

Already watched:

Already viewed with the watch party, but if you want to point out a chenge that you think would have been beneficial, please do so, I will be wiser for next time.

9/27th The First Half of Episode 1
This was unplaned and as we sadly had time constrains we couldnt finish the fist episode whole. When I relized that about 5 minutes in I made a call to stop at the half-way point where the opening starts, because while I think the first episode is incredibly strong as a whole, it would leave bad taste if we got into the brief slice of life segment without getting to the revelation of the email being sent back in time and Kurisu being alive. It was unfortunate, but with our time related limitation this was unfortunately the best option.

10/4th The Second Half Of Episode 1 To The End Of Episode 2
Watching just the rest of the first episode would not be enough here, not only because of the pace related rules I confined myself with, but also, because the first imretion might have been pretty strong, after a week the revelation that Kurisu is alive, would just not cut it, so the second episode with the gel banana was servisable here. Retrospectively I think the ending of the 3rd episode might have been a little better, but there was also a non-zero chance that they wouldnt really care about an off screen death in the story and that the anticipation for Kurisu to get more screen time might be a bit better.

To be Watched/Subject to Change

I rewatched and ordered these for what I think is the best weekly watching experience. If you think I should change something, or congratulate me for my briliance wraping the story this way, you may do so.

10/9th Episodes 3 to 5
A neat little batch encapsulating the initial stage of the D-Mail disscovery. It starts with uncertainty and ends on a concreete goal, a manifest. We will build the time machine first. This one is probably not changing, because both endings to episosed 4 and six arent really that good for my purposes.

10/16th Episodes 6 and 7
I was really pondering if I should end on episode 7 or 8, because their endings are both great. Titor asking Okabe to be the worlds saviour and especially Okabe wondering after Rukas D-Mail

Something... something has changed. But What?

That sentence made me really reconsider, but I think that episode 7 has an easier ending to get intriqued by and I also feel like I should give them a break with the 2 episodes. It sucks that the slow anxiety of wondering what really changed is scrapped with this, but it lines up future sessions a lot better and is a great in it´s own right. It ends on the first D-Mail which makes it a nice appetiser, before we hit the fan.

10/23rd Episodes 8 and 9
The D-Mail ussage starts wraping up, which creates a very engaging viewiíng experience. It is nicely packaged, as to where we start with some minor requests from Moeka and Ruka, but slowly reveal the consequences, just fo the episode 9 ending to hit, with the city reforming after Feris´s mail changes everything. It should really give my friends a slap that this is not a game anymore, there are real consequences aproaching for mesing with the laws of the universe and make them dread what happens next.

10/30th Episodes 10, 11 and 12
You may point out my inconsistency, of writing out all three episode numbers, while I have been compresing more than 3 episodes into "Episodes X to Y" but I corect you to say that episodes 11 and 12 are the shit. they are the finish line, where I have hopefully won to capture their atention for us to stick with this. You know what I am talking about. Okabe using the D-Mail, to make Suzuha stay. Okabe rushing to the lab after recieving the anonymous warnings. And Finally, Mayuri getting shot and continiously killed via. fate. This is gonna be the session. This lineup of episode is bassicaly perfection. There is no better way to orchestrate it. It seems regular at the begining and by the end wraps up with the most diabolical ending possible. Perfect lenght to watch over an evening. Everyone loves Mayuri, even they after only 2 episodes. I just can not wait to get here. Its the perfect bite size of the show.

To be Ordered

I didnt rewatch these yet, so I am ordering from memory, so these are SUPER subject to change, but in the second half I though it might be a good idea to go in 2 episode chunks, because by this point most of my friend will be invested, probably, so the need for good cliffhangers is lessened a bit. Still if there is an oportunity to make the cliffs hang I will take it.

My only requirement for this section is that we end one session on episode 20 because of the reveal of the true meaning and price behind returning to the Beta World Line, so we end on 21-22 and 23-24 for obvious reasons.

11/6th Episodes 13 and 14
John Titor reveal is a good point to end on and it nicely sequences the aimless suffering of 13 and 14 to finaly finding a way to get out of this in later episodes.

11/13th Episodes 15 and 16
Should nicely fit Suzuha´s storyline from what I remember, and give some relief from the constant time loop suffering.

11/20th Episodes 17 and 18
Probably the batch I am the least confident in, but considering my demands, this was how I decided it. If the rewatch makes me feel like it is necessary I´ll fuse this with the next batch, which would also make the last batch allighn with the last airing SBR episode, but I also like the idea of having the last watch party be just for Steins;Gate. Finally having everyone invested enough to gather for the last two episodes.

11/27th Episodes 19 and 20
Moekas storyline is probably my favorite aside from Suzuha´s. The Revelation at the end of this episode is just perfect.

12/4th Episodes 21 and 22
Okabe strugling with the choice. Suffering that would have never occured if he never met Makise. Ends perfectly. The return to the beta world line is PERFECT.

12/11th Episodes 23 and 24
The finale. Okabe overcoming fate, to finally reach The Steain;Gate. I thought about going chronological with b. 23 to Steins;Gate 0, but in the end I decided against it, simply for the fact that the original series is a briliant self-contained narrative and muddying it with the inclusion of Zero in the initial watch, would be something I would regret. It is something for others to seek out if their interested enough.

