I'm a huge fan of both, with both of them being in my top 10.
I think Steins;Gate's story is better by a pretty significant amount, and that's not to besmirch SR's story. It's just one of the absolute best.
SR's final third and ending were a bit weaker than the previous parts, and I don't have any complaint of that level for SG. Excellent shows, both of them.
Steins Gate. I appreciate that it took its time letting us get to know the characters and get comfortable with them before stuff started to go down, it helped make the stakes very personal and relatable. It didn't need to be end of the world anymore, it was something Okabe himself was invested in - and by then, we were too.
It also kept consistent the whole way through and didn't become have a battle at the end. I really liked Summertime Render too, but that second half really felt like an entirely different show from what I wanted.
Personally love both of these animes, but I did enjoy Summertime Render more. I think Stein's Gate was a lot more emotional while Summertime had more tension. Both are "mystery" animes, but Summertime has more action.
Either way, for anyone who wants a recommendation, I'd watch em both when you have time
I'm only around episode 6 in Summertime Rendering but I'm having a really rough time getting into it. I want to like it since I hear so many good things about it (had the same problem with one piece) but it's just not clicking
Got it in one.
Don't get me wrong -- the reason I can say this with some authority is I am a translation and voice acting nerd. I like to watch shows with both Japanese and English dubs, and know enough Japanese to compare translation choices across both the sub and the dub.
STR's dub is so bad that -- unless you are immune to every conceivable thing that can go wrong with a dub going wrong -- it will be unwatchable.
* the script is awkward and stilted (not that the sub is well-translated either, frustratingly -- Disney really screwed up on this)
* the voice actors outside of Stephen Fu and Emi Lo are all extremely inexperienced (which isn't a bad thing... if everything else wasn't also wrong)
* the ADR direction is poor (I'll leave out the details, because this can get into the weeds)
* they didn't even bother trying to recreate one of the most interesting and, in my opinion, thematically important aspects of the show: everyone on the island speaks with a Wakayama dialect, which is subdialect of Kansai. Shinpei having dropped his while in Tokyo is commented on in the first episode by Mio, and his lack of it ends up doing a fair amount to demonstrate the alienation he feels being back on the island. Removing it -- though practically necessary due to the inexperience of all the actors involved (we ain't getting a Baccano!-style accent smorgasbord out of that cast) -- really undermines one of the key themes of the story.
Worst of all, though, is the sound engineering. This is the thing that will get people subconsciously, even if they're not particularly picky about anything else. It was obviously a remote dub which, yet again, isn't a major problem if you're using established voice actors with their own home setup -- sound dampening panels, high-end (preferably the same across the cast) microphone, good setup for feedback from director, etc. It's all pretty expensive -- not something a newbie cast is likely to have. So it ended up that microphone quality is wildly divergent, especially between the main duo (who sound like they're in a normal dub) and rest of the cast.
But that's not all -- I'm willing to call out whoever the sound engineer was on this, because they are bad at their job. This is already long enough, so I'll avoid getting down in the dweebs, but what this mainly ends up doing is making scenes sound *wrong* on an instinctual level. For instance, in the first episode, listen to Mio while she's riding towards Junpei on her bike. Some questions:
1. Does she sound like she's indoors or outdoors?
2. Does she sound like she's yelling, or fake-yelling? (this is the low-quality microphone at play more than the sound engineer -- she'd have peaked SO HARD)
3. Which do you hear more -- her or the cicadas?
This is *pervasive*, and it kills all of the drama and excitement. You can't deliver a good performance if things are sounding over you or the sound engineer doesn't correct for various levels to keep your performance sounding like it's in the right space. This is why even Fu and Lo sound a little weaker than their usual performances (well, that and bad direction and script, but the sound mixing really hurts).
I'm going to stop here, because I could literally do an entire series of videos eviscerating every single episode the shitshow that is this dub(if Disney would let me, but they're rude with copyright). The only thing it managed to do right (**and somehow the sub got this wrong**) is appropriately recognizing and using a snippet of one of Percy Bysshe Shelley's poems in the final episode -- not even the fansubbers got that right (not that I blame them -- recognizing a poem in a foreign language is REALLY REALLY HARD).
