Thanks @BenBlah for the recommendation🙏 (mostly spoiler free, minor spoilers are possibly in this review) Bro…. Steins;Gate is a masterpiece of an anime/tv show! I loved this so much, The story, the characters (oh man), the music, animation, humor, emotional moments, towards the end especially, I loved and connected with this a lot and it’s easily one of my top favorite shows and my second favorite anime, right behind Monster. I’ll go ahead and say that yes, I’ve decided to give this 5 stars and I didn’t give Monster that, but the more I’ve thought about it, Monster would be 5 stars too. They are both PEAK shows! Ok so, onto Steins;Gate! In the first couple episodes, it was for sure a little confusing, and still somewhat at certain moments in show, but for the most part I got into the world and the time travel part of the show fairly early on, the show does a great job at explaining it and I gotta say that this is for sure my favorite use of time travel in any piece of media. It’s not the most groundbreaking time travel ever, but it executes it flawlessly, and integrates it into the characters in a way I haven’t seen before. Their struggles and problems are shown through the time travel, it added a lot to all the characters and through those moments I got way more out of the characters then previous to it. The time travel element was able to explore a lot of themes about love and sacrifice and so much more! And besides that, it was just really cool, the way the time travel worked, with them not being able to send physical objects through, but only text messages and eventually memories. I really loved how it wasn’t just a simple, “oh we got time travel, now we can go wherever we want” no, it was complex and difficult for them, and I liked that a lot, made it unique in that way! So, now let’s talk about the characters of this show… they were PEAK! I loved these guys and to spend a whole show with them was so fun! Their dynamics with each other were just perfect man, lead to so many fun moments and then of course later on, a lot of sad and emotional moments too. I connected with them, and I know this gets tossed around a lot, but man, they really did feel “human”, their personal struggles and what they wanted to change about their lives, their bond as friends, it all felt real. I guess I should mention to start, a little character in the show named Rintaro Okabe, or should I say, Hououin Kyouma! MAN, this guy is one of my all time favorite characters/protagonists, his journey throughout this show was perfect, everything he went through was so exciting to watch, but also heartbreaking in the moments when he was going through the darker and more tragic side of the show. He was everything I could want out of a main character, loved him so much but he wouldn’t be the same without his lab members with him! They were all so great! Kurisu, by the end, was my second favorite in the show, her dynamic with Okabe was peak for sure, their connection was perfect, and it just kept building up until the final episodes where their relationship was at its peak and they were just peak characters! She added so much to the show, at first, like most characters, I didn’t love her, but for sure by the end, she’s amazing! Mayuri is the most innocent character ever, she was always so nice and happy, but in her moments of sadness I felt for her, and a main plot point that happens to her, was so tragic and sad, she was great too! The other characters of Suhuza, Moeka, Daru, Ruka, Faris (who I liked in a certain episode), the whole cast of characters were just perfect, loved them all! Daru was the one that I questioned at times, you know why lol, but he was pushing it sometimes with the stuff he said, but he’s still great! I mainly already mentioned it in the time travel section of this review, but the story/writing was so incredible! The first part of the show, while great, wasn’t peak or anything, but at the turning point of the show, you know what that is, it got so amazing and peak and AHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!! SO GOOD MAN, I LOVE THIS SHOW!!!!!!!!!!!! Sorry, I got a bit over the top there but I really love this show! Other parts I liked were of course the music/score, that I didn’t really notice too much in the beginning, but throughout the show, it got way better and mainly the main theme, “GATE OF STEINER”, was just so beautiful and epic and meaningful and just fit the show and the scenes it was used it so well! The animation wasn’t Demon Slayer level or anything, but it was great and the style was great for the show, I loved all the expressive moments from the characters! The voice actors were also very great, with Okabe’s voice actor being literally perfect for the role! Same voice actor as Light from Death Note so that’s cool! Maybe one of my favorite voice acting performances with Okabe, just actual perfection and couldn’t have gotten a better voice actor to capture all of his “personality” lol! I could say a lot more, but it’s time to wrap up, loved this show soooo much and for sure one of my favorites ever! I really love anime man! So happy I’ve gotten into it, because there is so much PEAK I was missing out on! And again, thanks Ben for the rec, really picked an amazing one!