Welcome one and all to another week of Steins;Gate 0! This week we have fluffy, lovable dates, awkward fan service and terrible revelations. Lets jump in!
So overall this week felt mostly like a filler episode. I understand that some of the contents were necessary for relationship building and such. That it was a sort of “Calm before the storm” as things begin in earnest. That doesn’t change the fact that, outside of Okabe’s “date” with Maho, nothing much really mattered this episode. The contents ranged from lovable cute character moments to terribly awkward fan service, which I will get into in a moment. My hope is that this is the slowest Steins;Gate 0 gets. That after this, with Okabe outing himself to Maho and her revelations with the laptop, the central conflict will come back into play. We will have to wait and see. Now though, lets get into specifics.
First off, the terrible. I already mentioned the… questionable fan service with Moeka and Ferris so lets start there. As cute as it was seeing Maho in a panda onesie, and I was fine with the scene up through that, the groping was a bit much. It just felt awkward to watch. I’m not a big fan of fan service at the best of times, even in shows like Shokugeki no Souma where it fits perfectly. In my Steins;Gate? Please, no. VN or not it was easily my least favorite scene of the entire season, with Daru this episode a close second. Watching him be… pervy? At a 10 year old child telling him to clean was disturbing. Normally his antics are amusing and aimed at characters who understand him, but Nae? It ruined/made an otherwise amusing scene creepy and I simply couldn’t overlook it.
On the good side, Maho and Okabe’s “date” was perhaps the fuzziest romantic sub-plot I’ve seen in awhile. Maho clearly has some kind of thing for him and her competition are his memories of Kurisu. Its not a harem or wish fulfillment because, well, the other girl is gone and he is trying to cope with it. Its interesting cause they are both coping with her death, together, helping each other it seems. Yet even then mid-date we get this cute little @channel reference, translated just for us. Normally its a NullPointer “nullpo GAH” joke but WhiteFox/CrunchyRoll replaced it with Rick Rolling to better fit Western 4chan communities. Its a nice touch to help us understand the joke. Its little cuts like that, little windows into Okabe and Kurisu’s relationship, that both we and Maho are seeing and it so beautifully strains Maho and Okabe’s relationship. I love it.
Speaking of Maho and Kurisu, we also got some more insight into their relationship this episode. I always enjoy it when an anime takes bits of Western culture, such as music or art, if only because its something I can recognize. Steins;Gate’s use of Amadeus and Salieri’s relationship as a direct metaphor for Kurisu and Maho’s was clever. Also explains why Amadeus is named how it is. We also got to see that Kurisu’s jab from the other world line, about telling Maho to clean her room, still holds true. Its these little things that are said and then backed up that make me really enjoy their relationship. Makes it easy to understand why Maho would have Kurisu’s laptop when Kurisu went to Japan, instead of making us ask “Why would she leave that with her?”.
As for that laptop, well that’s probably the Mcguffin of the next few episodes, ain’t it? The real question about it at this point is, whose the “trustworthy” source? My first thought was Leskinen, who I am pleased to say made a return this episode. I love that man. But in that case why use the strongbox? She could just hand it to him at the lab, without the need for secrecy. Reyes perhaps? I want it to be someone we have already met, because clearly whoever it is won’t actually be “trustworthy”. I want a face to put our villains to.
The big revelation of the episode however, as always, came at the end. After this Maho is in. I don’t see how, once the panic calms down, Okabe will explain how he knows all of this to her. He will have to tell her about World Lines, Reading Steiner and the general time travel problems. Maho is gonna be inducted into the Steins;Gate crew. Should be interesting to get her opinion on everything. She was already piecing together that Okabe knew far more about Kurisu than he should for how short a time she spent in Japan. This will be the answer shes been wanting, but probably can’t accept. Can’t wait for that scene next week.
So all in all, a decent if fillery episode. Pretty much the entire first half is skippable without missing anything relevant or heartwarming. The only part that’s really worth watching, I would say, is the second half which is entirely Okabe and Maho. It builds their relationship more and sets us up for another cliffhanger next week. Hopefully next week has more actual content and less awkward/creepy filler, but with how this episode ended I don’t expect that to be a problem.
What did you think? Was this episode fillery, or just the right amount of fluff before things begin in earnest? Let me know and see you next week!
