Steins;gate by nitroplus

Illustrated by Yomi Sarachi
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Okabe aka "Kyoma the Mad Scientist," attends a press conference on time travel that changes his entire life. Together with his lab assistants, or LabMem, they create a time machine with a cell phone and a microwave, and he can send text messages back in time that can affect the current world line they’re on. Okabe can feel the changes to the world, a type of energy he calls Steiner, but not all of the changes end up positively impacting the lives of those involved or around them. A seemingly innocent change to make one of the LabMem closer to their true self spirals into the death of another, and Okabe scrambles to put everything back to normal. But, another traveler from the future tells him he has one more major change to make, one that can stop World War III from killing billions of people.

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This is one wild ride. Every page is high stakes, and everything the characters do end up in a butterfly effect, changing so many other things around them. The story is a little bit frenetic as it follows Okabe, who really is slightly "mad" as he goes through life with high-intensity, so there are some narrative jumps and skips that are a little disorienting. Science fiction readers will probably be more forgiving, though, and will enjoy the twists and turns these characters have to go through. This series has a cult following from its original release in 2015, and has resurfaced in popularity recently because of the publication of Steins;Gate 0, which is an alternate storyline where the LabMem and Okabe failed in their attempts to save everyone.

This manga is rated for teen. There are some narrative jumps that might be difficult for some readers to follow. There is also some violence and blood on the page as we see a character be murdered. The main characters are all adults, so with all of that in mind, this would probably be better for high school audiences than middle school.

Sara's Rating: 8/10
Suitability Level: Grades 9-12

Publisher: UDON Entertainment
Publication Date: March 29th 2022
ISBN: 9781772942095 (Paperback)

​Tags: Rating: 8/10, Suitability: High School, Manga, Science Fiction, Suspense, Udon Entertainment