Stein's Gate volume 1 by Yomi Sarachi and published by Udon comics

The goal of my blog is to share the joy and love I have for unknown comics and underground artists.

Today we are looking at "Stein's Gate" by Yomi Sarachi and published in the United States by Udon Comics.

The volume I got is the first volume in a mini series. This is a book that tries very hard to be serious and not serious all at once. It is an odd set of contradiction...

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Steins Gate is about time travel and the paradoxes that it creates. It is a very science based manga but it has such an odd concept and style that I am not sure how to feel about it. I hate the main character but I slightly like the main character. When you think everything is one thing, it suddenly becomes another. The only real comparison I can give this is like the Higurashi no Nako Koro Ni (when they cry Higurashi) anime. It is the same time frame constantly repeated in different ways but only the main character knows this. This would be a great book if it was just that but.. then they add humor.

Now I have read a lot of manga but I have never felt such a dislike to certain characters before. I hate the main character because he tries to play off this mad scientist kinda feel but it is hard to pull that off if you are claiming to be a kid in his twenty's. And to make it worse, all the characters are just basic stereotypes. This would have been great if all the characters were in their 40's and you took out the humor and odd panels. It feels like a great idea but taken in the wrong context.

The art for this book is very predictable and feels odd and skinnier than it should be. It reminds me of Mushishi in a sense. He had a great story and concept but those hands... they still haunt me how the artist was so bad at drawing hands. This book feels that way in a lot of its elements. It is odd angles, bad drawing and some scenes just feel unbelievable. It is a good read if you look past all the little technical things like bad art and annoying dialogue. The story got better as it went along too but it feels like a slow run when you are starting off and this silly context about this guy claiming to be a mad scientist is beyond annoying.

I try to not go into a book with a negative feel and I usually let a book flow and see how I feel about it. This book had a great concept and story but the artist made some bad decisions on execution in my opinion. I am aware that this book is part of a video game franchise which makes these decisions even worse because more than one person probably made them. It is not on the same scale as other video game manga series like .Hack and Street Fighter. I hope the rest of the books wrap the series up nicely because this one felt like a slap in the face and destroyed more fantasy world than it created for me.

Score time:

Art: 2 / 10
Story: 5 / 10
Flow of book: 3 / 10
Impression after reading: meh



Reviewed and shared by Harry Kohles of Metairie, Louisiana. Former art student with a fetish for corny realism. Helping to share comics and mangas you never knew existed~