Steins Gate

Watching Steins; Gate With My Son(s): The Summation

madreceiver4 Comments

steins_gate

So after a long hiatus I am back to Steins; Gate with my sons.

Originally this started with my younger son watching Steins;Gate with me so that I could control what he watched and to share the experience of watching one of my favorite anime’s with him. After a time, my older son began watching with us and it became a group activity (it just took us a long time to get around to finishing the series.

But finish the series we did. We binge watched the final 8 episodes and OVA that we hadn’t finished.

Steins; Gate, while an excellent story, is a demanding watch. The first half or more is a lot of set up and exposition. It is really well done, but to a younger viewer may be harder to sit through.

My younger son had a harder time with this. He is easily distracted and antsy. So missing subtle things and small jokes happened easily and I had to remind him that he needed to pay attention at times.

His older brother, being a bit more mature, was more inclined to watch intently because he could see, by context, what the show was demanding of the viewer.

And while the first half moves a bit slowly with all of it’s set up: it pays off. Intensely. Very intensely…

giphy

I won’t put any spoilers here, but Okabe (our main protagonist) is put through the wringer. It is emotional and traumatic. Not just once, but multiple times in the last half the series. It is a great pay off for all of the early set up.

Both of my boys were watching with emotional awe as the rest of the story played out. My older son was left a little speechless at the end as I said: “So that’s Steins; Gate. Understand why it is one of my favorites?” I think he did.

Even for myself, I had forgotten some events (last 2 episodes) and was audibly gasping as things occurred. I also have a greater appreciation for the series as I have now watched Robotics; Notes and am currently watching Chaos; Head, where all these worlds are connected to one another in a fashion.

Attention Parents: This is an intense show. There is blood, murder, and tragedy. There are gel-nanas and gel-humans. It is a dark show at times. There are also off-color jokes and a lot of “hentai” name calling. Subject wise it is also dense matter dealing with concepts of time and multiple universes/ timelines. This would be harder material for younger children to understand or enjoy.

That being said: It is still one of my all time favorite shows and I’m happy I got to share it with my boys.

Until next time:

El Psy Congroo!

tumblr_niq35lNXVt1qiy829o1_400

all images contained in this post are not owned by this blog.

Lets All Get Excited and Build a Robot!

madreceiver2 Comments

banner_2502

Robotics; Notes

Adapted from a 2012 visual novel released on PlayStation 3, X-box 360, and PlayStation Vita (2014), Robotics; Notes occupies the same universe as Chaos; Head and Steins; Gate.

Set nine years later than the events in Steins; Gate, Robotics; Notes follows two main protagonist’s story lines. Akiho, who is trying to live up to her sister’s legacy and build a giant robot in the Central Tanegashima High School’s Robot Research Club. And her childhood friend, Kaito who has no interests in building a robot or much else besides playing a robot fighting video game.

Robotics-11_1-GunPro-1

Kaito one day stumbles across an Artificial Intelligence named Airi that he can only observe through an App on his phone. Through Airi he uncovers a series of reports that have far reaching consequences for the world.

I can really say I enjoyed Robotics; Notes thoroughly. Yes, as some have noted, it is not as well put together as Steins; Gate and is a little muddled in the plot at points, but overall I felt it was an enjoyable show to watch. The characters are fun…you even have a shut in, Otaku type…

tumblr_mr70m1YElp1r7m58jo4_1280

And then there is the animation, which is very well done.

Robotics;Notes.full.1220304

Overall it was a fun series to watch. There is a dub of it, which seemed fine, but I had come into it in the last 2 episodes and that never works since you are already accustomed to hearing the voices one way.

Attention Parents: There is not too much to object to. The exception is some slightly lewd comments from  Furugoori Kona, but many of those may fly over kid’s heads anyways.

I recommend the show for a fun bit of sci-fi in the same realm as Steins;Gate.

Happy Viewing!

all images in this post are not owned by this blog.

Watching Steins Gate with My Son: Episodes 5 & 6

madreceiver2 Comments

download (22)

After a long break my son and I got back to Steins Gate: Episodes 5 and 6.

More exposition occurs. The IBN 5100 is gotten up and running. Daru hacks into SERN and the larger fears are confirmed: SERN is (and has been) doing time travel experiments and people have been dying.

We find that Suzuha is not a fan of Kurisu and warns Okabe not to trust her.

steinsgate05-03

Why so intense Suzuha?

Further experiments are done with the microwave and the emails that go back in time (now dubbed “d-mails”). They do experiments and deduce some of the rules around how and what can be sent through time.

We also get Moeka Kiryu back into the story as she shows up on the lab’s doorstep with a decided interest in seeing the IBN 5100. After everyone inadvertently spills the beans about the time machine microwave in front of her, Okabe feels compelled to make her a lab member as well.

steinsgate-06-moeka-cell_phone

The most socially awkward Moeka.

And that is a minimal synopsis of what happens in these episodes.

From a parenting view there is not a lot that is new. More “hentai”/ “banana” jokes and a few yuri jokes thrown in as well (some of which my son caught, some not).

