When it comes to anime that involves some sort of time travel aspect, most have a hard time properly incorporating it within the story. Typically the issue lies with improper or lacking explanation of the how time travel is done, or its done in a manner that leaves far too many plot holes. However Steins;Gate makes use of the parallel worlds theory, an idea in quantum physics on that holds the premise that there are on infinite number of other possible realities teach slightly or even drastically different than each other.

Once Okabe begins to alter his own world by making decisions that affect the past, he begins to realize that the world he was once in is not the same, and his decisions cause him to get transported to different world lines. He is the only one who can observe the jumps between worlds and dubs the ability “Reading Steiner.” Okabe and his friends continue to play with their time traveling device until the plot picks up and an event occurs that causes Okabe to realize that he has to go back and change it all. He has to go back and undo every mistake that he made and return to his original world line.

It is important to note that the characters get a good portion of character development during the beginning of the anime, in fact, the plot does not start to kick in as early as episode seven. Which makes the anime rather slow in the beginning, as the characters hold the spotlight until the story kicks in. Once it does, the story does well to explain shifts from each world line without leaving plot holes that break the story. As well linking them a;l together in the end that fits the butterfly effect theme of the entire show.

The only possible plot hole that could be considered in the story is how Okabe retains his memories of each world while everyone else does not, however a counter argument could be made that this is due to him being the one who makes the changes that creates the jumps between worlds. However this crosses into different theories on time travel, and is up to interpretation. I can't go into the majority of the story without discussing spoiler material, this is much as I am willing to go without spoiling the reader.

Rintaro Okabe
A self proclaimed mad scientist who at first appears to be a delusional conspiracy theorist, who is nothing short of loony. The main protagonist of the show, who as the viewer is quick to find out, is actually rather intelligent and quick witted. His rather unique personality serves as a source of comedy and is what makes him the most interesting of all of the characters.

From early on we see that Okabe has an obsession with time travel, and will even go so far as to enter lengthy debates with anyone that thinks otherwise of the concept itself. After several episodes he discovers a form of time travel that he begins testing. Which he plans to use to “fight” the evil “organization” that he believes to exist, in order to prevent them from gaining power. As he experiments more and more with his friends he begins to learn that all the choices he has made with his time traveling device has no created a deviations from the world he was once in and he must return it back to normal. He goes from being the the type of blissfully unaware know it all, to his role of caring friend that does would needs to be done in order to save his friends, even at the sake of his own sanity.

Kurisu Makise
Kurisu us the main female protagonist within the story, extremely intelligent, as she is a neuroscience researcher at the age of 18, she has even published an academic paper. She is the token tsundere of the group and as such hates being grouped with the stereotype. Though more mature at her age due to her upbringing as an intellectual, she usually ends up clashing heads with Okabe as she despises his tendency to often be rather paranoid and believe in things that do not exist.

Most of her development is seen through here interactions with Okabe, though mostly at odds with one another due to their polar opposite personalities, they become close friends, who support each other. They become close enough to trust one another to tell the truth about things that most others would just shrug off as a lie. As the story progresses she shows more weakness about her self, and gets comfortable with her friends to tell them personal things about herself like her troubled relationship wth her dad. Though she may appear to be another tsundere character, her dere side allows for development, where there would not otherwise not have been.

Mayuri Shiina
Mayuri is Okabe's childhood friend and companion, an airhead who is far too naive, and at times blissfully unaware of certain things while attentive to people themselves. She works at a maid cafe and is the one who helps out Okabe whenever he needs food. Overly optimistic she remains as the cute character of the group, and keeps Okabe together when he needs it.

While mostly used to be cute within the story her connection to Okabe is what makes her a very relevant character. Being his childhood friend, she knows a lot about him and is usually sympathetic to his whacky adventures and trials. She serves as an anchor for Okabe, both in how how he spends his time doing odd activities and being a supportive friend. She becomes more important to the story later on, due to her involvement with a change in world lines.