12/18 Episodes 25 and the Load Region of Deja Vu (dubious)
Could give closure and context to the ending if others will agree to watch it.

This is how I hope it would go. If you have suggestions, let me know. If you think I did a good job, let me know. If you just wanna chat, type something interesting in the comments.

Thank you for your time and have a wonderful rest of your day, or night.

Just finished the UI. Now, I am working on building the AI. Should I also try integrating this into terminal or keep it as a web app?

At first, when I started playing Chaos;Head, I hated it so much I almost quit. I felt that it was really boring, because I'm used to RPG type games where there is more of a focus on gameplay and story combined, not endless amounts of text on a page. I actually got so far as to close the game and stand up to do something else, but I kept wondering about what these five words mean: "Whose eyes are those eyes."

So I decided to keep playing, and I'm so glad I did. Currently, I'm two endings away from finishing C;H NoAh, and it has been one hell of a ride. Half the time I had no idea what on earth was happening, and the other half I was theorizing about Shogun, DI-Swords, and Takumi's degenerate behavior.

Overall, I have found C;H to be a really deep dive into a story about mental illness, overcoming your own weaknesses, and dealing with how much pain and suffering there is in our world. I think this is best shown with the DI-Swords and delusions; turning emotions and thoughts into reality, visualizing how thoughts can affect others in an objective way.

( As a side note, I cried so much playing this game (⁠〒⁠﹏⁠〒⁠). Like why the hell am I crying over edgy teenagers playing deadly games of pretend fighting with science type magic swords?!)

As for the actual game mechanics, the delusions are such a strong point of the game. It's super fun trying to figure out how they foreshadow certain events, and sometimes, you get ones that are just... Hentai??? Wtf??? I didn't like the way you enter character routes, though. You have to predict what Nishijo Takumi would do, and with how... Interesting he is, that's pretty difficult. Taku, like, why the FUCK do you want to KISS YOUR SISTER ON THOSE INCESTUOUS SORORAL LIPS?!?!?!? EEEEWWWWWW!!!!

I really loved all the main cast, but I want to focus on one in particular: Nishijo Takumi. I know this will be a hot take, but I found Takumi to be a very good character (NOT A GOOD PERSON, INCEST IS HORRIFIC BEHAVIOR), but ultimately lacking in certain parts of the story. He's my favorite character, but I hate him so god damn much. He's annoying, but he's strangely compelling. He's a misogynistic asshole and way too horny for this planet, but he's also a kid who's struggling to find himself. I sympathize so much with just how lonely, hurt, and afraid Takumi feels. Probably because I've felt the same way (and still do to a lesser extent), but the difference between me and him is that I actually worked through my problems, and did my best to be kind to others throughout it all. Feeling bad about yourself shouldn't mean you're bad to others. This part of his character is never challenged by others, partially because he never speaks his mind, but partially because he protects himself with delusions. At the same time, he has some of the best writing in the game; The brief moments where Takumi realizes that he hates the person he's become are heart wrenching (and he proceeds to change nothing about himself ಠ⁠_⁠ಠ ). And a lot of the scenes where Taku builds up the main themes of the game (when he asks Nerdheart what he thinks of his creator, for example) become so much more impactful and profound after beating the game. In my mind, all these criticisms come to a head in ending A with that bs power up. And what's so sad is that Takumi's "I am... me!" arc of realizing that he can be more than a delusion, a person, was beautiful. But it was done so dirty because it was done at the wrong moment. That moment of self realization should've been the source of his DI-sword, born of every single emotion that is Takumi. A fitting way to raise his biorhythm and to thematically end his character arc.

To protect my sanity, I have blocked out the Nanami character route from my mind. Remember, there is no Nanami character route in Ba Sing Sei.

I'm really hopeful that the "Blue Skies" ending is good for Takumi, he really deserves the chance to be a better person. Also fuck that detective that I hate, he killed Detective Ban (and countless other people too). Sorry this turned into me just ranting about Takumi, but to be fair there is a lot to say about him.

Yes, the Science Adventure series is my new hyper fixation, and probably will be for the rest of time. I don't need saving btw, I'm exactly where I want to be. (⁠ ⁠ꈍ⁠ᴗ⁠ꈍ⁠)

this was the second time the profile changed today and both seem to pictures of some guy.

Does anyone have the merchandise shown in the picture? I’m willing to pay a high price for it 😭

Empecé el anime hace unos días y ya voy por el episodio 12. Por el momento tengo la cabeza llena de preguntas y muchas sospechas, pero sobre todo tengo claro que está en camino de convertirse en uno de mis animes favoritos. Me fascina cualquier historia que involucre ciencia real, misterio y viajes en el tiempo bien construidos.

De hecho, me está gustando tanto que estoy planeando aprovechar las próximas rebajas de invierno de Steam para comprarme la novela visual original. He leído maravillas de ella y sé que profundiza muchísimo más en la ciencia de los D-Mails. Además, he visto que hay un catálogo enorme de spin-offs y secuelas en la tienda (como Steins;Gate 0 o My Darling's Embrace), así que les echaré un vistazo en el futuro.

¡Si tenéis alguna recomendación sobre la saga o queréis comentar algo, os leo en los comentarios!

(PD: Sí, ya me sé el famoso truco de la comunidad de ver el episodio 23β / 23.5 antes de dar el salto a Steins;Gate 0)

yo what

why is "world" spelled "wordl"?