Review of Steins;Gate 0

Have you ever wanted to see a main protagonist who’s constantly tried to save the world, experienced years upon grief and despair only for him to realise how meaningless it is, reside to his fate and eventually give up? Well your in luck because that’s what Steins; Gate 0 is about! By saying that, How does one write another compelling, complex story about time travel to a beloved & acclaimed franchise without making it feel like another rehash of the Fate series? You strip away everything the fans loved about the original: Okabe’s self proclaimed, eccentric mad scientist persona ‘Houoin Kyouma’- Gone Makise Kurisu- Gone Tons oflighthearted, fun moments and character interactions between the lab members- Gone (don’t worry there’s still a lot, I’d just argue not as many)

Then watch how the characters deal with this situation and slowly try regain all the past experiences & characters you loved as the story progresses. The quality in storytelling, characters, comedy, drama, time travel and overall writing is still the same, but it’s a lot more mature, tragic and melancholy than the original.

Story (10/10):
Steins;Gate 0 takes place after the events of Episode 23 of Steins;Gate, where instead of Okabe succeeding in rescuing Makise Kurisu, he fails to do so and thus doesn't reach "Steins Gate". It’s the spiritual “alternative future sequel” route that connects the story in a intricate way.

 What makes Steins;Gate 0 great is the time travelling, mystey, the character interactions/relationships, plot twists, the amazing character moments and the emotions it evokes, and the character’s personal growth over the course of the story.

Characters (10/10):
The characters are still the same and we get a lot of character development for our lab members, especially Okabe & Mayushi. Unfortunately, Moeka and Farris do seem to have taken a back seat in this route, but honestly it’s not a problem because I love Okabe’s development even moreso. By stripping away everything that Okabe cares about and turning him into a shell of his former self, humanised him. We’re no longer seeing the mad scientist Houoin Kyouma, but the man, Okabe.

Due to the traumatic experiences of time travel, years of grief and despair, Okabe has accepted his consequences and abides by his decision to never time travel again because it’s impossible to change Makise/Mayushi’s fate.
This shift in Okabe’s personality is the inevitable outcome of his predicament, forcing him to forsaken his Houoin Kyouma persona and become a respectable, mature member of society. While Okabe comes across as a ‘normal’ person that’s moved on from Kurisu’s death, we’re slowly shown his layers and find out that he’s become a shell of his former self, unable to fully move on.

In a sense, you’re supposed to empathise with Okabe’s inner struggle, his desperation in wanting to save a loved one that he still carries memories for, but knowing it could end another’s life.

 As the story progresses and Okabe is pulled back into the world of time travel and secret organizations, he gradually regains his childish, chuunibyou fire that he thought went out years ago. Through the influence of Okabe’s friends, he develops a new drive to stop World War III from happening, save those he cares about and find Steins Gate- a world line where both Kurisu and Mayushi live, and we are celebrated in a big blazing glory with Okabe’s rebirth!

Mayushi’s development and growth is done exceptionally well. No more spoiling, but I’m really impressed in how she comes into her own as a important lab member.

We get some new more additions to the cast, such as: Kagari, Amadeus, the Professor and Maho who are fleshed out well and receive a lot of character development.

Amadeus is a A.I. programme based off Kurisu’s memories. It serves as a device to help our lab members, moves the plot forward and gives the viewer the Kurisu fan service we desperately need, without fully replacing her character.

Maho Hiyajo’s role serves as a “replacement,” as the new genius girl / potential love interest loli (who’s slight tsundere), who once supervised Kurisu.

I absolutely love Maho. Her interactions with Okabe, the Professor and the lab members are fun, but what really appeals to me about her character is how well crafted she is and the nuanced, complex relationship she had with Kurisu. The problem with Maho is: she’s not as captivating, beautiful or smart as Kurisu. Maho has messy hair and has no real sense of fashion. Okabe is concerned about her, but his world doesn’t revolve around Maho in the same way it did with Kurisu. She can’t fill the place of Kurisu because she’s not good enough and Maho understands this herself, as it’s emphasized throughout the series.
Maho’s inferiority complex (and somewhat jealousy) stems from feelings of “mediocrity” compared to her intelligent, talented kohai scientist Kurisu, which is magnificently compared to the historic composers- Antonio Salieri and Mozart.

The analogies are done purposefully, for example Maho’s introduced visiting Japan with the Professor to work on Mozart. Amadeus is ironically the middle name of Mozart and the name of an Oscar-winning film that focused on their rivalry.

Kagari plays a significant role in this route due to the mystery surrounding her identity, the brainwashing and her relationship with Mayushi. Her design is similar to Kurisu, which adds to the mastery xD

Overall (10/10):
I love Steins; Gate 0 almost as much as the original. It’s another masterpiece in time travel, excellent comedy and drama, that is woven into a cohesive intricate story. It pulls so well on your emotions that you can’t help but feeling swept away at times, like during Okabe’s rebirth. It baffles me how there’s so many reviews with low ratings. I feel those people don’t understand the purpose of this story is basically Okabe “regaining everything he once lost” so when they watched S;G 0 they expected it to be just like Steins Gate.