Itaru Hashida
Daru, as he is called by his friends, is a skilled hacker with extensive knowledge in computer programming. He is an otaku at heart and usually acts perverted to the females of the cast, in a joking manner. He is one of Okabe's close friends who has known him since high school, but finds his behavior irritating at times.

His programming skills become more important later on as they are used to get a hold of information that proves one of Okabe's theories on the “organization.” Daru's role is much more important outside of the anime, and is more prominent in the future in his role with the time traveling device. He also has a deeper that though connection with another character, however that is for the viewer to find out.

Moeka Kiryu
Moeka is a rather shy and timid girl who in almost all occasions will only interact with others through text messages, even if they are right in front of her. She is extremely protective of her phone and  becomes quite upset whenever someone tries to take her phone from her.

Much about Moeka isn't revealed about her until later after a dramatic shift in the plot takes place. Once this happens the viewer gets to see that she is a broken character due to certain circumstances. For all intents and purposes, I can't go too much into her character without giving massive spoilers.

Ruka Urushibara
Ruka is a character that appears to be a female, but is actually a male that wears woman's clothing. Shy and rather confused about his feelings due to how he feels about his gender. Ruka is a troubled character, and is the more feminine than any of the other girls.

Ruka has strong feelings for Okabe though he usually just pretends to ignore his feelings, until later in the story. Where he influences Okabe to shift into a new world line, due to an urban legend that he learned in order to test a theory about his mom, which causes Okabe to reconsider his relationship with Ruka after the shift into a new world line,

Feyris Nyannyan
Feyris is one of Mayuri's close friends and works at the came maid cafe as she does, and in the anime is responsible for making Akihabara , a city in Japan, a city filled with anime and moe material. She is the only character who isn't bothered by Okabe's behavior and actually joins in and play along with his delusions.

Feyris does not take a large part of the story but she is noticeable for her manner of speech where she adds “nya” to the end of her sentences, “meowster” in the dub. The only real attention she gets is when she convinces Okabe to make a shift in world lines to get her closer to a family member. Outside of that she remains a rather small and irrelevant character for most of the show.

Suzuha Amane
Suzuha is tomboy girl who takes a job near Okabe's lab and searches for her father for the most of the show. She has a deep hatred for Kurisu, though it is not revealed later on as to why she does.

Suzuha's role is rather important with in the story, however her role at the same time contains the most spoilers for the plot itself. Her involvement with the time travel Okabe uses is why most of her involvement with time travel and Okabe cannot be discussed without going into literally ever big spoiler within Steins;Gate.

The animation in Steins;Gate did what it needed to, with a lack of any real need for it in most situations. It was of quality, with unique eye design reminiscent of the visual novel. As well as good character design that matched each character well based on their personalities.

The soundtrack was composed by multiple people, while none of the songs are stick out by themselves, with the exception of the opening. All of the tracks do more well to reinforce the tone of the situation that they are used in, rather than being a highlight of a scene.

Being a fan of sci fi anime and anything involving time travel, I thoroughly enjoyed Steins;Gate. Usually when you watch an anime that includes a time travel aspect there are typically plot holes left to big to ignore. Steins;Gate is an exception, as it wraps everything nicely be the end that there are no paradoxes left to complain about. It is important to note that with the exception of one female character Okabe manages to get the attention and vary levels of love from the female cast, though its not done to where it stays as a major part of the story it can detract from the plot at times. Though the anime does originate from a visual novel so it shouldn't be too surprising that some aspect of it remains. Overall, its one of the best thriller scifi animes that I have watched in a long time.

9.4
As stated before its rare that you have a plot that relies heavily on time travel and leaves no plot holes or paradoxes in the show. Even rarer to explain with enough detail that the viewer is given enough information to follow, but not be disappointed at the lack of a proper explanation. Also having an interesting cast of characters with colorful enough personalities make Steins;Gate a wondeful anime, worthy of a watch.

9.5
Personally, I enjoyed the plot and characters above all else in the show, Steins;Gate doesn't have much to offer with its animation as there a lack of fight scenes, while the songs from the soundtrack do more well to enhance a scene, but remain unmemorable. For an anime with such a solid story with time travel, I could not ask for more.