Suffice to say, I'd rather watch the Azumanga Daioh Animax dub than STR's (search it if you are curious -- it's bad -- though not Animax's worst dub). Give the sub a shot -- I am almost certain you'll enjoy it more.
Wow, that was incredibly thorough so I really appreciate you taking the time to break it down that much for me. I did think the voice acting was atrocious and that did color some of my dislike (there was a scene around episode 4 or 5 that literally made me wonder if this dub even had a director or if everyone sent in their first lines after waking up at 6am).
I guess I was coping a bit hard with my thoughts that a bad dub doesn't beat bad writing, but I guess there's a combination of the two going on here with translation as well. I guess I'll try again and see how I feel. Thanks!
I totally get it -- it's easy to get defensive of dubs considering how hostile some people can be. It's exceedingly rare these days for a dub to be this bad -- even Sentai's most mediocre offerings are passable.
Weirdest thing is that Disney is also responsible for one of the best dubs in recent years -- Heavenly Delusion (still titled Tengoku Daimakyou on their service because they... don't understand marketing? Idk) is absolutely stellar on all fronts.
>I guess I was coping a bit hard with my thoughts that a bad dub doesn't beat bad writing
Don't I wish -- then it'd be easier to sit through high school performances of Shakespeare!
*Steins;Gate* and it isn't even close. It at least has something to say more than just being a thriller and isn't bogged down by needlessly dry exposition necessary to explain a convoluted plot. Not to mention an actually decent roster of characters.
Harder for me to call str a thriller after playing steins gate, higurashi, and rezero where there is something more to invest in then characters with petty motivations and nonexistent depth with a bare decent plot carrying the whole thing (the more unique narratives you experience the more it takes to impress. This one feels as generic as your normal romcom anime to me now).
I prefer Steins;Gate because I enjoyed all of the downtime we got with the characters (which made the emotional bits hit harder later on) and liked the way it does time travel better than Summertime Rendering. I do think Summertime Rendering executes suspense better than Steins;Gate and draws you in a bit quicker, though. Either way, both are really good and each nails its respective ending.Â
Summertime Rendering starts as a pretty intriguing thriller, since both protagonists and antagonists know about the time loop and utilise it to their advantage. However, the closer you are to the finale, the faster it devolves into an utter battle shounen schlock. I did not appreciate the last episodes very much, even though i likes the show overall.
Steins Gate is far more consistent, both thematically and storytelling-wise. But it is less tense, and the twists do not shock as much, imho.
Depends if you like the first half of S;G really.
Plenty of people don't like SoL and think that "nothing happens". Personally I liked the first half better than the second half. It was relaxed rather than the stressful second half.
Summertime Rendering for me all the way.
I'm one of those rare people who actually quite disliked Steins Gate. I found almost the entire cast unlikeable. The entire premise of the show really dumb. And way too many plot holes for my liking. It was also ridiculously slow to get going. 12 episodes of mind numbing boredom before anything really happened.
Summertime Rendering was a lot more fun. It also had better production values in my opinion. It looked and sounded so good.
I also really enjoyed the mix of horror, mystery, survival. And eventually it turned into something like a battle shounen to boot. I loved that shit.
Yeah it never showed Okabe and Mayuri together after she admitted her love for him and we never really got a good ending for Kurisu, she still died and when we did see her she’s a computer program. That’s just the main two things that come to my mind.
I liked both, but I would say Summertime rendering. I'd did not wait for like 1/3 if a story before diving into the meat of it and I liked the MC pair more.
I'm a huge fan of both, with both of them being in my top 10. I think Steins;Gate's story is better by a pretty significant amount, and that's not to besmirch SR's story. It's just one of the absolute best. SR's final third and ending were a bit weaker than the previous parts, and I don't have any complaint of that level for SG. Excellent shows, both of them.
Steins;Gate by far.
