Review of Steins;Gate 0

Steins Gate 0 is a sequel to one of the best anime of all time. The original Steins Gate was a masterpiece in the art of storytelling. Unfortunately, many will undoubtedly be disappointed in this sequel, despite being decent as a whole. Story- 6/10 The sequel's primary problem is the story's direction. Steins Gate 0 takes place right before the finale of the original Steins Gate. We follow Okabe around who is suffering greatly from PTSD as a result of the traumatic experiences he went through in the Alpha Worldline, followed by him killing Kurisu. He is a broken man and completely gives up trying to saveKurisu and the rest of the world from WWIII. This is where SG0 shines; Okabe is a great protagonist because of how sympathetic he is, despite his quirks. His pain is easy to understand.

A couple of the episodes hit particularly hard- just as hard as the original. There are at least two episodes in particular that will leave you feeling gut-punched. Again, this is where SG0 is at it's strongest. It ties into the original series, gives you sympathetic, easy to root for characters and puts them into tough circumstances.

The problem is, these punches are too few. The original had these coming nonstop after the halfway point in the series; this one has two or three moments tops throughout the series. Then, you have just awful action scenes. Characters dodge gunfire- because as we all know, if you train hard enough you can do that. On another occasion, one character brutally cuts through and kills multiple trained soldiers whilst running around in the open...and the trained military just stand there and watch. The original Steins Gate did not have non-sensical action scenes, and thank god for that. It didn't have nearly the amount of bullcrap that the ones in this series had. It also didn't have the fan service this one had; some characters have larger chests, two "you saw me nude" scenes, and there is a cringe-worthy breast mashing scene. Ugh.

The other thing I'll mention which works to it's detriment are needless characters. The added characters were not necessary to the story. If anything, they made the plot feel looser and all over the place at times. I'll go into more detail on this in the character section.

What the story should have been about was Okabe goes through a depressive period in his life following Kurisu's death. Eventually, WWIII starts as a result of Nakabachi/Kurisu's time travel thesis. Okabe witnesses the carnage of WWIII first hand and the death of his friends, which motivates him to send a d-mail to the past once more and build a time machine. The end. It would have made for a much tighter plot and (hopefully) cut down on the poorly executed action scenes.

Art- 7/10

The art is usually quite good. Even the rare CGI used on Amadeus isn't bad at all. Characters are designed nicely, and they particularly did a good job designing a broken Okabe. Not many complaints here, other than a few wonky scenes (such as first few OPs with Kurisu) and a lazy action scene (but that's more to the detriment of the story than the art).

Sound- 8/10

The OST is good. They use some from the original series as well as from the Visual Novel. It doesn't have nearly the same impact as the original series did, and there were a couple times when it even felt somewhat out of place. But the OP, ending, and most of the OST are very good. The dub is also good.

Character- 8/10

I gave the original series a 10/10 here. Every character in the original served a purpose to the story without feeling contrived. They all had sympathetic circumstances and were easy to root for as well. The biggest problem with SG0 is the new characters were simply not necessary.

Kagari is just pointless. She has memory problems at the start of the series and is involved in many of the terribly executed action scenes later on. But why? Why have this character in the story? She adds nothing to the plot.

Amadeus is another. Why do we need an AI version of Kurisu? Nakabachi/Kurisu's thesis should have been enough to create time machines. Why erase that plot point from the original series? "Memories" shouldn't have been necessary.

And finally Maho. She is sympathetic in her own right, having to deal with her envy of Kurisu and a bit of a rivalry with her, despite also being good friends. But why did we need another young, genius female scientist? To create a time machine? Daru and Okabe can already do that. Hell, they did it without scientist help the Alpha worldline (although it wasn't great). She simply wasn't necessary for the plot.

I'll tell you why these characters were added: Kurisu. Kurisu is dead in this sequel. So they wanted to find a bunch of ways to put her throughout the entire series while *trying* to make sense. Kagari looks exactly like Kurisu, but has Mayuri's breasts and personality; Amadeus is literally kurisu's memories and appearance, but has no physical body; Maho is a loli version of Kurisu.

Adding Yuki (Suzuha's mom) is fine. I think getting to see the pressure Daru has of becoming lovers with her adds to his sympathetic character traits. Suzuha as well, who was still broken up about her mom being killed in her timeline. They could have just as easily added Suzuha's mom to the original series, but they didn't (though she has a cameo in the special episode). Know why? Because she wouldn't have added anything to the plot. So she wasn't put in. That is good storytelling.

As for some of the other original cast, Ruka is alright. Faris gets a bit sillier unfortunately and isn't as sympathetic as she was in the original. Daru is a bit mixed; as mentioned earlier, I sympathize with his love and daughter struggles, but his perverted jokes were also more cringey this time. In the original, he never went over the top with that; he had just enough to feel like one of your friends from college.

Of course, this might seem like a harsh critique on the characters. I like Maho and Amadeus at least, they're just used to the detriment of the story. Okabe is a fantastic protagonist, one of the best in anime you'll ever find. Mayuri's struggle with her own form of regret makes her a stronger character this time around. And although Kurisu's appearance in this sequel was short, she is still an amazing woman that leaves a strong impression.

Enjoyment- 7/10

Overall I liked Steins Gate 0. It throws significantly fewer punches than the original series but they hit just as hard. Okabe's journey is quite a memorable one. Unfortunately, I was also left quite disappointed in the loose plot, sloppy action scenes and needless character additions. Many will consider this title inferior to it's predecessor, and rightfully so. Yet, Steins Gate 0 is still decent enough in it's own right, and deserves a watch from any fan of the original.

Overall- 7/10

Pros:
+ Gut-punching scenes involving sympathetic characters
+ Solid OST and animation
+ Fantastic protagonist
+ Good dub

Cons:
- Awful action scenes
- Needless character additions
- Loose plot