Review of Steins;Gate 0

Steins;Gate 0 is simultaneously taking place during the original and is a sequel to it. Now, I actually quite enjoyed Steins;Gate 0, but it isn't perfect (and at some parts it is hard to get through). Still, if you enjoyed Steins;Gate, there's a good chance you'd enjoy 0. Now time to talk about the sequel itself. I will say that you have to watch the original series first in order to even begin 0, since it spoils everything about the ending. SPOILERS FOR THE ORIGINAL I do recommend whoever has seen the original and 0 to watch in this order for re-watches: Steins;Gate Ep1-22, Episode 23B, 0Episode 0-23, Steins;Gate Episodes 23-25, possible movie

STORY:
Steins;Gate 0 is a much darker tale from the original, which follows the events of an Okabe who failed to save Makise Kurisu in the A wordline. If you can recall, the future Okabe in the email sent in Episode 23; this is THAT future Okabe. With no one to encourage him to move forward (and no Mayuri bitch slap), he gives up in his efforts to save Kurisu, and thus WWIII is inevitable. 0 takes place months later (at least initially), with Okabe having completely washed his hands of time travel; he abandons his lab, barely talks to his friends, store away his lab coat, etc. While attending a college presentation regarding artificial intelligence by Professor Leskin and Maho, he is forced to recall his past trauma through Amadeus. Amadeus is the model for this new AI, which was based upon the memories of Kurisu and carries her image and personality. Okabe, as you can imagine, has PTSD from the first series. Through Maho and Leskin, he is brought on to be a volunteer to bounce ideas off of Amadeus. However, Maho soon realizes that Okabe had a special relationship with the now deceased Kurisu. Okabe struggles to move on with his life, due to Kurisu, and he ends up returning back to the lab. This isn't to say he returns to his former HYOUIN KYOUMA persona though, as you'll see in my characters overview.

ART:
I don't normally review Art, but I had to make an exception here. It's bad with rare good close ups. It really doesn't hold up; only when it needs to really. For anyone that is bothered with bad visuals, this might be a problem for you as the series reminded me of Ace Attorney animation levels bad. Still, the story is worth it.

CHARACTERS:
0 has the same cast from the first + some new addons. One of which is Yuki Amane, Suzuha's mother, Kagari, and others may range from irrelevant side characters to one shots. Yuki has more of a focus compared to them. At least for me, I enjoyed the small slice of life aspects of Suzuha trying to make sure she doesn't fade out of existence, since Daru won't make a move on her mom. I always loved Suzuha in the original (She was my 2nd favorite, next to Okabe of course) and she's enjoyable here as well. Her role is to prevent WWIII, and since Okabe is too stubborn (understandably) to get in the fucking time machine (as the VN phrases it), she's stuck in the past to watch everything play out the same again. It makes sense why she would be frustrated and on edge the entire time.
Kagari is basically a retcon: Kagari was with Suzuha before the events of 2010 (in other words the original series), she was left behind in the 1990s and tortured. Out of nowhere she shows up with amnesia. That's about all I can say to avoid spoilers. I will say that out of all the additions, she is my least favorite, due to the Anime's poor handling of her character (The VN is much better at fleshing out both Yuki and Kagari as characters, and I recommend that after watching the Anime you at least watch someone play it; see the Anime leaves out a lot of important plot details, so you need to have some knowledge of the VN). There is a lot of slice of life stuff in the beginning, but since you've already gone through the original at this point, I'd imagine you know that the good stuff comes later. And I won't be discussing any of that just yet, to avoid spoilers.
Anyway, the main focus is, of course, on Okabe. Okabe is broken, anxious, depressed, grief-stricken, and he ranges from having a panic attack to borderline emotionless at times. Now this may be just me, but I preferred 0's Okabe to Steins;Gate's (This isn't because he's lost his HYOUIN KYOUMA persona or anything, it's just I sympathize with him even more so). Steins;Gate's protagonist was HYOUIN KYOUMA with cracks of Okabe, but 0's is Okabe with very little cracks of HYOUIN KYOUMA. He's taking pills and is constantly haunted by the ghosts of his pasts (The Anime has many examples of him day-dreaming about said failures). He's lost all his passion for anything, which he deeply was fond of. When time travel eventually comes up, Okabe is completely against it, and the Anime makes sure to display his pain with his ever-cracking voice and tears. He is a very tragic character.

Now onto SPOILERS FOR STEINS;GATE 0

Steins;Gate 0 really picks up the pace in episodes 19-24. This isn't to say the previous episodes aren't enjoyable, it's just that this was the 0 I was hearing about. WWIII happens in 2025, due to all the events of the original (Kurisu's time travel thesis, combined with the hidden knowledge of Amadeus, etc.). However, this is when WWIII actually breaks out, since in the original it was just inevitable due to not saving Kurisu. Mayuri and Suzuha try to time travel back to Okabe's failed attempt in order to give him the courage to continue one more time. It doesn't work, countless times; this is the hell that 0's Okabe goes through initially. He's forced to watch Suzuha and Mayrui die while trying to escape from the Russians over and over again, since the rocket always blows up the time machine before they leap successfully. With his mental state deteriorating from each leap, he eventually wakes up in an abandoned building; he is frail and limping as he tries to move. He discovers that Akiba is a ghost town only left with soldiers and rebels. Suzuha finds him, but doesn't recognize him at first. She brings him to Daru, where he learns the unfortunate truth that 11 years have passed since the day Mayrui died (I know how would Suzuha be alive if Mayuri died? I don't remember the specifics but there's some clear cut explanation out there if you care so much). It's 2036, the future Suzuha tried her best to fight against happening. Before he goes back, he witnesses Luka fighting against DURPA and finally dying in his arms. In order to go back to 2025, Okabe has to time leap 3000 TIMES. And that's not to mention that with each leap, his pain from waking up from a coma significantly increases. Eventually he makes it back to 2025, and has a revival. If you thought that the portrayal of KYOUMA was crazy in the original think again. Okabe legitimately goes mad during 0, and that is showcased in his facial expressions and actions. HYOUIN KYOUMA RETURNS briefly, before he is forced to watch Mayuri die again. This breaks his spirit again. With enough attempts and encouragement, he eventually returns as HYOUIN KYOUMA again, mentally unhinged has ever. Maho and Okabe find out that in order to successfully avoid Leskin's forces (Long story short he's the big bad here, who brainwashed Kagari), they need to sacrifice Amadeus. Okabe is even more distraught as once Amadeus is erased, there really will be no existence left of Kurisu in that wordline. Regardless, they choose to go through with it and this is the attempt that finally works. With Mayuri and Suzuha having successfully traveled back to 2010, 0 Okabe leaves behind the recording from the original in order to encourage his current self to not give up (we actually see it from his perspective, which is nice). Mayuri tells Steins;Gate's Mayuri to remember what's most important to her (I.e., Okabe's happiness) in order for her eventually bitch slap him. When Mayuri and Suzuha have to jump in order to avoid a paradox, they are stranded in BC (Those visions from the original of a sand filled wasteland). Okabe travels to BC in order to save the both of them. This is where 0 ends, and Episode 23 of the original continues. I will say, I can't give these last few Episodes the justice they deserve, unless you've seen them already (0's Ending is better than the 0 VN's version, in my opinion).