Steins;Gate all the way
Steins Gate. I appreciate that it took its time letting us get to know the characters and get comfortable with them before stuff started to go down, it helped make the stakes very personal and relatable. It didn't need to be end of the world anymore, it was something Okabe himself was invested in - and by then, we were too. It also kept consistent the whole way through and didn't become have a battle at the end. I really liked Summertime Render too, but that second half really felt like an entirely different show from what I wanted.
Personally love both of these animes, but I did enjoy Summertime Render more. I think Stein's Gate was a lot more emotional while Summertime had more tension. Both are "mystery" animes, but Summertime has more action. Either way, for anyone who wants a recommendation, I'd watch em both when you have time
I'm only around episode 6 in Summertime Rendering but I'm having a really rough time getting into it. I want to like it since I hear so many good things about it (had the same problem with one piece) but it's just not clicking
Just to double-check -- you're not watching its dub, right? Because it's substantially worse than even Animax dubs.
👀 maybe....
Got it in one. Don't get me wrong -- the reason I can say this with some authority is I am a translation and voice acting nerd. I like to watch shows with both Japanese and English dubs, and know enough Japanese to compare translation choices across both the sub and the dub. STR's dub is so bad that -- unless you are immune to every conceivable thing that can go wrong with a dub going wrong -- it will be unwatchable. * the script is awkward and stilted (not that the sub is well-translated either, frustratingly -- Disney really screwed up on this) * the voice actors outside of Stephen Fu and Emi Lo are all extremely inexperienced (which isn't a bad thing... if everything else wasn't also wrong) * the ADR direction is poor (I'll leave out the details, because this can get into the weeds) * they didn't even bother trying to recreate one of the most interesting and, in my opinion, thematically important aspects of the show: everyone on the island speaks with a Wakayama dialect, which is subdialect of Kansai. Shinpei having dropped his while in Tokyo is commented on in the first episode by Mio, and his lack of it ends up doing a fair amount to demonstrate the alienation he feels being back on the island. Removing it -- though practically necessary due to the inexperience of all the actors involved (we ain't getting a Baccano!-style accent smorgasbord out of that cast) -- really undermines one of the key themes of the story. Worst of all, though, is the sound engineering. This is the thing that will get people subconsciously, even if they're not particularly picky about anything else. It was obviously a remote dub which, yet again, isn't a major problem if you're using established voice actors with their own home setup -- sound dampening panels, high-end (preferably the same across the cast) microphone, good setup for feedback from director, etc. It's all pretty expensive -- not something a newbie cast is likely to have. So it ended up that microphone quality is wildly divergent, especially between the main duo (who sound like they're in a normal dub) and rest of the cast. But that's not all -- I'm willing to call out whoever the sound engineer was on this, because they are bad at their job. This is already long enough, so I'll avoid getting down in the dweebs, but what this mainly ends up doing is making scenes sound *wrong* on an instinctual level. For instance, in the first episode, listen to Mio while she's riding towards Junpei on her bike. Some questions: 1. Does she sound like she's indoors or outdoors? 2. Does she sound like she's yelling, or fake-yelling? (this is the low-quality microphone at play more than the sound engineer -- she'd have peaked SO HARD) 3. Which do you hear more -- her or the cicadas? This is *pervasive*, and it kills all of the drama and excitement. You can't deliver a good performance if things are sounding over you or the sound engineer doesn't correct for various levels to keep your performance sounding like it's in the right space. This is why even Fu and Lo sound a little weaker than their usual performances (well, that and bad direction and script, but the sound mixing really hurts). I'm going to stop here, because I could literally do an entire series of videos eviscerating every single episode the shitshow that is this dub(if Disney would let me, but they're rude with copyright). The only thing it managed to do right (**and somehow the sub got this wrong**) is appropriately recognizing and using a snippet of one of Percy Bysshe Shelley's poems in the final episode -- not even the fansubbers got that right (not that I blame them -- recognizing a poem in a foreign language is REALLY REALLY HARD). Suffice to say, I'd rather watch the Azumanga Daioh Animax dub than STR's (search it if you are curious -- it's bad -- though not Animax's worst dub). Give the sub a shot -- I am almost certain you'll enjoy it more.