There are the scenes of the dead SERN experiment volunteers which may be uncomfortable for some, but they weren’t so graphic that I worried and my son didn’t seem to bat an eye at them either.

screenshot_4_16512

Gruesome? A little, but not overly so.

What I find the biggest challenge for my son is the content. This is not on an appropriateness level, but a complexity of the subject matter. While he enjoys Okabe’s madness and Daru’s perverted jokes, the content of the story is confusing. He admitted that the characters speak fast and it is hard to keep up, but has a general idea of what is happening. But this is a time travel show with lots of  content and explanation of made up theory. It is really well done, but for an 11 year old who may not be giving it his full attention, it can be a hard show to follow.

Does this stop the experiment? No. We’ll keep watching as long as he’s enjoying it.

Until next time…

El Psy Congroo.

Watching Steins Gate With My Son: Episodes 3&4

madreceiverLeave a comment

Rintarō-Okabe-And-Kurisu-Makise-Steins-Gate-Wallpaper-11

This update comes on the late side of things. With moving, life, and Anime Central I hadn’t gotten much time to work on this installment.

My son and I actually watched these episodes the week before ACEN so I am re-watching them to refresh my memory.

Episode 3: The “hentai” name calling episode.

With Okabe already having experienced a time skip in the previous episode where he accosted Makise after seeing her dead on another time line, she comes to the lab to find out what madness Okabe was spouting at her.

She walks in to find the result of the experiment prior to her arrival, the “gel-nana” sitting on the table.  Which prompts the following scene:

This opens up a bunch of the “hentai” name calling for a bit. My son found this amusing. Was it a little off to let him hear Daru asking about eating a pervert’s banana?  Maybe, but not life damaging.

Makise does get to see the microwave after Okabe, not fully trusting her, makes her a lab member. She leaves in a rush when she realizes that Okabe is suggesting that the microwave is an actual time machine.

There is the hacking of SERN where they discover a disturbing secret.

Episode 4: IBN 5100

maxresdefault (2)

Stardust Handshake…

Okabe is able to drag Makise back in to his world (although she is curious but will never admit it) even if it is to prove to him that the Phone Microwave is not a time machine. Makise is fighting her past and determined not to make her father’s mistakes.

Much of this episode is centered around the acquisition of the IBN 5100 for the purpose of being able to hack SERN’s encrypted files. After a visit with Faris, who once again indulges Okabe’s delusions, they get a lead on obtaining an IBN 5100 which happens to stored at the shrine in Akihabara. Makise meets Okabe there and they take the computer back to the lab.

My son, for both of these episodes, was largely distracted with other things. There are a lot of details and exposition going on and I think it was hard for him to hold his attention on this. Was there much “bad” content? Not really, the “gel-nana” bit was probably the most quesioanable part and event that wasn’t that bad.

Episode 3 did also contain one of my favorite parts of the show though…

Until next time: El Psy Congroo!

Watching Steins Gate With My Son: Episode 2

madreceiverLeave a comment

AKA: The “but he’s a guy.” episode.

We got to episode 2 sooner than I had expected. I am in the middle of moving and so I didn’t think this was going to be an option for a couple of weeks.

However, the move went fast and my couch and t.v. was already set up so my boys both decided that they wanted to spend the night. After watching episode 4 of the new Nisekoi season I popped on the blu ray of Steins Gate. First, I have to say: I watched Steins Gate the first time through Hulu on my Kindle Fire which was fine, but watching it on a big screen with a blu ray= Awesome!

This episode Okabe has found that Makise is not dead and goes to her lecture at the university. Her lecture establishes a couple of things well: She is smart, smarter than Okabe, she is a bit of a smart ass, and that Okabe doesn’t like having his delusions challenged.

steinsgate-2-0

Episode 2 also serves as a vehicle to introduce most all of the other characters. Yuugo Tennouji , owner of the CRT repair shop and Okabe’s landlord, was already introduced in episode 1. He, Yuugo,goes on to hire 18 year old, Suzuha Amane as a part time worker in the repair shop. Okabe runs into Moeka Kiryu on the street after she takes a photo of him with her phone. Okabe also goes to visit Mayuri at her part time job at the maid cafe and we are introduced to Faris Nyannyan (Rumiho Akiha) who is part owner and the most popular maid there (who is very good at indulging Okabe’s delusions). And lastly we are introduced to Ruka Urushibara, a friend of Mayuri’s that generates this wonderful scene:

This might be the only thing people would find objectionable in this episode, but even that is pushing it.

Overall the episode went over well and I didn’t cringe at any moments. The draw back to watching with both boys is the inevitable sibling rivalry and personality differences that crop up. My younger son has a habit of interjecting what he thinks is going to happen next. While I tell him to just watch, his brother is not as patient yelling:”Shut up! No one wants to hear your commentary!” ….Brothers.

Until next time: El Psy Congroo!

steinsgate17

 

Nyan, nyan, nyan….