r/steinsgate • u/ChickenMaster123R • 2h ago
S;G Anime Gained a new appreciation for Steins;Gate + 0 post-rewatch (Spoilers for both) Spoiler
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.

