The Science Adventure Series (科学アドベンチャーシリーズ, Kagaku Adobenchā Shirīzu, called SciADV for short) is a science fiction visual novel series conceptualized by Chiyomaru Shikura.
Main Article in SciADV Wiki.
History[]
The series was originally a collaboration between Japanese video game manufacturer Mages (formerly 5pb.) and Japanese visual novel developer Nitroplus.
Between the releases of Robotics;Notes and ChäoS;Child, 5pb. renamed itself to Mages.
Nitroplus was only involved in the first two main games of the series, ChäoS;HEAd and Steins;Gate, and starting with Robotics;Notes, development was done by Mages/5pb. without Nitroplus.
ChäoS;HEAd and ChäoS;Child uniquely also involve the Japanese video game company RED FLAGSHIP in production too. The company has no involvement in franchise outside of the “ChäoS;” series.
Later titles in the series, namely Occultic;Nine, Robotics;Notes DaSH, and Anonymous;Code, also involve Chiyomaru Studio for concept work and intellectual property rights management.
English localizations of the Science Adventure Series were originally handled by the company JAST, which did the original Steins;Gate English release, but were later done by PQube and then Spike Chunsoft. Both the Spike Chunsoft and JAST localizations of Steins;Gate are still available, but later games are only officially localized by Spike Chunsoft.
The original Windows PC version of ChäoS;HEAd is not technically part of the Science Adventure Series, as it is a “Delusional Science Novel”, whereas its enhanced remake ChäoS;HEAd NoAH, a “Delusional Science Adventure”, is technically the first entry in the Science Adventure Series. However, for practical purposes and in terms of the interconnected lore of the series, ChäoS;HEAd is still part of the Science Adventure Series, even if technically it is not.
Chiyomaru Shikura’s vision of the Science Adventure Series is “99% science, 1% fantasy”. Currently, the Science Adventure Series includes a large number of visual novels, several other related video games, several anime series, a few anime movies, many drama CDs, a few light novels, many manga, many music CDs, a planned live-action TV series, and even stage plays. The visual novels are considered the core of the series.
Plot[]
The mainline SciADV titles are all part of the same interconnected narrative, with each subsequent entry building upon the previous one. Notably, the entries all share the same antagonist — the Committee of 300, a secretive organization pulling the strings behind every catastrophic series of events in-universe.
Each of the mainline titles comprising the Science Adventure Series tackle separate themes and metaphysical concepts while having their own unique casts, settings, and somewhat self-contained plots. For example, ChäoS;HEAd NoAH and Steins;Gate both occur in Tokyo, but in different parts of the city and at different times, while Robotics;Notes is set on the island of Tanegashima.
Core Series[]
The first mainline entry in the Science Adventure Series’s core series is ChäoS;HEAd NoAH — a murder mystery covering the topics of delusions and the nature of reality. The series' second visual novel, Steins;Gate, is a thriller covering the topic of time travel. It is the franchise's most popular entry in large part due to the success of its anime adaptation. The series' third entry is Robotics;Notes, is a conspiracy story concerning robotics and augmented reality. The fourth entry, ChäoS;Child, is a thematic sequel to ChäoS;HEAd NoAH and likewise another murder mystery about delusions and the nature of reality.
The fifth entry, Occultic;Nine is about ghosts and the occult. Notably, it was originally supposed to be part of a different related series called the “Science Visual Novel Series” (サイエンスビジュアルノベルシリ, Saiensu Bijuaru Noberu Shirīzu), but then was made part of the official Science Adventure Series instead when its visual novel came out (which happened after the Occultic;Nine light novel and anime released). Elements were added to the Occultic;Nine visual novel that were not in its light novel or anime to tie it into other entries in the series and make it canonically part of the same universe, albeit happening on a different “world layer”, a different concept than the “world lines” of Steins;Gate. However, the Occultic;Nine visual novel is currently incomplete compared to the light novel, and an update will come out in the future to finish the Occultic;Nine visual novel.
The sixth entry is Anonymous;Code, which was also originally supposed to be part of the Science Visual Novel Series like Occultic;Nine. However, it too, is now part of the official Science Adventure Series instead, and it is meant to be a thrilling culmination of the Science Adventure Series. Anonymous;Code is themed around the concepts of hacking, simulation, and “world layers”.
The seventh game, Steins;???, will be a thematic sequel to Steins;Gate, having a relationship akin to ChäoS;Child with ChäoS;HEAd NoAH.
Anime[]
Out of these seven core visual novel games, five have been adapted into anime series: ChäoS;HEAd, Steins;Gate, Robotics;Notes, ChäoS;Child, and Occultic;Nine.
Anonymous;Code, and Steins;??? are likely to eventually be adapted into anime too, given that pattern, although no official announcements have been made. There are also Steins;Gate and ChäoS;Child anime movies that take place as sequels to their respective anime series (Steins;Gate: The Movie - Load Region of Déjà Vu and ChäoS;Child: Silent Sky).
Unusually, Occultic;Nine’s anime came out before its visual novel, because Occultic;Nine was originally a light novel (i.e., a literal book rather than a video game), then made into an anime, and its visual novel came out last. With the other entries besides Occultic;Nine, their visual novels came out first, prior to their anime.
