Anyone here watched Stein's gate?

Hey Guys, I just picked up the anime Steins gate cause I heard it was really good but it seems to start completely in the middle of the story and I'm completely lost about what going on. Anyone in the know want to let me in on what I missed?

Hard to say without knowing how much you watched but.... The show starts with Okabe and Mayuri going to a conference to listen to a scientist speak about the concept of time travel. Okabe leaves the conference room and finds a girl who appears to have been stabbed and is laying in a pool of her own blood. He runs off, and after he exits the conference building and is telling someone about what he saw, everyone around him disappears and he ends up running into the girl he saw dead and she is, of course, alive and uninjured. After that you're introduced to Okabe's mad science lab he has set up in an apartment, and things slowly ramp up to a pretty great climax about half way through the series.
If it seems like it starts in the middle of the story just remember: that shits about time travel, so that's actually likely.

Keep watching.

The first half of the series is weird but you'll feel better about the first half when you get to the second half.

Yeah, that's by design... unless you somehow started on episode 8 or something. There's also an OVA-type thing that takes place after the ending that you may want to seek out afterwards. I've seen some people lukewarm about it, but I liked it.

After the anime + ova there's a movie that takes place after the entire series.

I watched half of the first episode. But yeah it just seems to start with them assuming I know who these characters are, what these alternate world lines they're talking about are. It just really feels like I'm lost and I missed a whole previous season or something.

@mashzapotato: The show is totally designed to make you feel lost at the start. Time travel/alternate universe stories usually are. Nothing makes sense to you because nothing makes sense to the characters until it all... does. As to the anime assuming you know who these characters are, it's very possible they did assume that. Stiens;Gate was a Visual Novel. I think it's more likely that the show feels that way because they want to give you the sense that all the character's they're presenting you from the get-go are all very good friends who understand each other very well.

Good to know, I liked the dialogue and characters but was just confused as hell.

I love the show mainly due to how damn charming and incredible the main character is. It starts a little slow but picks up steam as the show wears on. I have a real soft spot in my heart for it and the main character's VA.

I was literally reading the Wikipedia page of Steins gate a few hours ago!
Got there from after watching this on Netflix. The Science of Doctor Who.

Yes, and I love it! Hououin Kyouma scenes are all great.

edit: My list ordered the OVA before the series. I watched that first which is why I was super confused.

It picks up later. Around 10-13 for me. Then it all starts making sense. If it doesn't come back here after you are done with the show, reply to me and I'll be happy to discuss it with you.

Literally my favorite anime of all time (check my MAL, it's #1). Trust me when I say things start to make sense as things go on and it becomes super engrossing.

Watched it with a friend after we both tried and failed to get any deeper than 2 ep in. Finished it about 6 months ago. Very well made and extremely engaging once the ball starts rolling (and boy do they start it rolling with a bang). Not my favorite anime but enjoyable and recommendable all the same

Nick Rox likes it almost as much as he likes pronouncing it.

Stick with it, you will be glad you did. It starts off really crazy, and then calms down so you forget how crazy the first episode was. Don't want to elaborate any more than that but I cannot articulate how much I enjoyed Steins;Gate.

I know this hurts my anime cred but the English voice actor doing the main guy, well, he's somethin' special :)

The English dub of Steins;Gate is awesome. Dude rocks it as Okabe.

@mashzapotato said:

Fuck yesssss. I always recommend the dub specifically for him.

I was going to watch this series, but then I bought the English release of the game when it was released on pc awhile back and figured "I'll see the original first!" Have hardly touched it. Should probably just watch the anime.
Also,

If you watch/play the dubbed version, you're missing out on the angelic voice stylings of Hanazawa Kana. Personally I find that unacceptable.

As confusing as it is in the start, it's not really in the middle of the story. It's just showing you an otherwise ordinary day in the life of two life-long friends, one of whom likes to call himself a Mad Scientist, without an explicit new character being introduced to everyone to bring you in. If the sci-fi aspects elude you, don't worry about it, just enjoy how the characters play off of each other as new ones are added to the mix (for which the dub can't get enough credit--it's excellent and much easier to digest when you don't get derailed trying to grok a subtitled term). It's a show that rewards watching it a second time.

I've always heard that this was a great anime but I just have to ask. Is the main writer for this show the same person that did the story for Bravely Default?

@mason20: Hard to go into specifics since the dude who made this thread hasn't finished the series... but there is a concept of repeating time. It's not Haruhi Suzumiya levels of time repeating, though. Much more interesting and handled much better than that or, from how your making it out to be, Bravely Default.

Just hit the half-way point, all I can say is... damn! Shit is getting intense!

edit: It does bother me that every other lab member working on a time machine is like: Okabe's acting weird? Fuck him, weirdo. He's just being weird!

The English commentary is also super good! You get people like Patrick Seitz and Michael J. Tatum talking about the adaptation from Japanese to English and how it's more about localizing everything as opposed to literally translating. On top of that, there is some cool talk about sound engineers and voice acting in general. Really good blu-ray set if you ever find yourself with some money. Comes with the DVD version as well!

I had clock related ptsd for a few days after that fucking middle chapter. Best anime ever made.

Just finished the series. Man that was great! Definitely enjoyed how it bucked stereotypes in going for the ending it did.

Stein's Gate didn't do a thing for me. The sister character was a completely intolerable moe-ron and was supposed to be the main character's sole motivation for basically everything that happened. As far as the plot is concerned: time travel has been done better elsewhere. It's not the worst thing ever made, but I can't understand the reverence for the show.

I wasn't super hot on the sister either. For me the show redeems itself in the main character, his voice actor is incredible, the writing is great. And he's heroic and sympathetic in his goal to somehow find a way out of the mess he's made.