"It seems I'm starting to get a feel for it."
Host Fang Yuan raised his eyebrows.
"This contestant's pacing seems to be very good; at least, my personal anticipation has been successfully stirred at this moment." Raising his microphone, Host Fang Yuan said:
"However, what opinions do the other judges have? Let's ask them."
"First, as expected, it's Uncle Big Nose and Cowboy Hao, who possess the most professional expertise!"
The production team quickly turned the camera to Uncle Big Nose.
Gently pushing his glasses, Uncle Big Nose pondered for a moment and said, "From the first episode, we can see that at least this contestant's story definitely has no problem with fitting the theme."
"How can a Time Machine not be a time-themed story? So, Cowboy Hao's previous 'selling dog meat under the guise of lamb' evaluation is self-defeating. I'm very pleased about this; my feeling wasn't wrong, he didn't disappoint me, and I'm still very happy."
"But I think what everyone wants to hear is definitely not this, but more professional commentary."
"Actually, if I were to evaluate, I've always preferred to comment on a more complete story, from a holistic perspective." He said, "After all, it's often difficult to give an accurate evaluation just by watching the first episode. More often than not, there are many cases where the anime's initial and final reviews are completely opposite."
"Of course, this doesn't mean I can't give an evaluation, but, before giving a specific evaluation, I think it's necessary to, hmm, mention this."
"...Uncle Big Nose, stop being so cautious. If you keep going, the other judges won't have time to speak, and the ending song will be over." While Uncle Big Nose in the camera was halfway through speaking, Cowboy Hao, beside him, sighed faintly and waved his hands repeatedly:
"If you don't dare to speak, let me speak."
"My evaluation is: very good! Excellent! I'm very much looking forward to it!"
Cowboy Hao emphatically gave a thumbs up.
"I want to retract my initial evaluation. Just looking at the title can indeed easily lead to misunderstandings, but the rhythm of the story itself is very captivating. The deceased Makise Kurisu reappears before his eyes, a text message that should have been sent today was sent to last week, and the inverted microwave oven created gelatinous bananas. Interspersed with a lot of the male protagonist Okabe Rintaro's chuunibyou language, it naturally fills in the protagonist's character design in the audience's eyes, gradually portraying him and the main supporting characters."
"If he can maintain this pace until the end, I can't guarantee winning the championship, but he will definitely have a place in the future anime industry!"
Cowboy Hao's words were quite passionate; he didn't care that his initial evaluation was overturned, and even happily chose to retract it.
"Mm-hmm, most of my opinions are the same as Cowboy Hao's." Uncle Big Nose nodded and took over the topic: "However, I think it's still necessary to add some content that I personally pay more attention to."
"I wonder if everyone noticed the appearance of the term 'steins;gate'."
"I'm not referring to the one in the title, although that's also very important, but I'm referring to its first appearance in the male protagonist Okabe Rintaro's mouth."
"The German 'Steins' combined with the English 'Gate' is a very chuunibyou-esque reassembled word." Uncle Big Nose smiled: "As everyone knows, chuunibyou's favorite languages are German and English."
"Of course, it's not just about character shaping, although it might just be my baseless association, but an interesting point is that there was also a person in history whose name was composed in a 'German-English' manner."
"That's right, it's Albert Einstein!"
Although Uncle Big Nose seemed to still have more to say and wanted to continue, Host Fang Yuan was paying attention to the camera time ratio among different mentors.
Even though industry insiders Uncle Big Nose and Cowboy Hao could provide relatively professional commentary, the audience wasn't just there for them; the other mentors were equally important.
No favoritism.
"Alright! Thank you, Uncle Big Nose, for bringing us the Easter egg explanation. After the evaluations from the two mentors, I think everyone must be curious about the other mentors' evaluations!" Host Fang Yuan shouted loudly, "Next, let's have our mentor Tang Sanshui give his evaluation!"
The camera quickly switched to Tang Sanshui; his brows subconsciously furrowed, but upon realizing he was on camera, they quickly relaxed, revealing a peaceful smile.
"Hmm, unlike Cowboy Hao, I will not choose to retract my evaluation." He said, "Storytelling is a gradual process. Introducing characters, laying out settings, leading into the plot—everything needs to be done slowly."
"Although I see that everyone seems to have a good opinion of the first episode of steins;gate, I might have to pour cold water on it."
"—Deviant!"
"The seemingly baseless plot appears to want to introduce a suspenseful opening: who killed Makise Kurisu, and why was she lying in a pool of blood, with the protagonist witnessing the murder scene—such a shocking image." Tang Sanshui paused slightly: "But what it actually presents is neither fish nor fowl!"
"The tension that should have arisen from the appearance of death is interrupted by repeatedly switching scenes. Various meaningless shots jump back and forth as if they are piecing together time. Perhaps it's to give the audience some buffer time, using a steady plot build-up to raise the audience's emotions, but the long, slow-paced plot that doesn't enter the main story for a long time feels like it's purely waiting for this final scene."
"Personally, I really dislike this kind of clever trick."
"A miraculous resurrection of the 'victim' at the end seems to greatly raise expectations, but when the pace can't be maintained afterward, this contestant will know he made a mistake."
Like a barrage of cannon fire, Tang Sanshui very unceremoniously gave an evaluation completely different from the previous two judges.
He stuck to his guns, seemingly with good reason, listing a heap of flaws.
However, most of the audience below the stage didn't seem to accept his commentary very well.
— "Well, although what Mentor Tang Sanshui said is good, in this era, if you don't grab interest at the beginning, you've already lost half the battle, right?"
— "Yeah, newcomers don't have a fan base like him; no matter how slow the pacing is at the beginning, people will still support them."
— "Anyway, I quite like it."
— "Normally, I'm very supportive of Teacher Tang, but this time I really feel he went a bit too far."
— "We need to give newcomers trust!"