Steins;Gate: Onshuu no Brownian Motion

This review is spoiler-free even though it contains spoilers from the original Steins;Gate anime. You should not read this spin-off unless you have completed the original Anime or VN anyway. The one very sad thing about Steins;Gate is that no matter how Okabe manages to change worldlines to reach a happy ending, the events and feelings of the people in other worldlines were very real at one point in time. That's why I've always been curious about the stories of other worldlines while watching the anime, especially the one of Suzuha's life after she time traveled to 1975. The fact that they decided to show this storythrough Mr. Braun's perspective is a very interesting choice as it manages to give a fresh look on this while answering the fans' curiosity. All in all, this spin off does a great job in that regard : the pacing is good, the elements of the story give depth to many aspects of the original storyline and the slightly altered ending feels more satisfactory for Mr. Braun's point of view. We'll deplore losing some depth compared to the anime though. If you liked the reading between lines and the scrutinizing of every word to understand the original story, you won't really find it here. While the plot stays very solid, the storytelling is pretty simple and straightforward but manages to convey emotions very well. While all of this is pretty good, what really sets Brownian's Motion apart from the rest, and I didn't expect that from a Steins;Gate story, is the maturity of its characters interactions. While keeping a lot of comedy, the relations between the protagonists are more serious, which in relief to the emotions of the events creates an absolute masterpiece of balance. At the end of the day, this spin-off brings fresh air to the Steins;Gate series and makes for a very solid read especially if you didn't enjoy the foolishy vibe of the anime.

Warning: if you intend on playing the VN, you will find spoilers If all the S;G mangas were this good. When I first heard of the existance of this manga, I had some mixed feelings about it. At the time, I was reading the Steins;Gate manga, and the art was so bad, at times I couldn't focus on the story. My fear was that Braunian Motion of Love and Hate would suffer form the same problem. On the other hand, although the main character of this manga is none other than Tennouji Yugo, a.k.a Mr.Braun, the story of Amane Suzuha's life after she travelled back to 1975, and herinfluence on the events of that summer of 2010, was imperative to read. And the first volume confirmed my fears, when I couldn't help but feel like Tennouji had Kurisu's hair for the entire chapter, distracting me from the story that was being told (chapter 2, page 11 being the biggest culprit). However, the story is quite interesting, and offers us a diffent perspective on Tennouji. From how long he had been looking for the IBN 5100, to his relationship with Suzuha. Despite my initial uneasiness, the first volume is quite enjoyable, keeping a balance between serious and more light hearted moments (which were a given, since this is Suzuha we are talking about) However, volume two is a different story. The art is absolutely incredible, with a major improvement in Tennouji's face and hair, and the resemblance to former football player Emmanuel Petit is uncanny. Look no further than the first chapter to confirm it. Kudos to the artist. The story keeps being as engaging and interesting up until the very end, which speaks volumes about the quality of this manga, since the reader knows how this story is going to end. In conclusion, Braunian Motion of Love and Hate achieves it's purpose: gives the fans another chance to see the always fun Amane Suzuha; gives Mr.Braun a great backstory, that I'm sure would change some people's opinion of him; and gives us more Steins;Gate, which is always a good thing. (English is my second language, so sorry in advance for grammatical mistakes or weird sentences.)