YMMV / Gate

• Alternative Character Interpretation: Is Zorzal really playing Obfuscating Stupidity? Or is he really just very stupid/brave? The common assessment (later stated by Diabo) is that it's more or less Becoming the Mask. Zorzal has played an idiotic asshole playboy for so long and so convincingly that he forgot that he technically isn't stupid. Later we learn that Tyuule engineered this shift into Becoming the Mask as part of her plan to destroy the royal family and Zorzal specifically for their destruction of her nation.
• Americans Hate Tingle:
  • Aside from those who mainly want to see modern military forces mow down medieval fantasy armies, the series hasn't been well received in the United States, especially war veterans. It's been criticized by Americans and other Western audiences for its rather blatant right-wing themes and anti-American sentiment that plays up rather frustrating and unrealistic Type 2 Eagleland stereotypes. Some have compared it to a Japan-centric version of The Salvation War due to the absurd amount of liberties taken when it comes to glorifying Japan's militaries.
  • As with most Japanese media that glorifies the Japanese military (such as KanColle), the series has had a very icy reception from Korean viewers, to say the least. In fact, the large majority of blogs and other outlets criticizing the show are predominantly Korean.
• Anvilicious: The Japanese right-wing nationalism of the author can be off-putting for some, especially foreigners. The publisher specifically asked the author to tone it down for official publication (the series originally being a Web Serial Novel), but it still shows. The Cultural Posturing of the Japanese can get to eye-rolling levels with the way the story touts the invasion of the new world as completely benevolent and controlled. Potential obstacles such as language and culture are easily avoided by the tolerant, understanding Japanese soldiers, and there are elements of the White Man's Burden (except replace "white" with Japanese) as Japan has a much more advanced and moral society, with soldiers constantly explaining why their culture is better, and local civilians beyond the gate wishing their society was like Japan.
• Broken Base: The anime adaptation of the series has become this to the fans due to its heavy emphasis on Lighter and Softer, rendering it more family-friendly. Most of the gore and sex in the books and manga is omitted or just placed under "faintly implied" (Rory hitting people with her axe typically smacks them off screen instead of visibly dismembering them, for example) until episode 10 with the Hakone shootout, and even then it is still downplayed. Some enjoy this since it makes the series more accessible while others dislike it for differing from the manga. The lack of gore in battles also serve to engage a wider audience but is treated by some to fail to fully depict what it means to be in a war. Others enjoy it more for the changes it makes, such as expanding on the Ginza incident and the battles around Alnus, giving clarification to events only hinted at before.
• Catharsis Factor:
  • Watching hordes of medieval armies that regularly commit war atrocities getting mowed down by the hundreds in graphic fashion is certain to put a bit of glee on some people's faces.
  • A more specific moment is when Shino gives the slimy and unlikable bastard Zorzal a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown that leaves his face a bloody paste and him begging for mercy. Many consider it to be the most satisfying moment in the series.
• Cliché Storm: Despite having a unique premise, the series is criticised for falling back on common anime tropes, particularly the harem genre.
• Complete Monster: Crown Prince Zorzal El Caesar in the manga embodies the worst excesses of his Empire. Taking the Warrior Bunnies' Queen Tyuule as a Sex Slave when she offered herself to spare her people, Zorzal still conquered and massacred them anyways, lying to them that Tyuule betrayed them to save her own life. Leading a raid on Ginza, Zorzal has Japanese citizens taken as slaves, bringing one young woman as yet another sex toy for himself and threatens to destroy Japan itself and his own family when he's later beaten for his cruelty. Arranging for Tyuule to find out about the slaughter of the Warrior Bunnies, Zorzal hopes to drive her to rage to excuse beating her down and when she outsmarts him flies into a rage, beating many of his own servants to death before trying to have Tyuule herself gang-raped.
• Escapist Character: Itami can be this for many Otaku. He's shown to be a competent officer despite his hobbies, is chummy with politicians from Japan, gets to rub shoulders with nobility and royalty from the Empire, and is a bonafide Chick Magnet who has captured the attention of practically every fantasy female character archetype, including an apostle of a death god.
• Fanfic Fuel: The entire premise has given fans many ideas.
• Fandom-Specific Plot: As said above, most fanfic writers would make fanfiction of different ideas for the series like:
  • What would happen if it was another nation that was attacked by the Empire instead of Japan?
  • What if Japan and the US (and possibly other nations) went into the Gate together rather than only Japan?
  • What if the Gate opened during a different time period (eg. During World War 1 or 2) or into a different universe?
• Friendly Fandoms: With the Civilization series. Go to nearly any Gate video on YouTube and you will inevitably find people in the comments section making jokes about how Gate is basically just a classic one-sided game of Civ.