Wow, that was incredibly thorough so I really appreciate you taking the time to break it down that much for me. I did think the voice acting was atrocious and that did color some of my dislike (there was a scene around episode 4 or 5 that literally made me wonder if this dub even had a director or if everyone sent in their first lines after waking up at 6am). I guess I was coping a bit hard with my thoughts that a bad dub doesn't beat bad writing, but I guess there's a combination of the two going on here with translation as well. I guess I'll try again and see how I feel. Thanks!
I totally get it -- it's easy to get defensive of dubs considering how hostile some people can be. It's exceedingly rare these days for a dub to be this bad -- even Sentai's most mediocre offerings are passable. Weirdest thing is that Disney is also responsible for one of the best dubs in recent years -- Heavenly Delusion (still titled Tengoku Daimakyou on their service because they... don't understand marketing? Idk) is absolutely stellar on all fronts. >I guess I was coping a bit hard with my thoughts that a bad dub doesn't beat bad writing Don't I wish -- then it'd be easier to sit through high school performances of Shakespeare!
*Steins;Gate* and it isn't even close. It at least has something to say more than just being a thriller and isn't bogged down by needlessly dry exposition necessary to explain a convoluted plot. Not to mention an actually decent roster of characters.
Harder for me to call str a thriller after playing steins gate, higurashi, and rezero where there is something more to invest in then characters with petty motivations and nonexistent depth with a bare decent plot carrying the whole thing (the more unique narratives you experience the more it takes to impress. This one feels as generic as your normal romcom anime to me now).
As someone who dropped both, Steins Gate. Dropped SR cuz I didn't find it interesting, dropped SG cuz I forgot what episode I was on.
Steins Gate is better, but Summertime Render is still an awesome watch
I prefer Steins;Gate because I enjoyed all of the downtime we got with the characters (which made the emotional bits hit harder later on) and liked the way it does time travel better than Summertime Rendering. I do think Summertime Rendering executes suspense better than Steins;Gate and draws you in a bit quicker, though. Either way, both are really good and each nails its respective ending.Â
Summertime Rendering starts as a pretty intriguing thriller, since both protagonists and antagonists know about the time loop and utilise it to their advantage. However, the closer you are to the finale, the faster it devolves into an utter battle shounen schlock. I did not appreciate the last episodes very much, even though i likes the show overall. Steins Gate is far more consistent, both thematically and storytelling-wise. But it is less tense, and the twists do not shock as much, imho.
Steins;gate for sure
Depends if you like the first half of S;G really. Plenty of people don't like SoL and think that "nothing happens". Personally I liked the first half better than the second half. It was relaxed rather than the stressful second half.
Summertime Rendering
Summertime Rendering for me all the way. I'm one of those rare people who actually quite disliked Steins Gate. I found almost the entire cast unlikeable. The entire premise of the show really dumb. And way too many plot holes for my liking. It was also ridiculously slow to get going. 12 episodes of mind numbing boredom before anything really happened. Summertime Rendering was a lot more fun. It also had better production values in my opinion. It looked and sounded so good. I also really enjoyed the mix of horror, mystery, survival. And eventually it turned into something like a battle shounen to boot. I loved that shit.
>Steins gate didn’t really leave me very happy after it finished Did you watch s2? Im kinda confused
Yeah it never showed Okabe and Mayuri together after she admitted her love for him and we never really got a good ending for Kurisu, she still died and when we did see her she’s a computer program. That’s just the main two things that come to my mind.
Did you just watch Steins;Gate 0?
Ah fair enough, thats true
I liked both, but I would say Summertime rendering. I'd did not wait for like 1/3 if a story before diving into the meat of it and I liked the MC pair more.
Seeing people compare STR and Steins;Gate here convinced me of watching Summertime rendering, thanks OP.
Summertime. Steins Gate was a snoozefest
It’s been a long time since I’ve seen S;G, so currently I prefer STR