Winter 2012 – Week 4 Anime Review

This week: Chihayfuru producing a recap episode the right way, two Takehito Koyasu appearances this week (Brave 10 and Mirai Nikki), and the charming art style of Thermae Romae.

Steins;Gate – 9

One of the more fascinating aspects of Steins;Gate is the distinctiveness and creativity of the time-machine.  Most conventional time-machines utilize vehicles which transport passengers to numerous points of time where they perform actions to change the future.  Steins;Gate involves no physical logistics but rather messages which travel back in time and elicit a response that abruptly changes the future.  And due to the uniqueness of the time-machine, there are some rather unique problems that can occur.

Steins;Gate – 7

Steins;Gate has progresses onto yet another new level of terror, this time the revelation that Okabe is the only one who retained memories of the experiment while also drastically altering time (obviously for him to get his Dr. Pepper!).  With the interweaving mysteries that steadily evolve into increasingly complex issues and the further understanding/misunderstanding of their selective form of time-travel, there’s still one commonality that remains consistent throughout the series.  That would happen to be the comedy.

Steins;Gate – 6

Apparently Moeka has plans for the IBN 5100.  This explains her hunt for the rare computer but what exactly does she need with it?  At this point, we can only guess.  And if you add that to the mixing bowl already populated with other mysteries like Suzuha’s past (or future it seems), and Mayuri’s strange stargazing-behavior among various others, you soon realize we’re getting into a plot that’s bigger than it appears.

Dog Days – 6

Despite being in a medieval-type setting, Dog Days doesn’t feel like a fantasy anime.  When you compare the setting of Dog Days to other anime, who also have married the concepts of kemonomimi girls and a medieval setting like Spice and Wolf or Utawarerumono, you begin to draw some similar results.  All shows have castles, villages, soldiers, and other stereotypical fantasy elements which provide a solid base for their stories.  But there are some evident elements that separates Dog Days from the others.

Steins;Gate – 2

With Steins;Gate getting into the meat of time-travel now, it has become apparent that a certain aspect of time-travel will become the dominant focus in this series.  Even after only two episodes, this specific trait has been used or discussed several times already.  And if you think about it, it makes sense from the perspective of a storyteller to focus in on this characteristic.  Well, are you thinking what I’m thinking?