• Harsher in Hindsight:
  • At the time the novels were first released (mid 2000s), the idea of sending the JSDF to foreign lands to fight was absurd due to Article 9 of Japan's Constitution forbidding war (later interpreted as offensive war so that the US wasn't the sole military defense force). However, in 2015, the same year the anime began airing, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe pushed and passed legislation to allow Japanese troops to fight overseas.
  • The Crunchyroll simulcast of the first episode took pains to edit out the flag of the rising sun for fear of offending other Asian countries. Around the same time this was happening, America was having a similar controversy over the Confederate Battle Flag after the murder of 9 black churchgoers by a white man trying to start a race war in June 2015.
• Hilarious in Hindsight:
  • While escaping from government spies through the subway, Itami mentions how he looks like a manager from a shady talent agency. Then comes the spin off manga Gate: Featuring the Starry Heavens which has Itami taking on the role of an idol manager for Lelei, Tuka and Rory who become an idol group to facilitate positive relations between the worlds.
  • Because the large-dot camo pattern on the current JSDF uniforms is a real pain to animate, when the story got adapted to anime, the team introduced the new (and fictional) Type 4 uniform, loosely based on the US ECWCS battledress and colored almost solid green, to ease the work of animators. This, understandably, has led to the JSDF being called "green men" in-story. What they didn't expect, was Russia introducing the new and real VKBO uniform, also loosely based on the ECWCS, and with a very fine camo pattern that also looked (almost) solid green, ending up almost identical to the Type 4 uniform in the series. And then this uniform caused Russian soldiers to also be called "green men" during the Crimean Crisis.
• Ho Yay:
  • In orders of knights, relations between men and women are forbidden. This makes sense; if you're worrying about children or being pregnant, you can't devote all your energy to fighting. However, everyone has an... ahem... itch to scratch still, so male-on-male and female-on-female relations are acceptable by their standards. This isn't directly seen, but is stated by Bozes and Piña.
  • People have mistaken Itami for this when he gets a little friendly with his male friends in the anime.
  • The Imperial princess gropes one of her (female) bodyguards, claiming that she was "checking to see if you were a boy." This line was cut from the anime because of Adaptational Attractiveness making said soldier (Hamilton) curvier than her manga version.
  • Tuka is canonically a lesbian. One scene has Rory tease Tuka after she notices her stealing glances at Kurokawa, inquiring if Kurokawa was Tuka's type. In the manga, her eyes are glued to Kuribayashi's chest.
  • The ending scene for the second cour has two particular images of the same-sex having some "intimate touching" among the cast. On the other hand, comparing breast sizes in a bath (which is what Kuribayashi seems to attempt there) is a common girl bonding ritual in Japan. With Kurata, though, it's probably just continuing the Running Gag of Itami being Mistaken for Gay.
  • Mari Kurokawa's interactions with the prostitute Misery.
• Just Here for Godzilla: Many people who get into the series via the anime, even detractors and westerners, don't even seem to care about the actual plot and are instead more interested in the spectacle of a medieval army being mowed down by modern weaponry.
• Moe: Youji's subordinates assume he saves Tuka because vulnerable elf-girls are moe. His ex-wife later says he's attracted to Lelei because she triggers his "protective instincts".
• Moral Event Horizon: Zorzal had already crossed it long before the story began when he forced warrior rabbit Queen Tyuule to be his Sex Slave on the condition he would spare her people, only to massacre and enslave them anyway all the while having Tyuule as The Scapegoat. However, if that's not enough, he surely crossed it with the Ginza raid. And he continues to go downhill from there, committing one worse act after another.
• Squick :
  • Just why Tuka is okay stripping down to sleep in the same bed as the man she believes is her "father" (manga and anime adaptations) is never explored, be it a bizarre elvish custom or Parental Incest. It's probably for the best we not know.
  • The manga already established Zorzal as an asshole deserving of the No-Holds-Barred Beatdown he receives after dragging in a group of naked slaves on chains to the throne room, one of them a Japanese citizen. Did we really need the bunny-girl rape scene (thankfully reserved to silhouette) to convince us further?
• They Changed It, Now It Sucks!: The anime's art style when compared to both the light novel and manga. While the manga makes the characters a Cast of Snowflakes and makes the beasten look like a proper mix of animal and human traits, the anime's style streamlined a lot to the point of reader complaint.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot: One of the biggest criticisms of the series, aside from its Cultural Posturing, is that the concept of a modern civilization coming in contact with a medieval fantasy world is never explored to its full potential. Instead, the story seems to be more invested in indulging in generic Harem Genre tropes, with the main plot as more of an afterthought.

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