At the time the Occultic;Nine anime came out, it had not yet been incorporated into the Science Adventure Series, but the character Shun Moritsuka says the catchphrase of Rintaro Okabe, “El Psy Kongroo”, in Episode 7 of the Occultic;Nine anime, the only real connection that anime has to the rest of the series. This was because at the time that anime came out in 2016, Occultic;Nine was still part of the Science Visual Novel Series, and the Science Adventure Series titles existed as fiction in the Science Visual Novel Series, but all of this got changed by the Occultic;Nine visual novel in late 2017, which retconned everything together into the same Science Adventure Series.
Therefore, the Occultic;Nine light novel and anime are not technically part of the Science Adventure Series, even though the Occultic;Nine visual novel is. Additionally, the ChäoS;HEAd anime is not technically part of the Science Adventure Series either, since it was based on the ChäoS;HEAd visual novel rather than the ChäoS;HEAd NoAH visual novel, which came out after the ChäoS;HEAd anime, and the ChäoS;HEAd NoAH visual novel is technically the first entry in the Science Adventure Series.
The English distribution rights for almost all of the Science Adventure Series anime belong to FUNimation.
List of Media[]
Please note that the following list of Science Adventure Series media is incomplete, as it only includes games, TV shows, and movies, and not other media like drama CDs, light novels, manga, music CDs, stage plays, etc., since it would otherwise be too long.
- April 25, 2008: ChäoS;HEAd (core visual novel game)
- October 15, 2008 – December 31, 2008: ChäoS;HEAd (TV anime)
- February 26, 2009: ChäoS;HEAd NoAH (core visual novel enhanced remake, first official entry in SciADV)
- October 15, 2009: Steins;Gate (core visual novel game)
- March 25, 2010: ChäoS;HEAd Love Chu☆Chu! (romantic comedy visual novel game)
- April 6, 2011 – September 14, 2011: Steins;Gate (TV anime)
- June 16, 2011: Steins;Gate: My Darling’s Embrace (romantic comedy visual novel game)
- October 28, 2011: Steins;Gate: Variant Space Octet (8-bit text adventure game)
- February 22, 2012: Steins;Gate Episode 25 - Egoistic Poriomania (anime OVA)
- June 28, 2012: Robotics;Notes (core visual novel game)
- October 12, 2012 – March 22, 2013: Robotics;Notes (TV anime)
- April 20, 2013: Steins;Gate: The Movie - Load Region of Déjà vu (anime movie)
- April 25, 2013: Steins;Gate: Linear Bounded Phenogram (side story visual novel game)
- June 26, 2014: Robotics;Notes Elite (core visual novel enhanced remake)
- October 14, 2014 – November 12, 2014: Steins;Gate - The Sagacious Wisdom of Cognitive Computing (anime ONA)
- December 18, 2014: ChäoS;Child (core visual novel game)
- December 2, 2015: Steins;Gate Episode 23β - Open the Missing Link (anime OVA)
- December 10, 2015: Steins;Gate 0 (core visual novel game)
- October 9, 2016 – December 25, 2016: Occultic;Nine (TV anime)
- January 11, 2017 – March 29, 2017: ChäoS;Child (TV anime)
- March 30, 2017: ChäoS;Child Love Chu☆Chu!! (romantic comedy visual novel game)
- June 17, 2017: ChäoS;Child: Silent Sky (anime movie)
- November 9, 2017: Occultic;Nine (core visual novel game)
- April 12, 2018 – September 27, 2018: Steins;Gate 0 (TV anime)
- September 20, 2018: Steins;Gate Elite (core visual novel enhanced remake)
- September 20, 2018: 8-bit ADV Steins;Gate (8-bit adventure game)
- December 21, 2018: Steins;Gate 0 Episode 24 - Valentine’s of Crystal Polymorphism: Bittersweet Intermedio (anime OVA)
- January 31, 2019: Robotics;Notes DaSH (core visual novel game)
- April 23, 2020: STEINS;GATE×Sanrio Characters: Chance Encounter of the Goldig Party (online visual novel game)
- July 28, 2022: Anonymous;Code (core visual novel game)
- Unknown future date: Steins;Gate 0 Elite (core visual novel enhanced remake)
- Unknown future date: Steins;??? (core visual novel game)
- Unknown future date: Steins;Gate (live-action TV series)
Links[]
Here is a comprehensive set of links for the Science Adventure Series:
Wikis:
- ChäoS;HEAd Wiki (English, FANDOM wiki): https://chaos-head.fandom.com/wiki/
- Steins;Gate Wiki (English, FANDOM wiki): https://steins-gate.fandom.com/wiki/
- Robotics;Notes Wiki (English, FANDOM wiki): https://robotics-notes.fandom.com/wiki/
- ChäoS;Child Wiki (English, FANDOM wiki): https://chaoschild2.fandom.com/wiki/
- Occultic;Nine Wiki (English, FANDOM wiki): https://occultic-nine.fandom.com/wiki/
- Anonymous;Code Wiki (English, FANDOM wiki): https://anonymouscode.fandom.com/wiki/
- Science Adventure Wiki (English, FANDOM wiki): https://science-adventure.fandom.com/wiki/
