Category: Steins;Gate 0

And so Steins;Gate 0 ends, not with a bang but a melodramatic whisper. Welcome to the finale of Steins;Gate 0. Whatever it was trying to do, it mostly failed, so lets jump in!

So with this finale I can definitively say, Steins;Gate 0 failed to live up to the hype. It’s not a bad series by any means, but every time it came to a crossroads, Steins;Gate 0 chose the wrong path. This finale is an excellent example of that. It chose to follow Mayurii going back in time to convince her old self to slap Okabe. But that wasn’t the interesting part of the story. To me, the story I wanted to see was the video getting made. I wanted to see Okabe and co surviving to the year 2025, using the Time Leap machine or D-Mail to always stay one step ahead. That, to me, is a far more interesting and unique story than what Steins;Gate 0 has given us. And considering how much was just… left to rot, it would have been a leaner story to.

Continue reading “Steins;Gate 0 – 23 [Arclight of the Point at Infinity -Arc-light of the Sky-]” →

This week Steins;Gate 0, once again, brutally reminded me of the potential it started with ~5 months ago and subsequently wasted. We have lab-member shenanigans, emotional heart-to-hearts and overdramatic time travel sequences. Let’s dive in!

So in general, Steins;Gate 0 worked this episode. It really did. The emotions were on point and there was a good balance of tone throughout the episode. The lab scenes, the jokes, the voices, the planning, all rang true to the original. There was heart in these scenes that up until now has been lacking. Most likely because, finally, Okabe has a set goal to work towards. Up until now Okabe has most just… existed in Steins;Gate 0. Drifting from plot point to plot point, with relevant things only really happening when interacting with Amadeus. With a set goal and his Kyouma personality back, the series finally feels like it’s going somewhere. Problem is, this is just to late in the series. We have one episode left to resolve everything, yet sat through multiple episodes of meandering nothing. It is, as I said, a waste of potential.

Continue reading “Steins;Gate 0 – 22 [Rinascimento of Projection -Project Amadeus-]” →

This week Steins;Gate 0 gave me, most, of what I wanted. It gave us a journey through the future, a Time Leap chain and the return of our favorite mad scientist. However, for all that I love it, its to little to late. Lets jump in!

So, where to start. Leaving the big spoilers for after the read-more tag, Steins;Gate 0 did a lot right this week. For example, Okabe’s VN did a fantastic job of changing just a bit for each scene as he went back in time each scene. In particular, its noticeable when we get to hear his Kyouma voice, which was radically different from our “normal” Okabe. Loved it. The music was also on point, giving us some classics from the original series along with some Steins;Gate 0 specific tracks. I never thought the music in any particular scene was out of place, and it did actually add to a number of them. I have also read that, supposedly, the entire reverse time leap sequence is anime original. That the VN just had a black page with text. If so, then good job White Fox. Because that sequence, mostly, worked.

Continue reading “Steins;Gate 0 – 21 [Rinascimento of Image Formation -Return of Phoenix-]” →

Sometimes, even problem children will surprise you. This week, Steins;Gate 0 did just that. I was not expecting a leap to the future, and now that I have seen it, I want more. Sadly I don’t think I will get it. Not much anyways. Lets jump in!

So, outright, this episode wasn’t bad. I like that we got to see the dystopian future in more than just flash backs (flash forwards?). But after the initial enjoyment, all it really did was remind me of what a waste of potential this series is. Take this future episode as the perfect example. Why should we care about Ruka or Suzuha or Ferris here? Suzuha just “died” 2 episodes ago, and now Ruka is “dying”, but we are about to go back to 2011. Steins;Gate 0 hasn’t spent enough time with these characters to make me care about them. We didn’t see them suffer through this war, we didn’t see any of these experiences. Its like they are copy-pasted from the 2011 timeline into now, with military redesigns. Animosh, from our chatbox, said it very well. Everyone but Okabe feels like a character from a mediocre fan-fiction.

Continue reading “Steins;Gate 0 – 20 [ Rinascimento of the Unwavering Promise -Promised Rinascimento-]” →

Hello and welcome to another week of, I don’t really care anymore. Apologies for the lateness of this, but I have simply been so… un-enthused with Steins;Gate 0 recently. So without further ado, lets jump in and see why.

