A great series with high stakes and great characters. (Spoiler Free)

Well I finished Steins;Gate last night, and I can definitely see why a lot of people love this anime so much. And Kurisu. I don't know why I didn't watch this sooner, but I wish I did. Steins;Gate is really good, taking the concept of time manipulation and a simple idea made by someone, to show how much of a dangerous game just one idea can be. So what makes me like it so much? Well I shall tell you... Also this is a spoiler free review, don't worry.

#~Story/Plot~
If you have heard of Steins;Gate, then you would have most likely heard that the series is slow, and I can confirm it, the series doesn't pick up in terms of plot or story until the end of episode 12, when the series begins its main plot. And if I am being honest, those first 12 episodes is what's really holding me back from a 10/10. Those episodes are important so we, as the viewer, can understand the fundamentals of the time machine and to build these characters and the world they are in, despite it being slow, so I would say this to whoever hasn't seen this series yet, but plans to: Watch until episode 12 or 13, then decide if you wish to continue watching it or not. Back to the story, it is really great to see how dangerous time travel is, since being able to control time means being able to control the past, the present, and the future... at a very big price. This concept of time traveling is what then leads me to my next point, characters, which I will get to in a bit. Having the power to control time means you can change the present in this world with a simple push of a button, and we see a lot of this type of simple changes heavily changing the way characters are, live, act and how they get development later on.

#~Characters~
Something I want to see when it comes to time travel, is characters suffer and being forced to make insanely hard choices in order to grow. This is what we see with Okabe, avoiding spoilers, he can only do 1 of 2 options, both leading to a new future but at a great cost. This is how you make a character grow.

Sidetracking a bit on this part "spoiler" to reference something. If you seen Re:Zero, you know that Subaru can turn back time by dying, every death makes him grow as a character and makes him get scarred mentally on certain occasions. This type of development is what I like to see in characters that involves Time travel/manipulation. To suffer in order to grow, except in Steins;Gate, it's Okabe experiencing someone else die and it's not him.

Now it isn't just Okabe who grows, every single character in this anime gets a time to shine and get development, even the ones you least expect it. With time manipulation, we are able to see different sides of the character on different situations and view them from different points, making you feel bad for them, knowing what they have gone through, or will go through. This is how you make great characters.

#~Animation/Visuals~
This will be my shortest one. Animation wise, the background just looks bland, and to be honest, I like it. The "bland" animation works in this anime, to bring forward the overall tone and atmosphere. Nothing grabbed my eye in terms of visuals, it was really lacking to look pretty, but again, it also works with the overall tone. Yeah. Not much to say.

#~Conclusion~
So yeah. That's what I think about Steins;Gate. Great series, with great characters, with great story involving high stakes. I plan on rewatching this soon because I most definitely feel like I will spot stuff I never noticed the first time watching it. I would recommend this series to anyone, but again, be aware, first 12 episodes are slow, but after that, it's really great.
9/10 will watch again soon.