Steins; Gate really stands out for its great dialogue. The exchanges between Okarin and Christina, and the computer guy in this episode were especially fantastic. I could just watch an entire show just about them fighting with each other. They can all push each other’s buttons just right.

However, the second half of the episode was rather disappointing. Way too much technobabble. Time travelling microwaves are only going to make less sense the more you try to explain them. Just allow your viewers to suspend their sense of disbelief instead of trying to explain why time travelling microwaves work. The more you try to explain it, the harder it is to ignore.

The same thing is true about the hacking, although the SQL injection is an improvement over the usual hacking by 3D space shooter. Still, it would be nice to portray CERN as somewhat competent if they are supposed to be the big bad guy. And the ending creepy email message, “Human is Dead”, was just kind of pathetic more than foreboding or worrisome. I’m guessing that it would sound more intimidating if English isn’t your first language.

Next episode it seems that Okarin may meet John Titor, and I’m curious to see who this is. It doesn’t make any sense why people from the future would need an old IBM machine— hopefully they won’t bother trying to explain this too.

Steins; Gate has a great chemistry between the characters and makes great use of it, but is getting too wrapped up in the details of its pseudoscience. Trying to explain illogical things like this only serves to take the mystery out of it and point out to the viewer that it doesn’t make any sense. I personally enjoy watching shows about conspiracy theories because they’re confusing and mysterious and fun to speculate about, not because I like to have them explained to me.

On an administrative note: I will be traveling this weekend starting Thursday, so the site probably won’t be updated until Monday. I’ll be trying to catch up for what I’ve missed early next week.