Takuya Arima is a cheeky high school student who enjoyed playing pranks and was well-known for trouble. His father was famous for the local Geotechnics construction project that would involve demolishing the local's historical ancient Mount Sankaku. Strange phenomenas have been frequently occurring and his father had died... Or so he thought. One day, a package containing a relic known as the "Reflector Device" arrives claiming it was from his father and it would allow him to travel between time and parallel worlds. When Takuya rushes out to find his father, he finds himself whisked off to the past. As he learns more about the device he feels his father is still alive somewhere and there are those around him that know more than meets the eye.

I saw this show a number of times on my Twitter timeline and had no idea what it was about other than it was based on an old adult visual novel game from 1996. I'm guessing people were watching this show because of Mages and Chiyomaru, best known for Steins;gate, had a part in the more recent 2018 remake. You'll see a few references too and even the OP will probably remind you of their famous title because of the song and direction - in fact, both the Steins;gate OP theme and the OP to this show were composed by Chiyomaru from Mages. Even the font used for episode titles look familiar.

So right off the bat, its visual novel roots show as there is a blatant panty flash right at the start of the very first episode and a scantily clad teacher joking about "standing to attention". You then get introduced to about five other ladies from all ages which is very typical of your harem visual novel game. There's plenty of blatant male oriented fan service. Throw in the overly used time travel and parallel worlds setting and you have to wonder if it's just putting popular ideas together poorly for a quick cash-in.

Players of the original visual novel have nothing but praise for the game but claim the Anime is nothing like its source material. A lot of the science and dark themes have been lost apparently. There seems to be some truth in it as characters are like your cliche harem Anime cast and Takuya acts like a kid with a new toy. Early episodes are literally a joke. If you can keep watching for three episodes at least it does get a bit better with its own fair share of plot twists that might keep you guessing. And believe it or not, there's even a little romance akin to SAO.

Unfortunately, I think they just overdo it with the tragedies at some points and, just as you think the show's getting serious awkward camera angles and Takuya's sexual jokes (a lot of them!) along with your usual accidental groping ruin the direction. "Look! Girl's ill and sweating badly, let's take off her clothes and grope while we're at it!" Oh, there's even livestock that look like young women... It would have been better if they just had episodes or seperate moments to lighten up the mood like Steins;gate does instead of randomly putting them in at the wrong moments.

Its plot might seem like Steins;gate at first (which was made 5 years after this game) centering around parallel worlds and time leaping but it's not completely a "science adventure". Instead of building a story that relies on current real world hypothesises, this show is just loosely tied to common sci-fi ideas. It centres around time leaping and parallel worlds set in the 1990s without smartphones or 24 hour internet - the official site even has a throwback version of their site. Those of you who grew up during the days before fast affordable 24 hour internet might enjoy this show more.

Whereas Steins;gate had one goal, this story is more all over the place and taking a very long time to unwrap its mysteries which gets boring. It also re-uses the time loop as a parallel world too many times as if they're trying out ideas each time to flesh out the show even though there's enough new material to keep your interested.

Bottom line, if you're expecting a science adventure similar Steins;gate just because Mages was involved you'll be disappointed. On the other hand if you enjoy "isekai" other worldly fantasy shows filled with fan service (and some gruesome deaths) you'll probably like this. There also happens to be an adult softcore show based on the game which is a four episode OVA by Pink Pineapple so best not confuse this with that.