Review of Steins;Gate 0
They've done it again!! From a series you wouldn't expect to succeed, because it comes from a VN and very few anime adaptations of VN's rarely go well, the original Steins;Gate blew my mind with how well put its story and dialogue is. And now comes its sequel, which I wasn't expecting much as well, considering how fleshed out the story was already but Studio White Fox somehow managed to pull it off! If you've watched the original Steins;Gate and thoroughly enjoyed the series, I personally recommend you to watch this anime. This is an amazing feat of story-telling, to be able to expound somuch on a story which we know how it ends before-hand. Steins;Gate 0 manages to captivate its viewers once more with more insane time travel plots and shenanigans which drew you in when you watched the original.
If you want to talk about the animation and art, it definitely had its flaws, some scenes were obviously rushed and there was even a delay in releasing one of the episodes. But the main draw of the show is obviously not the art, it's the story. No one actually watches Steins;Gate for the art (LOL), it's the concept of time travel and a tale of tragedy.
It's an amazing story which shows how the protagonist, Okabe Rinatorou rocked to the core with feelings of despair, depression, and sadness, was able to overcome these feelings, combined with a science-fiction setting of time travel which is crucial to the plot. With new key characters introduced, Steins;Gate 0 tells the untold story of the perils and tribulations Okabe Rintarou faced which story-wise takes place before the final episode of the original series, and time-wise most of the story occurs months after the original series.
A mistake we often see in other stories of time-travel is that the premise of the setting exists however the theory of time-travel and the plot are rarely in connection, with the characters doing things for more personal reasons, such as in Back to the Future, the concept of time-travel is undermined, and the plot could have been resolved without time-travel at all, if Marty McFly simply had more self-control, the story would conclude and time-travel is nothing more than a tool they used to demonstrate the character's flaws and show his future if he continued with them, rather than being a key point in the story.
Steins;Gate 0 successfully manages to successfully incorporate the science-fiction setting with its plot, just as it did with its prequel. As a sequel, it's very well written, not simply regurgitating the original series, but complementing it with new characters, and new subplots, accompanied with a great soundtrack which goes well with the mood of the scenes. A story which any true science-fiction fan will regret not watching.
El Psy Congroo