In my opinion, Steins;Gate was great fun. The interactions among all the characters and the mystery behind gooey banana, I like. Heck, Chaos;Head was interesting even though it was only during the first half. It could’ve been a lot better. It had potential. So needless to say, I had high hopes for Robotics;Notes. I was eager to know what’s the mystery this time around.
Maybe I was a little too hopeful, a little too eager.
Robotics;Notes started off decently. It slowly build its story around Akiho, the series female lead, and her passion for robots along with her desire to reconnect with her elder sister, Misaki. Kaito, her childhood friend, was tasked with the responsibility to look after Akiho when Misaki left. And I thought he only did what he was ordered to do.
Throughout the series, there’s no doubt who Akiho and Kaito are – what their characters are like, their dreams and their roles in Robotics;Notes. I can’t say the same for the remaining casts. More than half the cast was useless. I’d imagined the story would do just fine with them. Say, Jun. Who is she and what’s her role again? She was recruited to join the dying robot club to capture motions and that’s really all she ever did! Or is her presence in the series really to help her grandfather, Doc, a robot expert, to rekindle his passion? What about Mizuka-san? I tell you, the list can go on.
Maybe I spent a little too much time than necessary wondering why do some of the characters exist. Or maybe I’m just slow. Introducing too many characters and sad stories of yesteryears made it hard for me to piece things together. Because at the end of the day, the whole phenomena surrounding robots and the lost reports boils down to one simple thing – Kimijima Kou.
Of course I’m intrigued with the whole Kimijima Kou thing in which a dead person is still able to “live” through systems. Heck, I love how the series apply modern technology in its story which made it relatable. To me, at least. I’m a technology geek so I like how they’re incorporating social networks and mobile systems to compliment the story.
I can’t help but to think there can be more to this than what was delivered. I would be more satisfied if the series didn’t only start to take off at the end. When the whole situation (the main point of the story?) was finally revealed, there’s only little time left to resolve it. It’s as if it was rushed. Or maybe if Robotics;Notes take a different turn, I’d be more satisfied. Like Misaki, portrayed as a cold-hearted sister is really the cold-hearted villain or anything else along that line.
Look at this piece. Loads of complaints about Robotics;Notes! It’s my two-cents though. For those who have seen the series, what’s your thoughts on it? Are you disappointed or are you completely satisfied?
World of Yamaguchi Hoshiko 
I was mainly watching Robotics;Notes just to see how they could possibly tie all those different elements together. At least at first, because after a while I was just watching out of habit and not knowing why most of what I saw was important. At least the show gave us a few good elements, like Frau and her l33t-ness.
I know that feeling very well, lol.
Frau definitely stood out for being different. I don’t know why, but I thought she was the enemy at first.
Disappointed here too. Some of the arcs seem pointlessly long while some seem pointlessly squished, especially the latter part where the conspiracies are at it’s peak. Rushed plot points are always a problem with visual novels-anime adaptions, it’s just goes to show that just how awesome Steins;Gate is, especially in it’s pacing, many infodumps, long build-up and the way it organized it’s story structure is still much more better then Robotic;Notes. I didn’t watch Chaos;Head (but played the visual novel instead) but even by VN standards, I think I can say that Robotic;Notes might be the poorest out of all three.
I never finished any VNs before so I can’t do the comparison as you did. But to compare among the three anime titles, I agree that Robotics;Notes is the weakest. It wasted a bit too much time introducing characters and doing very little with them.
Robotics;Notes was supposed to be an alternative setting for Steins;Gate, if I’m correctly. I haven’t seen the Chaos;Head series, but despite that I had a hard time making the link. Resulting in me mostly wondering when the comparison point would be present and what the next step will be. As the series progressed, rather slowly, and reached its end I didn’t see the link. Maybe I was just too laid back to make a thorough analysis. Still making heavy analysis shouldn’t be the core business of the viewer.
If it’s true, I don’t think it’s evident in the anime version. At least, I don’t see any connection to Steins;Gate. But I recognized some chanting from Chaos;Head in one of the earlier episodes.
Haha, I don’t usually do heavy analysis myself while watching anime. I might ponder on a few things though.
Well it also depends on the anime in how thorough my analysis goes:p
I suppose mind-boggling anime will require analysis in effort to further understand what’s going on. The only time that I ever do that is while watching Mawaru Penguindrum.
I try to analyze Angel Beats every now and then haha:p
But some series are just meant to be entertaining instead of profound and mind boggling.
Angel Beats eh? I like that series and their sometimes crazy missions.
Yeaps, that’s right. Some series are made for us to just sit back and enjoy. =)
So it doesn’t hurt to skip this anime? I nearly watched after I’ve seen an interesting scene in an hangar, but never came around to watch a single episode.
It’s kinda bad if a longer anime can’t convince in the end.
It’s really up to you if you wanna skip this or not. Personally, I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone. Like every other anime, it has its own good moments. There just aren’t many.
Till now, I have the slightest idea what I saw really is.