So to start off, Steins;Gate 0 has become boring. And here is why. With easy access to limited time travel removed, it is afraid to commit to anything that shakes the status quo. It took us 19 episodes to get to the lock-down point. The moment that Okabe is supposed to dedicate the rest of the season to fixing, the big “wow” moment. And now that we are finally here, what do we get? A “are they aren’t they dead” scenario where Steins;Gate 0 is afraid to actually commit and kill off any of its titular characters. Hell, the only characters Steins;Gate 0 IS willing to kill off onscreen are Reyes, who is criminally underused, and Kagari, a character whom I hate even exists. There are no stakes. Steins;Gate 0 has backpedaled or reversed every major event with nary a scratch on our leads. It’s boring.

Continue reading “Steins;Gate 0 – 19 [Altair of the Cyclic Coordinate -Time-leap Machine-]” →

This must be what a disappointed father feels like. You want to believe the best, but they just keep letting you down. This week, Steins;Gate 0 has let me down. Hard. Lets jump in.

So, where to begin. First off, once again, Steins;Gate 0 proves its not an action series. So many still shots and poor choreography. So much of what happened was ludicrous and out of place for a series focused on character drama. I think the most egregious example of ridiculous action however is, of course, Kagari’s fault. The shot of her just… cutting a mans head off, a trained soldier, with her bare hands like a karate chop. I hate this shot so much. Steins;Gate is not a gory, super violent action series. This has no place, it doesn’t fit in what the series is. Speaking of Kagari, she is involved in/a direct consequence of everything bad about Steins;Gate 0. So you know what? Strap in, cause I am about to go on a rant.

Continue reading “Steins;Gate 0 – 18 [Altair of Translational Symmetry -Translational Symmetry-]” →

Finally, Steins;Gate 0 has fully committed. There’s no going back from here. This week we have the continued fallout of episode 16, Daru being a good father, and a Mayurii sized dose of suffering. Buckle in, because this is a long one. Lets jump in!

First, some obvious stuff. Steins;Gate 0 continues to not be an action series. I don’t want to dwell on this to long, because it really is a small if obvious gripe about the series. But the entire rooftop action scene was… awkward at best. The soldiers were Stormtrooper levels of accurate, while also being about as durable as paper. With that criticism out of the way, Kana Hanazawa, you are amazing. Mayuri’s VA did a great job this week. Last week was all about Okabe’s breakdown, and it was glorious. It makes sense that Mayuri would get a similar followup in this episode. It helps that I had completely forgotten that Mayuri didn’t know about the future. The only questionable part of the whole thing was the Hikoboshi and Orihime aspects, which forced me to read up on Tanabata. I recommend you do to, as its referenced a lot.

Continue reading “Steins;Gate 0 – 17 [Altair of the Hyperbolic Plane -Beltrami Pseudosphere-]” →

Hello and welcome to the return of Steins;Gate 0, this time with 100% more quality! This week, plot finally happens, secrets are outed and Okabe gets into a fist fight. Lets jump in!

To start off, simple general stuff, this is in my opinion the best episode of Steins;Gate 0 in a while. Mostly because things are finally happening, but even then, the 3 confrontations this episode were well done. This episode, finally, forced Okabe to confront and start thinking about time travel again. He’s been avoiding it like the plague, but with Daru and Maho’s secret out, he can’t any longer. From an animation perspective, there wasn’t much. It was mostly still shots. But those still shots looked good, the camera angles really worked. Even if there was some inconsistencies between shots in terms of position. The VA was the best part however. Specifically, Daru’s anger was perfect. For a second, I could really hear Gilgamesh for a few lines there. It was especially nice to see/hear the effects of Okabe’s attitude so far. Lots to unpack in these conversations.

Continue reading “Steins;Gate 0 – 16 [Altair of the Point at Infinity -Vega and Altair-]” →

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).

Continue reading “Steins;Gate 0 – 15 [Recognition of the Asymptotic Line -Recognize Asymptote-]” →