Wolfe: Steins;Gate Manga

Wolfe reporting.

If I was a Pokémon, I'd be Koffing. Heavens, I'm really sick of being sick.

So, I'm finally getting to my Steins;Gate Manga review. I just finished downloading all of the Deadman Wonderland Manga, so I might review it some Saturday after I finish as well. Saturday's our "Misc." day, after all.

In other news, I just watched the S;G Movie, now that the official subs came out on Dec 13th. It was amazing in every way. If you watched S;G and loved it, you need to watch the movie.

As a Manga review, I'm going to do things differently. I'm hoping to have an inconsistent Manga review style, just to make some iota of my being feel like I can act randomly rather than by some elongated I/O algorithm.

Anyhow, on to the review.

Ferris is the same, though. Source.

Anime/Manga Differences: Well, I found the anime and the manga to be worlds apart. I haven't played the game, so I'm afraid I can't throw it into the mix, but I recall hearing someone say that it was significantly different than both the manga and the anime as well.

The anime seems to do a good job with the plot, with a nice long intro to get you used to things, and then introducing element after element to get you more and more interested. In the manga, it seems to assume that you've already seen the anime-- it jumps into things, and seems way too brief for most scenes. I don't recommend reading the manga until you've watched the anime, otherwise you're likely going to get very confused very quickly.

So much darker (and better). Source.

One thing I do prefer about the manga is the way it goes about Mayuri's first death. It was always so dark of a scene in the anime, but the camera angles didn't show us the wound, and that seemed to make the scene land poorly. In the manga, they show Mayuri's wound, and that sets the tone perfectly.

A second thing I enjoyed about the manga: different perspectives/mentalities. There were different conclusions made (including one about microwaving the entirety of Toyko) and different routes taken.

Moeka being adorable <3 Source.

I also enjoyed the different take on the IBM getting taken. While Moeka does send the text (as she does in the anime), another World Line shift happens before Kyouma suspects her. He then asks/interrogates her briefly, and she doesn't know what he's talking about (and looks so freaking adorable). This is because she actually doesn't know what he's talking about. I find this more realistic, because in the anime, she seems to be someone that should have been suspected. Of course, Kyouma's all guilty when he realizes she didn't do it, which would have probably made for a more climactic understanding later on when he realizes she did do it (though we'll never know, because the manga doesn't get nearly that far).

See? I'm telling you, adorable. Source.

This leads me to something I didn't enjoy about the manga: it ended way too early. I believe it was released before the game, and so once the game was released, they probably stopped releasing manga chapters. Since the game is based on your decisions choosing which chick Kyouma ends up with, there was a theory that the manga stopped at the mandatory point-- past that chapter, decisions and/or interactions would lead Kyouma on a path with one girl or another. Regardless, it ends pretty abruptly, ending shortly after the Time Leap is invented.

[intensity] Source.

Art Style: Okay, first off, I haven't read much manga (only some Steins;Gate spin-offs, Claymore, and starting Deadman Wonderland). I feel like the art style in the manga was pretty dang different than the anime, although it's not as different from the game. Since the order of release was manga > game > anime, that also seems to be the progression of the art style.

There's some chibi, and everything's definitely "softer" (less of the harsh/realistic feel of the anime). Kyouma seems downright strange in the manga, and definitely yelling more. I grew to really like that guy in the anime, and I have to say, I dislike the Kyouma of the manga.

However, Shining Finger (Moeka) is absolutely adorable in some frames of the manga, whereas she didn't seem to stand out as adorable in the anime.

Chibi isn't cute to me, even if it's my crush Kurisu =/
Source.

Examples: Here are some snippets from the manga to give you a taste.

I don't like this Kyouma
art style. Source.

Kyouma's really over-the-top. Source.

For Iorek! Suzuha is also
more adorable. Source.

The blush is nice, though. Source.

All in all, it was an interesting thing to read after having seen and loved the anime. It doesn't stand too well on its' own, it skips over a lot, and Kyouma is a completely different person. Moeka and Suzuha are definitely more adorable, though.

Wolfe out.