Review of Steins;Gate 0

Taken from my instagram: Steins;Gate 0 is interesting as it has no reason to exist but manages to be surprisingly brilliant at times and equally bad at others. It is more or less a step down from the original Steins;Gate in every way but this isn’t as bad as it sounds since the original is a 10/10 masterpiece. So what is Steins;Gate 0? It’s an alternative timeline in which Okabe failed to save Kurisu. This is where the first problem comes into play, Kurisu isn’t in this season. Arguably the best and most interesting character is absent and all that is left is a cast ofcharacters that pale in comparison to their former selves. Watching Okabe wander around depressed for the best part of 24 episodes was not interesting in the slightest and only served to ruin what had previously been established about his character. Even the addition of his black suit meaning to represent his dark state of mind came off as heavy handed. That’s my biggest problem with 0, everything is heavy handed and lacks the subtlety that the original had. It may sound like I’m complaining a lot but the problems with 0 are a lot more obvious than the positives. Overall, the best thing about 0 is that it still has the same characters and a lot of the same plot points and in turn is still fairly enjoyable. I am fully aware that I have a bit of a bias for this one since I am such a massive fan of the original, hence the 7.1 score. However, I felt it was important to show that I am fully aware of 0’s positives and negatives. (7.1/10)