Websites:
- SciADV website (Japanese, official): http://www.kagaku-adv.com
- Mages Game website (Japanese, official): http://5pb.jp/games/
- Mages Music website (Japanese, official): http://5pb.jp/records/
- 5pb. Games website (English, official): http://5pbgames.com
- Nitroplus website (Japanese, official): https://www.nitroplus.co.jp
- Spike Chunsoft website (English, official): https://www.spike-chunsoft.com
- JAST website (English, official): https://jastusa.com
- SciADV games sold at DMM.com website (Japanese, official): https://dlsoft.dmm.com/en/list/article=series/id=301719/sort=ranking/
- FUNimation website (English, official): https://www.funimation.com
- We-Key Pedophilia website (Japanese, official): http://5pb.jp/games/chaoshead/we-key/index.html
- Future Gadget Lab website (English, official): http://futuregadget-lab.us
- Future Gadget Lab website (Japanese, official): http://futuregadget-lab.com
- Kiri Kiri Basara website (English, fan news hub): https://www.kirikiribasara.com
- 5pb. Games listed at VNDB.org website (English, fan wiki): https://vndb.org/p146
- Committee of Zero website (English, fan translators): https://sonome.dareno.me
- Arc Relight website (English, fan translators): https://arc-relight.com
- Valkyrie’s Rebirth website (English, fan translators): https://valkyriesrebirth.wordpress.com
- Right-Sider Trivia website (English, fan memers): https://rightsidertrivia.com/
Steam:
- Spike Chunsoft Steam (Multilingual, official): https://store.steampowered.com/developer/SPIKECHUNSOFT
- SciADV Steam (Multilingual, official): https://store.steampowered.com/curator/34514991
Twitter:
- SciADV Twitter (Japanese, official): https://twitter.com/kagakuadv
- Mages, Inc. Twitter (Japanese, official): https://twitter.com/PR_MAGES
- 5pb. Games Twitter (Japanese, official): https://twitter.com/5pbgames
- 5pb. Games Twitter (English, official): https://twitter.com/5pbgamesUSA
- Steins;Gate Twitter (Japanese, official): https://twitter.com/SG_anime
- Chiyomaru Shikura Twitter (Japanese, official): https://twitter.com/chiyomaru5pb
- Mages Music Twitter (Japanese, official): https://twitter.com/live5pb
- Nitroplus Twitter (Japanese, official): https://twitter.com/nitroplus_staff
- Spike Chunsoft Twitter (English, official): https://twitter.com/SpikeChunsoft_e
- JAST Twitter (English, official): https://twitter.com/jastusa
- FUNimation Twitter (English, official): https://twitter.com/funimation
- Kiri Kiri Basara Twitter (English, fan news hub): https://twitter.com/kiri_basara
- Committee of Zero Twitter (English, fan translators): https://twitter.com/CommitteeOf0
- Arc Relight Twitter (English, fan translators): https://twitter.com/ArcRelight
- Reading Steiner Twitter (English, official & fan translator): https://twitter.com/DistantValhalla
- Rigs Twitter (English, fan translator): https://twitter.com/Chaos_World_300
- Neid Zero Twitter (English, fan translator): https://twitter.com/NeidZero
- Operation HiddenHand Twitter (English, fan movement): https://twitter.com/ophiddenhand
- Right-Sider Trivia Twitter (English, fan memers): https://twitter.com/RS_Trivia
Facebook:
- Mages, Inc. Facebook (English, official): https://www.facebook.com/MAGESINC
- 5pb. Games Facebook (English, official): https://www.facebook.com/5pbgames
- Nitroplus Facebook (Japanese, official): https://www.facebook.com/nitroplus
- Spike Chunsoft Facebook (English, official): https://www.facebook.com/spikechunsoft.en
- FUNimation Facebook (English, official): https://www.facebook.com/funimation
- Kiri Kiri Basara Facebook (English, fan news hub): https://www.facebook.com/kiri.kiri.basara.official
- Operation HiddenHand Facebook (English, fan movement): https://www.facebook.com/OpHiddenHand
YouTube:
- Mages Game Channel YouTube (Japanese, official): https://www.youtube.com/user/5pbGames
- Mages Music YouTube (Japanese, official): https://www.youtube.com/user/5pb
- Nitroplus Channel YouTube (Japanese, official): https://www.youtube.com/user/NitroplusChannel
- Spike Chunsoft YouTube (Japanese, official): https://www.youtube.com/c/SpikeChunsoft_eng
- FUNimation YouTube (English, official): https://www.youtube.com/user/FUNimation
- Reading Steiner YouTube (English, official & fan translator): https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCxvbc1C2Hhxpv7Gd8D8MDkg
- Rigs YouTube (English, fan translator): https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCxZbXqyjZVa7pN-K3jVNMPQ
See also the Science Adventure Series Wiki and Science Adventure article on Wikipedia for more information. Or check out a fan made page dedicated to the Science Adventure: Kirikiribasara