Another week, another lackluster episode of Steins;Gate 0. This time the plot moves almost unnoticeably forward, Daru gets a date and Suzuha gets some melodrama. Lets jump in!
So basic stuff first, Steins;Gate 0 is really slowly become a Slice-of-Life. At this point in the previous series, we had stakes, bad guys and literal lives hanging in the balance. Right now in Steins;Gate 0, we have Daru’s love life. Don’t get me wrong, I like that we get to see these kinds of things. I like that it isn’t all Okabe all the time. But right now the ratio of actual plot to side-story stuff is way out of whack. We got one, maybe 2, very tiny advances/hints to the main plot this episode. Everything else was just sort of melodramatic filler, especially Suzuha’s flash forward/back. It simply feels like we are still sitting in limbo though, waiting for something to happen. It doesn’t help that currently the only “active” plot thread is “She Who Will Not Be Named” (Starts with a K).
Enough of my whining though, what did Steins;Gate 0 do right this week. The actual character aspect of Daru and Yuki’s date was pretty good. I like the underlying message of “Be yourself, dont pretend to be someone else” of the whole thing. All the girls got together to turn Daru into some stereotypical Casanova, or something they would want. Without ever considering what Yuki wanted in the first place. I especially liked the small “Back to the Future” issue of Suzuha trying to influence Daru and it almost backfiring on her. I’m still not sure if Daru and Yuki would have worked out regardless, or if this had to happen for them to get together, but hey. Its time travel. As for how this relates to the plot, well… Maho might have invented the brainwashing thats targeting Kagari? So theres something I suppose?
The only real problem with Daru and Yuki’s date arc, for me, was that there was never any danger. Sure Suzuha made a whole big deal out of her picture with her mom, but Suzuha has made a big deal of everything so far. And nothing has happened. Thats the real problem here. In Steins;Gate, we saw Mayurii die… dozens of times? Kurisu at least twice, and they erased Akihabara from existence once. We never knew who was safe on each world line run. In Steins;Gate 0 though no one is in any real danger, since we know Okabe won’t be switching any world lines. Not on purpose at least. It results in a… distinct lack of suffering for Okabe, at least recently. For the story that’s supposed to be much darker and depressing than the original, Steins;Gate 0 has yet to even approach the originals level.
And the thing is, Steins;Gate 0 seems to be trying to reach the originals levels, with things like Suzuha’s flashback. This doesn’t work for a number of reasons though. First off, we only care about Yuki through Daru at this point. We know they get together and she’s Suzuha’s mom. But since they are working to prevent that future, and Yuki is alive in the present, this death scene just doesn’t do it. It was also presented in this weird filter, like it was trying to make everything more dramatic. I realize I’m harping on Steins;Gate a lot this week, I do. But the longer it goes on, the more lackluster I find it to be. I was expecting and hoping for something to equal the original. But it’s just not there.
The last bit I want to mention is Okabe and Best Boy Leskinen. They have 2 interactions this week, and I enjoyed both of them. First we continue to see Leskinen pushing his OTP of Maho and Okabe, and I love this part of his personality. Even though he is inevitably evil, I think he actually enjoys this. And based on his second interaction with Okabe, of admiring his report and wanting to talk about it, I think I know what he wants. Leskinen, as the villain, is trying to “Recruit” Okabe. Leskinen knows our boy is smart and getting him together with his top assistant, inviting him to the University, is a good way to get Okabe on his side. It helps that he probably actually is a goof, I doubt this is an act. I can’t wait for his reversal on Okabe, it (should) be an amazing scene.
So all in all, there is some good, some bad and some disappointing signs. Steins;Gate 0 needs to stop laying around and actually get started on its main antagonists. At this point we were all in, in the original, and it was amazing. So much was happening and Okabe was breaking down at a mile a minute. But here, everything is so slow, Daru has time for 2 dates with a bootcamp between to get ready. I just… I need Steins;Gate 0 to pick itself up, because I should not be getting bored with Steins;Gate.
What about you? Steins;Gate doing it for you, or are you disappointed to? I’m curious. See you next week!
I have such an awkward relationship with this episode. I mean, yes I find that flashback of suguha’s mom getting shot, is as bleak as anything I’d like and obviously more interesting than the slice of life stuff and of course I’m eager to get around to Leskinen having more focus.
And yet these little moments the show indulges in, even though they are filler, even though they can be said to be wasted time, I find them impossible to fully be pushed away from or hate, largely because I’m too endeared to the characters.
Kagari feels more and more disjointed from this show.
And despite all the fluff, somehow I’m, again too endeared to it to be completely bored.
Additionally, maybe seeing these slice of life moments only sometimes being jolted by more darker elements of the plot, would feel they have more weight because those same drawn out slice of life events are disrupted/interrupted by the grimmer aspect of the show.
I agree with pretty much everything you said in the 3 comments. I want to love this show, and I am finding reasons to do so, but I am not blind to its faults